"I've been looking all over for you," Austin says as she walks towards us.Did she really have to come here now of all times? This was the one chance I had and she just ruined it."Are you okay?" She asks Wyndy."I'm fine. Avan's been keeping me company while you hang out with your boyfriend."Austin groans. "I am so sorry Wyn.""It's fine, he's been great company," Wyndy says and I smile."What are you guys doing back here? The party's inside.""We just wanted to get some fresh air, the party was getting a little stuffy. Why were you looking for me?""We were just about to play a game of truth or dare and I thought it'd be fun if you joined us.""I'd love to!" Wyndy pipes up and at the same time jumps up from the bench. "Come on, Avan, let's go!""Yeah, come on, loverboy," Austin says sarcastically as she and Wyndy go back into the house, giggling amongst themselves. I sigh and follow them in.♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪By the time we get back to the party, the s
It can't be. My invention was right here before I left for the party. I frantically search my room for it, upturning everything in sight but still not able to find it. Maybe Travis knows where it is. I shake him awake and hold his shoulders."Travis! Travis, get up!"With sleepy eyes he scowls at me and attempts to fall asleep but I continue shaking him. He groans and turns his back to me."Please get up," I plead, while shaking him harder. "We have a huge problem."He pops one eye open and asks, "What problem?""I can't find my invention!""What?!""I can't find my invention!"He throws the sheets off himself and jumps out of bed. "What do you mean you can't find your invention?""I can't find it anywhere in this room! Do you perhaps know where it is?""Of course, it's right there," Travis says and points to the place where it was meant to be and is surprised to see the microwave there."That's a good looking microwave. Whose is it?" He asks."I have no idea, but that is not the main
"This is ridiculous," Austin deadpans as she sits in the 'interrogation chair' in my room. Travis and I invited her and my parents to my room for a harmless interrogation session. It took a lot of convincing to get her to come to my room for her session."Just answer the following questions and you can leave. It won't take more than two minutes," I tell her and she folds her arms."Go ahead.""So, Austin, you are aware that your brother's invention has gone missing and we believe that it is because someone who knows about it must have told someone who isn't supposed to know about it," Travis says and Austin rolls her eyes."Did you really have to wear that stupid hat?" She asks."Yes, it makes me feel like a detective.""Can we just get this over with? I've been sitting here for over a minute and you haven't asked me any questions.""That brings me to my question. Who have you told about Avan's invention?""Nobody.""Think of the times when it must have slipped. You have to tell us so
School seems even more suffocating than ever now that I have to walk through the hallway with a smiling face and act like all is well when all I really want to do is bang my head against a wall and scream out my frustration. I have not been in the best frame of mind all through the weekend and it doesn't help matters that I have to be around so many people.For the first time in my life, I didn't want to go to school. Travis had to drag me out of bed and give me a pep talk before I could even muster the strength to get prepared for school. So here I am, in school, making my way to my locker, but without the usual enthusiasm."Cheer up, friend, you can't be gloomy all day," Travis says.I scoff as I stop by my locker and open it, only to slam it back shut right after."Easy there, don't take out your frustration on the locker, it did nothing wrong."I scoff again and open the locker once more, searching for the textbooks I would need for the first two periods."Is there anything I can
"What do you want Travis?" Austin drawls after the third knock."It's Avan. Can I come in?"She doesn't say anything and I take this as my cue to go in. As soon as I enter the room, she sighs loudly and falls back on her bed."Have you come here to point more accusing fingers at me? Save yourself the trouble and just leave.""I'm here to talk," I say calmly."Have fun talking to yourself."I walk over to her bed and sit on it."I didn't say you could sit.""I didn't ask."She simply rolls over to the other side of the bed and busies herself with her phone."I know you're upset at me, and for good reason. I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did. I'm sorry."Austin looks up from her phone to give me a meaningful stare, I bet she wasn't expecting that apology."Are you here because you want to or because Wyndy wants you to?""Come on, at least accept my apology.""I won't accept it if it's an indirect apology from Wyndy.""It's not."She raises her brow at me and I offer her a smile
It's been several days since the burglar broke into my room and after declaring my room a crime scene and conducting series of investigations and interrogations, the cops were still not able to find him. They put up wanted posters of him with the picture Austin took but still no luck. And the worst part is that there are no clues that could even give us a lead and I feel like the cops are not even trying enough. It seems as though all hopes of finding my invention are lost.I do not even have the inspiration to create another invention, I would just simply use one of my old inventions and see how far I can get in the contest. It's worth the try. Speaking of trying, I have been trying to get over the loss of my ITM-01 which, quite frankly, is way more difficult than it sounds.And just when I thought there is no way of tracing the culprit, Austin pulls me and Travis into the janitor's closet to show us the wallet of the burglar she picked up before the cops got to my room. The wallet m
"Can you get me a rag! What you're doing isn't helping!" The man yells at Wyndy and she obliges."Hey, no need to yell at her, this was just a mistake," Alasdair says as the man quickly puts his baseball hat and glasses back on."How could she be so careless? Just look at how she spilled hot coffee on me!""I'm sorry about that.""I'm out of here. Get the job done this time and don't give me another reason to be mad at you.""Got it."Wyndy arrives with the rag after the man had left."Where's your friend?""He's not my friend.""I'm so sorry this happened. I hope he's not too mad at me?""He'll get over it.""Your coffee must be cold, I'll get you another one.""No need, I'm almost done with it.""Okay."Wyndy goes over to our table and I follow her."Do you know who that man is?" She asks me."You mean the man with the glasses? How would Avan know who he is?" Travis asks her."I'm asking cause he saw his face.""Yeah, and I took a picture too. When we get home I'll find out who he i
"That's odd. I thought I turned these lights off," Alasdair says. I open the closet a little so I can peek through it. Alasdair is looking for something on his desk."You really don't have to get me anything, let's just go back downstairs and continue our date." Wyndy enters the room and looks around, probably trying to figure out where Travis and I are hiding. She spots me and gestures for me to shut the closet before Alasdair sees me."I'm sure it's here somewhere, just give me a minute."Alasdair searches the drawers beneath the desk and lets out a frustrating sigh."You must have lost it, just forget about it," Wyndy says to him but he isn't having any of it. He starts to rummage through his room and I'm scared that he may want to search his closet since he's hell bent on finding whatever it is he's looking for.Just as I feared, Alasdair walks towards his closet and I quickly shut it. Thankfully the doors of the closet don't make any sounds, but Alasdair doesn't open them."What'
"Avan! Come down for breakfast, your dad's leaving in fifteen minutes!" I hear mom call out."Coming!" I yell back as I hurriedly pack my things into my backpack, taking a quick glance in the mirror. My name is Avan Allen and I'm an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl who wants to become extraordinary one day. I love acting and I want to be a big shot actor— to be fair, every aspiring actor wants to be a big shot actor. I believe I have the looks and the talent to become one. I can say that I am determined, enthusiastic and resolute with a you-can-do-it and never-give-up spirit. I've never really been in a real movie before but I've acted in quite a number of plays in my school and at shows so I'm kinda like a household name in my neighborhood. This school play is my chance of getting my first lead role ever and I know I'm going to get it because I've literally rehearsed my butt off for the auditions. I hear Austin, my younger sister, snicker and say, "I bet she's still rehearsing for th
"Hi, Caleb, this is Avan. Remember, we met last night at the—""Avan! It's nice to hear from you.""Yeah, thanks. I actually called to ask you for more details about the casting call and the movie I'm auditioning for.""Text me your email so I can send it to you.""All right, thanks.""Of course.""And thank you so much for this opportunity, it means a lot to me.""You're the one with the talent here, as well as that Basil guy. I'll have him in mind when next I'm working on a project and there's a vacant male role.""Thanks, it'll mean a lot to him.""Yeah..." He muses."I didn't mean to take much of your time, I know you must be really busy so I should hang up now. I'll mail my portfolio and headshots to you tomorrow.""All right.""Bye," I say as I end the call."You know, you shouldn't thank him so much for everything he says or does, it'll make you sound desperate," Travis says from the door before walking into my room. What now?"It's courtesy to thank people especially when they
"You're saying that you met one Caleb Daniels and he personally invited you to an acting call for his movie?" Mom questions me as we enter the house."Yes," I drawl exasperatedly. How many more times do I have to repeat myself?"That's great honey, but how do you know this is not a scam or something?" Dad asks. He's got his overprotective dad mode on. That can't be good."He is a well-known actor, director and producer so the chances of this being a scam are very minimal," I say. Dad is making a point and a tiny part of me is still kinda skeptical about this whole thing, but a large part of me wants more than ever for this to be genuine because if I get cast in the movie, it could be a huge turning point for my career. "When is the casting?" He asks again."Next two weeks.""All right honey, you can go. We won't try to stop you because of our doubts but you won't go alone; you'll go with either one of us," dad states, gesturing to himself and mom."Works for me," I accept."Can I com
We take our seats together, as usual; Travis and I sitting together in the middle of the class with Austin and Wyndy behind us, while we wait for our teacher. But before the teacher arrives, let me briefly introduce you to my best friends.In every group of friends there is always the mean one whom everyone is scared of. That's Austin Allen. She is tough, feisty, bold and fearless. She acts like she doesn't care about us or what happens to us but we all know that she does care, big time. She's also super strong because she's an MMA fighter and knocks out most of her opponents. Sometimes people find it hard to believe that she's just fifteen. To be fair, people aren't scared of her because of her meanness, they're scared of her because of her fists. Who wouldn't be? Then there's always the super smart one of the group who gets straight As, has a perfect attendance record and helps her friends with difficult homework and essays. That's Avan Allen. She's the smartest person I've ever me
Winning the Global Young Inventors Contest is a dream come true and I still can't believe it. I had been celebrated on the global stage and had several interviews. I had to even reschedule some of them cause it was getting dark and we had to go home.Over the past few days, my phone has been blowing up with calls, messages and emails from friends, schoolmates, teachers, extended family, and even from people I do not know. Several companies have reached out to me for work and projects and it was getting difficult to keep up, thanks to Travis who helped me keep tabs. Many of our neighbors even came to my house to congratulate me. It's been a busy week."Travis! What a pleasant surprise!" Ariel screams as she enters our house, holding a colorful card and a pizza box."What are you doing here, Ariel?" I ask her, then mouth a 'why did you let her in?' to Austin who mouths back a 'she just barged in after I opened the door'."I came here to congratulate you on winning that huge contest you'
Carly and Nathan turn around slowly, dread written all over their once smug faces. "D–da–dad," Carly stutters.The rest of us give way as Mr. Daniels walks towards her. I wonder if he heard all that she said, and I really hope he did. I see mom, dad, Mr. Trainor and Principal Foreman come up from the stairs. They were not here which gave Carly the chance to get close to my invention."What are you doing here?" Mr. Daniels asks her and she is taken aback but quickly regains her composure.She holds Nathan's arm and smiles sweetly. "I'm here to support my boyfriend, Nathan, and of course, watch the contest live."Mr. Daniels cocks a brow. "You're here to support your boyfriend..." He trails off and looks at Caleb. Carly follows his eyes and chuckles."Well, Nathan's parents couldn't make it today so I have to support him, but Caleb has his friends on his side so I'm sure he doesn't need me.""Is that why you tried to sabotage your brother and his friend?"The question shocks everyone bu
It is the day of the contest and we are on our way to the International Association of Inventors' headquarters while mom utters some words of encouragement to me– something she's been doing for the past fifteen minutes. It's quite a long drive, and I pray it comes to an end soon so I don't have to hear the same statements over and over."Avan, are you there?" Mom asks when she notices that I am aloof. I hum a response and she continues. I sigh. Austin and Travis snigger.We finally arrive at the headquarters and I heave a sigh of relief as I am the first to alight the car. The HQ is a large splendid building with intricate architecture and a large underground parking lot. It looks a lot like those spy agency buildings in movies– without the spies, of course.Two men and a woman dressed in black uniform approach us and after welcoming us, help me take my invention out of dad's car. They ask for my name and school and fix a tag on the invention then guide us to the elevator. I don't hav
"What are you doing here?" I ask Ariel when I don't see any pizza boxes in her hand. She is definitely not who I was expecting.She tells me that she's here to see Travis and that she has been unlucky because ever since the first day she saw him, she has been coming frequently but he's not always around. No one ever mentioned Ariel coming by the house."I'm sorry to disappoint you once again, but Travis is not here at the moment," I say."What? Where is he?""He's in Mexico.""He's back to Mexico, already?" Ariel pouts."Yeah, but he might return though."Her face lits up and she hands me the flowers. "Really! Keep these for him and look after them so they don't wither alright. Whenever he returns to the US, give them to him for me and inform me so I can come and see him.""Okay?""Thanks. I can't believe he's gone, I would have really loved to see him one last time before he left. And please tell your sister to work on her attitude," she says and leaves.I take the flowers inside and
Wyndy and I arrive at the lab and find the others waiting for us."What are you guys waiting for?" I ask them."The lock has been changed so I can't even open it," Alasdair replies."Good thing Avan asked me to bring his laptop," Travis says as he gets my laptop from the backseat of Chris' car.I quickly hack into the security system and the light on the lock turns from red to green, allowing us access into the lab. We hurry inside and switch on the lights, and mine and Alasdair's inventions are just sitting there. Carly was really smart to bring these inventions here, we wouldn't have thought they were here.Travis and I carry my invention and put it in the trunk of dad's car, while Chris and Alasdair put his invention in the trunk of Chris' car. Austin joins us in dad's car as we lock up the lab and head home."So this is the end of our date," Wyndy says as I drop her off at home."I'm sorry it had to end this way," I say.She chuckles. "You don't have to be sorry, it was fun, and w