“Come on! Come on! Come on!” I repeated as I repeatedly slammed a button in a frenzy. As I looked ahead, the display showed the palm of a hand. The sound of cars racing down the street filled the air.
“How long does this take?” I asked myself. I looked at my watch. 9 A.M. I was late for school.
Finally, the display turned white and I sprinted down the road. Taking a right, I kept on sprinting until I arrived at the entrance of my high school. I was panting heavily as I slowed to a walk. Catching my breath, I opened the door.
The two clerks turned to look at the sudden movement of the door. Their eyes hardened into a disapproving look as they saw it was a student that had opened it.
“You’re late. Again.” One of them said in a passive-aggressive voice.
“I know,” I said. “It wasn’t my fault though!”
“That’s what you always say,” she grumbled. The other clerk laughed. I know school is supposed to be a welcoming and all-inclusive space, but it’s times like these that makes me question that notion. “Why were you late this time?”
“I-” I began before stopping. It probably wouldn’t go well if I had told them the truth. My flight was delayed and the bus didn’t come. They would’ve asked more questions. “Just give me the paper to sign.”
She handed me a tardy slip. I repeated the same steps I’d done several times before. Write my name, date, the time, and class. When it asked for the reason I was late, I put that I had overslept.
When I had finished writing, unprompted, the clerk slid the paper towards her and began to read it. She laughed when she saw the reason. I reached over the counter and grabbed the paper. My fingers instinctively went into position to steal her watch. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t want to talk to her again.
As I walked out, I was reminiscing on the theft I had performed the day earlier. An eight carat diamond. Everything had gone smoothly until I reached the airline.
I’m never flying Spirit again. While they were the easiest to get something past security, they delayed my flight by 6 hours. Not to mention all the turbulence on the trip. I was also getting weird looks from an older gentleman throughout the entire flight.
I walked down the same path I always took to my homeroom. Math. The teacher was actually pretty chill. He taught extremely well, even though I knew the material, and let us have our fun.
When I walked into the room, he was mid-lecture. Walking awkwardly to the front, I handed the late-slip. He put it in his pocket without reading.
“Zack, since you came late, do you mind showing us how to solve this?” Many would see this as him picking on me, but it was part of his teaching philosophy. He wanted students to solve the problems he put up and explain to everyone else their steps and allowed the class to give feedback.
I grabbed the marker as I read the problem. Find the maximum value of the function y = |x^3-3a^2x| (where a > 0) on the interval 0 <= x <= 1
“Well, first we find the derivative and the relative extreme values. Next, we figure out the equations of the absolute values and when they apply, then-” I continued with the rest of the long-winded explanation before I ended up with three answers. I boxed them and walked over to my seat.
The teacher had a proud, fatherly smile on his face as he saw my answer. “Does anyone have any questions on those steps?”
Some hands went up and a discussion formed as he passionately went in depth into everything. Blake snapped my attention to him.
“What the fuck took you so long?” He whispered to me.
“I flew Spirit,” I said as if it explained everything. He just nodded as he understood what I was saying.
I took out the diamond from my pocket and put it on his lap. When he looked down to see what touched him, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
“You brought it to school?!” He exclaimed in a whisper.
“I forgot to leave it at the shop,” I whispered back.
“What if you lose it? What if someone takes it?” He asked. “Last night would’ve been for nothing!”
“Why are you such a pessimist? Just relax, no one’s going to steal it at school.” I tried to stop his anxiety. “And if they do, I’ll steal everything in their house.”
“You’re insane!”
“If I was sane, I wouldn’t be a severe and chronic kleptomaniac.”
“What are you two talking about?” My other seatpartner, Oliver, asked.
“Tu madre,” I responded instantly.
“Ugh, you two are morons,” he said. “I can’t believe girls find you attractive.”
“Okay buddy, your last name is Shepherd,” I snapped back. I felt a bit cranky from my flight.
“And? What about it?” Oliver asked in a tough guy voice. “At least it’s English unlike yours.”
“I refuse to let the colonizers win,” I said before sticking up my hand and showing him the palm of it.
“What?” He asked.
“Talk to the hand,” I said with a snicker before I put it down and ignored him. I pulled out my notebook and began to doodle as the lecture continued. I mostly did figure sketches of the teacher and other students.
After the lecture concluded, he handed out worksheets. I completed it with ease before handing it to Blake for him to copy. The class continued for another ten minutes until the long-awaited bell rang. Everyone started packing up and leaving the classroom quickly.
“Zack, can you come here?” The teacher asked. I was right beside the door and slightly tensed up.
“Oooh, you’re in trouble,” Blake sang out. I gave a playful punch on his shoulder before walking to his desk.
“What’s up Mr. Ramsay?” I asked casually and cautiously. “Is this because I’m late again?”
“No, you’re not in any trouble,” he said with a playful laugh. “To be honest, I don’t really care that you’re late because you still are able to keep up. If it works for you, I’m fine with it.”
My eyes twinkled. “You’re the best!”
He laughed again as he took a seat on his chair. “Zack, what college do you plan on going to?”
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I sighed. “To be honest, I’ll probably just go to community college, but I’m considering studying abroad.”
His ears seemed to perk up as his eyes widened. “Community college? Why?” His voice carried a hint of outrage.
“I don’t want to deal with the stress of a big name college. I just want to enjoy life.”
“But you have so much potential!”
“I don’t really see myself sitting at a desk for eight hours a day only to go home and do the same thing for 40 years. Er, no offense. ” In truth, my life was already good. I had sold access to Project Archer to the NSA and collected several government favors and somewhat of a pension. However, I am content with the life of an internationally wanted thief.
“I implore you to change your mind,” he said with a sigh as he reached towards his messy desk. Beside the flier to the school dance, he lifted out another flier. It was bright purple and had big texts and graphics. “But this is what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Looking at the flier, it showed our district followed by the words Olympics. It was a competition between the two high schools in several sports.
“To be honest, I think there are better soccer players than me,” I replied as I turned the paper back.
“Well, we both know that,” he said. “Look at the bottom of the second page.”
There was a clipart of a bow and under it were the words Outdoor Archery. “Archery?”
He nodded his head. “I saw you last year at tryouts. You’re the best archer in the district, maybe one that I’ve ever seen. Not to mention your ability to throw cards is great.”
“If I remember correctly, I got kicked out of the club for not attending practice,” I said. “I don’t think it’s going to go well if I’m going to boot someone from the club off.”
“They won’t care if we win the competition,” he said as he pointed to something on the other side. It was a big trophy. “I’ll host a school-wide tryout if you really want.”
I put the flier back down on his desk. “I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’m going to participate.”
He sighed as he handed the flier back to me. “Just keep it in case you change your mind.”
Out of respect, I nodded and folded it up before placing it in my pocket. Suddenly, the bell rang and students began to enter the room.
“I’ll write you a note,” he said as he took out a sticky note and signed his name. “Give it some thought alright?”
“Will do Mr. Ramsay,” I said as I took the note and began to walk off. “Have a good day!”
“You too Zack,” he said. With a tired and slow walk, I began walking to second period.
This was going to be a long day.
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The library is a vastly underrated place. Technology may make it easier to access information, but it’s often scattered and not as thorough as in books. You spend more time looking for relevant information than you otherwise would.
The library wasn’t silent by any stretch of the imagination. Several people were eating lunch inside and several competitions were going on from games such as Chess to Speed to computer games.
Walking through the non-fiction section of the school library, I was looking for books that would help me for my next heist.
“Nerd!” Blake called out and pointed to me as I browsed the section. I turned to the front to see he had his lunch tray in hand.
“Says the gemstone expert, Pearls.” I grumbled as I pulled a book out of the shelf.
“Diamonds aren’t for nerds but for the rich males,” he boasted.
“Great to know you’re antiquated,” I rose up from my kneeling position and started walking to the front.
Blake took a bite out of his chicken sandwich before carefully placing it down and speaking. “So what requires you to know thermodynamics, mechanical engineering, and electromagnetism?”
“The biggest heist ever planned,” I said casually.
“The what? What are you going to rob?” Blake asked in a hushed voice. When I got to the front, I put my stack of books down. “Hey Mr. Tercero.”
“Zack! How are you doing?” he asked as he took the books towards him.
“Good,” I said with a friendly smile. “Oh yeah, I’m returning this too.” Outside my backpack came The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar.
“Alright, great,” he said as he slid the book towards him. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Yeah, I did even though it’s my third time re-reading it.”
“Oho! And what was your favorite chapter?”
“I loved The Queen’s Necklace,” I said with a chuckle as I remembered the events. “It seemed bittersweet to me but the ending was great.”
“Heh, maybe I should give it a read,” he said as he scanned all the books. “Alright, here you go.”
“Thanks,” I slid the books back towards me and began to walk away with them in hand. “Also, if you like Robin Hood, then Arsene Lupin serves as more of an adult version.”
After putting in my two cents, I turned and saw a girl quickly look away and blush. I wasn’t ugly by any standards, but I also wasn’t too handsome.
“Hey Jocelyn!” I said with a wave.
“Hi,” she squeaked out. Her friends blocked her view of me with a big fit of laughter and motioned for me to get out of the room.
With a slight chuckle, I began to head out of the library. Me and Blake began walking to a secluded area in the field for some privacy.
“So what exactly do you plan on robbing?” Blake asked.
“What if I told you there’s a way for us to not only get our money back tenfold, but to publicly embarrass them?”
Blake looked confused before he suddenly tilted his head. “You’re not talking about-”
“I’m planning to rob the Tower of London,” I said so casually and imprudently. It was in a similar manner as saying you were going to walk home. My tone made it sound like not a big deal, something that is normal as if the place that housed the literal Crown of England was a penny on the floor.
Blake was stunned at my words. Anytime I named a target, I was always serious. However, there was a certain leap that one had to take from secure jewelry shops, museums, and auctions to one of the most guarded and significant spot in a country.
“You actually need medication,” Blake said. “Or did you mix some with alcohol?”
I laughed at his joke as we sat down in the shade of a big tree. I took my backpack off and set down my many books.
“Robin Hood always robbed the rich because it hurt their reputation and made them poorer,” I began in a melancholy voice. “In all the heists we’ve done, the only thing we managed to accomplish was lower the stock price of a company by pennies. We made no difference. I think it’s time to finally hit them where it hurts. We cut out the middleman and go straight for the country.”
“In today’s world, it’s simply too hard to steal enough from the rich to make a difference. But when I steal the jewels, trust in the country will plummet and so will the value of their currency. The government and crown will become laughing stocks.”
My voice and eyes were filled with spite and malice. The nightmare of waking up to see my father’s dead body, followed by a government vehicle driving away was one that kept recurring to me. The people that killed our fathers had gotten away with no consequences.
“Robin Hood gave back to the poor,” he said. “Their declining economy will only make them poorer.”
Realizing he had a point, my mind raced to find a solution. I loved Robin Hood’s goal and modeled some of my doctrines after him and Arsene Lupin. It didn’t make sense for the poor to suffer more from a theft. “How much money have we stolen?”
“Around 97 million dollars, why?”
“Our parent’s policy was for 10 million total,” I said. “The media calls me a Robin Hood. It’s only fair some of it goes back to the people right.”
“You want to give away 10 million? After all that work?”
“What work? I did all the robbing!” I protested. “You were the guy in a chair!”
“Hey! There was Barcelona, then Buenos Aires, Nice, Kentucky, not to mention I cleaned the diamonds and sold them.”
“Yeesh,” I sounded out. “Okay, you’re mostly the guy in a chair.”
“Thank you,” he deadpanned. “It’s about time my contribution was recognized.”
We looked at each other before sharing a giggle. Friendly banter would liven any situation. “So are you actually planning on giving it all away.”
“Of course not. I’m thinking 1 million USD.”
“That’s barely anything,” he said. “A mere illusion.”
“It’s the best I can do. It’s hard to make a meaningful impact on an entire city in this world, much less a country. I can only be generous,” I explained. The rest of the money is a reserve fund for the two of us and wouldn’t serve a true purpose. “But I’ll perform a miracle.”
“And that is?” he questioned.
“Well, that entirely depends on whether it’s technically possible,” I said as I eyed the books.
Blake’s eyes narrowed as he finished up his meal. “We’re really doing this, huh?”
I put my arms on his shoulder. “We’re gonna do this together buddy!” I said in a cartoonish voice.
With a laugh, he pushed me off of him before continuing with his lunch.