Chapter 3

I tried to desperately signal Gene. He looked my way.

"Geeenee...the...cat.... is out of the bag..." I tried to whisper.

He tilted his head and gave a ‘What are you talking about?' look.

I pointed at his bag. He finally saw the cat. A horrified look was painted on his face. A picture-perfect expression.

"I have an idea. Come closer," I whispered. He quickly did as I said.

I punched him hard in the stomach. I caught him when he fell forward in pain. I'm so sorry Gene.

"Mr. Latrell, Gene isn't feeling well. I'll take him to the infirmary!" I said as I dragged him out of the classroom. Of course, I also took his bag.

We hurried to the back of the school to release the cat.

"You didn't have to punch me that hard, you know." Gene was rubbing his stomach, which was still in pain.

I grinned. "Sorry. I needed you to look convincing."

"You don't have faith in my acting skills, do you?"

"Nope!" I said with a smile.

"You're brutally honest..."

"Anyway, let's hurry and get back before we get caught."

When we both turned around, we found ourselves face-to-face with the school principal.

"Skipping class, are we?" He had an angry smile on.

The principal gave us a long lecture and a punishment of having to pick weeds from the school garden after the end of our last period. It wasn't a very pleasant experience.

"In the end, we got caught..." I sighed. "So much for ninja moves."

"This could have been worse, you know."

Gene and I were in the school garden pulling out weeds from the flowerbed. Everyone else went home while we were stuck in school.

"Yeah, you're right. This isn't bad." I smiled. "One day, we're probably going to look back at this day and laugh about this incident."

"I hope we'll still be friends by then."

"We probably will."

He smiled at the thought.

I paused. "Oh yeah! I met the phantom thief Auriel last night. I ended up falling asleep in the library after reading about constitutional law." I narrated my encounter. "Let's catch him together, Gene!"

He shook his head. "No, Beatrice. Let's leave that to the police."

"Fine. If you're not going, I'll catch him alone."

"No, please don't. It's dangerous."

"I know, but I have a score to settle with Auriel." I clenched my fist. "I won't let him get away!"

"Revenge isn't the answer!"

"Come on, Gene." I shook him.

"No."