Saving Professor (Part 6)

Petra woke up early in the morning. For a moment she panicked, forgetting where she was.
She was in a room at the glass building. She slept on a couch, and Collier slept on the floor. Today they would begin their help.
Collier stirred in his sleep.
Petra got up and walked to a bookcase in the far corner. She looked through the books. Nothing really interested her, so she chose a random comic book on the bottom shelf. She slouched back onto the couch and started to read.
She was almost halfway through when she noticed Collier sitting up and looking at her.
“Good morning,” she greeted him.
“Mmmph,” he responded.
“What are you doing?”
“Uuuuuhn.”
“Okay. That’s great.” Petra returned to her reading as Collier slumped back onto the floor and covered his head with his pillow.
Just then, Professor walked into the room.
“Collier, is Petra up yet?” he asked. “I need to show both of you something.”
Petra looked down at Collier, expecting him to wake up. Then she looked back at Professor, then realized that he was talking to her.
“Professor? I’m Petra.”
Professor’s eyes widened, and he scratched his chin.
“Oh. I’m sorry, Petra. So Collier is still asleep?” He eyed the lump under the blanket. Petra nodded.
“Collier, time to get up.”
Collier sent out a murmuring sound.
“Collier.”
He sat up.
“Huh?”
“Professor has to tell us something.”
Professor looked at Petra, then at Collier. Then he knelt down beside them.
“Okay, here’s the deal. Remember that Asher Alexander guy I told you about yesterday?”
The twins nodded.
“Well, I sent in a request for you going, and he accepted. So you two are going to go on that mission, for sure.”
Petra and Collier exchanged nervous glances.
“You start tomorrow at 8:00 am sharp. It takes thirty minutes to get to his place, so we’ll have to leave at 7:30. You’ll choose for yourself when you’re going to wake up. Now who goes first?”
Petra looked at Collier. He sighed.
“I’ll go, Professor,” he volunteered.
“Okay. So I’ll be in at 7:15 to make sure you’re up. All right?”
“Sure. But when will I get back?”
“At 4:00 in the afternoon. Or, at least, that’s what he said.”
“Okay. I’ll do it.” Collier’s eyes slid over to his sister. “What will Petra be doing?”
“I already have that figured out. I’ve hired a friend of mine to tutor you. His name is Mr. Murphy and he already knows your situation. He’ll just have to figure out which one of you two he’s teaching at the moment. But Petra will start with him tomorrow, then Collier will start with him when Petra’s gone.” Professor checked his watch. “Sorry, I have to go. I don’t want to be late for work.” Then, without another word, he hurried out of the room.
“I almost forgot that school’s still going on,” Petra said.
“Yeah, imagine where we would be if we didn’t both get in the truck yesterday.”
They both thought about it for a moment. None of them could imagine it.
“Hey, Collier, thanks.”
“For what?”
“For going first.”
“Oh. Well, I wanted to anyway.”
“Right. Uh-huh.” Petra lightly punched his shoulder.
“Okay, okay, I did it for you!” Then Collier grew serious. “But that’s because you’ve already gone through a lot in the past day, and I don’t want you to have to deal with more.”
“Aww, thanks, Collier.” Petra squeezed him in a big bear hug. “You’re the best twin brother ever!”