The mystery of Saganash.

First day at the new school.

As we arrived, the school bell ringed and we rushed towards the building to get to class.
"Hurry up, we're late." Sal told in a hurry but I stopped to take in my new school before going to catch up with Sal.

We walked down the empty halls towards our first class and I was still panicking about the prank Daniel did.
"Which ways the principal's office? I have to undo that stuff Daniel pulled. There's no way I'm getting stuck in the hardest classes." I informed him.
"Don't worry about it. He was just messing with you. There's only one class for our grade." Sal told making me place a hand in front of him so he'd slow down so we could look at one another.
"Our grade? Aren't you, like, a year younger than me and Sav?" I asked since she did look to be about my age.
"I sort of skipped a grade." He admitted before giving me a smile and a thumbs up before continuing towards class.

When we walked into the class, the teacher was already looking towards us and we gave an unsure look as Sav gave a small wave to us to signal where she sat.
"Nice of you to join us, Sal." He told making everyone look. "I take it this is Maximilian?"
"Live and in person." I told, seeing Sav quietly chuckle in her spot. "You can call me Max though. What can I call you?"
"This is Mr. Kittredge." Sal informed me.
"20 minutes late on your first day. Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance."
"Yeah, I, uh, overslept. I was dreaming about a soccer game and it went into overtime so..." I joked making the class laugh but I was more please I saw Sav tried to hide her amusement.
'Oh Daniel may be right.... I can never let him find out if I really do.'
"And isn't it lovely that Salvatore has decided to join us too. Please, have a seat." He told as he signalled for ua to go to the one where Sav was waiting and she moved her bag and jacket off the chairs so we could sit on either side of her.
"You're getting us into trouble." Sal whispered to me.
"Amusing. Utterly amusing." Sav whispered to us.
"I needed to make a memorable meeting." I whispered to her before winking, making a blush form on her face as she looked away from me and to her book.

"Okay, open up page Seven." Sir told making the class do so and I was staring off into space. "Now who can tell us something about the Pleistocene epoch?"
As soon as he asked that, Sals hand shot into the air and I looked towards him and noticed Sav was already ahead in the question list.
'How smart is she?'
"Anyone? Anyone at all?" He asked only for no one else to say anything. "Sal?"
"Pleistocene is the first epoch of Quaternary Period. It was characterised by the appearance of large land mammals and birds including Mastodons, Mammoths, giant --"
"Thank you, Sal." He told cutting him off. "What else?... put your hand down, Sal."
Once Sal put his hand down in disappointment, I put his hand up. Surprising the teacher as Sav and Sal looked at me in confusion.
"Max, yes, what can you share with us?"
"Can I go to the bathroom?" I asked.
"Fine. Sal? Why don't you show him the way?" He told to get Sal out a bit and allow others to answer questions.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
"But --"
"Go."
"Later-ade." I whispered as we left and Sav wiggled her fingers a bit to wave bye.

We snuck into the library to see no one was there and Sal was just confused over the whole thing.
"I thought you had to go to the bathroom." Sal pointed out.
"Try to keep up." I told as I made my way in and gently tapped him on the shoulder. "That was just to get out of that boring class."
"'Cause you wanted go to the library?" Sal questioned as we made our way to the computers.
"To research this Saganash business. You're a computer whiz, right?" I told making Sal nod before we sat down at one of the computers. "Get to it."
We slapped our hands together twice before dabbing and Sal quickly got to work on finding anything out.
"Watch the door. If Kluterbeek catches us in here, we're toast." Sal told me before continuing his work.
"What's a 'Clutter Beak'?" I questioned.
"The headmistress. She is a pit bull."
"I'm not afraid of anyone with that name." Max told in amusement, not understanding the worry in Sal's face.
"You should be. She's suspended kids for less than this."
"Suspended on my fist morning. That'd be a record." I told to Sal before seeing the code I didn't recognise that he was putting into the search bar and it switched to a black screen. "What makes me think you're not typing 'Saganash' into the search engine?"
"Commercial search engines and for amateurs. Dynamic assignment distributed web crawling uses infinite client sourcing to maximise efficiency." Sal explained as he worked away and I was just confused.
"Okay, say that again and imagine I'm not a tech genius?"
"My way's better." He told before hitting enter and we were shown a access granted sign on the screen. "Okay, I'm in."
He continued to worked away on some parts till it came up with how many results he got from the name they were looking up. Bad news, it was just 1.
"All I'm getting for Saganash is a hotel in Miami." he told before a second one came up making him click on it. "And a deodorant."
"Maybe we're looking for the wrong thing. You know, what if it's some kind of code? Ooh, try, um... Hsanagas." I told making Sal become slightly amused.
"Sanganash spelled backwards? Really? Think about it. Kate wrote 'Saganash' so it must mean something. But how can it mean anything if it's not on any computer?"
"Just because something doesn't show up on a computer doesn't mean it doesn't exist." I pointed out making Sal scoff.
"Don't be ridiculous. The internet is the repository of all knowledge."
"Oh, yeah? Have it tell me what I had for breakfast." I told him.
"What? It doesn't know that. It only knows the information that has been entered into the computer. Which at this point is just about everything in the world." Sal explained, making me give a slightly confused look how it didn't clock for him.
"Just about, but not everything. Where can we find information that Erik and Kate would know that isn't in a computer?" I asked making us both think before snapping our fingers and looked towards one another.
"The library at home." We both told.
"We gotta go." I told him
"But how? It's only first period." Sal pointed out making me give him a look before texting Sav so she knew to also play sick so she can get out of school today.

Sal sneezed into his hands and the head mistress gave an unsure look about it as we stood before her in an empty class.
"He doesn't look sick to me." She told us.
"Are you kidding? He's got all the symptoms of a serious illness. Right? Headache?" I began to list and flicked the back of his head so Sal would start to play it up and I already knew I'd have to find ways to get him to play up the other symptoms. "Tenderness in the belly. Muscle weakness and loss of balance."
I lightly hit Sal on his back out of view, causing Sal to fall over, which was what sold the whole thing.
"I know your sisters are home sick today. I suppose it's possible he's caught what they've got."
"That's what I'm saying, yeah."
"All right, Sal, you're excused for the day." She told before she wrote it down and Sal sneezed as he walked off.
"What about me?" I asked her.
"Well, you look fine."
"For now, but I've been infected. This thing is mad contagious, okay, I--" I spoke before playing up a cold. "I would hate to get anyone else sick."
I gave another cough making her quickly pull the plate away from me to try and not get sick.
"Don't get your germs all over me! Go home, both of you!" She spoke before she got a thinking look over her face. "Has Savanna been spending time with you lot before this?"
"Yeah." I spoke before I clicked my fingers. "I think she spoke about a headache and feeling hot."
As on cue, the door was knocked on and Sav popped her head in. I was even impressed she managed to look ill.
'Helps to grow up around theatre people.'
"Sorry miss, but I don't feel too well. Is it ok if I lay down in the medical bay for a wee bit?" She asked before sniffing like she was trying to stop it from running.
"No, you are to go home and rest. Go now!" She told making Sav give a slow nod before leaving the room and I followed after the two.

Once we were over at the bikes, I couldn't help but be impressed over Sav acting ill.
"That was amazing." I told her, making her smile.
"I've picked up a few things with acting and what not. But we aren't out of the waters yet, they can still see us through the windows."  She quietly reminded me.
"I've got your helmet, but I don't know if you can fit on my bike." Sal told her.
"I've got it. She can sit at the back of mine." I told the two as Sal gave the helmet to her.
"My knight in red hoodie." She told making me blush and I scratched the back of my head.
"It's nothing." I told her making her chuckle.
Once we got the bikes undone, I jumped on before holding it so she could do the same and she wrapped her arms around my waist to keep her steady. As soon as I felt her lean against me, I could feel butterflies form in my stomach.
'Oh I so need to make sure Sav doesn't hear any of the teasing. I don't need anyone working it out.'