This Text file is old! In a 🏛️Museum, an unsorted archive of (user-)pages. (Saved from Geocities in Oct-2009. The archival story: oocities.org)
--------------------------------------- (To 🚫report any bad content: archivehelp @ gmail.com)
>

	     	 Everybody Wants To Rule the World

			    Chapter Four
		   	Written By: LadySwan


	"Hi Mila!" a group of girls chorused. Mila turned to look 
in their direction. She saw a bunch of her new cheerleader friends 
standing by their lockers. She waved to them.
	As she continued down the hall, she heard wolfish whistles. 
Again, Mila turned to look where it came from. She saw a good-
looking boy, probably a Junior, smiling at her.
	Mila bit her lip shyly and smiled back. She continued walking. 
It seemed as soon as she had joined cheerleading, her place in the 
popular crowd had grown. It seemed as if everyone knew her, and 
were her friends, and almost every boy she passed would watch her 
walk away.
	I wonder why Sydney never told me being this popular was 
this fun, Mila wondered to herself, as she continued to notice boys 
watching her walk pass them in the hall. I bet Sydney's gotten a 
lot of dates this way. I wonder how many dates I'll get.
	And then she remembered. Garrett. He had only been gone for 
around three days, and already she was thinking about going on 
dates. Wasn't she the one who made Garrett promise not to cheat on 
her?
	No, Mila decided. What I want are fun dates to go on for 
boys and girls, no strings attached. Besides, to Mila, not 
cheating meant not getting a new boyfriend. She would just be going 
with friends on dates as friends.
	Mila found herself smiling again as she caught one Senior's 
eye as he watched her wolfishly, though standing next to another 
girl. She could get used to all this attention.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Still sitting at the back of the truck, JT and Neil sat, 
this time they weren't gagged, but still tied up. They were able to 
talk, but the only they did talk about was how serious their 
conversation was.
	And then, the truck pulled into another stop. JT and Neil 
groaned as they ended up tumbling around again. The bad guys had 
been stopping like this since yesterday. Sometimes it wasn't even 
that important, but every time, they checked to see if they were 
still there. Yesterday at least, when they had stopped, the Baldies 
had tossed in some food for them and had taken off their gags. 
	But then, they continued their trip. Their trip seemed to 
take days, two to be exact, but JT could tell they were only going 
around in circles. It was easy to keep track of the trucks 
direction, especially since they had nothing else to do or could do.
	From what JT could tell, they were either still in Swans 
Crossing, or in a town next to it, nowhere further.
	And so JT was really surprised when the truck's back door 
opened, and the four Baldies, roughly pulled them out.
	JT looked up at the bright sky and was blinded. It felt so 
long since he had last seen the sun. But he didn't see it for 
long. The four big men dragged JT and Neil into a huge warehouse. 
JT tried identifying the warehouse, but it didn't look familiar. 
Maybe they weren't in Swans Crossing anymore. But then again, since 
when did he go looking at the warehouses in Swans Crossing?
	They were thrown into a dark room, no windows, a small 
bathroom, but it looked even more uninviting than the back of the 
truck. It was very dark and damp. It even smelled a little. And JT 
was almost certain he felt something scurry between his feet. 
Something small. Something, like a rat. He cringed.
	And then they heard the men laughing through the door. They 
were talking in a foreign language, but from time to time, they 
would use some English words like tell, force, boss, Pegasis, and 
JT and Neil gasped when they heard Barek.
	Barek. He WAS in on all this. They couldn't believe their 
ears. Barek, he had been such a great friend at the beginning. 
Sure he seemed mysterious, but everyone had their secrets, didn't 
they?
	JT groaned as he lightly knocked his head against the rock 
wall. If only there was a way they could tell Callie and Jimmy 
what they had discovered. But their wasn't. JT began to wish he had 
never heard of Ub2b.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Nancy made her way to cheerleading practice at the end of 
the day. The grass was a brilliant shade of green, the sun was 
shining brightly, and there was an occasional slight breeze. It was 
a great day.
	But as Nancy sat down on the field with the other 
cheerleaders, she frowned when she noticed there was something 
missing. Mila and Glory.
	They weren't anywhere in sight. Mila said something about 
meeting up with her teacher after school let out, but Nancy wasn't 
sure. She was only sure that Glory was still moping about JT and 
was in no shape for cheerleading.
	But now that both of them weren't around, Nancy stood out 
as the girl who was the least popular among the cheerleaders. Nancy 
always felt so insecure around these girls, especially when Mila or 
Glory weren't there with her.
	Nancy had thought that being a cheerleader would have made 
her more accepted into the popular crowd at school, when in reality, 
the people in the popular crowd got to know her as this wanna-be.
	Nancy had no idea how she even became a cheerleader. She 
wasn't as great as Mila or even Glory or all the other cheerleaders.
But somehow, she had still made the squad. She wondered briefly if 
it had something to do with Ms. Langer and her mother being best 
friends. But Nancy was too happy to be a cheerleader to care.
	But Nancy began to wonder if all the cruel looks from the 
other cheerleaders were worth being a cheerleader at all.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Sydney and Callie made their way to room 105 for their 
first official school newspaper meeting. Sydney daydreams about her 
getting to know David Collins a lot better than just an 
acquaintance, while Callie still wonders what might happen when she 
and Jimmy stake out Barke later.
	"Thanks for coming, Callie." Sydney tells her friend.
	"It's nothing. It's not like I had a choice or anything." 
Callie says. "Besides, it might be nice to get my mind off of JT 
and Neil for a little while."
	Their conversation stops as they enter the room where a 
couple of people are already there. They take their seats towards 
the left side of the classroom. David Collins is already there, 
standing at the front of the classroom, talking to Mrs. Dalton. 
Sydney tried prying her eyes away from him, trying not to make it 
obvious she liked him. She looked around the room, and saw a couple 
of Freshmen and Sophomores, but mostly Juniors and of course 
Seniors.
	Just then, Mrs. Dalton decided to start the meeting. "Ok 
people, I want to thank you all for coming. You all will be working 
on the Swans Crossing High Newsletter, which is a weekly newsletter. 
So you know you all should be putting a lot of work into it. I'll 
turn you over to David who will explain further. David." she said, 
giving the floor to him.
	As Mrs. Dalton steppes aside, David took center stage. 
"Great newspapers usually have great staffs. And so we'll need one 
too." He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote on the board Editor-
in-chief, Associate Editor, Managing Editor, Associate Managing 
Editor, Art Director, Associate Art Director, Layout Editor, 
Associate Layout Editor, News and Features Editor, Associate 
Features Editor, Associate News Editor, Literary Editor, Editorial 
Staff, Writers, Artists, Layout Artist, and finally Photographers. 
	He began by assigning people to a certain job. Since David 
was already Editor-in-chief, that position was filled in 
immediately. Stuff like the Editors and the associates of Art, 
News and Features, the Editorial Staff, the Artists and the 
Photographers were easy to fill out.
	And then David turned to Sydney. "How about you, Sydney? 
Surely you don't want to be JUST a writer."
	Sydney's mouth dropped open and felt her mouth go dry. 
"Um, well, I guess I could be the Associate Layout Editor, I 
guess." It was the first easy and available thing Sydney could 
think of.
	David smiled and filled in Sydney's name next to the blank.
He turned to Callie. "How about you?"
	"Um, I'll just stick to being a writer." Callie told him, 
shrugging. Callie was still thinking about how the stakeout would 
go, and when David had asked her, she realized she didn't even want 
to put a lot of effort into a paper that would come out weekly. 
She decided a writer was the easiest way out.
	Sydney was still thrilled that David remembered her name. 
She was planning on putting a lot of effort into this newsletter. 
A lot. She was grinned from ear to ear. She looked back up at the 
board. She wondered who her 'boss' would be. And then next to 
Layout Editor, she saw Alex Hunter. Sydney remembered him. He was a 
Junior. He was really smart. But he was also really cute. The guy 
was sometimes shy and quiet, but he had this adorable smile. Sydney 
was actually looking forward to getting to know him better as well.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Sandy walks down the Swans Crossing High hallway after 
school hours. She had to stay and talk to her Math teacher for a 
little while, and missed walking home with Saja. It didn't matter 
much. She was going to see him later at the Soda Shop at 5. She 
decided to stop by the Ladies' room so that she could wash her 
hands.
	She entered the door, put down her stuff on the counter 
and turned on the faucet and began washing her hands. And then she 
stopped. She heard the faintest sniffle. She quickly dried off her 
hands and turned back to the stalls to see who was in their.
	She looked under, and finally saw some feet in the left-most 
stall. She peaked in through the hole. "Glory? Is that you? What's 
wrong?"
	Found, Glory unlocked the stall's door and came out. Her 
eyes were red and puffy and she looked horrible. Horribly sad that 
is. In her hand were a bunch of crumpled tissues.
	Quickly, Sandy took some tissues out of her book bag and 
handed it to Glory. "Here. Are you still worried about JT?"
	Glory nodded soberly. And then she burst into tears all 
over again. "But it's not just him. It's almost everything! First 
Garrett goes back to France, Mom has been acting pretty strange 
lately, and now JT and Neil are in the hands of some real creeps. I 
knew it was wrong of JT and Neil to keep on continuing their 
experiment, especially after we knew there was something seriously 
wrong here in Swans Crossing, but I didn't do anything to stop it! 
It's all my fault!"
	"It's not your fault," Sandy consoled Glory. "No one knew 
how evil these guys were. No one knew how important their experiment 
was." She gave Glory a hug.
	"There's something in the air." Glory complained. "It seems 
as if everything that can will go wrong."
	Sandy found herself sighing loudly. "Yeah, isn't that so?"
	Glory turned to her friend. "Oh yeah that's right! How 
could I forget, you left the band yesterday! Oh, Sandy!" They 
hugged each other again.
	"It's alright I guess. I didn't like how things were going. 
I should have left long ago." Sandy shrugged, taking a tissue 
herself.
	Glory bit her lip. "I just wished things would become 
better again. If one more thing goes wrong I'll scream!"

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	David adjourned the meeting, and Callie was anxious to go 
already. "Callie, please just stick around for a little while!" 
Sydney pleaded.
	"I can't Sydney, Jimmy's waiting for me. I gotta go. I'm 
sure you can talk to David by yourself. Ok?" Callie waved to her. 
"Bye!"
	Sydney waved back to her friend, as she watched her leave. 
She turned back to look towards the front of the room where David 
was still standing. Sydney would have gone up to him and started a 
conversation, but he was already talking to three other people. 
So she decided to wait for a moment or two.
	She subtly headed towards the front of the room. And then 
she ran into Alex. "Hey!" she greeted him in a friendly tone. She 
might as well, if he was going to be her boss.
	He smiled at her. "Hi."
	"So I guess you're going to be the Layout Editor, huh?" she 
said lamely, trying to make conversation.
	"Yeah. So I guess that would also make me your boss, huh?"
	"Yeah. I guess it would."
	"Don't worry, I won't order you around, too much." he joked.
	Sydney laughed. And then she looked over her shoulder to 
see if the three were still talking to him. They weren't. But 
instead there were two other people talking to him. She turned back 
to Alex.
	Alex gave her a half-smile as he noticed where Sydney was 
looking at. "So I guess you have it in for David Collins, huh?"
	Sydney blushed. "Am I that obvious?"
	"Not really, but I can usually tell these things." He 
smirked. "Half the girls who joined the staff only joined because 
of him. Is that true with your case?"
	Sydney shook her head. "Nope. I only joined because my 
friend Callie wanted my moral support when she joined so that SHE 
could meet David." Sydney fibbed.
	Alex smirked again. "Oh really now. So why would she leave 
and you'd stay if you were only here to lend some moral support?"
	Sydney opened her mouth to defend herself but nothing came 
out. She found herself blushing again. "Ok, ok, so it's really the 
other way around." she admitted. "But it's actually pretty fun so 
far."
	Alex shrugged. "It is, actually. But it was a lot more fun 
last year." he said with a wistful look in his eyes.
	"Oh I'm sure it'll be a lot more fun this year." Sydney 
argued. "The staff this year is a lot better than it was last year."
	"It is not!"
	"Is too!"
	They laughed when they realized their argument/conversation 
had gotten out of hand. They smiled at each other.
	"Fine." Sydney declared. "It will be."
	"We'll see." Alex said mysteriously.
	They laughed again. Looks like David Collins isn't the only 
reason I'm looking forward to being on the newspaper staff this 
year, Sydney thought to herself happily.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Mila was walking down the hall of Swans Crossing High, a 
little after school had let out. She felt a bit sad that she wasn't 
able to go to cheerleading practice, she had to go and meet her 
Chemistry teacher. Since she had never taken up the course before, 
she was a bit behind her level and had to do some major work to 
catch up.
	She stopped by her locker to get some books that she needed 
to study for the night for her lessons tomorrow, placed them in her 
book bag and closed her locker.
	She stepped outside of Swans Crossing High and inhaled 
deeply. She smiled. The fresh air was great. Since Mila only lived 
six blocks away from the school, she had decided to walk home. 
	"Hey Mila!" a Junior Mila met yesterday said, popping up 
from behind a tree. "I thought you might still be here."
	"Hey Greg. What's up?" Mila asked smiling coolly. But 
inside, Mila's heart was thumping wildly. A Junior she had met only 
yesterday remembered her name, and it seemed like he had been 
waiting for her!
	"Can I walk you home?" he asked.
	"Sure, my house is only six blocks away." she told him.
	As they walked towards Mila's home, they talked and talked 
about all sorts of things, school, sports, cheerleading, couples, 
old or new romances between classmates, a lot. Mila was really 
getting excited and she almost knew that Greg was going to ask her 
out on a date. She left out the fact that she was dating Garrett 
Booth who was in France. She was glad that his name never came up.
	And then interrupting them was Mila's cellphone which 
started to ring. Mila smiled at Greg apologetically, and took her 
phone out of her bag and answered it. "Hello."
	"Hi Mila, it's Owen." a way-too-friendly voice called out.
	"Owen, uh, hi." Mila said in an embarrassed tone. "What do 
you want?"
	"Well, I'm home already, and I was wondering if you could 
come over and we could start practicing, because I think we need 
to start anew because Sandy is gone and-"
	"Owen, I don't I can make it today." Mila interrupted, 
looking at Greg.
	"Oh. Ok. Um, how about tomorrow after school then?"
	Mila's mind raced. If today went well with Greg, then she 
just might even have a date with him tomorrow, or she could get him 
to walk her home again. "Tomorrow's not so good for me either. 
Look Owen, I'm really busy right now. I'll call you when I'm free. 
Ok? Bye." she said, hanging up on him without waiting for an 
answer. She quickly clicked off her phone and smiled at Greg.
	"What was that all about?" he asked.
	"Oh nothing." she said with a wave of her hand.
	"Ok then." He took her hand and they continued talking 
as they walked down the path leading towards the Rosnovsky mansion.
Things were working out for Mila, just the way she wanted them to.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	"How long do you think we'll be stuck in here?" Neil asked 
JT, as he fingered the rock pattern on the wall. "It's pretty 
weird, you know? They haven't even asked us for the formula of 
Ub2b yet or anything."
	"Don't hold your breath." JT warned. "I'm sure they will 
sooner or later." JT was pacing around the room, trying to find a 
way to escape their little prison.
	"Where are we?" JT could hear Neil ask softly.
	"We're either in Swans Crossing or someplace close to it. 
We were just driving around in circles."
	"Oh ok. Do we give them the formula?"
	"No way! Why would we do that?"
	"What if they threaten us with a gun or something?"
	"I dunno...."
	"Or worse, what if they threaten us with the lives of one 
of our friends again, like what happened to Glory?"
	JT grew silent. He definitely did not want them to harm
Glory once more. He felt the weight of the responsibility of the 
safety of his friends.
	JT grew more and more sad than angry by the minute. What 
if he would never see his friends ever again? Or his family? Katie?
More than anything JT wished he could turn back the clock to the 
beginning of summer when he and Neil decided to work on Ub2b and 
then forget the whole thing.
	JT angrily pounded his fist on the cold stone. But he knew 
it was useless. He leaned against the wall and sighed. Glory, if 
only he could see her beautiful face one more time at least.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Garrett sat by his window, looking out longingly, wishing 
he was back in Swans Crossing. It was ok here in France, with 
friends like Michel, but still, there were also his French lessons 
he did not have a clue about, and also the head master, who was 
watching Garrett so carefully, he wanted out even more. 
	France wasn't home. It wasn't at all like Swans Crossing 
where he had all his friends, Mila, Glory, Jimmy, and even Sydney.
He missed all of them like crazy.
	He wondered what Mila was doing, and if she actually missed 
him! He hadn't received a letter from her yet, he wondered if it 
had gotten lost in the mail. Everytime he called her, she was 
always out.
	Garrett then remembered the promise they had made the day 
before he left. Never to cheat. Garrett snorted. There wasn't much 
chance of him cheating on her. He was in an all-boys boarding 
school. And this school was strict! They never let them go out. 
They had to sneak out to see the girls.
	But Garrett didn't care much about the French girls. All 
he knew was the girl he was destined to be was in Swans Crossing, 
and that was all that mattered.
	Maybe she just needs to be reminded to write to me, he 
decided. He took out some paper and began writing her a letter. At 
first Garrett briefly wondered what he could write about. And then 
he remembered to tell her that he wasn't cheating on her, and that 
he had heard about what had been happening so far from Sydney. He 
made sure that his letter was far from anything poetic that might 
make her remember and ask him to write her a poem.
	It was a bit difficult writing Mila a letter about all 
these things, and Garrett wondered why. When he had written to 
Sydney, he was able to write freely without stopping to think or 
anything. Maybe it had been easier for him to write, because she 
was just a friend, and because Mila was his girlfriend, he had to 
make this perfect.
	Stumped, Garrett opened up his desk drawer once more and 
took out Sydney's letter and read it again. A smile was on his 
lips as was reading it. Even as he read her letter over and over 
again, it still made him smile every time.
	Over the summer, he and Sydney had done some pretty rotten 
things to each other. Now that their fight was all over, it seemed 
to have given Sydney some room to mature. And she had, she was 
being great. She was like the only best friend he could talk to, 
the one he never had had, until now that was.
	Garrett snapped out of it, and remembered he was supposed 
to be writing a letter to Mila. He re-folded Sydney's letter 
carefully and put it away, and went back to Mila's letter.
	But he was still stumped. "This would all be easier if I 
was still back in Swans Crossing instead of here." Garrett muttered 
angrily to himself. Garrett sighed miserably.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Callie and Jimmy were at the post office, checking JT and 
Neil's box to see if they had received anything they needed for 
Ub2b. They wanted to check if maybe there was something that they 
could use, a clue maybe. JT and Neil had left them their key before 
their kidnapping. When Callie opened the box, she saw a single 
envelope.
	She saw right away that it was Sydney's birth certificate.
	Jimmy saw what she held. "What's that?" he asked.
	"It's for Sydney," Callie said, quickly stuffing it into 
her bag. "Wait, before we go to the Tool N' Die to go and stakeout 
Barek, I need to drop this off at Sydney's. It's on the way, 
anyway."
	"Ok..." Jimmy said slowly. "Why? What's in that?"
	"I can't tell you. It's very important to Sydney. Or at 
least, it was..." Callie trailed off, remembering that Sydney had 
told her that Garrett had trashed the birth certificate he held, 
and that they were now friends.
	"Ok." Jimmy said. He was still curious, but he decided 
not to push it any further.
	They left the post office, got on their bikes, and made 
their way to the Rutledge mansion. Sydney wasn't home yet, so 
Callie left the envelope with Ralph, telling him that it was very 
important.
	Callie went back outside, and joined Jimmy who was waiting 
by their bikes. "She wasn't home?" he asked.
	Callie shook her head. "It doesn't matter." She got onto 
her bike. "What really matters is the stakeout. We have to be 
really quiet." she told him.
	"I can be quiet." he told her. And the he started his 
engine. It roared like it always did. Jimmy winced.
	"Maybe we'd better leave our bikes somewhere else and then 
just walk to the Tool N' Die."
	"Good idea." Jimmy agreed.
	They started both their engines, and left them at Jimmy's 
place, which was only two blocks away from the Tool N' Die. They 
made sure that no one was watching them and then by foot, they 
headed towards the Tool N' Die, knowing that Barek should still 
be there.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Sydney stepped into the Rutledge mansion and sighed happily. 
She was on cloud 9. After Alex had left, Sydney had gotten a chance 
to talk to David. They had chatted like old friends, and before 
parting, Sydney remembered David telling her, "We'll have to get 
together sometime soon."
	Sydney was still giddy with excitement, she almost bumped 
into the hall table. She shook her head and checked the mail to see 
if there was anything for her. Bills, junk, more bills, and then 
she stopped short. There was a letter to her from Garrett!
	Sydney was happy that he had written back to her. She 
picked up the letter, and was about to head up to her room, when 
a larger envelope caught her eye.
	She picked it up. And then Sydney's eyes widened. This must 
be my birth certificate from Callie, Sydney thought to herself.
	She grabbed it, along with Garrett's letter and quickly 
headed up the stairs to her room where she could see it's content 
in private.
	Garrett's letter will just have to wait, Sydney thought 
to herself, putting his letter down on her dresser. I never did 
find out if I was Sydney Rutledge or Sandy Swan. If I ask Garrett 
now, it could probably ruin our friendship. I need to find this 
out for myself, she decided.
	She sat down on her window seat, but before she opened up 
the envelope, she looked out her window and looked at Glory's 
window. How I wish Garrett was still here. And then her gaze 
drifted down to No Man's Land. Sydney then snapped out of it and 
tensely began to open the envelope.
	She pulled out the piece of paper, which was her birth 
certificate. She looked at the name. Sydney Rutledge. And then 
the right foot print. No swan birth mark.
	Sydney was shocked. She didn't know for a moment whether 
she was happy or not. And then a small smile appeared on her lips. 
"I am Sydney Rutledge." she whispered.
	But then her smile faded. "But why did he lie to me?"
	Sydney got her answer when memories from summer came back 
to her like a slap in the face. She remembered how she disappointed 
him the day she had walked away, and then again how cruel she had 
been to him at Mila's slumber party.
	She barely blamed Garrett for what he did to her because 
of what she did to him. But she wasn't going to get mad at him. 
That was all in the past now. Now they were friends, and they were 
going to stay that way. She smiled again faintly.
	She went over to her dresser and picked up his letter. And 
then she plopped down on the bed and began to read his letter. 
She was happy that Garrett's response was a positive one, and that 
he joked a lot in his letter like his usual self. His letter was 
a sign of promise, a promise that they would remain friends from 
there on, and Sydney was glad.
	After reading his letter twice, Sydney went over to her 
desk. Instead of starting on her homework, she pulled out a pad 
and began to write her response to him. But after her greeting, she 
paused.
	She was glad that his letter had been a positive one, and 
she knew that where he was, he shouldn't even have to be, but she 
knew she couldn't write a positive letter to him even though she 
wanted to, by keeping the friendship between them sealed. The whole 
birth certificate thing was kind of bugging her.
	She put back her pad in her drawer, along with Garrett's 
letter and her real birth certificate. She would write him a letter 
tomorrow, when everything would be different. Right now she had 
some neglected homework to attend to.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Coach Gromme took a deep breath and sighed happily. He 
stood in the shade of the big oak tree by the baseball field in the 
park. The grass was a brilliant shade of green, and the sun was 
shining. This was the perfect whether for baseball season. And soon, 
the playoffs would begin.
	Then he looked around at his surroundings. The playoffs 
could begin if he got his players to practice. They would practice 
if they would be there. No one was there. Coach Gromme looked at 
his wristwatch and frowned. It was 4:50. He remembered telling his 
team that practice started at 4:30 sharp. And usually, all of them 
were on time. Maybe he had gotten the wrong date.
	Coach Gromme shook his head and frowned. Nah, couldn't be. 
He remembered seeing Jimmy in Gym class the day before. He had 
reminded him, and told him to remind everyone else. Jimmy had 
agreed, but Coach Gromme had noticed he had looked a little spaced 
out when he was talking to the boy.
	He walked over to the dugout. There lay all the equipment he 
needed for practice. Now all he needed were the players.
	"Where are those guys?" he asked himself outloud.

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	Cornelia Booth sat down on the chair opposite her doctor's 
as she waited nervously for the results. Never in her whole life 
had she imagined that this might have happened to her.
	She took deep breaths to calm herself. Take it easy, 
Cornelia, she told herself. It's not certain yet.
	Finally, after waiting for long and endless minutes, her 
doctor finally came back and took a seat in his chair. He had the 
results of her test in his hand, which he then placed on his desk. 
He looked very solemn.
	Finally, the suspense was eating her. Corneilia broke out, 
"So is it confirmed? Is it that bad?"
	He looked up at her, his face unhappy. "We tried everything 
we could, but your kidney just couldn't take it. You have kidney 
disease."
	Cornelia's face turned white.
	"You'll need a kidney transplant. And right now, we're all 
out of the ones you need. It'll be awhile before we find the right 
one. In the mean time, you will have to come back three times a 
week for dialysis."
	Cornelia let out a sad, disappointed sigh. "Ok. If that's 
what it takes. I'll do it." She tried forcing a smile. "I can get 
through all this."
	Her doctor smiled at her. "That's the spirit."
	She slowly stood up from her chair. "Well, thank you, doctor, 
for the news. Now I have to get home to tell my family."

	   :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

	As quietly as they could, Callie and Jimmy hid behind walls 
as they made their way inside the Tool N' Die. They were careful 
not to brush loudly against the plants, for fear that Barek might 
hear them.
	Callie, who was shortly followed by Jimmy, entered through 
the back door, where luckily, Barek's back was facing. They hid 
themselves behind a couple of boxes, away from Barek's sight.
	They waited endlessly for him to make a move, say anything 
anything at all that might make confirm their suspicions about him. 
But their he sat, by the counter, working on some engine.
	The room was completely silent, except for the clanking 
of the screwdriver Barek was using while working on the engine.
	Finally, when Callie was about to give up, they heard a 
soft beeping noise. Barek looked around to see if anyone was 
watching and saw no one, so he took out what seemed to be a small 
black item that seemed to be a radio of some sort and said, 
"Browler here."
	Callie and Jimmy watch him curiously, as he presses a tiny 
black item, in his ear, which they assumed was how Barek could 
hear whoever he was talking to. They couldn't hear what the other 
party was saying, but they could hear Barek loud and clear.
	"So you've finally caught the two young scientists. Well, 
well, it looks like JT and Neil are in for a ride."
	Callie put her hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp 
when she heard Barek mention her two friends names. So he did know 
that they had been kidnapped. And maybe even where they were.
	Jimmy places a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. They 
knew JT and Neil were in trouble. Deeper trouble then they had ever 
imagined.
	"No. We won't do that to them just yet." Barek said. "I 
will be there soon. We'll deal with them together. I'm on my way. 
Browler out." Barek turned off his radio and stood up from the 
table. He put the engine aside on another table. He started to head 
out the door, when he paused.
	Barek bent down, and rolled up the bottom of his left jean. 
He took out another small item. "They've got them." he said into 
it. Callie and Jimmy figured it was another radio. But why did he 
have two? "I'm on my way there right now." Barek put back the radio 
and unrolled his jean. He made his way outside the shop and closed 
the door. Callie heard him get onto his bike and left.
	Just to be safe, Callie and Jimmy counted to a hundred 
before getting out of their hiding spot. When it was safe, they 
stood up, their bones aching from being in the same position for a 
while, and they made their way to the counter and sat down.
	"Hmm. He forgot to lock up." Callie commented, looking at 
the door. "He must have been in a real big hurry."
	Jimmy turned to look at Callie with a dead serious look on 
his face. "Callie, I think we're in deeper than we thought. What 
do you think Barek is going to do to JT and Neil?"
	"I don't know." Callie said, shaking her head. "But whatever 
it is, we've got to stop them!"


		        To be continued...

		          1999 LadySwan

If you have and comments, suggestion, questions, ideas, or any kind 
of criticism at all, please email me, LadySwan, at 
ladyswan_1@hotmail.com ! Thanks!!! :

Text file Source (historic): geocities.com/hollywood/hills/2262/fanfic

geocities.com/hollywood/hills/2262
geocities.com/hollywood/hills
geocities.com/hollywood

(to report bad content: archivehelp @ gmail)