Episode 16: The Suspicious Piece of Ice Patch
“Ah, I can’t wait to give this to Joey!” Shirley Cao held onto a cake that she made at home. “I hope he likes it.” It was cold in the morning, yet she still wore short-shorts. At the tables near the cafeteria, she saw Joey sitting down. She stopped, “(Oh crap! What’s he doing here? He’s supposed to be in Journalism! If he sees this now then he can’t be surprised later when I plan to give it to him!” She started turning in circles with a panic. Joey turned around and he noticed that she was acting strange. He began to walk up to her as Shirley quickly hid behind the bushes. She froze the cake and stuffed it in her backpack. She jumped back out and giggled, “Hehe, hello!~”
Joey was really close to her. He looked over her arms and shoulders, “Hm? What were you holding just now?”
Shirley looked away, “That is none of your business.”
Joey gave a smirk expression as he began to walk towards the bushes, “Oh really?” He quickly took a peek behind the bushes, “Huh? Nothing…”
Shirley saluted him, “Of course there’s nothing! I was just trying to hide in the bushes to scare you but I realized you saw me-.”
“Shirley? What are you doing here? I thought you were holding a cake for Joey until later.” Danny appeared out of nowhere.
Shirley became red from both blushing and anger. Joey scratched his head, “Oh? What for?”
Shirley shook her fist at Danny, “Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why, Danny, why?!” She began to punch his face.
Danny held Shirley’s arm with his own hand which slightly turned into a rocky hand. Joey jumped, “Whoa, what was that?”
Shirley stood in front of Danny as he giggled, “OHH-HO-HO-HO! Are you crazy? That was just a glove that he was using. He is digging up something for me.”
“I am?” Danny questioned.
“Hey!” Shirley gave Danny a jokingly angry expression.
“What’s this cake for anyway?” Joey wondered.
Shirley frowned as she began to open her backpack, “Well, you see… Oh crap!” She noticed that the cake was still frozen, so she could not be able to show Joey.
Joey pointed at her backpack, “Haha, how did you stuff it in there? It’ll be all disgusting.”
“Oh would you hush up?! I covered it with a… lid! Bye bye, I’m going to take the lid off!” She quickly ran away.
Joey gave himself a soft laugh, “Eheh… It doesn’t take that long to take a lid off…”
Danny looked up, wondering to himself, “Huh? I wonder why her backpack felt like there was some cold wind inside? Oh well. Time to eat breakfast!” He ran away.
Joey became shocked all the sudden. “Whoa… wait a minute. T-This can’t be…?!”
~~~
Moments later, Shirley returned with a perfect cake, “Here, Joey! Here’s the cake! I made it to hope you good luck on your basketball season.”
Shirley handed the cake over to Joey. Joey smiled, “Wow, thanks, Shirley! But why did you run earlier?”
Shirley gave him a stupid face, “Eh? OH, hehe! The lid was stuck so I had to go find some scissors or something.” She looked away as she said to herself in an idiotic tone, “Hehe, actually…”
~~~
“Matt, Matt, Matt! Burn this for me!” Shirley ran up to him with a frozen cake.
Matt pointed at it, “What the heck do you call that?! It doesn’t even look edible.”
Shirley threw the cake at him, “Come on, burn it, hurry!”
Matt rolled his eyes at her as he took the cake, “Fine, whatever.” He began to burn the ice.
Shirley strongly tapped his back, “Thank-you! Hehe!” Matt coughed from her slap.
“Crazy lady…” He softened his back.
~~~
Joey put a finger into the cake as he took a lick, “Hm… It tastes as if you preserved it in a freezer. Don’t tell me…”
Shirley jumped, “Huh? W-What…?”
Joey came closer to her backpack, “I know what happened…”
Shirley took a step back, “Why are you trying to get my backpack? You think I lied?!”
Joey grabbed her backpack as he forced it off of Shirley’s shoulders, “Let me see!”
Shirley screamed, “Stop it! Ack!” Joey unzipped the backpack as he peeked inside.
“Hah? Nothing…” He zipped the backpack as he handed it back to her, “There’s nothing in there. I was thinking you might have put a portable refrigerator in there or something.”
Shirley giggled, “Hehe… yeah, sure. Heh… Okay, I’ll be going now, see ya!”
Joey stopped her, “Wait, Shirley!” Shirley stopped and turned around as Joey asked, “Um, the cake is really good even if does taste frozen.” Shirley blushed from the compliment. Joey laughed, “Today, you gotta show me how to bake a cake!”
Shirley became happy, “Ah! You really did like it!” She clapped her hands together, “Okay, today after school at my house, don’t forget then! Hehe.” She ran away and Joey began to frown.
“Actually… I want to see if you really are a…” Joey said to himself.
~~~
At Shirley’s house, Joey finished stirring a batch of eggs in a bowl. He sighed and said to Shirley, “When am I done?”
Shirley pointed a finger upward, “Tsk, tsk, Joey. Baking needs patience. My friend is better at baking than I am, but I still try because I love to bake. Now, I have to take the first batch out-.”
“I’ll take it!” Joey insisted.
Shirley raised an eyebrow, “Eh? Okay then.”
Joey ran for the oven. He waited until Shirley was not watching. He opened the oven and he closed his eyes, “(There’s no mistake…)” Joey suddenly yelled, “Ow! That hurt!”
Shirley quickly ran up to Joey, “Joey! Are you okay?!”
Joey showed Shirley his burnt finger, “Look, it hurts!”
Shirley got up and ran out of the kitchen. Joey gave a certain grin. Shirley came back and had an ice patch inside a bag, “Here, hold this.”
Joey took the ice patch and placed it on his hand. He said with a fake confused tone, “Eh? Where did you get this from?”
Shirley suddenly gasped, realizing that she had left the kitchen where the ice was only found in the refrigerator, “Uh… um, silly. I got it from my garage! There’s an extra refrigerator in there.”
“Can I see it?” Joey asked.
Shirley stood up again, “Hey, you’re injured. I can’t let you wander around with an injury, you know that.”
“But I’m fine, Shirley.” He stood up with her. “Unless…” Shirley became frightened as Joey went on, “You can produce ice.” Shirley’s heart skipped a beat from surprise. Joey suddenly smiled, “But I’m kidding. There’s no way, haha. Let’s continue with the cooking!”
Joey suddenly ran to the oven again and he made sure he safely took out the pan of cake out. Shirley watched him with awkwardness, “Eh… hehe…”
~~~
On the next morning, Joey shouted, “I’m serious! I am a hundred percent sure she can do it. She can produce ice!”
Peter shook his head in disappointment, “Man, Joey… why don’t you stop? Matt was proven innocent of this weird heating power you were talking about. What makes you think Shirley can produce ice?”
Joey explained, I burnt my finger on purpose and she ran out of the kitchen. She came back really fast with a pack of ice. Why would you leave your kitchen to get ice?”
Peter responded with a very accurate guess, “Well, maybe she had an extra fridge with her in the garage or something.”
Joey fell to the ground as he said to himself, “What the hell…” Joey got back up and he said, “But seriously, I don’t think anyone would leave an extra refrigerator in their garage. Besides, while I was helping her bake, I rumbled through her kitchen refrigerator. It was half empty.”
Peter began to think of more possibilities. “Maybe it was barely half empty this morning and her parents were out buying more groceries which means it is still possible that Shirley has a refrigerator in her garage.”
Joey became sad, “Peter! Shirley insisted that I should stay in the kitchen when I was going to check if she had an extra refrigerator. That means she doesn’t want me to find out that she was lying to me.”
Peter guessed accurately again, “Well maybe she wanted you to stay in the kitchen because you were injured. You know you’re not supposed to move too much when you’re hurt, right?”
Joey fell to the ground again, “You’re saying the same thing as she did! Blah.” He stood up, “I’ll find out about it myself then!”
~~~
Joey stood outside of the classroom, feeling ashamed that he was not able to persuade Peter. He closed the door and turned around to see Matt walking right before his own eyes. “Ah, ah hey Matt! Wait!”
Joey ran up to Matt and pleaded, “Uh, can you help me with something?”
“Something?” Matt was uncertain with Joey’s hopes.
“Ah, yeah. I was wondering if you could help me with… Shirley. I am very sure she can produce ice.”
“What?!” Matt became surprised as he thought, “(Aw man, what have you done, Shirley?!)”
“It’s really unbelievable, I know, I know! But you’ve got to help me. I know it’s weird for me to ask you even after getting a suspicion towards you for awhile but that’s all in the past. You’ve proven yourself innocent so I know you can’t produce fire. That was just stupid of me. But this time, I’m serious about Shirley.”
Matt looked away with an awkward chuckle, “(Hehe… you got that right.)” He turned to Joey, “Are you sure? How can someone do that? The only explanation is that she-.”
“Don’t say it! I don’t care if she has an extra refrigerator in her garage!”
“I was going to say that if she was a magician. But your idea seems much more logical.” Matt patted Joey’s shoulders, “Gee, you’re really tall. Why is that?”
Joey glared at Matt, “Matt, this is not the time for that. Now can you help me?”
Matt nodded, “Uhm, sure! (This is bad!)”
~~~
Later that day, Matt and Joey were nearby a garden. Joey whispered, “I’m sure she can water her own garden. Let’s watch.”
Matt murmured, “Hrm… are you sure she can do that? You said she can produce ice. And besides, how do you know that she does her own garden?”
Joey shrugged, “How should I know? If she can produce ice, then she can take care of a whole garden.”
Matt slumped a little, “(Eh- Useless imagination.)” He tugged onto Joey’s sleeves, “Hey Joey, we should just leave right now. I don’t think she’s going to come out. The chances are low. Usually people sleep or go on the computer nowadays.”
Joey turned around and said angrily, “Shut up! I know she’s going to come out! I’ve known her way more than you did. BEHEHE!” Joey suddenly laughed barbarically.
Matt rolled his eyes, “Geez, I’m telling you-.”
“There she is now!” Joey whispered in happiness.
“What?!” Matt quickly took a look at Shirley entering her front garden. He said to Joey, “How can this be? There’s no way…!”
Joey said with certainty, “See? Told ya.” He watched Shirley as he became serious again, “Hey, hey, look at that. She knelt down with a bucket.”
Matt took a step back, “(Don’t do it, Shirley! Joey is watching you!)”
Joey shook both his fists in excitement, “The proof. I have the proof right here in front of my eyes. Come on, come on.” Shirley put the bucket in front of her so that it is out of Joey and Matt’s vision. Joey stopped, “Eh? She covered the bucket. What’s the big idea? Hm, this is getting a little interesting!”
From Matt and Joey’s view, they could see Shirley reaching for something in the bucket. Shirley started digging. Matt scratched his head, “What is it? Anyone can do that.”
Joey shook his head, “Uh-uh. We were out here on her garden the whole time since after school started. I didn’t see any kind of dirt or fertilizer around here.”
Matt thought about it, “That’s true… Maybe it’s just water.” They continued watching for minutes.
After awhile, Shirley stood up and clapped both her hands together, “Phew! That was easy.”
Matt became shocked, “Huh?! (No sign of… wet hands? Don’t tell me you…!)”
Shirley said to herself, “That was some good preservation. Now the plants can grow perfectly.” She was walking back into her house.
Matt and Joey ran up to the dirt. Matt looked around, “Oh- It’s just… fertilizer.”
Joey stopped, “Eheh… maybe I was just fooled all this time after all?”
Matt stared at Joey, “Damn you…-.”
“Ah, so I see you two were following me!” Shirley appeared behind them, “But don’t worry. I realized it hours ago. You still think I can produce ice? Heh, you’re pretty weird, Joey!”
Matt said slowly, “Preserve… you said preserve.”
Shirley laughed out loud, “AHAH! Of course! I was making fun of my own garden. I really meant it’s going to grow much faster.”
Joey moped away, “All this time, I was just paranoid… bleh. Sorry, Shirley. I’ll go home now.” Joey slowly walked away.
Matt and Shirley watched him. Matt suddenly gave Shirley a funny expression, “Hehe… you knew he was onto you all along.”
Shirley slapped Matt on the back again, “OHH-HO-HO-HO! Of course!”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: On the next chapter, I finally reveal more about my life! It will be the first time I will show me taking the bus home!
Santi: Wow, that's pretty ghetto.
Matt: Be quiet! My whole family works and my brother is a Senior so he has to take the bus too.
Yessenia: Besides, why would you want to show us going on the bus? What's so interesting?
Matt: You guys will see! Next chapter, The Bus Stop Incident!
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