Clandestine

“What was that?” Charlie, one of the kids at Sunnyside asked. The whole plan was starting to come to fruition. Zack must’ve pushed the TV because there was a loud bang from inside the living room.

“I have no idea.” I lied. I was in the middle of plating up when the whole commotion started. Everyone ran into the lounge. Somehow Zack managed to come in at the same time as us, making it look like he was never there. Jack, Rian and Alex made it look like they were on their way to tell Susan, but she came out and went to look at the mess of what was once a television.

“Who did this?” She asked sternly. She turned to face me.

“It wasn’t her, Susan. She was in the dining room.” Charlie said.

“Where’s Jack?” She asked me. I shrugged.

“Last I saw him he was listening to music with his headphones in.” I answered. Like clockwork, Jack came from down the stairs with headphones in. Everyone turned to face him.

“What?” He asked, feigning confusion. He then looked at the TV with wide eyes.

“Who the hell did that?” He asked angrily. If the boys’ dreams of being in a band don’t work out, they can always be actors.

“How do we know it wasn’t you?” She asked.

“Hey! He’s been in his room the whole time since we’ve been back!” I defended for him. Okay, that was a lie. I’m just not sure how he made it upstairs. Alex, Rian and Zack came in from the front door. Everyone turned to look at them.

“And where have you been?” Susan asked.

“Sorry. We were playing in the front garden and kicked a ball over the fence. We went to get it back.” Alex lied.

“Well this had to be someone!” Susan exclaimed, pointing at the broken television. She sighed, trying to calm herself down. “Okay. Everyone get their dinner. I’m going home in a few minutes and Claire will be taking over for me. But the first thing we’ll be doing tomorrow is finding out who this was. Now everyone go and eat.” She said.

We all made our way to the kitchen. Thank god it went off without a hitch. Once we all ate we went to our rooms. I changed into what I was going to wear when we leave so I would be prepared. I set my alarm for midnight and put it under my pillow so it wouldn’t make much noise and wake up the rest of the house. It took me so long to finally go to sleep. Thank god I won’t have to put up with much more of Susan’s stupid 8 o’clock rule. I can’t get to sleep at that time. I woke up when my alarm went off. 5 minutes later I heard a soft knock at my door. I quietly opened it and the boys came in. Jack handed me my folder.

“You ready?” He whispered. I nodded my head. I got out my suitcase and put it on the garage roof before climbing out on it myself. The boys all followed my lead.

“Now what?” Zack asked.

“You jump and catch us.” I answered. He creased his eyebrows at me.

“Are you crazy?” He asked.

“Listen, you’re the only one of us that’s got good aim and the best strength. It’s not a big drop. Just land on your feet.” I said.

“Yeah, thanks for that. I’ll just injure myself and we’ll all get in trouble.” He whispered angrily.

“Off you pop.” I said, giving him a gentle nudge. He sighed in fear and defeat. He sat down on the ledge of the garage roof and jumped down. Luckily he was fine. He caught all our bags and put them down, then he got ready to catch us. Jack was first, then Rian, then Rian helped catch Alex. Then it was me. I got really nervous.

“Come on, Brooke! You can do it!” Jack whispered encouragingly. I nodded my head, closed my eyes, and fell into Jack and Zack’s arms. We then all rushed to get our bags then ran to the nearest bus stop. Once we sat down to make our way to the train station, I started reading my folder. I skipped all the information I already knew, and got to the good bit.

Brooklyn appears to be closest to the maid, Gabriela Souza, whom Brooklyn often refers to as her mother.

“I remember her!” I quietly exclaimed. Jack looked over to me, gladly taking a break from reading his folder.

“Who?” He asked.

“Gabriela Souza. When I was younger I used call her mum because she was the one who taught me to speak and all that. It was broken English but still.” I said, smiling at the memory.

“You must really miss her, huh?” He asked. I nodded my head. I then turned to look at him.

“How did you guys get out of Susan’s office earlier by the way? More to the point, how did you manage to make your way upstairs?” I asked.

“We climbed out through her window. I came in through the back door and made my way upstairs when everyone was coming to see what happened to the TV. Perfect timing.” He said. I smiled at him and shook my head.

“You’re mental, you.” I said. He just shrugged.

“We all are a little bit.” He said. I nodded in agreement.

“Hey Brooke, I was just wondering, did you tell Bonnie about this?” He asked. Oh shit. Bonnie! She has no clue about any of this. People are gonna talk to her and ask her if she’s heard from any of us.

“Crap! I totally forgot.” I answered. I got out my phone and tried to find the right words to describe what we’re doing, but nothing came on the screen.

“Brooke, maybe it’s about time you told her the truth.” Jack suggested. I just shrugged.

“No. It’s not. Look, let’s just come back to Bonnie later. She’s probably asleep right now anyway.” I said. “Let’s just decide who we go to see first, yeah?” I offered.

“Well, we have my sister’s work address. It’s in Manhattan, and I figure that we’re going that way anyway, we can just travel back via everyone else’s families.” Alex said. We all agreed to do that. We all got our stuff together as we were about to reach the train station, ready for the long 3 hour journey.

“So, New York. Do you think she’s a big business tycoon, or even a lawyer?” I asked. Alex giggled.

“I don’t know. Maybe. I just know she’s going to be doing the best she can at whatever it is she does.” He said optimistically.

“Where does she work, dude?” Rian asked.

“Hodgson Russ LLP. She’s working there today from 8. It says so in my file.” He said. The bus came to a halt and we all ran to buy our tickets. We sat in good seats on the train because it was so late nobody was up at this time. We just watched the city fade away as we were on our journey.

“Dude, there’s something I don’t get. If she works for this big company, how come she never came to visit you? She must have enough money.” Zack said.

“Yeah well… look, maybe she just didn’t have enough time. She clearly has a busy schedule.” Alex snapped back. Zack put his hands up in surrender. Alex is obviously touchy about this subject. To me though, something about this just doesn’t add up. I sighed and picked up my folder.

“I’m gonna try and read more of this, okay guys?” I asked. They all nodded their heads. One by one they began falling asleep. They were dropping like flies. Jack rested his head on my shoulder when he fell asleep and it made me get butterflies. I tried to ignore them so I could read the rest of my file.

Brooklyn’s parents decided against keeping Brooklyn after Gabriela discussed keeping Brooklyn herself. Realising that they couldn’t look after her but then not wanting any reminder of her, her parents released Brooklyn into care.

So they were just lazy people who couldn’t be bothered with me? They thought that leaving me with £5000 was enough for me to still love them? I can’t wait to see them and get some hatred off my chest. Alex mumbled Bonnie’s name in his sleep. I looked over at him. He has a major crush on my friend. It’s slightly weird. Not that he has a crush on her, but the fact he’s never even considered that she might like him back is insane. In my opinion they’re made for each other. Bonnie’s never said she likes him one bit, but I can tell from the way she smiles at him at lunch in school she’s as in love with him as he is with her. I decided to get my phone out and send her a text.

Hey Bonnie. You may hear a lot of things, and when we get back I’ll tell you everything, but right now me and the boys sort of have a lot of stuff to do. See you in a couple of days. – Brooke

I then looked at Jack. He was still sleeping soundly on my shoulder. I decided to join him and rested my head on his. I was abruptly woken up by Alex a couple of hours later. He looked like he was in a hurry, but the train doesn’t stop for another 10 minutes.

“Come on! Hurry up! We’re gonna miss our stop if you don’t stop sleeping!” He exclaimed, grabbing our bags off the racks. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, Jack following in my footsteps.

“Relax dude. We’re nowhere near yet.” Jack said, clearly unaware of the time.

“Yes we are. Just ten more minutes and we’ll be in Manhattan.” Alex said. Jack nodded his head then closed his eyes again. I giggled and shook him awake.

“Just 5 more minutes.” He mumbled.

“No dude, get up. You know we would if it was something you were excited about.” I said. He sighed and stood up.

“It’s still dark out though.” Jack groaned.

“Yeah, we do have a few hours to kill once we get off the train. But I figure we can go to an all night cafe, get some coffee and breakfast, then we can try and find Hayley’s work place.” I told him. He nodded his head and rubbed his eyes.

“Let’s just hope we don’t get murdered in the middle of the night in New York.” Jack said. I turned to face him and give him a dirty look, which he just giggled at. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” He said. Soon enough, we were in Manhattan. We all got off the train, and started looking for an open cafe.

“Here’s one!” Rian said. We walked towards it. It took us about an hour wandering around New York to find it. Once we all ordered our food, we sat down in a little booth that they had.

“So, what does she look like?” I asked Alex. He smiled.

“She’s so pretty. She has honey blonde hair that looks completely natural. And she has the same colour eyes as me, but she pulls them off better. Maybe she looks different now, but I’d still be able to recognise her a mile off.” Alex said. We all started chatting about our families apart from Jack who managed to steer clear of the topic. I felt bad for him. I hope he can either open up or get some justice if we find either of his parents.