"Let me ask you something, Jess. Don't you ever get tires of always playing defense against Hearst?"
The table fell silent as everyone turned to look at him. Julian then inquired as he took a bite of his turkey sandwich, "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, maybe it's time we took the fight to them. And I think I know exactly how we can do that."
Jess thoughtfully took a sip of her apple juice and nodded her head, "Whatever it is... count me in."
"Same here," Autumn agreed.
Julian cracked his knuckles, "A little offense, a little payback... I guess I'm in. So long as you can promise me we'll make Hearst pay!"
Wes gave his signature smirk, "Oh, by the time we're through with them, Max will be begging us for mercy! I'll be back... with a plan. In the meantime, set up a place for us to meet."
Wes stood up and left the others staring at his back. Nishan said excitedly, "This will be like a fight between the Jedi and the Sith!"
"Pipe down, Obi-Wan Kenobi. We aren't even sure what this plan is. Let's see how it goes," Jess told him.
After lunch...
The gang met up with Wes at the Prep Hangout as they had free period. Wes had a map rolled up in his hand and they moment that they all sat down, Wes cleared his throat and began speak," You all know why I called you here today. Since your school opened, Hearst High has been trying to shut you down. Hearst High is like a bully. If we don't fight back, they'll just keep messing with us. Now, it's time we take the fight to them."
The others nodded and murmured in agreement. Jess asked "What kind of fight we talking about here, Wes?"
"He's talking about social sabotage, right?" Payton piped in.
Wes nodded and affirmed, "That's right, Payton. I'm working on a plan, and I think we just might be able to pull off revealing the biggest school scandal this town has ever seen."
Nishan asked, "What's this scandal?"
"We all know Hearst High isn't exactly the fairest place around. The football coach plays Max instead of Julian just because Max's father is the principal..."
"Ain't that the truth," Julian muttered.
"But the corruption goes deeper than that... much deeper. And I've got a plan to expose it," Wes continued.
Wes was interrupted by a phone call and he went outside to answer it. The others looked at each other, unsure of what Wes had in mind. Mia asked warily "Anyone have a bad feeling about what he's about to say?"
Autumn nodded and the others just shrugged. Payton just giggled at a text she got on her phone. Wes came back in and stated, "Right, let's continue."
"What exactly is this scandal all about?" Jess asked him, eyebrow raised.
"I'll get to that. Right now, you all need to listen up. To pull this off, everyone has to follow my instructions," he answered.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. You're here a couple days and suddenly you're our leader?" Julian challenged.
Wes smirked at him and replied, "I'm the guy with the plan, so I guess that makes me the one in charge."
He unrolled the map onto he table and the others looked at it. It was a map of Hearst High. How Wes had got his hands on it, they had no idea.
"Here's how it's going to go down. We wait for a weekend night, when fewer people are around Hearst High. Then we break into their library..."
"Wait, what? Wes, I'm not sure if you're aware, but that's breaking and entering..." Autumn trailed off.
Wes looked at her resolutely, "It's the only way."
Autumn looked down at her hands and he continued, "Hearst uses a closed computer system. That means we need to get Nishan into the school so he can hack into the system on-site."
Nishan looked at him in surprise and spoke up, "On-site? Um, just so we're clear, I'm much more of a 'very safe, very remote location' kind of guy..."
"I do this kind of thing all the time," Wes told him dismissively. "We just have to keep an eye on the clock. Here, look at the map. We'll have a solid minute and a half to run the distance between their library and the edge of their campus..."
Nishan interrupted him, "A minute and a half?! That's crazy! What's your backup plan if I can't keep up? Juvenile hall and a permanent record? Visits every other weekend?"
Payton's phone went off with a text alert and she looked at it and giggled and responded to the text. The others looked at her strangely.
"Payton, are you listening?" Jess asked her.
Payton looked up at her and answered, "Huh? Oh... sorry! It's just, I've got this big date planned... and I'm sooo excited about it! I just can't stop texting about it. You guys understand, right?"
"Oh, yeah, of course. A date. That's much more important than the elaborate and dangerous heist we're all working on," Wes told her sarcastically.
"Point noted," Payton sighed and put her phone away.
Wes looked around in frustration, "Is it just me or does no one here realize that this is serious? The principal and Max have gotten away with their crimes for too long. We've got to take those scumbags down!"
Mia stood up in anger and slammed her hands down on the table.
"Hey! I don't support what they are doing but never talk about them like that! They're my family!" Mia told him angrily, jutting a finger in his direction.
Julian stood up and said sarcastically, "Well, this meeting is off to a great start, Wes. Why did I ever doubt you? Oh, right, because you're a terrible leader..."
Everyone but Jess began talking at once, pointing out different flaws in Wes' plan. Wes couldn't take anymore of it and he grabbed the map off the table and whistled. Everyone fell silent and Wes spoke, "Okay. We gave it a shot, but this whole team thing isn't going to work. Thanks for playing, everyone. But I'm out of here."
He stormed out of the slacker hangout and Julian grumbled, "I knew a loner like Wes couldn't just come in here and pull off leading a team. What a waste of time."
He walked out of the Hangout as well, Mia and Nishan following him. Jess looked at Autumn and pleaded, "Could you talk to Wes? He listens to you."
"I... I hate to say it, Jess, but maybe it's for the best. Wes has never been a team player, much less a leader," Autumn sighed.
"You surely don't mean that, do you?"
Autumn gave her a hollow smile and said, "Look at what just happened! Things got tough... and he ran. Do we really want to risk building a plan around him when we can't count on him to be there?"
Jess digested this and realized that she had a point. Still, they had to try.
"Still, we can't give up. We need to do this and Wes is the man with the plan," Jess pointed out.
"Good luck," Autumn told her.
Jess nodded in acknowledgement and ran out of the slacker hangout and began looking for Wes. She went to the Slacker Hangouts but he was not there. She checked out the empty classrooms and bleachers in the football field but to no avail. She decided to talk to him the next day and went to the parking lot and lo and behold, Wes was there about to leave the campus.
Jess yelled. "Yo, Wes! Wait up!"
She ran up to him as he stopped and gave her a wary look.
"What do you want?" he inquired.
"I wanted to talk to you about that meeting. We can still pull this off."
Wes gave her a humorless smirk and told her, "Very optimistic of you, Sunshine, but like I said, we gave the whole team thing a shot. I'll figure out a way to take down Hearst on my own."
Cassandra scoffed, "We both know that if you could've done it on your own, you would've done it already. You came to us because you need help."
Wes was silent at this and she pressed, "Just talk to me. I know we can figure something out."
She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him a warm smile. His hard façade cracked and he smiled and told her, "Well, Sage. Hope you know how to talk and walk. I have some things to take care of at my place."
They walked side by side and Jess engaged him in some conversation and she managed to get Wes to tell her a few stories about himself. For instance, that he lived a distance away from the school alone in a trailer. True enough, after a long walk, they arrived at a run-down trailer near Gül Park. In front of it was a half-blind bulldog that was asleep. Wes patted the bulldog and he took out the key from his pocket and opened the door. He stepped in and Jess followed him in. It was neat inside with a brown couch on one side and a tiny kitchen on the other. The other part of the trailer had a relatively neatly made bed. The walls of the trailer were cream in colour. Wes reached into the cupboard and took out a pack of dog food and went outside to feed the dog. Jess looked at a picture which lay on a desk near the couch and saw a younger looking Wes smiling with a man who resembled him and looked a few years older than him.
Wes stepped in and Jess whirled around as he closed the door. He turned and looked at her and stated, "Now, where were we? You were just about to convince me to go back to your ragtag group of misfits and figure out a way to get them to actually pull off my daring plan." Wes then spoke, "Aight then. Give me your best shot, Sage-Beckett. Why should I step up to the plate and take one for the team and all that?"
Jess snorted, "Now you just saying sports metaphors."
"Look, my point is that I don't think your buddies have what it takes to pull this caper off... so why should I put in that kind of effort?"
His expression was a serious one and Jess chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully. She had to tread carefully here. She sighed and stated, "It's like I said, you wouldn't have come to us with this if you did not need our help. Secondly, Autumn needs you."
Wes chuckled humorlessly, "You don't know much about Autumn, do you? She isn't exactly a fan revenge... or of me."
She gave him a knowing smile and said, "Yeah, I'm aware that she doesn't like revenge..." Her mind drifted off to the time that Autumn refused to take revenge on Kara for messing with Payton.
"Besides, whatever happened between the two of you can be fixed," Jess added with a wink.
Wes sighed and said, "I guess I'll give it another shot. Whether or not Autumn wants revenge, Hearst High went too far when they hurt her in the basketball game. And that means they need to be stopped." He stood up and added with a resolute look in his eyes, "I'm not going to let them have another chance to hurt Autumn."
Jess beamed at this and Wes stood up to grab some snacks from the kitchen. A few minutes later, he had a bowl of potato chips and two diet sodas in hand. He handed her one can and they began snacking without further ado.
"Hey, Jess?" he asked after a few minutes.
"I appreciate you coming to talk to me," he said.
"Don't thank me yet, Wes. We still have to convince the others to work with you. And that means we have our work cut out for us," she told him in a matter-of-fact voice.
On Saturday, Wes, Jess and Julian were driving to the stadium to watch the game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Julian decided that the best way for Wes to learn leadership was from watching a football match. "You can learn a lot about leadership watching a pro team play," he had said.
"See how the quarterback is calling all the plays?" Julian asked him.
"Yeah, he's just shouting orders, and everyone listens to him. What's that supposed to teach me? To be louder?" Wes asked with a sideways glance at him.
"They're listening 'cause they trust him. They've practiced together. He knows them. He knows what they can do. And more than that... they know him," Julian pointed out.
Wes silently digested this advice with a nod of his head and then spoke, "Okay then. I think I see what you're getting at. I need to get to know my team, and they need to get to know me. That's the big moral, right? I can pull that off."
"Mia is going to kill me, isn't she?" Sierra asked Cassandra and Wes with a worried tone in her voice.
Sierra was leading the duo to the gym where the cheerleaders were having a closed practice session. Wes placed a hand on her shoulder and replied, "Chill, relax. She'll thank you for this someday."
"You'd better hope so, Wes. You owe me big time and I intend to collect," she mumbled under her breath.
Wes heard this and he gave her one of his classic smirks.
"And I pay my debts, Sierra." he told her.
They arrived outside the gym and Sierra spoke, "Here we are. Thanks. We'll take it from here."
Janelle walked off and Sierra and Wes entered the gym casually and sat at the bleachers watching Mia lead the cheerleaders through a grueling workout while pop music played in the background. that is until she saw the two of them. She cut the music and stomped towards them, a scowl on her face.
"What is this?! You think you can sneak into our cheerleading practice?" she hissed at them.
"Not exactly air-tight security around here..." Wes told her casually.
"Look, I told you earlier that I don't want to be part of your plan to take down my dad and brother. And you know what's changed? Nothing."
Mia folded her arms around her chest and gave them hard looks. Jess knew she had to tread carefully and she stood up and walked over to Mia. She placed her hands over her arms and said," Just hear me out. The people at Hearst deserve justice. I know things were pretty good for you and your brother there... but it was unfair to a lot of other students. Do you really think it's fair for some people to work really hard and get nowhere while others get everything handed to them? Think about Julian spending all season watching the football team from the bench."
Mia's hard look began to crumble, "He did deserve a chance to play."
"He did. He deserved to be judged fairly. And so does everyone at Hearst High. I mean, just imagine if you were one of those people. How would you feel if you couldn't get treated fairly because you weren't born with the right parents?"
Mia sighed and sat down next to Wes and Jess sat next to her. She ran a hand through her blonde locks and said, "I... I guess it would suck. I'm not saying I agree with what my dad's doing. I'm just saying that it's complicated. I'm not exactly ready to wage an all-out war against my family."
Her expression showed conflict and Wes spoke up, "We totally get it. Morality isn't exactly all black and white. But we can't stand by and let this rot at Hearst continue either. You don't have to do what you won't be comfortable with."
"I know. Thanks for coming to talk to me." She smiled at both of them. "I know I have been avoiding this but I'm with you to the end."
She stood up and shooed them out of the gym.
"Okay, okay. Now get out of my gym! I have a practice to finish!"
As they walked out of the gym, Jess thought, 'Two down, three more to go.'
Jess and Wes were hiding in the bushes which were a significant distance from the Nerd Hangouts, waiting for the inevitable scream that would be made. Wes had a stopwatch in his hands and was going to start timing Nishan's athletic prowess in a few.
A scream was heard and Wes murmured, "That's my cue."
He tapped the button on top of the stopwatch and began timing Nishan's speed. And boy was he fast. They watched him run while a were-panther with robot legs Kimberly in disguise chased after him roaring.
"Damn. This guy could give Usain Bolt a run for his money," Jess remarked.
"Ain't that the truth," Wes agreed.
Nishan was across the campus in one minute and a half Jess and Wes stepped out of the bushes. Nishan saw them and yelled, "Jess! Wes! Run! There's a were-panther after me, and it's got robot-legs! It's nature's ultimate vengeance against scientists for playing God!"
He turned around only to see Kimberly wipe off the immaculately done make-up.
"Huh? What in the name of Captain Cthulhu is going on?" Nishan asked confusedly.
Wes handed him the stopwatch without a word and Nishan was taken aback by what he saw.
"One minute and half? What?!"
"That's the amount of time it took you to sprint across the school campus. If you can do that here, no way you'll have trouble doing the same thing at Hearst High," Wes explained.
"The Force is with you my friend," Jess added.
"Well, I did not see that coming. You have my support for the Heist," Nishan said happily.
Nishan walked off, whistling a happy tune that sounded suspiciously like the Age of Wushu theme song. Cassandra just chuckled at his retreating back and beamed. Wes cleared his throat and remarked, "That now leaves us with Payton and Autumn."
Jess snapped her fingers and said, "I know how we can deal with Payton."
The duo walked towards the Prep Hangouts where Payton seated on a beanie bag and was busy tapping away at her phone, giggling all the while. She didn't notice their entry until Jess wrapped her fingers at the nearby coffee table.
"Oh, hey guys. What's up?" Payton greeted with a smile.
"Payton, you've got to move up your date," Wes told her abruptly.
"What? No way! I've been planning it all week!" Payton exclaimed.
"Come on. You know you won't be able to focus as long as you're still thinking about that date. While we've been talking to you, you've checked your phone for texts five times!" Jess pointed out with a frown on her face and and a wave in the direction of her phone.
"Your heart's in the right place but we need you at 100 percent," Wes told her gently.
Payton sighed and nodded. "Okay, let me see what I can do."
Payton took her phone and wrote a message to her date, moving it up and the duo nodded in satisfaction. Now Autumn was their last challenge and this was going to be tricky.
"Tommy and I went to the arcade! I used to go there when I was younger, and I remembered loving skee ball!" said Payton
"I love skee ball too! One and I just kept putting all our tokens into the skee ball machines." said Tommy
"We totally cleaned the ticket machine out! It was amazing! I'd never seen such a big pile of tickets before! You could have swam in it!"
"And of course, at the end of the night, we cashed our tickets in for the best prize ever... two free movie passes! Looks like there's a second date in our future!"
Payton and Tommy went to the arcade and really got the ball rolling!
Jess and Wes were in the Jock Hangout and were discussing how to get Autumn in the loop. Wes was seated at one of the workout benches while Cassandra was working out on the salmon ladder.
"Come on, Jess. You know how Autumn can be about revenge. She's a nice girl, a good girl," Wes was saying.
"I get you. But I think the two of you need to talk. It's not that she doesn't want to do this caper; it's an issue that she can't trust that you'll be there when she needs you," Jess told him, grunts of exertion in between each word as she went up and down the ladder.
"I don't know, Jess." Wes said, his facial expression showing conflict.
"The both of you have drifted apart. You just need time to talk and make amends. Trust me."
Jess jumped down from the top and smiled at him and he smiled back. She wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.
"Okay, Jess. I'm in," Wes said.
"Good, here she comes," Jess informed him as Autumn entered the Hangout. Wes gave her a look of surprise as Jess took a bottle of water from the cooler and gave him a wink.
"Hey, Wes. I know you wanted to talk, so here I am," Autumn said softly.
"Um, yeah. Let's go to the fountains," Wes suggested.
Autumn nodded in agreement and they walked off. On the other hand, Cassandra got ready to go for football practice, hoping that Autumn would be on board for the caper.
Autumn and Wes walked towards the fountains where there were some benches and picnic tables nearby. Wes led her towards the benches and he sat down and she sat next to me. I looked around and immediately felt at peace. The sound of the water spewing from the fountains coupled with the flower hedges gave a serene atmosphere.
"It sure is peaceful here, isn't it?" Wes remarked.
Autumn gave him a genuine smile and laughed. "I know right? This is one of my favourite areas in the school. I come here for inspiration and to think..."
Wes made some more small talk, talking about the old days at Twin Branches, about Owen and Kimi and all the other drama we left behind. At the end of it all, we were laughing and smiling.
"I know I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time. At least... not at me," Wes commented her.
Autumn placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "I always have fun with you."
"Then what's wrong? I know you've been avoiding me."
Autumn gave me a sad smile and sighed, "I just don't always agree with how you solve your problems. Like when you transferred to Hearst High... I thought you were coming there for me. But then you started getting all buddy-buddy with Max and Kara. I felt like you betrayed me. You turned on me when everyone was against me."
Her eyes welled up with tears and she wiped them away. I was surprised at this and decided to tell her the truth.
"I had to get in with them! I had to figure out the system at Hearst. They were the fastest way to do that."
"I get it. It was all part of some scheme. But you didn't exactly tell me that. I know you were solving the problem your way, but it still hurt to see you with them."
"Autumn, look at me," Wes requested.
She faced me but she still wouldn't meet my eyes. I tipped her chin up and our eyes met.
"Autumn... haven't you ever heard that you need to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer? Well, that was a mistake. I didn't keep you close enough. You're the only friend I've got. Guess I forgot what it was like."
"Wes..." she started but I interrupted whatever it was she wanted to say and looked back at her.
"If you're looking for the guy that's going to be at your side at a pep rally or the big Homecoming Dance, you can keep looking... I'm never going to be that guy. But if you can settle for someone lurking in the shadows... someone who wants to keep you safe... then here I am. I'll always be on your side, Autumn."
She looked at me and surprised me by giving me a hug, one that felt quick and awkward.
"I don't always understand you, Wes. And I don't agree with how you do things. But I'm with you," she told me in a hushed voice.
As we separated, I looked behind Autumn and saw Jess looking at us, arms folded and giving us a knowing smirk. Autumn saw the direction of my gaze and turned around and Jess looking at us. She blushed and stood up.
"So what now? We give that big meeting another try?" Jess asked.
I cleared my throat and replied, "Um, yeah, sure. I'll start making some calls..."
The entire team was seated at the slacker Hangout with Wes standing and about to reveal his plan.
"Let's try this again. Is everyone ready to listen?" Wes asked.
Julian said, "I'm with you."
Payton switched her phone to silent and waved it in front of Wes.
"My love life sorted out, zero distractions over here!" she chirped.
Nishan stated, "I've been convinced that I can perform the necessary physical activities."
Autumn beamed at him. "And you know I'm in."
Jess clapped her hand and rubbed them eagerly, "Then let's hear this plan."
Jess, Julian, Autumn, Payton, Mia and Nishan watched as Wes laid out a map of Hearst High.
"So, as I was saying last time... If we can get into the Hearst High computer system, we're golden. And that means getting into the school. But we'll have to be fast. We'll have maybe ten minutes before we're detected, tops," he explained.
"Which means I'll need to know exactly what we're looking for. Um. Which is...?" Nishan inquired.
"Nishan does raise a good point. You still haven't told us what this is all about. What's the big scandal that we're going to reveal?" Jess asked, eyebrows raised.
"I'll get to that. But first, there's still one missing piece in this puzzle... we're going to need one last person. Sakura," Wes stated.
Nishan jumped up and exclaimed, "Sakura?! Why her? What does she have to do with this?"
Wes answered, "Whether or not she knows it, she's got the information that we need."
Nishan sighed in resignation and sat back down.
Jess hummed and chewed on her lower lip in thought. Then she finally spoke, "So all we need now... is to recruit Sakura to our school?"
Wes nodded, "You got it. And I've got a plan for it. I'll explain..."
.