Academy One Shots

Luke's School of Thievery and Mayhem

Challenge: Theft

"Luke, you're on in five, four, three, two, one!" the assistant calls out. I turn my blinding smile on the audience and wink.

"Hello birdies!" I exclaim. Some of the people swoon. One girl looks like she's about to faint, so I do the chivalrous thing and catch her. She's beautiful, but nothing compared to Sang. I have to keep up the act for the cameras, though.

"How's it going gorgeous?" I murmur. She looks shocked and freezes for a moment, then proceeds to squeal profusely right in my ear. This is the thanks I get for saving her? After gently righting her, I step away and wave her wallet in the air.

"One!" the audience shouts. Confetti rains down from the ceiling while a strobe light flashes from the walls.

I walk back up to the stage. "It's been less than a minute and already I've stolen my first object on Luke's School of Thievery and Mayhem! What will be next?" I ask.

The show's jingle plays overhead. A montage of all the stolen objects on the show is projected onto the wall to keep the audience entertained while I go backstage briefly.

"Great first pull!" an assistant complements me. He wipes off the light sheen of sweat already forming on my forehead from the harsh stage lights. "Ready?"

I nod. Walking back out on stage, I wave to my adoring fans. "I'm Luke Taylor, your devilishly handsome host for the evening!" I pause to allow for more squeals, "Today's lesson will be on lock picking! A recent post in the Academy Facebook group has alerted me to an increased interest in this practical art."

A computerized voice repeats "Lock picking!" multiple times over the loudspeakers while puffs of mist shoot up from the stage. My stomach rumbles- have I had anything to eat recently? Besides breakfast, lunch, and dinner I don't think I have. I'll have to steal something from the audience.

The room quiets down, signaling that it's time to start teaching. "I'll be covering how to pick a lock with a bobby pin- the only problem is, I forgot all mine at home! Do any of you birdies have some I could use?" I ask. Instantly, hands fly up into the air.

I walk over to a young lady sitting by herself. She looks excited that I'm coming towards her, but doubtful that I'm actually picking her. When I stop in front of her, she grins.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Melanie." she whispers.

"Would you like to be my assistant for the day, Melanie?" I offer. She lights up the room with an incredible laugh.

"Yes! I have plenty of bobby pins." she says, holding them out to me as proof. I grab them with one hand and hold up her wallet in the other.

"Two!" the audience shouts. Once again, confetti rains down and the strobe light flashes. The audience at this show normally leaves looking like they were in a confetti explosion.

I lead Melanie up to the stage. "Hold these for me, would you?" I say, handing her all the bobby pins but two. She accepts them with an excited air about her.

I direct my gaze back to the audience. "Now, for the crafting to begin! We'll need a lock pick to manipulate the tumblers and a tension wrench to turn the lock. I'll start with the lock pick." I explain.

A camera zooms in on my hands to give the audience a detailed view of what I'm doing. "First, you pull the rubber bit off the straight side of the bobby pin." I tug it off with my teeth, then continue. "Then you straighten the pin out to form roughly a 170 degree angle. Once you've done that, simply bend the straight end a tad to fit your lock." I demonstrate on the padlock I brought with me.

Over the next fifteen minutes, I show them how to make the tension wrench and how to actually pick the lock. The audience seems fascinated, and Melanie turns out to be an excellent assistant.

"Remember," I prompt the audience, "What's the first rule of Luke's School of Thievery and Mayhem?"

"Leave crime to the professionals!" they shout in unision. I nod sagely.

"That's right, because they're the ones that don't get caught! And nobody wants to go to prison, so it's best to leave crime alone." I say.

The room goes dark for a second before lighting up with spooky red lights. "Who's ready for the challenge?" I scream. Deafening cheers resound around me. I gesture to the middle of the stage, where spotlights call attention to five padlocks. "The first person to open their lock wins a complete set of lock picking tools! Who's ready to give it a try!" I ask. Once again, I have a plethora of volunteers.

Since Melanie already got to help, I send her back and pick five new people. I run throughout the audience to find the best volunteers. I normally try to pick people who are sitting by themselves or who otherwise look like they wouldn't normally be picked for things.

I see someone's pocket bulging and I pause briefly to steal what's inside of it. I cheer when I hold up a packet of M&Ms.

"Three!" the audience shouts. I shake the confetti out of my hair before continuing my quest.

I lead my five chosen people onto the stage. Four of them are normal teenagers, but one wears a hoodie with the hood drawn up so that I can't see their face. Unphased, I lead each one up to a padlock.

"Ready, set, go!" I yell. Spy music plays in the background as they wrestle with the locks. I smirk as I watch them- it's highly doubtful that any of them will crack it.

"Finished!" the person wearing the hoodie calls out. I look at them, stunned- they must have had previous experience. I walk over and confirm that sure enough, they opened the lock using only two bobby pins.

As a matter of habit, I pick their pocket and start when I hold up Sang's pink cellphone.

"Four!" the audience calls out. Strobe lights flash around us as I whip off the hood and look into Sang's sparkling green eyes.

"I so got you!" she yells over the music. Not pausing to talk, I pull her tight and kiss her right on the mouth.

"Ooh!" the audience cries out. I hear more than one scream of jealousy. I stop briefly to address the audience.

"That's all for right now, see you next time birdies!" I say. The stage descends into blackness, but it doesn't deter me from my number one priority-

Kissing Sang.  

**********

If you want to learn more about picking a lock with a bobby pin, go here: 

http://art-of-lockpicking.com/how-to-pick-a-lock-with-a-bobby-pin/