Chapter 1 …… page 4

Chapter 2 …… page 

RINGGG!!!! Ugh, there goes my alarm clock. It’s 7:30 in the morning and I’ve got to get to school by 8:15 … I’ll figure it out. Maybe I can tell the teacher I’m homesick or I could tell her -- my thought was interrupted by my sister bursting into my room. 

“I told you to knock before you come in, Maddy!'' I yell. “Well you're not the boss of me, Kiara,  just because you're in grade 7 and I'm in grade 3, doesn't mean you can boss me around," she said. “What do you want?” I ask, clearly annoyed.

“ Mom says you have to get downstairs in a minute, otherwise you're grounded,” Maddy says happily. She loves when I get into trouble, I don't blame her, because I love when she does too. She's a big snitch though, she loves to tell on me for everything, if she doesn't get her way. “Tell her I’m coming in a minute,” I say. “I’m not your messenger” she says sassily, and I don’t think she told my mom. 

I really didn't want to go to school, it was the last day before the break and I wanted to be home relaxing. Maybe even scrolling through tiktok or instagram or watching Netflix … but then again, my mom made up this annoying “tech time” thing. It's where we have limited tech time and she sorts it like this: 30 minutes on phone, 30 minutes on laptop and 30 minutes - 1 hour on Tv. It sounds ok, but it's not … even 1 minute overboard … GROUNDED. But that's not all, I can't take technologie of any kind inside my room whatsoever. I'm not ok with this new rule. Weird and unfair rule right?! But whatever, I've got to get downstairs before I'm grounded … again.

I rushed downstairs as fast as I could (only because I didn't want to be grounded and lose my technologie, I didn't really care what she had to say, it's usually some boring stuff) and I asked her what she wanted. “Your grandpa Kevin, really wants to come visit us today! He’s usually busy, as you know, but apparently he got today off!” 

YAY! That means NO SCHOOL! … And of course I finally get to see my grandpa!

My grandpa told us he's a teacher, but he refuses to show us where he works. We all know - correction, I know that he’s lying. One reason I know he's lying is because he refuses to ever show us where he teaches and he's 70 … pretty old for a teacher, but hey, I'm not judging anybody. I don't bother him about it though. Mostly because we never see him - and he’s coming to our house for the first time!

I get ready and dress up, for the first time, I hate getting ready. My mom thinks, at school and at home, I'm in a fashion show or something. I really want to impress my grandpa, since we haven't seen each other in so long. Anyways, I get dressed and brush my hair and wait by the door. I get bored, so I start reading, waiting for him to arrive. 

After what feels like hours (actually 5 minutes), we finally hear a ring at the doorbell. I rush to the door and open it and I see … my grandpa? He looks so different now, but I miss him so much that I don't even care and I give him a big hug and let him in. He comes in and I'm so happy, but that doesn't last long (like usual) … there's another ring at the door, I decide to open it and see who it is. 

I couldn't believe it … it was my teacher, Ms.Reisly. She came all the way here, for what? … That's when I found out, I was not happy about it. Turns out we have a bunch of homework to complete and we have to turn it in after the break. To add to that, we've got 3 quizzes and even though I'm not at school, I'll have to do it AFTER the break, which is worse, because I'll be the only one doing it. Jeez, what's with teachers and work? Like c'mon, give us a break.

I'm so pissed off right now, I was just about to shut the door on my teacher, without taking the homework, but then my grandpa comes by because he wants to see my teacher. He takes one look at her and he's clearly disappointed … and mad. He glares at her for a few seconds - feels way longer - and walks away. I guess they're not fans of each other, well there we have it, the first thing me and grandpa have in common. To be honest, it looked more like  grandpa hated her and she was scared of him or regretted whatever she did to deserve his death stare.

Ms.Reisly loves to give us homework, maybe she enjoys seeing us suffer? Or she likes giving kids work? Or maybe she doesn't like us? Which would make sense because we're not a very good and quiet class. More like the loud and trouble making one. 

After he saw her - Ms.Reisly, - he was not as happy and excited as he was when he first came in. In the first 5 minutes, I disappointed him. I guess I'll have to wait a few minutes for him to be more excited and happy to impress him.

I wonder what Ms.Reisly did to my grandpa. I sat down trying to think of why he seems to hate her. Hmmmm … maybe she bullied him in high school? Probably not. Maybe when they were younger, she betrayed his trust? Maybe. But how did she betray his trust, what did she do? I just sat down and kept thinking of reasons for him hating her. I'm not saying I disagree with him, but it takes a lot for my grandpa to not like you … to give you those glares. She must have done something pretty bad. He's very forgiving, but I know he doesn't like when his trust between you and him is broken. He always says “If you don't have trust, you don't have anything.” I like that. It's a good quote and it's catchy too.

I spend the next hour lying down in my bed brainstorming reasons for him to hate her. It's been an hour and he still isn't happy … this is not a good sign for Ms.Reisly. Finally, there's a knock at my door, I'm so glad he feels better … ugh, it's not him, it's just my sister. The only reason I wasn't yelling at her or even acknowledging what she had to say, was because she finally knocked before coming in. I guess that's a start. “Grandpa is not happy, what happened?” she asked me. “He's fine, he's just resting, I think” I tell her, trying to not show I'm lying. She walks away, believing what I said. I'm very good at lying, if you were wondering. Which is, I know, not a very good talent, but for me … it's great. But I hear grandpa's quote ringing in my head, so now I only lie for good reasons.

I got a knock on my door, I was expecting my sister, surprised she knocked again, but it was my grandpa. I was so happy that he was feeling better. He looked sad and regretful. 

“I'm sorry I shut you guys out for so long, I shouldn't have acted that way" he said. 

I loved his honesty and how he acknowledged all his mistakes.

“Don't worry about it, grandpa, you did nothing wrong,” I told him.

Then we talked for a while. I asked him why he didn't like my teacher and why he acted that way after seeing her. He told me he was just having a bad day, I knew he was lying, and I was a very curious person. But it was my grandpa, so I didn't ask any more questions. When my grandpa doesn't tell me something, it's usually for a good reason. 

After a while, I thought I should ask him the question. The question I've been wanting to ask him for years. 

I asked him the question, his answer really surprised me.

    He started shaking and trembling. He was mumbling now, and clearly, he wasn't comfortable sharing this information with me. Why was he so uncomfortable to tell me why he's been lying to me about being a teacher?

I had just confronted him that I knew he wasn't really a teacher. So I asked him what he really did for living. I felt like it was the right moment to ask him. I followed my first instincts, like he always told me to.

He hesitated before he answered.

 “I'm so sorry I lied to you, Kiara. I know it's wrong and I shouldn't have. I should have been your role model, I am the one who always tells you not to lie, and I just did myself. I'm very sorry”

“No grandpa, you did nothing wrong. And I know you have a reason for why you lied, you always do. Can I know?" 

“ Kiara, I lied because I wasn't allowed to tell anyone what I did fr living. It was forbidden. I had to tell you I did something for living, so I chose teaching,” he explained.

“Oh ok, so I can't know what you really do for living?”

“ I'm afraid not. I'm sorry Kiara, please don't tell anyone I've told you this much information. Even just these little things I just told you, is breaking a lot of rules for my work,” he replied sadly. 

“ It's fine, grandpa,” I say, trying to hide my sadness.

“No, I think it's time you know and join me” he said, almost crying. I stood up, confused and waiting for him to continue, but he didn't.

Well, I guess I didn't do well enough hiding my sadness, I'll do better next time. But I am very confused … join him? In what? I can?!

“Grandpa, what can I join? I'm very confused.”

“ You might want to sit down, it's a long story.”

I sat down and waited for him to start. When he said long story, It usually was pretty long.

“Ever since I was 18, I joined this secret association who fought for justice. They invited me to join them, because they needed more members, lots of their members died, trying to save people and to fight for justice. I didn't know what to do or how to do any of it. But I learned. I was trained for weeks and weeks and those weeks turned into years. But that training paid off. Remember that lady saved from that fire miraculously … that was us. But we did it secretly. This association information is not to be shared with anybody. This association is called the Justice warriors and we wish for you to join it.”

This story was shorter than I expected, but it felt long, like he said. I was so happy and surprised. But my grandpa was a good person, so this story was believable. I had so many questions. I think he just read my mind.

“I know you will have many questions, I did too. Everything will be explained when you arrive at the headquarters. Whenever you visit the headquarters, you must tell your mom or whoever it is, that you are visiting your friend's house. Specifically, Kayla Anne Chang. But I can answer a few questions now,” he said. 

I was absorbing information really fast from my grandpa. I wish my grandpa taught all my school subjects too, maybe I would absorb the information as well as I had just did right now.

“First of all, there's a headquarters?! Also, did you really think my mom would let me get out of the house and stay at someone else's house? How can I get in and out of the headquarters without being seen?" I asked him.

“1, yes and it is in fact very big. 2, she will, I can persuade her easily, but if you wish we can adjust your mother's mind so that she never knows you're gone or to let you go only to the headquarters. Also, if you trust her and you know she can be trusted, we can tell her and she will let you come. 3, the headquarters are hidden, there's a little code to open it secretly and we can teleport there with this special device."

He showed me this small, green, pencil looking object. Apparently, this small thing could teleport us all the way to the headquarters. I was very curious right now … still way more questions. Oh and another quote from my grandpa “No matter the size, everything has the same value.”

I like that quote, because I was the small and short type. I'm not a fan of being short, especially because of most of my friends are way taller than me.

I just remembered, I have so much homework to finish, I’ll do the packet later. But I have even more homework I’ve got to do. All for different subjects. Ms.Reisly keeps giving us more homework every single day. As soon as I think that's it, she gives more. Here's an example, just now, Friday, December 24th. I finally finished the 26 page packet she gave us. I had another one, but that was due after the break, so I had lots of time. So now, as you can imagine, I'm so happy that I'm done my work for today. But, as you know, my happiness doesn't last long. I open my laptop, maybe to play some games, but then I have a notification saying my teacher posted an assignment on the google classroom! Now, I was very mad, I didn't care to do it anymore. I'd just do it tomorrow, which is what I always say to myself … but it never happens. Another quote or what you call a "saying" from my grandpa: “It's easy to say things, it's way harder to do it.” This quote is so accurate. I always say I'll do something, but I never end up doing it. 

Anyways, now we've got our first mission. My mom let's me go to “Kayla's house” and when I get there we have a huge mission. One I never thought I'd face.