Being A Professional Thief (on hold)

Chapter 2-news

    "Hi. I'm Jaden. What's yours?" Tina and I looked up from our food and saw a boy standing in front of our table. He had jet black hair that stood up an inch or two and had two cute dimples on his cheeks. He wore black, humongous spectacles which made his eyes look huge.

      "I'm Tina, and this is my friend Sammy" Tina had a surprised look on her face as he was the first boy who introduced himself to us since sixth grade when pimples started to form on our faces. So was I, as a matter of fact. “Hi.” I said.

      He looks kind of familiar, where had I seen him before? I thought. Jaden asked whether he could sit with us, and Tina said yes (too quickly I might add) and took a seat next to her. Then, he turned his head and faced me.

      "Thanks for saving my food back there. That thing you did just now was amazing!" That explains it. I thought. And why was I so careless? I wasn’t supposed to do this kind of thing in school. Mom always told me to keep my abilities at bay. I thought.

       He said it a little too loud for comfort as a few people nearby turned in our direction. Tina turned her head, flipping her wavy black hair at the same time and stared at me; giving me a ‘what’s he talking about’ look.

      "You're welcome." and that's when I noticed a tray of food in front of him. Not exactly a good choice of spectacles. Well, At least the colour's good.

      "Well? What did she do?" asked Tina, and Jaden proceeded to tell the tale about a girl who saved a plate of chicken chop with fries and salad from a great five foot drop to the ground.

      "...and then the food was flying upwards, and just as I thought that my food would be gone to waste, her hands caught the tray and miraculously caught all the food!

      “Seriously! Aw man, I missed the whole thing!.” exclaimed Tina. “So, are you a new student? I’ve never seen you around here before.”

      “Yep. I’m in grade eight and it’s my first day here.” Transferring in the middle of the year? What for? . “I still can’t find my way around here. Do you guys know where Biology class is? I’m...”

      “Yes!” Tina exclaimed and paused for a while as she struggled for the words to come out of her mouth.  I could see that she was nervous, big time. I couldn't see what was so nice about that guy. Realising that she said that too loud, she cleared her throat and continued. “We’re having it after lunch too. We could walk there together.” Tina said.

      Hearing that, his whole face lit up. “Yes, that would be great, thanks!"

     We ate our lunch in silence. After Tina and Jaden had finished their food, Jaden spoke. "Hey, have you guys heard about a young famous thief called Sam Rider? Apparently, he was a very famous thief 60 years ago and he was about our age! Well, a bit older I think. He was all over the news, I tell you. Although news did not spread as fast as now..."

      “Nope, never heard of him.” Tina and I said simultaneously. Hearing that, I could see that Jaden was disappointed.

      “Come on, not you guys too! Why does everyone I tell say the same....that’s not the point! One night 60 years ago, he just vanished without a trace.People remembered him not just by his profeciency of escaping, but his Crimson hair and glowing green eyes!" Hearing that, my ears perked up."  Rumour has it that he’s reappearing tonight! And it’s happening at The Mall where he would steal a five foot statue that weighs a ton! I wonder how’s he going to do that. He’ll complain about his back for the whole night, that’s for sure.” He let out a laugh which made me feel like laughing too, but curiosity won over my urge to laugh.

      “How do you know this?” Tina asked. Seeing that we did not laugh about his joke, he stopped abruptly and cleared his throat. “Well, my dad works at The Mall as a security guard and when he was patrolling around the grounds a few nights ago, he saw a note stuck to it. It said I’m coming for this statue on the 3rd of July at 9pm. signed Sam Rider.”

      “It might be just a prank.” I said. It must be a prank. Why would an old man return to the stealing business? It doesn't make sense. I thought.

      “Yeah, that’s what my dad said, so he didn’t bother telling the others. He replied.

      “I didn’t mean that. I mean how you knew about this Sam Rider guy. Obviously not many people know about him.” Tina said. Even the slightest trace of nervousness was gone from her face.

      “Oh, I made it up...of course I searched it from the Internet! Where else do you think that I would get that info from? Although I had to admit that it took me quite a while to search about that guy. His name wasn’t exactly rare you know, and not many people talked about him...” Tina nodded her head as he continued on while I ate.

       The bell rang a few minutes later, signalling that we should be on our way to class.

     It was already 5pm when I stepped out of detention. Detention was horrible! It was my third detention for the year and I’ve already had enough of it (all which was caused by sleeping in class). I made my way towards the bicycle shed, took my bicycle and started my journey home.

       I wonder what mom’s cooking tonight. I sure hope its fried fish! Yep, I love fish. In fact, my whole family love fish. I have three other people and an animal living under the same roof. That would be mom, dad, grandpa and Maxie our cat.

      We've been having Maxie since I forever and I would often argue about the name of the cat with grandpa as he was the one who named him. Maxie’s a dog’s name! I would say.

      Lost in thought, I over shot my destination and ended up a few houses away. Letting out a curse, I made a u-turn and headed back for my house.

       After I had parked my bicycle in the garage, I fumbled for my house keys in my backpack and when I found it, I inserted it into the keyhole.

       The absence of a click told me that the door was not lock. Weird, mom and dad are still at work, and grandpa would be still at his friend’s house playing chess. I thought. Curious and scared at the same time, I opened the door slowly and stepped into the house.

       I screamed as I felt nothing below my feet and started to fall.