Jessica Harborough's Adventure
The story revolves around Jessica Harborough, a girl from a family of detectives, as she uncovers a mysterious plot involving her classmate James Heartthrob.
Jessica Harborough
Hello, I'm Jessica Harborough, and I come from a family of great detectives. My father was James Harborough, who was the son of Hardy Harbur Jackson Jr., whose mother was Janet Harbur, the first in our family to hold the badge and wear the uniform. Legend has it that she once single-handedly defeated an entire family of bandits with nothing but an empty revolver, inspiring my father, his father, and me to become seekers of justice.
The day finally arrived when I got to use my true skills. One day, on my way back from the restroom, I spotted James Heartthrob in the hallway—the guy my friend Lily Lentz had a huge crush on. He stealthily approached his locker, carrying a suspicious brown package, which he placed inside after making sure no one was around. After that, he walked away, but as a responsible citizen and the head of the Student Welfare Association, I followed him to a corner where he made a phone call, and I overheard every word.
"I secured the package. Good job. We will execute our plan tomorrow at noon. If everything goes well, we'll not only succeed in our goals but also leave enough money to live comfortably for the rest of our lives." As soon as he ended the call, he glanced sideways, and I made sure I was hidden from view. Then I noticed him take out a pair of golden-framed glasses, click them on, and a holographic display of a building appeared before him. It looked incredibly familiar, but I couldn't quite place where I had seen that building before. What was he planning to do there?
After staring intently at it for a few seconds, James put the glasses back into his pocket and hurried away. While I was still processing everything, Lily suddenly popped up from behind me. "Hey Jessica, what are you doing? Come on, we need to go! The football match is about to start, and James Heartthrob is leading the team! I can't tell you how excited I am to see him play!" "Uh, yeah, I'm doing nothing. Let's go to the game."
As I walked to the field with her, I kept thinking about that package. After a recent security scare, all students' bags were checked at the gate, making it difficult to bring in a package wrapped like that. And who was James talking to? I felt in my bones that something big and sinister was about to happen, and I had to stop it.
Halfway through the game, while Lily was busy cheering for James Heartthrob, I snuck out and made my way to James's locker. Having noticed the password earlier, I unlocked it, but to my disappointment, the package was empty. However, the brown wrapping contained information about where it had come from. Taking out a pen from my pocket, I noted the address and the sender's name. Just then, I heard footsteps approaching, and I ran across the corridor, hiding behind one of the classroom doors.
It was James Heartthrob again. He took his phone out of his backpack and went back to the same corner as before. "Hey, listen, we'll have to postpone our undertaking from tomorrow to the day after. I have a date with Lily Lentz; she's really into me, and I can't miss this. Our plan is solid and will work no matter which day we carry it out. I'm sorry for this, but she's really hot."
Now I had another problem to deal with: my childhood best friend was about to fall prey to a possible criminal, and I couldn't let that happen. It seemed that his evil plan had been postponed by a day, but to stop him and save my friend, I needed to find out more information and could use some help.
Later that night, I asked Lily to come over to my place with a phone book so I could try looking for the address and name I'd noted earlier. Of course, I told her we were just making prank calls; she wouldn't believe me if I told her all my suspicions just yet. We sat at my study table with the telephone next to me, and Lily kept reading out cell phone numbers while I made prank calls in a manly voice. "Hello, yes, is this Jack Trades? I'm Heartthrob James Heartthrob."
"Oh my God, why are you using his name? That's so funny!" Most of the calls led to dead ends, but when I made the final call, the voice on the other end said, "Hey James, what happened to your voice, man? You getting sick or something?" "No, no, just some allergies. I'm still your man with a plan, you know, that evil plan we were going to pull off the day after tomorrow."
"Yeah, but what's so evil about it? Are you sure you're fine? Or have you lost your mind already because of that girl you were going on about? How hot is she? You stay away from her." "I mean, no, no, just nothing. See you day after tomorrow, man. Peace out." I hung up the phone to find Lily staring at me. "What the heck are you going on about?" "Nothing that makes sense, that's why it's a prank, silly! I bet this guy is as confused as you are and will be thinking about it all night."
"Okay, anyway, I don't care because the only thing I can think about is my date with James Heartthrob tomorrow. How will I wait until then? Oh my God, it's killing me!" "Yeah, you've only mentioned it about ten times already, but are you sure about this? I mean, you barely know the guy." "That's the point of the date! We get to know each other!" "Yeah, but is it worth the effort? James Heartthrob is very good-looking, but guys like that are usually quite dumb. Do you think he'll be emotionally and mentally mature?"
"What are you going on about? How is a date a really big step?" "You know I've been in love with him since the first day he walked into our school with his backpack and cool jacket!" "Love? Don't you think you're going a bit fast there, young lady? You can't talk to me like this; you're not my mother!" "Don't you dare talk back to me! I don't have to sit here and listen to you; I'm going home." "Fine, go away!" And with that, she picked up her phone book and stormed out, slamming the door shut.
Teenagers! I probably wasn't going to learn much about his evil plan by crashing their date, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone with Lily. So the next evening, I went to the restaurant where they were supposed to meet and entered through the back exit into the kitchen. I found a storage room with extra uniforms and quickly changed into a waitress's outfit. Then I discreetly walked out into the restaurant area, scanning the room until I spotted my targets.
I was skilled at disguises and was sure they wouldn't recognize me. As I was walking over to them, some customers at a table stopped me. "Uh, hey Miss, we've been waiting for someone to take our order for a while." "Um, sure, I'll just send someone right away." "Why can't you take it? You're not doing anything." I gritted my teeth, forced a smile, and whipped out my pad and pencil. "Can you tell us today's specials?"
"Uh, look, I have short-term memory loss; I can't remember any of this stuff. Just select something from the menu." "How are you even a waitress?" "Fine, how about this side salad? Is it good?" "It's amazing!" "Great choice! What’s it served on?" "The side of your plate, I guess?" "Are we done here? My family hasn't even ordered yet! Get us another waitress; you're useless!" "I told you that five minutes ago."
I walked off, annoyed that I'd lost precious time. As I got close to Lily and that heartthrob, I pretended to be working when I felt someone tugging at my skirt. It was the annoying customer kid. "You didn’t take my order!" "Not now, kid, go away!" "I'm hungry, you witch! I want a piece of chocolate cake!" "Just buzz off, will you?" I pulled my skirt away from him, and he suddenly dropped onto the floor and started bawling loudly. "She pushed me! She pushed me so hard!"
Oh my God, you little liar! Suddenly, the entire restaurant was staring at me, and I got thrown out within seconds by the management. Lily and James followed me outside. "What the heck just happened back there? Why are you dressed as a waitress?" "Because I work here, or I did before I got fired." "Since when do you work here?" "Since today; it was my first day and my last day." "And why?" "Because I have bills to pay."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Here, take this tip; hope it helps a bit." Then he handed me $100 just like that. I hadn't even waited on him! I guess he had plenty of money from all his evil ventures, and now that I was face to face with him, maybe I could get him to slip up about his plans. "Wow, that's very generous, thank you! You must be rich, and I guess you'll be very rich soon if your trades go well." "Hey, you know what I mean, huh?" "Uh, I really don't."
"Oh come on, are you really saying you're a jack of all trades and a master of none?" "What does that even mean?" "Wait a sec, are you talking about Jack Trades? Do you know him? Are you a friend or a girlfriend?" "No, no, I don't know any Jack Trades. I just remembered I have a movie to catch in 15 minutes. I'll see you tomorrow, Lily." And with that, I ran off.
Wow, this guy was cunning! Instead of giving anything away, he started questioning me instead. As I was walking down the street, I passed by a building and suddenly stopped in my tracks. I slowly walked back to face the building from the front, and then it hit me: Texas State Bank! That was the building that had been in the hologram! Suddenly, everything clicked into place—James Heartthrob was planning to rob Texas State Bank with Jack Trades as an accomplice! Of course, that would make them super rich, but I was going to catch them. Oh, I was going to get him good!
The next day, I arrived at the bank five minutes before noon, but I walked in to find James and Jack already at the bank manager's desk. They seemed to be having an intense conversation. What if those two were holding the manager hostage at gunpoint, or he could even be an accomplice? Just then, James Heartthrob got up from his seat and reached into his pocket, and I couldn't wait anymore. I rushed towards them and threw myself at James, tackling him to the ground.
"Ow! What do you think you're—" "Shut up, James!" Just then, I spotted another accomplice carrying a gun, and I tackled him too. His gun skidded across the floor as I sat on him and tied his hands behind his back while the receptionist called the police. I thought James and Jack would try to make a run for it, but they just stood there, looking shocked.
"So, James Heartthrob and Jack Trades, I believe you can now tell us all your evil plan." "What evil plan?" "Your plan to rob the bank, what else? You got the package from this Jack Trades giving you the holographic projection of this bank, giving you all the escape points you were banking on to get very rich, weren't you?" "Banking? I made a clever pun anyway! Were you holding the manager hostage, or is he in on it too?"
"What? Jessica, you've got it all wrong! That device is our creation, and we were going to ask this bank official for a loan to fund it. The device was for demonstration!" "What?" That's when I realized that the guy under my foot was indeed a real robber, and James Heartthrob was not guilty.
To save me from further embarrassment, the cops came in and took that guy into custody, giving me a badge of honor. The next day, my photo was in the newspaper with the headline: "School Girl Solves Her First Case." So, it all worked out for the best. The following day, I went to school and saw James Heartthrob closing his locker. I walked up to him. "Hey James, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to accuse you of a crime. I don't know what I was thinking."
He looked at me with an amused expression. "You seem to have a wild imagination, Jessica Harborough, and you're forgiven." "Well, thank you!" That ended the conversation. Did I sense any sparks between us? James swore he felt some, but I really didn't. It turned out that James and Lily didn't enjoy their first date and decided not to pursue the relationship.
We all graduated high school, and a few years later, I became a detective—no surprises there. I reconnected with James Heartthrob; we dated for a while and then got married. As for Lily, she was our maid of honor. Yeah, some things went wrong at the wedding, and I accused her of sabotaging my big day out of jealousy, but it turns out she had nothing to do with it. That was awkward, but our friendship remains strong—ironclad, unbreakable, and unscratchable, if you will.