Better on our own - English

Breakthrough in the Investigation

The day had been harmless. I had avoided Penny as best I could this morning, which hadn't been difficult since I'd heard how many times she'd had to wake Cody up because he just wouldn't get up. Apparently she had a good reason for not wanting him in bed later than 8 p.m. I would have to pay attention next time - if there would be a next time at all. Especially since this morning I saw Penny inspecting the curtains on the door window, which definitely had a few holes in them thanks to the cat's claws. I had never disappeared into the bathroom so quickly, that was for sure.

She hadn't shown anything at work and hadn't spoken to me about it. I was more grateful than ever that she so strictly separated personal and professional life.

After work I took the bus straight to Pontypandy, as there was only a small and very poorly stocked grocery store in Tonypridd run by old, scatterbrained Mrs Chester. However, I found what I was looking for in Mrs. Price's Cut Price market and immediately bought 5 tubes of her best all-purpose glue.

"Hey, Niall!" Peter greeted me as I stepped out of the shop and I looked up at him and greeted him back. "Cool, then we can go over there together," he said then and walked down the street. I followed him, confused.

"Where are we going?"

"Didn't you look at your cell phone? Sarah texted an hour ago that we should meet in the park right away because she was on the way to her uncle and he would definitely be there this time.

"Really?!" I realized in surprise and pulled out my phone, only to see that I had actually missed the message. Because of all the glue, I have had no room for anything else in my head.

We talked a bit about this and that on our way to the park and found the others already gathered at the group of tables where we had sat the last time. Apparently this slowly became our official meeting place. I sat down with the others and greeted them too. Everyone gave me a smile, a nod, or a hello. Only Norman greeted Peter cheerfully, but pointedly looked in a different direction when our eyes met. He was worse than a little child!

The siren sounded and the firefighters left the station with Venus and Phoenix. Susen watched them go with a sigh and complained that they hadn't had any action in days and that the exercises weren't really exciting. I felt the same way, although I couldn't complain about the exercises. Penny always managed to make it exciting and also liked to add surprising twists to them. Today we finally got Peyton out of the garage and tried. Except for the bird that I shot from the neighboring tree with its water jet, it was totally cool.

"Guys!" we heard someone shout excitedly and turned to Sarah, who was running down the path, waving her cell phone in the air, seemingly quite happily. We waited patiently for her to catch up to us as we all watched her. She had tied her hair, which usually fell well over her shoulders, into a ponytail, but only the top half and the side hair, so that the bottom hair still hung loosely and a single strand was still hanging down at each temple. I was a little surprised because she had only worn a braid at the festival in Tonypridd and usually went around with her hair in a normal ponytail or straight down. This new look flattered her face and gave her something charming. Stop! What was I actually doing here? "Guys, I've made a breakthrough!" Sarah stated brightly as she sat down next to Norman and gave him a quick kiss. He immediately seized the moment and turned his face towards me with a look, as if he wanted to make his claim to Sarah clear. He could have it if he wanted it. I certainly wouldn't get in his way - at least not as long as she had a boyfriend.

"In which way?" Mandy asked Sarah skeptically.

"I talked to my uncle and he was more talkative than I thought," Sarah answered her with a grin.

"Really? Tell us!"

"I don't have to, Hannah," Sarah replied with a grin and held up her cell phone again, grinning. I didn't fully understand what that meant. Did she want to call her uncle?