Chapter Two

Ryan

As soon as I saw Annie climb onto the bus, I jumped out of my seat and screamed, "ANNIE!" at the top of my lungs, waving my arms madly. She grinned with that sparkling smile that everyone loved. She hurried down the aisle to my seat, and I scoot over to let her have window seat, ignoring the glares from the bus driver.

"Happy birthday toooo you-oooo!" I sang loudly and off-key, drawing glances from other kids sitting around us. Annie blushed and giggled, and hit me on the shoulder.

"Okay, Ryan! The bus driver doesn't want to pay for a new window again."

Now it was my turn to laugh. "Happy birthday, sis." I wrapped my arms around her in a huge hug.

"Thanks Bruno," she said back.

Okay, okay. Let's get something straight here before we go any farther. Even though my name is Ryan, I am a girl.

And I can prove it too, so don't give me any mouth about it.

So what my parents were shooting for a boy? They were already gonna name me Ryan if I was a boy anyway, and they were so attached to the name that they named me Ryanne instead…

Yuck.

So people just call me Ryan for short, since I'm such a tomboy (and they know that if they ever, ever call me Ryanne, I'll cut their arms off). Or, if you're as close to me as Annie is, you can call me "Bruno" since I know my way around a fight, and I'm practically fearless.

What can I say, I have three brothers. Two older (Chase and Jacob) and one younger (Kyle). I've grown up around WWF, NFL, MLB, NBA, BMX, and living-room-floor-wrestling-matches, so I'm used to it right now.

Anyway, I pulled something out of my backpack – a king-sized Crunch bar. Annie's absolute fav-or-ite!

"OMG, OMG, thank you, thank you!" she screeched. It always cracked me up the way she repeated everything when she was excited or angry.

She tore into the wrapper and started eating. "Sorry, I didn't have much breakfast this morning," she apologized.

"Uh-oh, what weird Friday the 13th things went down at the Rockwell house this morning?" I asked, mockingly putting my hands on my hips. She told me all about the exploding breakfast and the $100 bill.

"Woah!" I said, fingering the brand new, greenish face of Ben Franklin.

"I know, right?" she exclaimed, downing the last bit of Crunch bar. "And there's something I have to show you, but it's gonna have to wait until P.E."

"Nooooooo!" I said with a puppy-dog look on my face. "Let me come to your locker when everyone's gone to homeroom. We'll pretend that you can't get it open. Plus, we'll be alone, and by the way you said that, it sounds like it CAN'T wait."

"No, it can't," Annie admitted.

"Well then it's settled." I motioned her to come closer, and I whispered my plan into her ear. She grinned, and knuckle-bumped me.

So, for the rest of the ride, we sat there, gossiped, and told jokes with each other and made each other LOL so much that the bus driver yelled at us 4 times.

Annie got a warning.

I got a write-up.

God, that bus driver hates me.

It was go-time (I clap my fist dramatically into my hand). We had been in homeroom for 3 minutes exactly, and I was waiting for my cue.

"UUURRGGG!" I heard from out in the hallway. Yup, there it was.

I hurried out into the hallway to find Annie tugging dramatically at the lock to her locker, and a few teachers walking over to her to see what was wrong.

Suddenly, the bell for homeroom rang. Perfect timing.

"I'll handle this," I told the teachers that were standing around her. "I'm like, the only one who can open her locker." Annie nodded in agreement.

The teachers exchanged glances. "Alright," said my math teacher, Mrs. B (her name is long and German, and everyone was too lazy to pronounce the whole thing, so we just called her Mrs. B). "But don't be late to class!"

"We won't," I assured her. The teachers left the scene, shooing all the stray students who were stalling in the hall to catch the action back into their classrooms.

We were alone.

"Alright Annie," I said, keeping my voice low. "We have approximately 3 minutes until people switch classes. Let's move!"

Annie tore into her folder and pulled out an elegant-looking, cream colored envelope with a red seal closing it. I raised my eyebrows.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well… I'm not sure," she admitted. "That's why I waited until you were with me, so we could find out together!" I grinned. This was exactly why Annie was my best friend.

We both leaned in a little as Annie carefully broke the seal on the envelope and slid out the piece of paper that was folded neatly inside. She unfolded it, and we both read silently:

Dear Miss Rockwell,

You and Mrs. Porter are formally invited to come to Willof Manor for a banquet and will-reading in honor of your deceased Uncle Willof. I hope you can attend on the 31st of October at 7 pm at 1366 Manor Drive.

Sincerely,

Mr. D

I cocked my head a little bit, and looked over at Annie, whose eyes were wide. I broke the silence after I quickly re-read it.

"What the heck?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking..." she said distractedly, turning the letter over in her hands.

"I mean really! What kind of name is Willof anyway?" That earned me a glare, and a head-shake. I shrugged, and turned around towards my locker, which we were conveniently located right beside Annie's. I pulled a water bottle out, took a swig, passed it to Annie (who didn't take it), and then set it on the ground as I began to lock my combination lock back (it's a very complicated lock).

"Hey, what's this? The letter's…" Annie reached to grab something when her arm knocked into the bottle, and it toppled over and spilled all over the letter.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed after I gasped. She quickly grabbed the parchment out of the sopping mess, and I tilted the bottle right side up again.

Annie looked distraught, until she realized that the letter wasn't even wet.

"It's as dry as a bone!" I said unbelievingly.

But it was when Annie turned the letter over to the back that we both emitted little screams.