Cover art Chapter 20-
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Friday has finally arrived, Luan is looking forward to delivering Derick's present, and giving the band a small performance in the square that evening. Mary and the girls have helped with the publicity for the pocket show, and Luan has asked them to make some posters and has asked them to give more prominence to Derick and Kenji, just as he and Theo agreed earlier, Derick notices that there are more posters of them than of the others, and in everything he and Keni are more prominent.
"Mary, the photos are good, but why are there so many posters of me? Not even Kenji got away!"
Kenji looks impressed, but then realizes that it was probably Luan and Theo who set something up.
"It was probably Luan and Theo who asked for it! Haha"
Derick rolls his eyes, annoyed as always, but not at all surprised by Luan's antics. He takes one of the posters and draws a moustache on Luan's face, and tells Mary to hang it up so it's visible.
He notices some messages sent on the cell phone he used to clone Tommy's phone:
-It's today, get ready.
-You know, as soon as I finish the job I'll get paid, not before!
-I know, it's all arranged for the afternoon.
Derick is alert, but he hasn't been able to find out a time or who the victim might be. As a precaution, he asks everyone to be punctual, to be at the Square at the appointed time and for none of the four to leave without warning, and to keep an eye on their cell phones in case there are any other messages being sent.
After lunch, the boys rehearse once more and arrange to meet at 5pm in the square to organize the equipment and put on their pocket show. Luan arrives a little late because he's wrapped up with the delivery of Derick's present, but soon arrives to Derick's relief, they organize themselves, surprisingly there are quite a few people in the square, Mary and the girls have done a good job of spreading the word, Luan and Theo were right, more girls came to see Derick and Kenji, they celebrate that their idea worked.
"I told Theo, putting Derick and Kenji's picture up is a guaranteed success! Haha"
"Yes, we know what attracts the public!"
Derick slaps Luan on the back and says: "I knew you were in on it, you cunning fox, look at that poster, I think it's great!"
He points to the poster he's scribbled on Luan's face and laughs, Theo laughs, Luan looks at the poster and sees the moustache drawn on his face.
"Not funny....but it's a good idea, I'll get a moustache like Grandpa Han's...hehe"
They laugh, and continue with the show, everything goes well, the audience likes the songs played, and many girls scream, and finally they ask Derick to sign the Posters, while he and Kenji are distracted, Luan tells Theo that he needs to go to the bathroom, and that he has to take care of the equipment, Luan disguises himself and goes to the place agreed with his uncle Justin, Justin parks the car and Luan calls Derick's cell phone and speaks:
"Hey Derick, there's something you need to see....rapido!"
"Where are you? I told you none of the four of you were to leave Luan!"
"I know, but it's urgent, come quickly, I'm just around the corner!"
Derick doesn't understand but deduces that it's something important, Mary is in charge of looking at the boxes with the equipment, while Derick goes along with Kenji and Theo, they turn the corner and see Luan standing near a sports car, Luan sees them approaching and waves his arm calling for them and says:
"Here, I'm here!"
"Congratulations Derick, this is your present, we have a super spacious car, a beautiful model..."
Luan, like those people who show off and present the car, Derick stands looking at Luan seriously, while Kenji and Theo are all happy:
"Wow, that's beautiful Derick, wow!
Luan hands Derick the car key and says:
"Shall we go for a drive, guys?"
Derick looks very annoyed, he takes the key and says:
"Okay, but only the boys, you're not going Luan, so you learn not to make fun of serious things!"
Luan's eyes widen without understanding and he scratches his head. He stands there on the sidewalk while the boys get into the car, Derick starts it and drives off,
"What's gotten into him? He's nervous, isn't he?"
Luan then decides to go back to the square, and wait for the boys to come back to get their equipment and go home, as he is passing the street that leads to the square, the streetlights go out of nowhere, everything goes dark.
"Hey, is it a blackout?!"
Meanwhile, Derick is driving around with the boys, Kenji says:
"What about Luan Derick? I don't think it was a good idea to leave him alone, I think he's been preparing this surprise for days."
Theo nods.
Derick quickly retorts:
"I know, I'm on my way back to pick him up, I just wish he'd stop playing with serious things, that's the only way he'll learn!"
Derick pulls the car over at the same spot as before, but doesn't see Luan, so he calls Luan's cell phone and it automatically goes to voicemail, he thinks it's strange, Kenji gets out of the car and goes to look around for him and asks Derick to check that he hasn't gone to the Square.
"Go to Derick Square, maybe he's gone back there, I'll look around here."
Derick retorts:
"It's not even 10 minutes since we left, but damn it, Luan had to wait!"
Theo keeps trying to call Luan, but only gets a voicemail.
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Part 2- avaiable on November 27 th./author]
