Clandestine 10

chapter one

As Mr. Anderson dismissed our English class, we bolt out of our classroom and take our lunch break. As for me, I head for my locker to put some of my things in there. Books, notebooks, and my magazines. Having a bag with plenty of stuff is a complete hindrance.

The first thing that I encounter is my padlock. To access my locker, I should enter my passcode, which is 1227. The date of my birth.

As I type my passcode correctly, the metal loop of the padlock clicks open and I unlatch the locker door.

My locker is painted gray, and has a wide space in it, just enough for me to put my things. Decorating stuff isn't really a thing for me, that's why it is plainly gray and nothing else. I guess the colors of my things do add style to its simple, muted design.

I do as I wish, and was about to close it. But a bright yellow post-it note that is pasted on the back of my locker door distracted me. I peel it out the metal wall and scan my eyes through it. It reads:

See, I told you I use the net. Here's my email: 4ParksonMiles@yahoo.com.

PS: I memorized capitals today. Not happy.

My frown turned into a goofy smile—a secret message from Miles. I can tell from his bad skill in writing one. His message is too long, and his post script is very random. Also, too easy to crack the message. In just a minute, I already knew how to crack the message: the post script is where the decoding takes place.

(1) The word "capitals" is the only word that makes sense in the world of decoding. Capitals. From what I know, it can mean the capital letters of the words. I gather the capital letters and they are S, I, H, P, M, N. What do those mean? I decide to save it for later, and proceed to the next sentence.

(2) He gives me his email address. Too bad the way he labels it is too obnoxious for an email address—he puts a number first? I mean, who does that?

Oh wait, I got it.

The first post script sentence is related to the email address! The capitals of the email are P and M, with the number 4 beside it. It indicates time. He tells me a time. 4PM.

But, what about the remaining components of the address? Time to move on to the second post script sentence.

(3) He says he is not happy. What is the connection of his emotions to the message?

The first thought that comes to my mind is that it's just an additional information about him memorizing capitals so that it still sticks to that idea.

But, I know there's something about the sentence.

Think, think, think. What's something about being happy? What's something related about being happy?

Wait, that can be! Something related about being happy. It should be in the message.

I search for some words related about being happy, or the word happy itself.

First, he tells me he uses the net.

Using the internet can make you happy, but it's not helping. Either there's no word related on the word happy.

Second, he tells me his email address.

I've already decoded the first components separated by the 'at' sign, but I suddenly recall the remaining ones: yahoo.com.

I analyzed the word 'yahoo'. Wait... that's it!

The word 'yahoo' is related to the word happy. And he informs me that he isn't happy. Then all I need to do is to cancel the word 'yahoo' out. Therefore, what remains is the word 'com'.