She walked to the machine, her gaze running around the room but the yellow cover was nowhere to be seen.
"I swear I last saw it there!", pointing at the time machine, she yelped. Dylan dramatically put his hands over her ears at the squealing of the girl. If an outsider would happen to pass them, judging by the commotion that girl was creating, it would be assumed that the missing item was something expensive, a jewel, for instance.
"And when was the last time you did see it here?", following the line of sight of the professor, he asked.
"Saturday", she replied promptly. Only staff members had access to the room and no one would want to invoke the devil's sister to jump down their throats by messing up with her things. It had to be an intruder breaching into the room.
"Even if it was here, it would've been rotted away by now. The yellow pigments would have decayed into browning", the boy did his best to reason out the situation, Scarlett, however, didn't lay her ears on his words. There was only one thing going on in this mind, the banana thief.
"I think an unauthorized access has been made into this room", she spoke, eyes fixed at one spot, the bottom plate of the time machine.
"For what?", the boy glanced at his phone. Their class had started five minutes ago. If they were five more minutes late, Doctor Gordon would not let this one slide as he did last time.
Scarlett was helping Dylan in the sandboxing of the software that was coded by him when coffee got spilled over the laptop. Well, it wouldn't have been much of a deal if the liquid hadn't started streaming over the table, dribbling down on the uncovered circuit wires the professor was working on before the boy came. Since one of the wires was linked to the main circuit board of the lab, electric sparks started leaping out.
Dylan and Scarlett waited for them to disappear in flash but what followed next was fizzling of lights in the lab. The circuit sputtered and suddenly it was all dark in the room. Both had to pay forfeit at a substantial loss as they damaged the property of the institution, although it was inadvertently.
"To steal the banana", she growled irritably. This was Scarlett Blake, the most sought-after scientist of the States, unnecessarily possessive over what belonged to her. She didn't like sharing what was owned by her with others. It could only be shared if she found it agreeable, but if it was taken against her will, she would snatch it back.
"Are you for real now, Scarlett? If you've forgotten, I'm here to remind you that we are talking about a banana here. Why would someone have risked breaking into the lab to steal something that they could easily have a bunch of from the market? Why would they go to that extent just to steal a banana?", while just standing there, they were running out of time. Dylan hoped for the girl to let the matter drop and get going to the class if she didn't want to work on an extra assignment on the arriving weekend.
"Because it was MY banana!", emphasizing the possession, she puffed out the air in exasperation. The supposed-to-be thief was getting under her skin. She didn't care about arriving late in the class. Maybe, she would bring the latter matter into consideration once the thief was caught. As of yet, the curiosity about who could barge into the laboratory was clouding her eyes and mind.
"Jeez...I'll buy you more but later. Right now we have to leave for Doctor Gordon's class", the past weekend, Dylan had been hitting the books, planning to have a blast on the coming weekend. If the girl wouldn't budge, he was getting edgy that he might have to spend his weekend doing double assignments.
"We are not going anywhere until we find out who is the thief", crisscrossing arms on her chest, she shifted the weight from one foot to the other, the shoe tapping on the smooth floor.
"You're not being serious here? Tell me you're not", no change in the steady expressions of the girl while the boy was driving nuts.
"Even janitors have been strictly instructed to not touch your stuff. They are all fully aware of the rules and regulations of the council", just as the words left his mouth, both of them snapped their head at each other as if they found the main lead towards 'Hunt down the banana thief' mission.
"Yeah, they all know very well unless there's a new entry in the staff ", eyes being narrowed, she enunciated each word slowly and the next thing they came to at was the new janitor standing before them, subjected to the professor's questioning stare.
"Did you touch my private property?", the professor asked the boy who was around the age of Dylan. The boy felt himself like a cat on a hot tin roof under the gaze of the girl who looked quite younger than him.
He could be fooled by the innocent face but the dominant expression she was wearing made him submissive at the place. He racked his brains, thinking hard about what the professor was referring to. When he came to clean up the place a couple of hours ago, he didn't touch any wire. Even while mopping the floor, he pulled out all the stops to not have his body come in contact with anything.
"By private property, she means a banana", when Dylan saw the dumbfounded expressions swept across the face of the boy, he clarified the professor's words.
"Yes, MY banana", shooting his friend a glance, Scarlett spoke stressing over the word 'my' again.
"The rotten banana?", and the puzzle was solved.
"It was rotting away here so I dumped it", Dylan sighed in relief. The so-called culprit of the banana case was caught. They still had some time left before the class was over. Maybe, he could save himself from the extra assignment for skipping the class.
"Buy me more", looking wearily at the boy, she stated.
"What?", in utter perplexing, the janitor asked, his mouth half-opened.
"Since you touched my property, and not just that, you also got rid of it. It would be only fair if you bring it back."