Someday We'll Be Together

Chapter 27- The Project Continued

Lena opened her eyes to the sound of her alarm clock playing "Pocketful of Sunshine" Feeling quite exhausted, she reluctantly got out of bed when she heard her mother's voice calling them for breakfast.
"Max, Lena! Breakfast is ready!"
As they made their way downstairs, Max said, "You look tired."
"I guess I didn't sleep well," Lena replied.
When they reached downstairs, their father was watching a horse racing program on TV, while Leo was searching for his clothes in a fast-food restaurant uniform. Lena and Max sat down at the breakfast table.

"You old bastard!" Mrs. Fontana and the others at the table turned their attention to Michelangelo, who was watching the horse racing program with tye happiest look on his face.
"Language." Mrs. Fontana warned him.
"Fiona, I won the ten grand bet!"
"Whoa, thats my old man!" Max cheered, giving his father a high five from behind.
"You win only one and lose ten," Mrs. Fontana complained quietly.
"Mom, I have good news for you," Max said, changing the subject.
Mrs. Fontana turned to her son.
"I broke up with Samantha over the weekend. Turns out she was cheating on me."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Fontana looked at her son, pleased that her suspicions were confirmed. "Told you! That girl is no good for you! You deserve better."
Max turned to Lena.
"I heard that your friend Marla from the grocery store has a big crush on me."
Lena almost choked on her breakfast. "What? How do you know that?" It was Marla's biggest secret and only Lena knew about it.
"I don't know. I mean, all I knew was I had feelings for her too." Max shrugged. "I might have asked her on a date and she might have made it a lil' too obvious."
Mrs. Fontana raised her brows and stared at Lena. "I was not expecting that either." Lena said, trying to make her mother believe that she had nothing to do with this.
As Lena finished her breakfast and placed her plate in the dishwasher se headed to the door. Max followed behind Lena.
"I'm running late again. God! They're going to pay me the half," Leo grumbled as he hurried out of the house.

As they walked to school together, the Range Rover passed by them again.
"Since I wrecked the car, Dad can finally get a new one," Max said proudly.
Lena rolled her eyes. "How about buying it yourself once you start making your own money?"
"That makes sense, but just think about what we could do with ten grands!"
"Hey, Max!" Max and Lena looked towards the basketball court, where their friend Jerry was waving at them.
"Are you coming to the game tonight?"
"Of course! I'll be there every day, from now."
Jerry approached them. He greeted Lena with the usual wave.
"Hey, Lena."
"Hi, Jerry."
"So, you'll be at the game every night, not hanging out with your girlfriend?"
"We broke up."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, buddy."
"No worries, it was my decision."
"I see. Well, see you after school then."
"See you."
"See you tomorrow, Lena!"
"See you, Jerry."
Lena waved back at Jerry, and she and Max continued walking. As they passed by the town hall, a municipal vehicle drove by, announcing over the loudspeaker, "Lincoln Forest has been saved! Thanks to the funds raised in last week's campaign organized by President Hamphred, enough money has been collected to save Lincoln Forest! Park Springs residents, we thank you for your love of nature. Lincoln Forest has been saved!..."
"Hey, wasn't that the place you researched for your history project?" Max asked.
"Yes, that's where we found that scientist who disappeared 25 years ago."
"Why did she disappear?"
"Obviously she fell into a pit."

"Alright, now let's hear from Tyler and Lena, who will be presenting their projects," the teacher announced.
Tyler and Lena carefully carried their poster to the front of the classroom.
Lena began, "The place we chose..."
"... as you can tell from the name, is Lincoln Forest," Tyler finished.
Everyone in the classroom was looking at the poster titled "Lincoln Forest and the Mysterious Scientist."
"Did you know that this forest was nothing but a desert area with cacti growing 125 years ago?"
"Is this forest man-made?" a student from the front row asked in surprise.
"That's right. In 1925, as part of the town's drought relief campaign, the mayor planted trees on this massive area," Tyler explained.
The teacher interjected, "Tyler and Lena not only did this project, but they also made a significant discovery on behalf of our town. The municipality will reward them for their discovery."
"We found the bones of Margaret Lincoln, the scientist who disappeared in this forest 25 years ago."
"Sick! Did you really find a real skeleton?" Even those not interested in the lesson were listening to them.
"That's right."
"Did the woman disappear because of some crazy experiment or something?" Tyler shrugged. "Oh no. She just fell into a pit."
After Tyler and Lena finished their project presentation, they received applause from everyone in the class as they took their seats.
"Hey, we make a good team."
"Yeah, that was fun, not gonna lie."

"Hey, Lena!"
After class, Tyler caught Lena by her locker. Lena turned to him.
"Are you free on Saturday?" he asked.
"Why?"
"I thought we could go out for dinner. You and me."
Lena laughed. "Is this a date?"
"Why not? We had a good time working on that project together, didn't we?"
"Okay, sounds good to me. Don't forget to call me."
"Sure!"
Tyler returned to his friends with excitement.
"What did she say?"
"She said yes! I'm going out with her!" Tyler exclaimed excitedly.
"That's sick! You got that date!"
"Yeah! Finally!"
As Tyler's friends patted him on the back, Tyler was having the best day of his life.