Free Gasparilla's Treasure (Trip Mongomery Book 1) by Scott Clements Page A

page.  He had no idea what it was, but he was sure this was the breakthrough they needed.  Excited, he rushed to show Sarah, but after examining it, she pointed out it was only a smudge of chocolate from Trip’s thumb. 
    That was it.  That was the only excitement, and the only glimmer of a chance that they would figure out the next step.  Trip was irritable.  It had been so exciting as they hunted down the first piece of the map, and he had been sure things would take off after that; and now nothing. 
    He put down the Gasparilla book and rubbed his eyes.  As they came back into focus, he found himself looking at Sarah.  When he first saw her in the schoolyard a few days ago, he thought she was pretty.  In fact, he thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen.
    Then came all the distractions: the fight with Eli, Pappy’s coma, and the start of the treasure hunt.  But now he noticed again how beautiful she was.  She was also smart, funny, and adventurous, unlike most of the girls he knew.  And Trip thought she liked him.  Sarah lightly brushed a few strands of hair away from her face as she jotted down a few notes.  Trip could not look away. 
    Josh abruptly brought him back to reality.  “Why are you staring at Sarah like that, Trip?  Your mouth is open and I think you might be drooling.”
    Sarah looked up, and Trip looked away, embarrassed.  She smiled a crooked smile and blushed a little.  Trip looked back as she smiled in his direction, and this time Sarah looked away, embarrassed.  She went back to her notes.
    Josh played his game again.  He was completely unaware of what was going on between Trip and Sarah, nor did he care.
    “If we're going to keep spending so much time in this attic of yours,” said Josh, “I'm gonna need you to rig me a Playstation 3 or Wii in here.”
    “Josh, we could really use your help on this,” said Sarah.  “We're getting nowhere.”
    “Well, what are you guys looking for?” asked Josh, focused on his game.
    “I don't know,” said Sarah, defeated.  “A clue, maybe.  Anything that can help lead us to the next piece of the map.”
    Trip stood up and took a deep breath, held it for a couple of seconds, and let it out.  He was exhausted after such a long day, and he was confident they would not make any more progress tonight.
    “It's getting late,” yawned Trip.  “We should call it a day.  We'll work on this tomorrow.”
    “Have you guys figured out what that NRHP112979 means yet?” asked Josh, still focused on his game.
    Trip and Sarah looked at each other, confused.  “NPHR what?” asked Trip.
    “On the back of the map there,” said Josh.  “It says NRHP112979.  What's that mean?”
    Trip grabbed the map piece and turned it over.  There were a few handwritten words on the back.  Sarah leaned in close to Trip to get a better look.  Trip had never felt uncomfortable around Sarah since the moment they met, but for some reason he felt awkward having her so close to him.  Her cheek practically touched his.  It was hard to breathe.  Luckily, at that moment, Sarah grabbed the map piece and walked away from him.
    “ High above NRHP112979 ,” Sarah read from the map.
    Trip regained himself.  “That must be our next clue.”
    Josh put down his game and joined them.  “OK, if that’s our next clue, what does in mean?”
    “We're going to need more resources,” said Sarah.  “Tomorrow after school, we'll go to the Flagler College Library and hopefully figure this thing out.”
    They packed up their things and called it a night.
     
    That night, Trip could not sleep.  For hours he sat in the attic looking at the pictures Pappy had left for him.  There were only about fifteen of them, and they were of Pappy and Trip’s dad in different locations around the world.  Trip wistfully thought about how great it would be to hunt this treasure with Pappy.  He had never really known his dad, but he and Pappy were close.  He was