“Old man Rowe has had it in for me ever since I came here.”
“I’m not sure what effect this will have on humans,” John argued while holding the bottle tight. He regretted telling Bobby what the compound could do.
“We will only use a little,” Bobby said assuredly.
Thank goodness, it was a short drive to the school, and once they got there, Bobby parked near the football stadium. He quickly got out of the car, and when he saw John not moving, he walked over to the passenger door and opened it.
“Come on. I need you.”
John reluctantly got out and followed Bobby to the back of the school. They looked at the row of basement windows, and when they saw one cracked open, they knew it was their way in. Luckily no one was there yet for the staff meeting. Bobby glanced at his watch and figured they had a good half-hour before the staff meeting would start.
Walking through the empty halls was unnerving. Their footsteps echoed unlike ever before. Bobby led the way, with John following close behind. As they entered the principal’s office Bobby glanced around. The evening sun illuminated everything in the office. It was then Bobby saw the folder sitting on the corner of the desk. He quickly picked it up and flipped it open. Bobby studied the computer sheets showing his grades and frowned. He had not realized just how poorly the teachers were grading him even though he was getting A’s and B’s on all the quizzes and tests.
Bobby walked over to the computer and turned it on. Once the desktop screen came up, he stared at the screen that asked for a password. Bobby opened the center desk drawer, rummaging through the drawer until he found the piece of paper he was looking for. Bobby hoped it was the user name and password.
Quickly he typed in the user name and then the password, but the only thing that happened was an error message. John motioned for Bobby to move over. Bobby quickly obliged. John sat down, went into the guts of the computer, and typed in a series of numbers and then clicked the enter button. Bobby watched the screen and hoped the system was not set up to lock up after a few failed attempts. To Bobby’s surprise, a large ‘Accepted’ crossed the screen.
“How did you do that?” Bobby asked.
“All computers recognize a cryptic code to bypass the security system.”
“We got to talk later,” Bobby laughed.
“Did I do something wrong?”
John pulled up Bobby’s grade history while Bobby watches over his shoulder.
“Is this what we came for?” John asked.
Bobby stared at the screen. “What are you doing?”
“You want to remain in school, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but isn’t what you are doing illegal?” Bobby asked.
“And us being here,” John asked motioning to the principal’s office, “Isn’t this illegal?”
“You have a point.”
Bobby looked at the “D” he was getting in Mr. Rowe’s class.
“I’m doing at least ‘B’ work, and he’s giving me an ‘D’—that isn’t fair.”
John clicked on the record and then changed the “F” to an “A.” He quickly modified other grades on the screen and then printed the page. Bobby grabbed the sheet from the file folder. He folded it, put it in his pocket, and replaced it with the new modified sheet. John turned the computer off and then just watched Bobby and waited for his lead.
Once done with modifying Bobby’s grades, they left the principal’s office and then walked down the corridor. John glanced curiously at the lockers with their combination locks. He walked over to one of the lockers and touched the lock.
“What is the purpose of this?” John asked.
“It’s where we store our belongings while we’re in school.”
John played with the combination lock for a moment, and then it suddenly opened. Bobby just stared at John.
“How did you do that?”
“These are primitive devices,” was all John said, adding no more explanation of how he opened it.
Bobby walked over to Shelby’s locker and motioned for John to open it. John reluctantly turned the combination lock a few times until the lock quickly released. Bobby slowly opened the locker and looked inside. Although there were no lights on in the corridor, Bobby could still make out the sketch of himself taped to the back wall of the locker. On the corners were penciled hearts with arrows through the heart.
“Oh shit, she does like me,” Bobby said with a grin.
Bobby closed the locker with renewed interest. He glanced at the clock on the wall and then quickly hurried to the teacher’s lounge. He feared the secretary would be there early to set things up for the meeting.
The teacher’s lounge wasn’t far from Shelby’s locker. Bobby had a purpose now. Granted he wanted to graduate, but he had to make sure that, along with his SAT score, he had the grades to reflect that that score was not a fluke.
Bobby quickly walked over to the teacher’s lounge door followed closely by John. Bobby opened the door slowly, hoping above all else that no one came early. As luck would have it, the lights were out. As he opened the door, the chairs were placed around the room for the meeting that was to take place shortly. Off in the corner, there were two pots of coffee on hot plates where the secretary put them earlier.
Bobby knew they would have to hurry because he was sure if the secretary would be back to finish setting up the room before the meeting started.
Bobby turned to John. “The show’s almost on the road,” he said, walking over to the pots of coffee. “Give me the bottles.”
John hesitated a moment. “I don’t know if what we are doing is right.”
“Now is not the time to back out,” Bobby snapped.
John looked concerned. “What effect it will have on humans, I can’t be sure.”
“I’m desperate. I can’t get expelled.”
“Maybe they won’t expel you.”
Bobby looked at John with disbelief. He was not going to chance that this would go his way. “Hurry, we don’t have all day.”
John took the bottles out of his pocket and reluctantly handed them to Bobby, who in turn quickly twisted the caps off and poured each into the two pots of coffee.
Once they were done spiking the coffee, Bobby and John quickly left the way they arrived, hoping not to run into any of the teachers or the principal. They made it out of the parking lot long before any of the teachers showed up for the special meeting.
CHAPTER 21
Once Elmer readied himself, he quickly got in his old Cadillac convertible with the extension ladder strapped in the passenger seat. Spot sat silently on the back seat waiting in anticipation for what was to come. It was a short drive to Widow Megal's house.
Once Elmer pulled up to Widow Megal’s house he took the extension ladder and placed it under the second story window that was lit. He quickly took the bottle of Viagra out of his shirt pocket and then popped one of the blue pills into his mouth and swallowed it. Then he started belting out Mario Lanza’s “Santa Lucia” with all the gusto he could muster up, still clutching the bottle of Viagra. Spot sat patiently at Elmer’s feet.
Widow Megal hurried to the window to see what all the noise was. She opened the window wide while watching Elmer below with his arms outstretched. Fearing the neighbors calling the police because of the noise, she motioned Elmer to come up the ladder.
As Elmer started climbing up the ladder with the bottle of Viagra in his hand, he slipped and accidentally dropped the bottle. Elmer hesitated a moment, he glanced down in time to see Spot grab up the bottle and run off with it.
Meanwhile, the Widow Megal waited patiently at the window for Elmer. Elmer threw caution to the winds and continued up the ladder. Once he was near the end of the ladder, the widow grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him through the open window. For a brief moment, all that could be seen were Elmer’s legs waving precariously about until a hand reached out of the window, grabbed the seat of Elmer’s pants, and pulled him through. In an instant, the window was slammed shut.