the biology of love | chase davenport

no going back

Maeve, Adam, Bree, and Chase walked through the school after their last classes. Leo was home sick, so it was just the four of them.

"I am so glad that school's over," Bree said. "Mrs. Thistle talked for an hour in history. She's ninety- should she really be wasting all that breath?"

"In her defense, she's witnessed, like, centuries come and go, so she's the best source there is," Maeve shrugged.

They walked down the stairs to see students standing in a line. The lunch ladies were using metal detectors to scan each student, one by one, while Principal Perry collected phones.

"What's this?" Chase asked.

"Listen up, frog spawn!" Perry said. "Security check. Put all metal objects in the bucket, then proceed to the wands for a more... thorough search."

"Principal Perry, what's going on?" asked Bree.

"Someone's been stealing laptops from the computer lab, so I'm gonna busy the perp," Perry explained. She then eyed Maeve and her friends suspiciously. "Or perps. Bottom line, no one leaves this school without going through those metal detectors! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna sort through your loose change and have a little heart-to-heart with the vending machine."

"Guys," Bree said, pulling her friends to the side. "We cannot get wanded. Those things will go off like crazy when they detect our bionics."

"Well, what are we gonna do? She's totally gonna bust us," Chase frowned.

"Bust ya for what?" Perry ran up to him. "What are you hiding, Little Bo Peep?"

"Uh," Bree laughed nervously. "He's not hiding anything!"

"Well, he does have an unusually large birthmark on his left hip," Adam said. "You stare at it long enough and it kinda looks like Justin Bieber."

Perry rolled her eyes and grabbed Chase's arm, ushering him to the security check. "Let's go. Empty your pockets!"

"Principal Perry, I-" Chase stammered.

"Comply, perp! Wand him."

Chase stood, nervously fidgeting his fingers as the lunch ladies wanded him. When they reached his neck, the detectors began to beep.

"Well, what do you know? We got one," Perry smirked. "Flank him, girls. The little ones always put up a fight!"

Three more wandings and a borderline violating pat-down later, Perry had Maeve and her friends stand against the wall.

"Everyone else cleared the checkpoint hours ago," Perry said, pacing back and forth. "So why do you four fleshbags keep setting it off?! You may not have the laptops, but you're hiding something. Maybe another pat-down from Carol and Deb will make you talk."

The lunch ladies ground their fists menacingly.

"No, no," Maeve laughed nervously. "We're good, the first one already scarred me for life."

She and her friends tried to walk off.

"Don't move!" Perry snapped. "No one's going anywhere till I get to the bottom of this." She pulled out her phone and walked into her office.

"Guys, we have got to get out of here," Chase said.

"Relax," Adam said. "We just have to wait her out. There's no way Perry can actually see our bionics unless she rips her skin off."

"Have you met Carol and Deb?" Bree questioned. "I'm pretty sure it's in their wheelhouse."

Perry walked out of the office. "Great news!"