Extraordinary Losers 3 (6 page)

He slid out his phone, careful not to be noticed by Miss Jacobs. When he read the message, his face took on an eerie pallor.

“Psst!” He signalled to me, then threw the phone at me with a swift flick of his wrist. Fortunately, I was a PRO at catching, and I caught it quickly enough before Miss Jacobs noticed anything. I looked at the message and was stunned. The message read:

A message from Mundi Sakdipa? But how could it be him? His mobile phone was in his bag! I saw Clandestino taking out Mundi's phone which he had kept in the other pocket earlier. With his talon-like fingernails, he separated the casing.

“Wait a minute, Mundi's SIM card isn't here!” he muttered, but loud enough for me to hear. “How did he even…?” He scratched his neck.

Why was Mundi's SIM card missing? Phones are the most important thing to students like us. Most of us communicate through our phones! That's because we can say whatever we want without worrying about our facial expressions, our clothes or the flow of our hair. Adults claim that texting destroys our social skills. But how can that be? When we text, we speak from our heart to our fingers. It is a special language. Quite like sign language. And who says we do not have social skills? We can LOL, something we won't do in public. So when a kid's SIM card is gone, it is a major emergency. It is as if a part of us has gone missing, or worse, it is as if someone has invaded our privacy, especially if the phone has fallen into the wrong hands, and by that, I mean the hands of parents or teachers.

So if Mundi's SIM card was missing, maybe he actually planned to escape? Or worse, he knew someone was after him?

I fidgeted in my seat, dying for class to be over so that we could discuss what to do. Fifteen minutes into her lesson, Miss Jacobs left us to use the washroom. We were supposed to solve the case of the balloons. But of course, we had a higher purpose now. I walked up to Janice and showed her the message.

“WHAT?!” She gasped. “That's Mundi?”

“Sssshhhhhh… We don't want people to be alarmed.”

Clandestino, in the meantime, couldn't forget about the morning's embarrassment. He seized his chance. He sauntered up to Adam, Justin and Leonard. “Hey, I know what you guys did. I am not going to wash my shoe. I have evidence that you dribbled some glue on the track to slow me down. And the evidence is all over my shoe!”

Adam, being the biggest and strongest of them all, stood up. He loomed over Clandestino, but said nothing.

“What are you going to do, re-race?” Leonard laughed. “It's too late for that! Besides, the teachers are too busy looking for Baby Mundi, why would they care about this?”

“Yeah, don't be a sore LOSER, Clandestino,” Justin said, sniggering.

I walked up to the three boys. “Hey, we are not going to drop this matter. All three of you already have a bad record in school,” I said. “If the teachers find out that you had something to do with sabotaging the race, they will definitely not let you off.”

“Yeah, maybe even suspend you,” Clandestino said as he tossed three pens in the air simultaneously and caught them all with one hand.

“That's right!” I quickly added. “Maybe even public caning.” I laughed. I could tell that the threat of another suspension had gotten them worried. We had exposed Justin and Leonard before. They could not afford to get into trouble again.

“What are we going to do? Suspension? Caning?” Justin whispered into Leonard's ear. Leonard shrugged him off while Adam tried not to let his anxiety show. He puffed out his chest.

“Unless…” I eyed Adam. “There is something you can do.”

“What?” Leonard challenged. “We do not need to submit to LOSERS like you. We can take care of ourselves.”

“Wait, wait. Let's hear them out.” Adam came closer. The CH tattoo was still imprinted on his hairy skin.

CH, CH, CH… what could it stand for? Suddenly it dawned on me and I couldn't help blurting out, “The Credible Hulk?”

Adam ignored my question. “So, what do you want us to do?”

“Find Mundi,” I said. “We need your help.”

“Are you nuts, Darryl?” Clandestino yelled. He had not seen that coming.

“Find Mundi?” Adam laughed. “Easy peasy.”

“It is okay, Clan, we need them. You don't know who we are dealing with. Adam has strengths too,” I said as Adam smiled and nodded approvingly.

“He's the Credible Hulk. He has to be,” I whispered into Clandestino's ear. “We could use him. Really. Trust me, for Mundi's sake.”

Clandestino still looked doubtful, so I added, “If he's the Credible Hulk, he may be involved in the kidnapping. I want to keep him close to monitor him.”

Leonard looked at us. “And after this you won't kick up a fuss about the glue?”

Clandestino sighed and whipped out two pens to spin. He was the ultimate pen-spinner and he could spin two, three, and even four pens with his eyes closed. Spinning and mulling over what I had just told him, he weighed the pros and cons of getting Adam come with us to look for Mundi. Finally, he hurled the two pens in the air and they somersaulted magically. He seized them with two fingers and said, “Okay, I have decided. If Adam comes with us, I will not say anything about the glue.”

“Wow, how do you do that, every single time?” Leonard asked.

“Okay, we are in!” Adam said. “Now, what do we have to do?”

“Okay, Adam comes with us,” I said, taking charge. “Leonard and Justin, you guys stay here and wait. If there are any new developments, call us!”

“Hey, why do we have to stay?” Leonard blustered. “We want to come too and get in on the action!”

“We need the two of you to stay here! If Mundi returns, contact us immediately.”

Clandestino was still hesitant about Adam and his friends – our enemies, our daily tormentors – embarking on a mission with us. But he knew he was doing the right thing. He had to give up his pride and rightful medal for one person whose very life was in danger. He had to give it all up to save a friend.

“We have to go soon! Like now!” Janice said. “Mundi could be hanging upside down this very minute.” She always had a knack for painting bad scenarios and imagining the worst! She wasn't called the Drama Queen for nothing.

“But how?” Adam said. “Miss Jacobs will not let us leave. At least till we have solved the case of the missing balloons.”

“Every second wasted could mean the difference between life and death,” I said. “Hang on, Mundi, we're coming.”

Adam, Leonard and Justin walked off and formed a tight loop and began whispering. None of them knew, of course, that I could hear them perfectly. Down to every last syllable.

Adam whispered, “So should I go?” He crossed his arms, and his muscles bulged menacingly.

“Yeah, you should,” Leonard jumped in right away. “Your chance to skip class and to spy on those losers. I have a feeling there's more than meets the eye.”

Justin parted his hair nervously. “What if he gets caught?”

“We'll just blame it on them!” Leonard said, pointing at us. “If we don't help them, they might tell on us, about the glue thing and every wrong thing we have done. They seem to know everything!”

Justin looked at the gold medal dangling from his neck. He had won it earlier in the 100-metre dash. Adam fingered the gold medal dangling from his neck too. They weren't about to take them off anytime soon. Suspension? Public caning? No way.

“Okay! Go do it, Adam! Go help the losers!” They high-fived. “Just blame them if anything bad happens.”

Adam popped his collar up and waltzed towards us like a gang leader. He wanted to establish his status. Although we all have the same kind of uniform, everyone wears them differently. The ring leaders always pop up their collars and leave a part of their shirts untucked. The average students don't really bother about their uniforms. The vain ones always make sure their skirts are a little shorter, and for boys, the shorts a little tighter. The nerdy ones make sure theirs are well-pressed, crisp and stiff.

As Adam high-fived his gang, I wondered, had I made the right decision?

CHAPTER 9: WHITE NOISE

When Miss Jacobs got back to class, we hurriedly went back to our desks to resume drawing models on our Math exercise books. Some of my classmates were using rulers while others took pride in drawing straight models freehand.

I was busy decorating my model when Janice toddled up to Miss Jacobs and said, “Er, Miss Jacobs, I really need to be excused. Can I go now?”

“NOW?” Miss Jacobs asked. “Show me your model first.”

“Here!” Janice held up her book. There was a neat working column filled with impeccable handwriting and a perfect model in the centre. It was indeed an answer worth copying!

“Sure then!” Miss Jacobs immediately consented. Janice was the most responsible student in class and not one who would play truant. As soon as she left the classroom, a bell went off and the PA system sounded with an incredible announcement:

“Good afternoon, everyone! This is Mrs Priya, your principal. (There was even white noise in the background.) Will Darryl De, Clandestino Chang and Adam Ali meet me at the basketball court, please? I need to see you now! It is urgent. Thanks.”

Miss Jacobs was puzzled. She must have thought that the announcement sounded a little different this time.

“NOW?” A look of bewilderment crossed her face.

“Yup, I guess we have to leave NOW, Miss Jacobs.” I shrugged.

“Okay. All three of you can go, but do come back when you're done!”

As soon as we left the classroom, we spotted Janice waiting by the stairs. She was sticking her head out from behind a wall. When she saw us, she ran to Clandestino, giggling sheepishly.

“Was I great? Was I great?” she probed. Janice could really mimic all the sounds and voices in the world! Nothing was impossible for her.

“Of course!” Clandestino replied. “Even white noise?”

“Yes, you were awesome, Jan!” I said.

“That was you?” Adam raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, this jumbo-sized meatball just mimicked Mrs Priya on the PA system?”

“Hey, no name-calling if you are to follow us,” Clandestino warned.

Janice looked at Adam and became stubbornly silent. She was definitely not going to divulge her secret to the bullies and those who always made fun of her.

“The biggest loser is suddenly quiet?” Adam challenged her, wanting Janice to admit that she had special abilities. But she just glowered at him.

“I said no name-calling,” Clandestino warned again. Adam backed down.

Whipping out his iPhone, Clandestino said, “I will try calling Mundi again.” He dialled quickly and listened intently. “It's not ringing now!”

He tried again. “His phone is dead!”

Janice imagined the worst. “Oh no! Oh no! What if Mundi's attackers found out that he had messaged us so they tortured him and took away his phone or whatever it is he is using?”

“Okay, okay, hanging out with you guys is getting weirder by the minute,” Adam remarked. “Are you saying that Mundi messaged you without his phone?”