Chapter 71: Chapter Twenty Three - Oliver Twist ... In The Flesh!-3

Then there was me. Short and dazed Gabrielle who watched the scene with interest, but at the same time felt so disconnected and really had no idea what to think. "I'm sorry, you wanna run that by me again?" I asked, getting the attention of the four boys in my room once again. They glanced at each other before taking a few steps farther into the room. "Okay, so here's the deal," Evan started, taking the front row position, leading the boys, standing on the left side of my bed. "Keegan was the first to figure out that Theodore was sticking things in your tree. One day he was hanging around outside and caught Theo in the act." "Since we both have been sitting outside school for a while, I knew that you always sit there," Keegan added, turning the spotlight to himself. "Well, I noticed Theo digging through a bag of yours and immediately walked over, giving him a long lecture about going through the belongings of others and how it's a crime ya-da ya-da. Once he got the color back to his face, he explained the situation." "But," Evan took over. "Keegan knew you and I were friends, Gabrielle. So he brought Theo over and we all started conspiring and helping him out. Giving him tips, and book ideas." "What about how Keegan had the letters? They were right there in his bag at my house!" I protested, throwin my hands up. My head hurt already and this entire thing just added on. Stupid boys ... "Well, Theo left them at my house the last time we all hung out," Keegan explained. "I was going to drop them off on my way home; trust me when I say, you weren't supposed to find those" "Wait, so back up. How did Shane fit into the mix?" I asked, slowly catching up, but still feeling confused. "Shane was an accident," Keegan deadpanned. "One day, the three of us were talking and I guess we just looked like an odd group because Shane decided to snoop around." We all looked at Shane who was blushing a light shade of pink. "We let him in on the secret, but just barely and swore him to secrecy. After that, we just kept diverting your attention and tried hard to not give you any clues," Keegan finished, crossing his arms. The information sunk in little by little. So they were all in on it. Right from the start, Evan probably knew. Okay, probably not exactly from the start. Maybe a few letters had passed a bit, but Evan still knew. "You were sniffing around pretty good, too. We had to keep throwing the trail off because you would get really close, but Theodore just wasn't ready for face to face conversation yet," Shane continued the explanation, throwing an arm around Theodore's shoulders; it jostled his glasses a bit and he scowled at the taller boy. Seeing his face all scrunched up like that made a me smile a bit. He noticed and quickly gave me a shy smile right back, appearing to be pleased that he was the one who made my smile appear. "We had to make sure that you didn't pick up on him too soon and scare him off." "Which reminds me, thanks for pegging me as Oliver," Keegan spoke up quietly, his arms folded across his chest. He playfully glared at me. I smiled sheepishly and held up my hands. "Well, all signs sort of pointed to you, you know," I countered, aiming a finger in his direction. Every sign on planet freaking Earth seemed to point to Keegan. Keegan nodded a little. "Yeah, well, after constantly having to clean up after Shane's idiocy, I can see how you would have thought I was the letter writer." He turned to Shane and glared. "Speaking of which, I don't think I ever quite scolded you for dating Gabrielle when you knew she was completely off limits." Shane turned a bit red and looked down at his feet. "Let's save these conversations for a different time, shall we? Right now, we should rejoice that Gabrielle and little Theo are finally together!" Theodore huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm not that little," he muttered. And he was right. While not as tall or buff as the guys on either side of him, Theodore wasn't a shrimp. He still had a good measure of height and even though he lacked muscle, he had a large structure to his body. Maybe considered a little lanky. But lets just say that he wouldn't be weight lifting anytime soon. But the thing that really stood out to me was the fact that he looked incredibly nervous. "Wow ... " I muttered, holding my aching head. If it hurt before, now it just pounded like a drum against my skull. All the new information just made me want to scream. Theodore seemed to notice this and shook off Shane's elbow from his shoulder, exiting the room for a moment before returning with a couple of Tylenol and another mug of water. He handed them to me, saying, "I asked if it would interfere with any of your medication. It's clear, though." After giving me a light smile Theodore returned to his spot with the other boys, letting me take a moment to down the pain killers and think. We all lapsed into silence, staring at each other and the floor. I just felt completely overwhelmed with information. My silence stemmed from information overload. I just needed to process everything. I mean, think about it. In the past week, I had been kidnapped, found my real father, suffered a severe blow to my head and came face to face with my secret admirer. My life got turned into a cheesy ABC Family sitcom. "So, uhm ... it sounds like you two have a lot of talking to do," Shane spoke up, a knowing smile crossing his face. Clapping Theodore on the back, Shane backed up, motioning for Keegan and Evan to follow. They all gave Theodore an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. However, Theodore didn't seem to share their enthusiasm to be alone with me. With Theodore yanking them all back, the four of them stood there, whispering to each other, flicking each other upside the head and overall not being very subtle. I decided to just wait it out; no need for my sarcastic commentary on the whole ordeal.