The Traitor || Chase Davenport

15

"Oh. I am so glad that school's over." Bree says with relief as the four bionic teens walk down the stairs of the school. "Mrs. Thistle talked for an hour in history. She's ninety. Should she really be wasting that breath?"

Before the three could answer, they all noticed the lunch ladies including Principal Perry scanning a line of students at the exit.

"What's all this?" Chase asks.

"Listen up, frog spawn!" Perry shouts as she collects students' phones. "Security check. Put all metal objects in the bucket, then proceed to the wands for a more thorough search."

"Principal Perry, what's going on?" Bree asks as the four of them walk closer.

"Someone's been stealing laptops from the computer lab, so I'm going to bust the perp. Or perps." She says, eyeing the four. "Bottom line, no one leaves this school without going through those metal detectors. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sort through loose change and have a little heart-to-heart with the vending machine."

After Perry walks away, the realization hit Harley and Bree. The Johnson girl was the first to speak. "Guys, we cannot get wanded. Those things will go off crazy when they detect our bionics." She whispers.

"Well, what are we gonna do?" Chase asks. "She's totally gonna bust us!"

Perry, who was listening to what Chase was saying, sneaks up behind him. "Bust ya for what?" The four turn to her. "What are you hiding, Little Bo Peep?"

Bree stutters. "Um – he's not hiding anything."

"Well, he does have an unusually large birthmark on his left hip," Adam tells her. "You stare at it long enough and it kind of looks like Justin Bieber." The two girls nod in agreement.

"Let's go." Principal Perry grabs his arm and heads him toward the front of the line. "Empty your pockets."

"Principal Perry, I –"

"Comply, perp!" She yells, cutting the youngest Davenport off. He sighs as he takes his phone out and places it in the bucket. "Wand him."

The lunch ladies did what she said and they started from his feet and slowly moved up. The detector made no noise until it went to Chase's neck and went off like crazy. The two siblings beside Harley look at each other with wide eyes as the girl stares at the boy with worry. Her heart was pounding against her chest.

"Well, what do you know? We got one." Perry says. "Flank him, girls! The little ones always put up a fight!"

***

It's been hours since all the students, but the four bionics have left the school. The four of them have been patted down and scanned multiple times, the detector going off each time it hit their necks.

The four stood side-by-side with nerves as Perry walks up to them. "Everyone else cleared the checkpoint hours ago... so why do you four flesh bags keep setting it off?" She pauses. "You may not have laptops, but you're hiding something. Maybe another pat-down from Carol and Deb will make you talk."

"No, no. We're good. The first one already scarred me for life." Bree quickly says.

"I dare them to touch me again." Harley snarls, the nerves now adding up to anger. Chase nudges her side.

The four went to move but were stopped but Perry.

"Don't move! No one's going anywhere until I get to the bottom of this." She pulls out her cell phone and walks to her office.

Chase turns to them and whispers. "Guys, we have got to get out of here."

"Relax. We just have to wait her out. There's no way Perry can actually see our bionics unless she rips our skin off." Adam says.