Gasparilla's Treasure (Trip Mongomery Book 1) Read online

  It was bedtime, and Trip just finished brushing his teeth. He wanted to write down a few of the things he learned today before he forgot. He was on his way to the desk to grab paper and pen when he noticed Mom sitting at a table pouring over some bills. She did not look happy.

  “Is everything OK, Mom?” Trip asked.

  Mom wearily glanced up from her bills and put on her best smile. It was such a wonderful smile, Trip almost believed it.

  “Yes honey. Everything's fine,” said Mom tenderly. “You need to get to bed now. You have school tomorrow.”

  It was obvious to Trip that everything was definitely not fine. Trip watched silently a bit longer as Mom continued to pore over the bills.

  CHAPTER 3

  The next morning, Trip arrived at school and couldn’t wait to talk to his best friend, Josh. Trip spotted him hustling over from across the schoolyard. Josh was a bit nerdy and out of shape. He was a little winded as he ran up to Trip.

  “I got your text,” said Josh. “So what’s the deal with this trunk? What’s in it? Why is it so important?”

  “It’s important because I…” Trip trailed off, as he stared off into the distance dreamily. Josh waved his hand in front of Trip’s eyes.

  “Earth to Trip,” said Josh. “What’s going on in there? Anybody home?”

  Josh followed Trip’s gaze to see what had him so mesmerized. Trip was staring at a girl he had never seen before. The world ran in slow motion as he watched the new girl walking through the schoolyard, hair dancing as she turned her head. She wore a radiant smile as she laughed and talked with her friends.

  “Who is she?” asked Trip.

  “Oh her, that's Sarah Valentine,” said Josh dismissively. “We have Algebra together... seems nice enough.”

  Josh realized Trip was still staring at Sarah. His mouth hung so far open, Josh worried someone might step on Trip’s chin.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop it,” said Josh. “No way. Stay away from her. She's more popular than both of us combined, and she's only been here three days.”

  Oblivious, Trip started to walk towards Sarah. Josh reached out and grabbed him.

  “Aw, come on Trip,” pleaded Josh. “Girls are nothing but trouble. Seriously... you're gonna do this?”

  It was too late. There was no stopping Trip now.

  Trip had no idea what came over him. He was never really comfortable talking to girls, but he just could not stop himself. It was like Sarah was a magnet pulling him over. He vaguely heard Josh frantically mumbling about something, but he had no idea what he was saying. Trip walked right up to Sarah and her friends and turned on the charm.

  “Excuse me ladies,” said Trip confidently. “I see we have a new student here. I’m Trip.” He extended his hand.

  “I’m Sarah,” she said as she shook his hand warmly.

  Trip nearly lost his pretense of confidence when he heard her voice. It was beautiful, and almost made Trip melt. He shook it off.

  “Well, Sarah,” said Trip. “I am with the official welcoming committee of our fine school. I'm sorry to be three days late, but I was busy...uh…founding the official welcoming committee of our fine school.”

  Trip was surprised to hear the words coming from his own mouth. He was worried as he noticed a few of the girls giggling behind Sarah. Had he screwed this up?

  “Well, Trip,” said Sarah, bemused. “It’s better late than never I guess. What does your official welcoming committee of our fine school do?”

  “I haven't quite figured that part out yet,” said Trip truthfully. “But I do know we will be quite good at whatever we decide to do”

  Sarah gave a little chuckle. Trip was surprised at how well this was going. Most of the time, the girls Trip liked did not want a thing to do with him. Sarah seemed as if she actually enjoyed the conversation. He realized he had been awkwardly staring at her in silence as he thought. He needed to come up with something quick.

  “So Sarah, how do you like… Florida so far?” Trip asked clumsily.

  “I love Florida,” replied Sarah. “I lived in West Palm Beach my whole life. People are kind of fake down there, though.”

  Trip stiffened his arms and body, and did his best robot impersonation. Voice and all.

  “Well Sar-ah,” said Trip in his robot voice. “I am sure you will discover all the human units of St. Augustine to be reasonably real, not artificial.”

  Sarah laughed, “Well if I meet any of these human units, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

  “Well as the official representative of the welcoming committee,” said Trip in his normal, confident voice, “I feel it is my duty to walk you to class. And on the way...”

  Trip was cut off mid-sentence by the meanest, ugliest, bully in the whole school. Eli Kramdon was twice as big as the rest of the kids in their grade, and he toted four goons along with him; each one of them a bit smaller, but no less evil, than Eli.

  “Hey Twit! Your name is Twit, isn't it?” barked Eli.

  “Not right now Eli,” begged Trip.

  “Oh, is it a bad time for you, Twit?” taunted Eli. “Are you trying to get a little kiss from your girlfriend here? I warned you about how dangerous this school is getting. I can't believe you even dare show up since you haven't paid for my professional security services”

  “Eli, I told you,” said Trip. “I’m not giving you any money. I don’t even have any money. You’re going to have to…”

  “You’ll give me my money,” interrupted Eli. “And you’ll stay away from the new girl. She’s mine!” He said this loudly and declared it for the whole school to hear.

  “Excuse me?” said Sarah, her words slicing through the air like a sharp knife.

  “You heard me,” said Eli. “This is my school and I get what I want. And you are now my girlfriend.”

  Trip looked at Sarah and saw that she was calm and collected.

  “As if I would ever date someone who would wear that shirt with those pants!” said Sarah. “My mom taught me fashion sense.”

  Her friends laughed and high fived one another. Sarah reached in her backpack and pulled out a can of mace.

  “And my dad taught me self defense,” said Sarah. “So stay away from me, or you'll get a face full of pepper.”

  The crowd let out a collective approval of Sarah’s tactics. Eli had no choice but to turn his rage back to Trip.

  "Turn over that security payment right now Twit,” raged Eli. “Or I can't be responsible for what might happen to you and your little boyfriend Josh over there. Not to mention Miss Fashion Queen here.”

  Eli’s goons started to move in on Trip and Josh. They had seen this before, and they knew there was only one course of action to prevent bruised eyes or bloodied noses. They took off running, straight through the crowd. Eli’s goons tore off after them, but the crowd closed in on them as they passed through, which gave Trip and Josh a head start.

  Trip and Josh made a beeline to an alley that led to the back of the school. Josh started to dig through his backpack.

  “What are you doing, Josh?” asked Trip, dumbfounded. “There’s no time for that right now! Put it away!”

  They rounded the corner of the alley, hoping they managed to lose the goons. Josh was completely winded and looked as if he could not go any further. They stopped and took a moment to figure out what to do, but the goons saw them. Josh found what he was looking for in his backpack. He pulled out a bag of marbles.

  “Over here!” yelled one of the goons to the others. “They went down that alley.”

  Two of the goons rounded the corner into the alley, only to find themselves slipping and sliding on a sea of marbles scattered across the ground. They grabbed for each other, but only found handfuls of air. It was quite the site as they flailed around. Finally, the goons went down hard, landing with a thud on the concrete alley, momentarily stunned. Josh came out of hiding and started to gather his marbles.

  “Are you kidding me?” said Trip. “Let’s get out of here!” />
  “Oh yeah, I guess you’re right,” said Josh, a bit chagrined about leaving his marbles behind.

  Trip and Josh dashed down the alley. Something worried Trip, and he didn’t have a chance to figure it out before it stared him directly in the face.

  Only two goons fell victim to the marble trap. There were two more out there, and they rounded the corner at the other end of the alley. They were headed straight for them, and fast!

  Trip turned to go back the other way, only to see the first two goons rising to their feet. And they looked furious. Trip and Josh were trapped.

  Trip thought fast. It was one thing for him to take a beating, but he couldn’t allow Josh to get beat up just because he was Trip’s best friend. There had to be a way out of this. The goons slowed, almost to a stop. They knew they had won this battle and they wanted to enjoy the moment. Trip and Josh made sure to keep an equal distance, and an eye on both ends of the alley.

  “Bad idea, Trip,” taunted one of the goons. “You’re only making things worse. I could have taken mercy on you before you pulled that stunt with the marbles, but now you have to pay. Just surrender, and maybe it won’t be quite as bad. Don’t get me wrong. It will still be bad, but maybe not quite as bad.”

  Josh whispered in a panic, “Come on Trip! This is not good! You gotta think of something fast!”

  “I'm going to get past those two,” whispered Trip. “They should take off after me. You follow right behind them and make your way into the school. You'll be safe there.”

  “You’ll never get past those guys,” said Josh. “They’re huge! And did you see that one guy? He was all sweaty and probably doesn’t wash his hands after he goes to the bathroom. Do you know how many germs…”

  “I’ll get past them,” Trip interrupted. “You just make sure you run as fast as you can, and make it to the school. Got it?”

  Josh gave Trip a nod. Trip was off, running fast in the direction they came from, straight for the goons that were victims of the marble trap. Josh couldn’t see how this was going to work, and he was sure it was the end.

  The goons prepared for Trip’s approach and assumed a crouched position. Just as Trip reached them, he jumped on a garbage can, then up and across a dumpster, and hopped down on the other side of the goons. He bolted down the alley.

  Just as predicted, the goons took off after him. Josh found it hard to believe. Trip’s plan had worked. Then he remembered that he still had to escape. He took off. He grabbed the trashcan Trip had jumped on and threw it back towards the other two goons.

  Trip rounded the corner, moving fast. He slowed down long enough to glance back and check on Josh. The two goons that chased Trip were just coming around the corner, followed by Josh. He allowed himself a smile when he saw his plan was working, and turned back around and poured on the speed. A foot reached out and tripped him. He went down hard. And there stood Eli towering above him.

  “That was a bad idea, Twit,” said Eli. “Probably the worst idea you’ve ever had. And now it’s time to pay for your bad idea.”

  Trip looked towards the school just in time to see Josh had made it safely through the doors. The goons gave up pursuit, completely out of breath, but satisfied with the knowledge Eli had captured Trip.

  Eli’s goons now gripped Trip tightly in front of a gathering of students. Eli took this opportunity to address the crowd.

  “Now look what happens to kids when they don't have the good sense to use Eli's Professional Security Services. Let this be an example to you all. Without protection, this school can be a dangerous place,” said Eli, as he delivered a hard punch to Trip’s stomach. Trip let out a groan. “My associates here will be happy to tell you about our discount packages.”

  Another punch flew, this time even harder, to Trip’s face. Trip heard a loud crunch as blood trickled out of his nose. Sarah winced as she watched. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was part of the reason Trip was getting such a beating. Maybe she should not have humiliated Eli the way she did.

  Just then the school bell rang. The goons threw Trip to the ground and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

  “Now get to class, everyone,” said Eli with genuine pleasure. “You don’t want to be late on a fine day like this.”

  Eli could not have imagined this going any better. Trip played his part perfectly. This would be great for business. Sometimes these things just worked out. He strolled away to class, but made sure to stroll by Sarah before he left.

  “He’s not so special now, is he?” Eli remarked, and he left Trip laying on the ground, beat up, with Sarah standing over him.

  CHAPTER 4

  By the time Trip made it to lunch that day, he had all but forgotten the incident with Eli. He and Josh exchanged theories about Pappy’s trunk, which was way more interesting than anything that could ever have happened with Eli.

  “I bet it's full of stock certificates,” said Josh excitedly. “Or maybe some really valuable baseball cards... oh, or maybe some first edition comic books or something. Something really expensive, I’m sure. I guess you’re just gonna have to wait to find out. Sounds like your mom isn’t letting you anywhere near that trunk.”

  “There’s no way I’m waiting,” challenged Trip. “I have to know what it is.”

  “Well, allrighty then,” said Josh. “No waiting for you. But on to more pressing matters. Are you going to eat that little cake roll thingy? ‘Cause I really love those things.” Josh did not wait for an answer. He plucked the cake roll right out of Trip’s hand.

  Just as Josh was about to eat his newly found treasure, it was snatched from his hand. It was Eli, and he crammed the entire cake into his mouth.

  “Hey! That’s mine!” Josh cried in outrage.

  Trip was about to remind Josh it was only his for about two seconds, but Eli stepped in.

  “You know, boys,” mused Eli. “That was quite a stunt you pulled this morning. It's amazing how good it was for business though. I just hope you realize what a bad idea it was messing with me.”

  “Look, Eli,” Trip started.

  “Don't interrupt me. My mom says it's very rude,” said Eli, loudly, so the entire lunchroom could hear. “Now, because I'm such a generous humanitarian, you're getting a second chance. Get me my money first thing in the morning, and the beatings will end. If you don't have my money...”

  Eli grabbed Trip’s chocolate milk and slowly poured it down the front of Trip’s shirt.

  “I guess we’ll just have a repeat performance every day until you can get me my money,” said Eli.

  Just to drive home his point, Eli tossed the empty milk carton in Trip’s face as he walked away. Trip was devastated. Everyone in the cafeteria had witnessed this scene, and Trip had just sat there and let Eli do it. And worse, Sarah saw the whole thing. He just wanted to crawl up in a ball under the table and wait until everyone was gone. But if he did that, Eli would have a total victory. If Trip was going to salvage this, he needed to do something now. All eyes were still on him, so he cleared his throat and spoke loudly.

  “Well, that was uncalled for. Anyone know a good dry cleaner?” said Trip with a laugh.

  Josh joined in with a laugh, but they were the only two. It was not what Trip hoped for, but everyone started going back to their own business.

  He looked over towards Sarah’s table, and she had resumed talking with her friends. She snuck a look back his way one last time and gave him a little smile. Trip knew he must have looked pretty silly with chocolate milk all down his shirt, but he tried his best to return the smile and hang on to a bit of his dignity.

  “What’s that goofy smile all about? You look like a total dork,” said Josh. And with that, lunch was over.

  Trip disposed of his lunch tray and made his best effort to clean the milk off his shirt, but it wasn’t working too well.

  “That’s a nice shirt. I hope it cleans up OK,” said Sarah as she headed towards the tray window.

  Trip was caught off guard, and felt a bit
silly about the whole situation. But then again, Sarah did say she liked his shirt.

  “Oh thanks, I think the milk adds a little something extra. I may just keep it this way,” said Trip in an attempt to bring some humor to the situation.

  It worked. Sarah gave a little chuckle, and her laughter sounded like music to Trip. There was something about her that just made Trip feel comfortable. Only a minute ago, he felt like he never wanted to see anyone again, and now he felt like everything would be fine, even if Eli decided to follow the chocolate milk stunt with a side of nachos.

  “You know,” said Sarah. “You promised to walk me to class this morning. And then you stood me up.”

  “I’m sorry. I was a bit… occupied this morning,” said Trip sheepishly.

  “Well you can make it up to me after school. Why don't you meet me out front, and you can walk me home?” suggested Sarah.

  Trip could not have been happier. He thought he had completely blown any chance of getting to know Sarah, and here she was asking him to walk her home. Even all the horrible humiliation with Eli would not be able to ruin this day.

  Just then the principal’s voice boomed across the loudspeaker in the lunchroom. “Attention, please! Would Francis Montgomery the Fourth please report to the principal's office right away. Francis Montgomery the Fourth to the principal's office.” The voice rang out through the entire school.

  Trip’s expression immediately changed. He looked horrified. He hated the name Francis. Why had the principal used his real name? He filled out the name change request card and hand delivered it to the principal himself. Every time one of the teachers called him Francis, the other kids were relentless in their teasing. And to make it worse, they added the fourth to the end. When he heard his whole name, together like that, Francis Montgomery the Fourth, it made him want to bully himself.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Sarah.

  “Oh, nothing. I’m sorry. I just gotta go, that’s all,” said Trip.