CHAPTER ONE:

Thunder boomed overhead, as lightning illuminated the pitch-black night sky. Rain tickled the rooftops of Jerrabomberra and hail thumped on the pavement.

In the second bedroom of nineteen Potter Avenue, Oscar White was deep in an uneasy sleep, shaking all over. On the bedside table next to him, the alarm clock announced that it was midnight.

All the other inhabitants of Jerrabomberra were the same. Those who were not lying in their beds shaking were praying by their fireplaces that the storm would soon pass, and that tomorrow would be a beautiful day.

*****

As the black clouds migrated West, Oscar White woke with a start. As he sat up in his bed, yawned and rubbed his eyes, he suddenly remembered that today (the 9th of January) was the first day of the TESA for the year.

Oscar jumped out of bed and put on his fluffy brown slippers, humming ABBA's ‘Waterloo’ as he did so. He could hear banging and clanging from downstairs; coming from the kitchen.

He exited his bedroom, walked across the second-floor landing, and descended the staircase. He entered the kitchen and greeted his mother.

His mother, Eva, looked up from the kitchen bench for a moment and replied to her 13-year-old son sweetly. “Good morning, my honeybun!”

Oscar was sick of his mother calling him sus names like that, yet no matter how many times he reminded her, she kept doing it. “It's Oscar. I've told you, like a thousand times!” He even added a little eye roll, just for fun.

His mother didn't have time to answer, for then, Oscar's father, Liam, entered the room. He had been out collecting the daily newspaper, for he dropped an unusually large issue of the Jerrabomberra Times on the dining table and sat down.

“Good morning, Whites!” he announced heartily. He had had a good night's sleep, much unlike the rest of the town.

Eva delivered a bowl of muesli to Liam and Oscar (who had sat down at the table next to his father), before sitting down to a bowl of porridge herself.

Soon, the White family had devoured their breakfast, Oscar raced upstairs and dressed promptly into his white pants and ABBA t-shirt. Then, he flipped the ‘on’ switch on his CD player and disappeared into the wonderful world of ABBA.

*****

Not much happened over the next 7 ½ hours. Oscar ate some lunch with his family (a delicious serving of his mother's own pasta bake recipe), listened to some more ABBA, and did some other things that I do not need to list here.

All we need to know is that it was 3:43pm and Oscar was slipping on his bright green and gold shoes. His family came by the front door and hugged Oscar goodbye, before he exited the house and began to walk down the driveway to Potter Avenue.

It was not long before he came to Neilson's Boulevard, which was only half a kilometre away from the Jerrabomberra Community Hall, where the TESA was held.

Let me tell you more about the TESA.

The TESA is a spy group consisting of 7 people. Their names are Angus Samuels, Alex Davies, Michael Latara, Oscar White (obviously), Nathan Lockhart, Leonardo Cartright and Thomas Jones. They attended the same high school (Jerrabomberra High School) and they all enjoyed spying, Harry Potter, and ABBA.

Oscar suddenly stopped walking, for he could hear a tune on the guitar that he knew. He looked over to the corner of Neilson's Boulevard, and saw a scruffy old man, probably in his mid 40's, playing ‘Ring Ring’ by ABBA.

He realised that he was going in that direction, and so he stopped to put a 50-dollar note from his wallet in the man's guitar case. (Yes, he has a wallet, and yes, he loves ABBA that much. Crazy!)

It was only when he went to put the money in the man's guitar case that he noticed something peculiar. There was a man with a very odd shaped face, hidden amongst the trees, talking to thin air. He was saying something about a 250-dollar ukulele. Strange...

Oscar loved mysteries, yet decided this was not a mystery for him (mostly because he was going to be late for the TESA) and kept on walking towards the Jerrabomberra Community Hall.