Congratulations to PurpleNicole531, labratslover, Lady Cougar-Trombone, AlienGhostWizard14, BTRlover1122, SongGeek324, and doomforzombies16 for giving me the correct response! Adam's line at the play, which I thought was funny and very catchy, was, "Ma'am, you're standing in it." I really liked that line. :D

Hey, AllAmericanSlurp, thanks for your review, too! (And it's okay ;) )

I hope you guys enjoy this next chronicle! I'm trying to catch up as fast as I could...

Episode Tag to: Principal from Another Planet

Chronicle #035

"Umbral"

04/14/14

7:17 PM

This past weekend was a pretty long weekend. It was exciting but really exhausting. I'm not quite sure yet how to feel about being hundreds of miles away from my family all by myself for almost a whole day. For the most part, I thought it was nice. I love these guys with all I've got, I do, but it was actually nice to be on my own for a bit.

Since Mom couldn't call off work to accompany me for the college tour (generously given by the people at the University of Southern California to those of us 'adorable' children who submitted entries for the amateur sci-fi film festival), Big D was supposed to go. But Friday night, a few hours before we were supposed to go on our flight to Los Angeles, his lawyers called him with some great news regarding his company. The catch was he had to meet with them in the morning to settle and finalize some things, leaving me with no guardian.

Big D tried to have Adam come with me since he's older anyways but then a mission came up an hour before we were supposed to leave.

Big D was determined to find someone to go with me, knowing that if he didn't Mom was going to be unhappy. Not only that, he was worried that the people at the university wouldn't let me tour without anyone with me. But, I told him I'd be okay. When they called me, they said guardians were optional anyways. And if he wanted to, he could just meet me at the hotel where the other amateur entrants would be staying at; I won't say a word to Mom.

He wasn't very comfortable with it, but we really had no choice. So as a compromise, he told me to wear this watch that would give him and Adam, Bree and Chase periodic reports as to where I would be. I think it was just his nice way of saying 'I'm gonna need you to wear a GPS on your wrist so we can track you,' I guess in case I get lost or kidnapped or suddenly get the bright idea to jump off the wagon and join the circus or something.

Saturday morning was nice. After they gave us badges to wear to ID us as the festival amateur entrants, they herded us to a conference hall where they gave us free breakfast while they talked to us about the film festival, the tour, the university, and then the tour again. Since the early morning flight slightly ruined my appetite, I just sat there and listened while I took small bites out of the cookies they gave us to take for the tour.

Five minutes into the presentation, I started to get the feeling someone was watching me.

I looked around to see who it was—or if someone was watching me at all—when I saw this guy with curly hair sitting close to me, staring. I tried to ignore him at first, mostly because I didn't want to mess with a potentially hostile situation that early in the morning, but he wouldn't quit. "May I help you?" I asked nicely. I glanced at his badge. "…Lenny?"

He kept staring. "You're my competition," he said, almost threateningly.

I nodded with an awkward smile then looked away.

The person in charge of the tour had us stand one by one to introduce ourselves and talk a little bit about our entries. Thankfully, I was able to concentrate during the introductions even with Lenny and his glare. There were three high school students from Arizona, two from Oregon, one from Nevada, and the rest are here from California. Many had great film ideas. From the synopses I heard, I could pick out at least four I'd love to see.

It honestly intimidated me, especially when I compared my entry to theirs. But Big D and Mom, knowing that something like this might be involved in the tour, told me beforehand that I've brought a great idea to life and there's no way I should be ashamed of it.

My parents. They always know what to say.

When it was my turn, I just stood up and talked. "Hi, I'm Leo Dooley. I'm sixteen. I live in Mission Creek, here in California. I'm a junior at Mission Creek High School. I have three older siblings that go to the same school as I do. My entry pretty much stars my family because I didn't have to pay them," I said. They laughed, which kind of surprised me. I smiled. "The principal from my school is also in there. I had to pay her." They laughed again.

The coordinator, Mrs. Jeri Greene, grinned. "What's your film about?" she asked.

"Oh. It's basically about a family with superhuman kids fighting against an alien life form," I said. Everybody seemed to wait for more. "That's it," I told them.

A few people were nodding, some looked like they were thinking about it. One of the girls from Oregon said, "That sounds like something I'd like to see."

I smiled at her. "Oh. Thanks," I said as I sat down.

She nodded back with a smile.

Lenny stood up, making sure to shoot another glare towards my direction before he took his turn. "The name's Lenny Norway. Eighteen, San Francisco and unlike my friend here, I actually have a movie that's worth watching," he said with a forced grin. I think he wanted people to laugh.

The only thing that followed was awkward silence, and there was also a very low current of ooh's. Mrs. Greene just smiled politely, meanwhile.

Lenny kept going on and on about his greatness and about his great movie, but I didn't hear much of it. I decided that I'd rather listen to the crunch delicious cookies make as I eat them.

"Okay! Now that we've gotten to meet each other, let's carry on in the tour, shall we?" Mrs. Greene said enthusiastically. "There are so many things for you guys to see here. Keep close by, okay? Don't want any of you to miss all of the fun."

All of us stood up and got ready to go. A good number of the students had a parent with them. There was one girl who had her older brother with her. Four of us, counting Lenny, were just by ourselves.

I was set to backpack through the campus on my own when a girl from Arizona and the boy from Nevada waved me over. "Leo, right?" the girl with the auburn hair, Natalie, asked when I got there.

"Yeah."

"Okay, good," she said as we started heading out of the conference hall. "You're with us, Boy Genius."

"Okay," I said.

I was just walking with them for a while, all of us trying to keep up with Mrs. Greene, who, despite being very pregnant, walked like a drill sergeant on a mission. I started to run out of breath after a while so the tall blonde boy, Xavier, started to laugh. "Oh, that's so cute," he said. "Junior's getting winded."

"How are you not?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

"It's called workout, man. Look it up," Xavier said.

At that point, we stopped. Mrs. Greene told us to wait a minute while she checked inside the building to see if it was okay for us to come in.

"Xavier runs track," Natalie kindly told me, smiling. "Things like this don't faze him. He's not normal, you know."

"Yeah. I'm, like, superhuman," Xavier said.

Natalie laughed. "You wish," she said.

"You two seem to know each other well," I commented.

"Well, yeah. We're cousins," Natalie said.

That made a lot of sense. "Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but why'd you call me over?" I asked.

Natalie and Xavier looked at each other. "Uh, because we didn't want you to get stuck with Captain Fresh back there?" Xavier said.

"Oh."

Mrs. Greene waved us in then.

While we were walking through the hallways, Natalie asked, "So, why are you by yourself? Where are your parents?"

I shrugged. "Mom got called to work, Dad's making a business deal," I answered, thinking nothing of it. They looked like they felt sorry for me, so I amended with, "He's going to be here as soon as he finishes. And I was the one who told him to go. It's not because they're bad parents or anything. Things just got busy."

They nodded, but they still didn't seem convinced.

"What about you two? Why're you on your own?" I asked.

"Well, our parents just let us roam free," Natalie said. "We're watching each other's backs anyways, so they gave us our freedom. Our folks are big on letting us enjoy the one eight perks."

"Which actually just means that they can't wait to kick us out of the house now that we're of age," Xavier added.

"Yeah," Natalie laughed. She sighed sadly later. "I wish Mom came, though. It would've been nice."

"Aw, Nat. Don't be sad. Boy Genius and I are here for you," Xavier lightly rubbed her shoulder to console her. He grinned, and then he started singing as quietly as he could as we entered a dark room. "Oh, I'll be here, baby! You will see, baby, oh… Just call my name—"

"Xavier?" Mrs. Greene called politely.

"Yes, ma'am?" he answered.

Mrs. Greene put a finger on her lips, asking him to be quiet. She smiled.

He smiled back. He nodded. "Sorry," he whispered.

She nodded.

We stood in the studio for fifteen minutes, listening to Mrs. Greene and one of the college students as they discussed what they usually do in there. Natalie and I chuckled from time to time because of Xavier. He'd whisper to us to shut up, but he was grinning too.

Everything was interesting and all, but after a while my mind started to wander. I enjoyed putting together my entry, which wasn't really much work considering that the 'special effects' aren't really special effects, but filmmaking is just not in my top three choices. Mechanical engineering and computer science are my top two. If none of those work out, I'm open for a different direction, maybe something creative.

Filmmaking might just make it to the top five.

I did like learning about how (real) special effects work. We also spent some time in a room with a green screen, and the professor overseeing all the work there had this fun activity ready for us so we can see it in action. Xavier, Lenny, and a girl named Josie were chosen to participate. The professor just told them what was supposedly happening as they pretended like a giant was running after them.

Xavier and Josie did great in their acting. Lenny just did a bit too much.

When the product was finished, the professor showed it to us. It was awesome. The lighting, and the effects. It was a template, I'm sure, but it was so realistic. I thought it was super cool.

A boy asked if they used any specific or special equipment for things like that. The professor grinned and said, "Oh, a lot of different ones. We have mixed types here, sounds, lighting, all that jazz. But, we use a few Davenport Industries stuff as a secret weapon. The company's got advanced technology that really works well with things like these."

He went on to show us the features he told us about, and he said that he didn't know if the company could even top the products they already have. Meanwhile, I was thinking that if everyone's already very excited about what's available to them now, just imagine how hard they'll flip if they see the lab and the simulators.

Lunch time came after a few more stops. We were on our own for that. Thankfully, Big D gave me enough money to cover the expenses I'd come across in the trip while he was not there. That worked out well, because I was very hungry, and everything I saw looked good. Natalie and Xavier laughed at me when they saw what was on my tray. "Man, are you serious?" Xavier asked.

"Yeah, I'm hungry," I told him. I started mentally prioritizing what I would eat first. Just then, my phone rang.

It was Big D. He asked how things were going. I said fine. He told me he was almost done and would catch the next plane to LA so he could make it in time for the dinner. I said okay. He apologized again for the fifteenth time about not being here. I grinned and told him it was perfectly okay.

After he hung up, I received another call, but it was Mom this time. She pretty much said the same things, but she did ask me how Big D was. I told her he was looking forward to come to dinner, which was true. Thankfully, she didn't ask to speak with him.

After she hung up, I got a video call. Adam, with Chase and Bree with him. He asked how the tour was and if people were nice. I told him it was pretty good, and most of them were. Chase asked if I think I might go there when I graduate. I told him that it's possible. Bree asked if I was having a good time. I said I was.

They then said that they won't keep me any longer, seeing that I was a busy guy. They said they just wanted to let me know that the 'trip' went well. I told them I was glad and was looking forward to seeing them the following night so they could tell me all about it.

Soon, the call ended, and I finally got to eat some lunch.

A few minutes in, while Natalie, Xavier and I were talking about our siblings, I noticed that Lenny's all by himself on the table next to us. At first, I thought that it was the way he preferred it. If he was that intimidating and annoying when he's with people, I figured it was because he did it on purpose. But there was something in the way he looked at people passing him by, skipping his nearly empty table even if the other ones were almost filled, that made me think otherwise.

"Hey, do you guys think Lenny can sit with us for a while?" I asked.

Xavier raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Look at the guy. He's just by himself," I said.

"Yeah. Because his ego is big enough to fill the whole table," Natalie said.

I shrugged. "Maybe," I said. I looked at them, hoping to convince them. "Come on. There are only a few minutes left for lunch. We can't just let the guy be all alone throughout the whole day." They looked hesitant, and it seemed like we would just sit there until time ran out if no one does anything about it. So I turned around and called out to Lenny. "Hey! Lenny Man! You wanna sit at the cool table?"

Xavier was shaking his head when I looked back, while Natalie turned away after rolling her eyes.

Lenny just stared at first, a bit embarrassed at having been called out like that. Then, he moved, hesitated, stared at his shoes, and then moved again—towards our table this time. "What do you want?" he asked as he saw me smiling, but not in the strong way he would ask questions earlier. He actually said it quietly.

I shook my head. "Nothing," I said. I nudged him. "See? Don't you feel cool now?"

"I feel like my IQ just dropped twenty points," Lenny commented before taking a bite off his sandwich.

I just grinned, because I think deep down he liked not being alone anymore. "Awesome," I said.

The awkward silence lasted a while until I asked Natalie why they kept calling me Boy Genius. With a sideward look to Lenny before she answered, she said it was just because of my age, how I'm entering my senior year in high school as a sixteen year-old. She added that she thought I lied about my age to impress girls. I told her I didn't, and I don't need to impress any girl because I've already got one back home. I even showed them a pic of Janelle and me.

Xavier chuckled. "Ooh. I think you just broke Natalie's heart," he joked.

I laughed.

Natalie grinned. "Yes, you did, Boy Genius. I was so sure that you and I were meant to be," she said. She fake sighed. "We could have had such a bright and sickeningly sweet future together."

"Yeah. Boy Genius plus Horseface equals hearts," Xavier said.

Natalie nodded. She looked up. "Anyways, you got an older brother, you said?" she said. She held out her hand for my phone. "That one who called you. You got a picture of him? He sounded like perfection. Lemme see him."

Xavier stared at her. "That's not even right," he said. He shook his head as he resumed eating. "I'm going to tell on you. I'm calling Uncle Johnston after the tour and tell him you've gone crazy."

"You know, his older sister's drop dead gorgeous, right?"

"Ooh. Let me see—"

I grabbed my phone away from them. "My phone is not a catalog that you can use to pick and choose boyfriends and girlfriends from, okay? And these are my siblings. Leave them alone," I said.

Xavier and Natalie mumbled their protests, but I wasn't about to give them back my phone.

We had another discussion about sharing among friends, and we probably bickered a bit about it for the rest of lunch. There were a lot of pointless arguments thrown about, mostly between Xavier and Natalie. What surprised us once in that conversation was when Natalie said something completely off topic, and Lenny chuckled. When we looked at him, he cleared his throat and said he was just coughing.

Soon after, the tour resumed again.

When we filed out of the cafeteria or whatever college kids call it, that was when I felt it again: someone watching me. It wasn't Lenny, because Natalie actually braved up to start a conversation with him to get him more involved. Looking around, I saw no one. Still, I felt like someone was there following me.

I decided that I'd just forget about that for the meantime. I thought it was just the paranoia kicking in, and there was no use alerting Big D or Adam, Bree and Chase for something non-existent. Plus, maybe in time it would go away.

One long trip through the animation studios, the sound rooms and the design rooms later, I still had that bad feeling. Xavier and Natalie sensed my wariness and asked frequently if I was okay. I just smiled and told them I was, told them that I might just be tired. Xavier, because he had to, made fun of my lankiness again. Natalie just rolled her eyes at him.

It started to build up too much by dinner that I almost called Big D, but he was already there, waiting by the conference hall, as they led us back to where we were earlier that morning. He looked exhausted, but he was smiling. When we sat down at the table, which were lined with USC souvenirs for each of the amateur entrants, I asked him how things went with the lawyers, with the company.

Big D grinned. "I'm about to get it back," he told me, which was great news.

Knowing that Xavier and Natalie were waiting for it, I turned to them. "Big D, these are Xavier and Natalie. Oh, and Lenny. I was with them throughout the whole tour," I said.

Big D extended his hand and shook theirs. "Hey, thanks for taking in Leo," he said. "I just really had to attend to something quickly."

"Not a problem, sir. It was nice hanging out with him," Xavier said, all of a sudden formal. He squinted through the dimmer lights to read the badge Big D pinned on earlier as he came in with me. "Mr. Donald…Dav-Davenport?" he said. He smiled. "Oh! Davenport like Davenport Industries!"

"We were just talking about that earlier today!" Natalie chimed in.

That interested Big D. "Oh?"

Xavier nodded. "Nice equipment for movie making," he said.

"Well, what can I say. I'm pretty good at what I do," Big D said, and it took a little edge off the anxiety of being watched.

"At what you do?" Natalie frowned, confused.

Big D nodded.

"He's the Davenport behind Davenport Industries," I clarified. "He owns it." Once the lawyers settle everything back to the way it was, of course.

The discovery of that spread like wildfire from our table to the others. Soon, the other entrants and their parents were flocking to our table, as well as Mrs. Greene and the professor from the green screen room. Big D entertained all of the attention, which I didn't really mind. He'd had a longer day than I had; he deserved something to switch him into relaxed mode.

At the end of the night, before we separated, Xavier, Natalie and I exchanged phone numbers, just to check up on each other to see if all of us would receive letters in a few weeks telling us that our entries have been accepted to the film fest. I tried to involve Lenny in that, too, but he said he was sure he'd get one and didn't need any pat on the back like we did.

I told him I enjoyed eating lunch with him, too, and hope he'll get accepted for the film fest.

The night ended on a high note, mostly because Big D was very excited about a deal he was thinking of making with the people over at the university. He talked non-stop about it from the moment we stepped into the hotel lobby, but it was fine. We were both tired, but at least he was happy.

Before going to sleep, I made a trip down the hallway to get something out of the vending machine, and there it hit me again.

Someone was still watching.

I tried to see if I could walk it off, but Big D read it before I could wave it away. "Leo, are you okay?" he asked when I came in. He was sitting on the other bed, a blue folder filled with files clipped in his hands.

I smiled because I didn't see why alarming him over something non-existent like that would help. "Yes. I'm good," I said, sitting on my bed after putting away the candy bar. "Thanks."

He nodded. "Okay. Well, you've done a lot today, so you're probably super tired. Good sleep will do much for you," he said. He smiled. "Good night, buddy. I'll treat you to a good breakfast tomorrow."

"Okay. Good night, Big D." I pulled the blanket up to my shoulders and turned away, where he couldn't see me thinking about this nagging feeling that I have that something is about to happen.

I don't like this one bit. This is the same feeling I had before Eyebrows and Douglas came into our lives and wreaked havoc in it. It hadn't gone away since yesterday. It's actually getting worse. I haven't told anyone about it, because I didn't want them to worry. I mean, what if they get worked up for nothing? We've been in bad situations, and I don't want to stress them out again.

The weekend would have been great if I didn't get this gut feeling. I made new friends, went on a university tour, and am waiting for an acceptance letter for the film fest. But how could I think about things like that when all I think about is what's going to happen next?

I mean, are we really ready for them if they come?

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

04/14/14

11:17 PM

The Adam Chronicles

In Principal from another Planet, what kind of 'refreshments' did Chase have for the lunar eclipse party? Reviews are loved, answers come with shout-outs!