Capítulo VII- Bolos de Llantas Gigantes Y Una Ventaja

     Adam, Bree, and Patience arrived at school for the recycling drive for Caitlin. They didn't have an exact plan mostly because no one else knew Bree accidentally leaked their bionic secret. As of now, their best hopes were to speak to Caitlin.

     Adam grinned, "Oh! I love recycling drives! Lots of barrels, a gigantic tire. Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

     "Probably not."

     "Yeah, most likely not."

      Adam stated, "Duh! Gigantic tire bowling!" Adam picked up a recycling bin and stacked it up on two other ones.

     Bree stepped towards him, "Adam! That is not why we're here."

     "It's why I'm here," Adam jogged to the giant tire. "Just push me. And I know what you're thinking. But this is gonna work way better than trash bag skydiving!"

     Patience leaned on the tire, "Adam, we aren't exactly here for that."

     Bree pulled Adam out of the tire, "We have to find Caitlin before she tells anyone."

     "Okay, are you absolutely sure she saw you super-speed?" Adam asked.

     Patience pursed her lips and touched his shoulder, "Adam. You and I were there when Bree super sped into the living room."

     "And she won't return my texts or calls," Bree added. "Why else would she run off like that?"

     Adam shrugged, "Maybe she saw a squirrel. Always gets me running."

     Bree rolled her eyes as Patience quirked an eyebrow. Bree turned back, Adam and Patience's eyes gazed towards the direction she looked at. Caitlin carried plastic bottles closely to her chest. "Hi, Caitlin," Bree and Patience chorused.

     Caitlin turned slowly on her heel. "What's going on?" Adam greeted.

     Caitlin stuttered, "Oh, uh, nothing. Nothing at all. I, uh, I- I- bottles!" she dropped the bottles and ran in the opposite direction. 

     Bree sighed, "See? She definitely knows! We can't let her expose our secret. But maybe we can give her something she wants in exchange for her silence."

     Adam gasped, "A hamster and a strawberry pie."

     Patience shook her head, "No, no, no, no. We can't manipulate her like that, you saw the look on her face when she told us who she likes."

     "Patience, we have no other choice. I blew our bionic secret and now we have the chance to keep it."

     Patience licked her lips and glanced to where Caitlin ran off to. Patience thought hard of another idea, nothing new came to her mind.

     Patience already had to worry about Marcus exposing their secret but there wasn't anything she could do against him. With Caitlin, they had the advantage. She knew the guilt was going to eat her alive but if it meant the Davenport-Dooley family would stay together then she would do it.

     Patience exhaled. "Fine."

     "Ah, I see where you're going with this. Maybe we can get him to hang out with her and then convince her she didn't see what she thinks she saw. Wait, see, saw, carry the one. Yeah, that tracks," Adam clapped his hands together, excited he figured it out. "So, who's the unlucky guy?"

     "You."

     "Huh. Yu, the Japanese exchange student? Nice guy, I can see that working out," Adam nodded, smiling.

     "No, Adam. She likes you," Bree poked his chest.

     Adam groaned, "Oh, no way, I'm not doing that. Caitlin's super weird. Plus, I'm not getting between her and that Japanese dude."

     "I'll push you for ten frames of gigantic tire bowling."

     "You've got yourself a deal. Clear out, people! She's bowling, I'm rolling." Adam hopped into the tire, shooing people out of the way.

     "Well, I'd say put on a helmet, but at this point, I don't think it matters," Bree chuckled.

     "Let's do this!"

     Patience paced to Bree's side and helped her push the tire. It rolled across the hall and hit the recycled bins. The tire fell to the side and Adam crawled out. He frowned, "Really, guys? A seven-ten split? Roll me back, let's pick up the spare."

     Bree and Patience glanced at each other and shared vexed looks. Adam picked up the tire and rolled it back to its original spot. Bree and Patience aimed the tire and propelled it to the bins. To their luck, the tire hit all the bins.

     However, the three had to pick up the mess they made. They separated and sorted the recycled items into their proper bins. In the small break they had, Patience remembered the robot throwdown this afternoon. Patience picked up her pace and shoved the bottles in their bin. 

     Once Adam, Bree, and Patience finished cleaning, they huddled up at the top of the stairs, staring at Caitlin. "Do I really have to do this?" Adam asked.

     Patience rested her arms on the railing, "We've come this far, might as well."

     "Hey, we just tire-bowled a 250," Bree recalled, "You're not backing out now."

     Adam sighed and strolled down the stairs, "Hey, Caitlin!"

     Caitlin yelled and bumped into the empty water jugs. Adam lifted his arms and calmly stepped towards Caitlin. She fixed her posture and dusted herself off. But her awkward posture disappeared and a beaming smile invaded her features.

     Patience pursed her lips and glanced at Bree, "I feel like I'm gonna go to hell for this."

     Adam, Bree, and Patience waited on the couch. The recycling drive should have ended a couple of minutes ago, knowing what Caitlin told Adam, she would show up right after. The doorbell rang and Adam sarcastically smiled, "Oh, great. Caitlin's an hour early."

     Caitlin pounded on the door, "It's Caitlin! I know you're in there! I can hear your voices!"

     Adam scrambled off the couch, but Bree and Patience pushed him down. "No, sit down," they whispered. They stood up and Bree answered the door.

     "Oh, hi," Caitlin calmly said, strolling into the great room.

     Patience waved at her, "Hey, Caitlin."

     Bree smiled, "Hi, Caitlin."

     "Can you two leave? I want to hang with Adam."

     "Yeah, sure. Just wanted to say-"

     "Now, Bree."

     "Right, we'll go." Bree passed Adam, "Good luck with that." Bree grabbed Patience's arm, leading them to the kitchen. They pretended to search for a snack, listening in on Adam and Caitlin's conversation.

     "I brought five movies. I hope you like documentaries about Polish nuns who paint with their toes."

     "Look, Caitlin, I wanted to ask you-"

     "Yes, the answer is yes!"

     "Look, I need to talk to you about why you ran out the other night. I think there was a misunderstanding about what you saw."

     "What are you talking about? I didn't see anything. I'm like, totally blind without my glasses."

     Bree and Patience turned around and headed back to the living room. "What?"

     "Yeah," Caitlin withdrew her butterfly framed glasses from her pocket and put them on, "I wasn't wearing them, because I was afraid if you saw me, you'd think I was a dork," she laughed.

     Adam huffed, "So why did you run out?"

     "I got flustered when I heard your voice. Just like this morning at school. But that won't happen anymore, 'cause I'm totally comfortable around you now," Caitlin wrapped Adam's arm around her shoulder. Adam shrugged her off and Caitlin forcefully put his arm back, "Love me!"

     Adam let go of her again and fumed, "Are you kidding me? I missed the robot throwdown for this?"

     "Lucky you, huh?" Caitlin's eyes bore into Adam's, "Wow, you must be feeling the passion too. Your eyes are really red."

     Bree's eyes widened, she super sped to push Caitlin out of the way. Patience hid behind the counter as Bree grabbed Adam's shoulder to re-direct his heat vision elsewhere. The stench of burning cloth hit Patience's nostrils. She poked her head out of the side of the counter. Caitlin laid on the couch and beside her was a burned throw pillow. Bree pushed Adam out to the hallway. 

     Caitlin questioned, "What is that smell?"

     "Uh, I was smoking a turkey," Bree lied. Patience crept out behind the counter.

     "Can you help me find my glasses?"

     "Uh," Bree took a step and a crunch sounded underneath her foot. She and Patience made eye contact, knowing they messed up. Bree answered, "Oops, found 'em," she helped Caitlin off the couch, "Guess you better go home and get some new ones." Bree pushed Caitlin out the door. 

     "Wait!" Caitlin called out. 

     "Out you go." 

     "Just let me tell Adam-" Bree shut the door on her face before Caitlin could finish. Shuffling came from outside and Bree and Patience turned their heads to the window. Caitlin pointed at them, "I'll be right back. Don't start the movies without me!"

     "Okay, I need to go because I said I'd be at the robot throwdown." Patience looked down at her phone checking the time, "And it ends in fifteen minutes, I gotta go. I'm sorry that I gotta leave so soon, bye. I love you!" Before Bree could say anything Patience sprinted out the door.

     Patience spotted the two boys with matching green sweaters. "I'm here!" she stopped in front of them panting and began ranting, "I'm so sorry I'm late. We thought we exposed your bionic secret and we had to convince Caitlin by manipulating her, which I'm probably going to hell for that, but the good news is that she didn't see anything."

     Chase and Leo froze and sent her confused looks. "Patience, breathe," Leo consulted.

     "Right, just give me one moment." Patience calmed her breathing, her heartbeat slowed down and she pushed her shoulders back to fix her posture.

     "Are you okay?" Chase asked. Patience nodded her head. "What happened?"

     Patience explained everything that happened within the past twenty-four hours to Chase and Leo. Her quick run-on sentence explanation from earlier turned into a steady-paced explanation and answered the questions they asked her.

     Patience frowned, "Again, I'm so sorry I missed the tournament."

     Leo placed an arm on her shoulder, "It's okay, Patience we get it."

     "Yeah," Chase agreed, "you did what you had to do. Plus we kind of knew if you didn't show up you would've had your reasons."

     "Really?" Patience smiled, "You guys are the best. How was the competition?"

     Leo and Chase looked at one another and broke into their victory dance, "We won! We won! We won! We won!"

     "Oh, that's great you guys!" Patience engulfed the two in a hug, with her joining they jumped around in a circle.

     "Okay, okay, that's enough," Leo cleared his throat. He and Chase stood straight, avoiding the looks they got by bypassing people.

     "Wait, wait, let me take a picture of you guys," Patience offered. "Where's Josh?"

     Leo nonchalantly said, "You knew our robot had a stupid name and you didn't tell him it was supposed to be scary?"

     "Hey, he was excited that he found a name for it. So where is he?"

     Chase pointed back at the arena, "In there." Chase ambled to the gate and left it open for Leo and Patience. 

     Patience took her phone out of her pocket as Chase and Leo posed themselves for the photo. Leo was on the left, holding the controller. Chase was on the right, holding the other controller and Josh was in the middle.

     "Say, cheese!" Patience smiled.

     "Cheese."

     "Cheese."

     Patience snapped the photo saying, "I'm surprised you didn't refuse to say 'cheese.'"

     "Can we see?"

     Patience handed her phone to them. "Don't worry, I'll send it to you both. What do you say we call Adam and Bree so we could go out for ice cream and you could tell us all about it."

     "Sure."

     "Sounds great to me."