Lightning Strikes Twice: Escaping Great Expectations
So why not call him She frowned for a moment He isn’t taking my calls He’s not answering his phone Carter felt a flush of worry Uncle Dan always answered his phone Not exactly Isabelle pulled Carter out of the main hall and into a small alcove She took out her cell phone and punched in Uncle Dan’s number Using a cell phone in the school was strictly against the rules Since Isabelle was normally the queen of rules Carter knew she must be worried about their uncle She put her phone up to Carter’s ear so he could listen to his uncle’s voicemail message If you’re hearing this message I’m either away from the phone or this is Isabelle If I’m away from the phone leave a quick message and I’ll get back to you If this is Isabelle hang up I’ll call you when I need you Carter raised an eyebrow Just how many times have you called him 8
A few she said Sounds like a lot Isabelle huffed I don’t like being shut out We worked hard to get this project working for Uncle Dan Why is he shutting us out now I don’t like it Maybe he just doesn’t need us right now And maybe Storm is torturing him for information right this second Carter stared at his cousin You have a much scarier imagination than I thought Look I’ve got to get to class Isabelle stepped in front of him and put her hands on her hips Promise you’ll go over there with me this afternoon Isabelle he doesn’t want to be bothered Promise she said Or or I’ll tell everyone that you wet the bed when you were ten Hey Carter snapped I had a fever and Mom was loading me with liquids That’s just rotten 9
So is leaving Uncle Dan in the clutches of that hacker Isabelle said Okay I’ll come with you as long as you leave me alone now You got it She smirked as she spun on her heel and jogged off to her own class Not that a teacher would mind if Isabelle was late They would assume some horrible unavoidable accident must have happened Not like Carter He groaned hiked his book bag up on his shoulder and headed for algebra Mr Jarvis gave Carter the stink eye as he eased open the classroom door and slipped in Luckily the algebra teacher was in the middle of explaining some formula and didn’t want to interrupt his flow to yell Carter hauled his algebra book out of his book bag and looked over at Jina’s desk to see what page they were on She smiled at him and scooted her book a little closer so he could see Mr Lewis the algebra teacher called from the front since you’ve finally graced us with 10
your presence perhaps you could share your brilliance as well Come up and work number twelve on the board for us Carter looked down at the page and groaned softly Sometimes he hated his cousin The rest of the school day went about as well as algebra class When he got to gym class he remembered he’d torn the seat out of his gym shorts and had to borrow a spare pair from the lost and found The new shorts were too big and Carter was pretty sure he mooned the class at least twice Then when they headed for the shower Matt erased all doubt by calling him Moonie as he walked by The showers were cold enough to set his teeth chattering When he finally pulled on his street clothes as fast as possible he was ready to just put the school day behind him Are you going to get off the bus at my house or come over later Matt asked Carter groaned again I’m sorry Matt I forgot I have to go with Isabelle to Uncle Dan’s 11
