The Locket

Chapter 20- Detention

I checked my watch. It was eight forty-three. I should probably get a move on. 

Wait. Should I tell Uncle about Nathan, though? No. I'll have to confirm it first. I don't wanna cause any trouble. 

I hugged uncle goodbye. 

"Oh, and," he said as I got to the gates "tell me if you see anything strange."

I hesitated, thinking I should tell him, but then nodded and left. 

I decided it'd be best not to go to the treehouse, since it would be too late to get to the portal. 

I walked to the portal and checked my watch mid-way. 

21:2. What? Shoot.

I ran toward the portal. It took me two more minutes.

I reached the portal, and found that it was open. 

Huh? Wasn't to be open till Nine? Maybe it was a real-life glitch or something. I don't know how this works. 

I crawled through, and went on my way to home. And then I thought about something halfway home. What if Nathan lied about the whole portal-closes-at-nine thing? I mean, he always seemed in a hurry about coming here. 

I dunno, man, but there was something going on. I really don't know what, but I'll have to get him to spill the beans. 

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When I went to school the next morning, I met Lucy and Oliver. They were really glad to see me. I asked them if they'd seen Nathan, but they said they didn't see him either. I got worried. Was he okay? 

I texted him several times in class. It was English class and I tried reaching him for the fourteenth time when the teacher came to my desk. 

"Alexandra," he said "this isn't like you. You always pay attention in class, and you know about our no-phone-in-class rule. Detention after school in this classroom. You could help a few other kids in detention remove the staples in magazines for recycling."

I groaned internally. I really need to find Nathan! Nathaniel. I-  Let's see. 

What if he really is Nathaniel, my cousin? And, most importantly, if he is, he knows I'm his cousin, too. I told him all about the visions and everything, so he'd know. Well then...Ansley? She would be there too, right? There's so much I gotta find out. 

Honestly, if he is my cousin, I'm first gonna slap him across the face for being a jerk and not telling me. 

Then again, what if he isn't Nathaniel? He would've told me if we were related. 

There's so many What Ifs.

I went to the English classroom after school ended and saw a bunch of magazines lying on the tables. Three other students were there, too. 

"Alright, kids," our teacher said "Choose whatever tools you want and start getting those staples out!"

I choose a regular stapler, and used the back of it and started taking out the staples. What felt like hours and hundreds of staples later, we were free to go back home.

I plopped on bed as soon as I reached home. All that taking-off-staples had really drained out all my energy. I thought I was forgetting something important, but forgot what it was. Oh, that's right.

Lunch.

I ate pancakes for lunch and went to take a nap.