Twenty-Four

                                    

                                          
George, today is Day 26, and Peter and I will be starting out newest mission.  Mission Save Breton From Himself.
                          
First on the list: Try talking to him about his childhood.
                          
The theory with this one is that if we talk to him about his childhood, he’ll remember the good old days and revert back to his carefree attitude.  Hopefully it works, we’re crossing out fingers.
                          
Unfortunately, Breton wasn’t in any of my classes and neither was Peter, so I had to wait until lunch to start the mission.  In the meantime, I took notes in class like I had promised myself, and got a few tests back.
                          
“Ninety percent, Georgie,” one teacher said.  “This is the second one.  I heard from your previous teachers that you’re usually always at one-hundred percent.  Is the material harder for you to understand?”
                          
“No,” I said shaking my head.  “I’m just a little busier this year.  I’m sorry, I’ll try to get it back up.”  I honestly felt ashamed, because I’d never been called out by a teacher before, other than Mr. Toms.
                          
“No pressure,” the teacher replied, “you’re still at an A average.”
                          
“Thank you,” I said, and he continued down the row of seats.
                          

                          
The day passed in a blur after that, and it was quickly lunch time.  I sat at my table today, instead of the one Breton usually sat at.  Peter and I had agreed through a series of text messages that we would talk about Breton’s childhood with Breton away from everyone else.  I’m still not quite sure why, but I figure Peter’s probably got this all under control.  Besides, as soon as he got on the Operation 45D team, we came up with a whole list of things that could work.  I was never that organized on my own.
                          
“Hey Georgie, mind if Bret and I sit with you?” Peter asked, coming up to me with his arm slung around his cousin’s shoulder.  Breton looked slightly uncomfortable, although he didn’t seem to mind Peter’s violation of his personal space.
                          
“No, come sit down.  Actually, I was wondering if Breton could answer some of my questions from earlier!” I said, trying to sound perky.  Peter and I had a whole script, and next was his line.
                          
“We were talking earlier about our childhood days.  Georgie once fell off a bookshelf, and I was trying to think of our funniest adventure to top that,” Peter told his cousin.  In order to give the story authenticity, I really had told Peter several childhood stories.
                          
“Dude, we can’t top that,” Breton said with a laugh, sitting next to me as Peter relinquished his hold on Breton’s shoulder.  “Seriously though Georgie?  You fell off a bookshelf?”
                          
“Don’t give me that judgmental look!” I snapped.  “I was intrigued by the dictionary and tried to climb up and grab it.  It didn’t work out.”
                          
“The way you told it earlier, there was more of an opportunity for dirty jokes,” Peter said with a wink.
                          
“That is because you have a dirty mind.  I was a kid, I didn’t know what I was thinking, and I don’t know why I said it out loud like that to you either.  You twisted it with you creepy thoughts,” I said with narrowed eyes.
                          
“Come on!  ‘Biggest book’?  The D-I-C-T?  You can’t tell me you didn’t think of that at least once!” Peter argued.
                          
“I did not!  Not until you pointed it out, you…. pervert!” I cried.
                          
“Well, now we certainly cannot top this story,” Breton said from beside me.  “Hey, Georgie, am I still giving you a ride home today?”
                          
“Yeah, if that’s okay.  And!  If you tell me one childhood story that you remember.”