“Ahh, finally the bitch comes out,” I muse. “You were scaring me at first.”

She scowls, but laughs with me. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Buh-bye,” I say, pushing her out of the door in one quick motion, then securely locking the door behind her.

————————-

After the most painfully slow week in my life, the day of the trial came. Not to say that the week wasn’t eventful, but it crept at a turtles pace. The only thing that sped up the process was the police interviews.

“Excuse me, children,” Principal Clearwater spoke through the microphone. “As you all know, one of our, um, faculty has been arrested on… err, charges, so if you know anything or have any information about anything that you witnessed or heard, we’d ask that you inform us right away.” The student body buzzed with chatter. That was why we had this emergency general assembly? “The police are here now, for everyone’s convenience. We ask that if you do not have any information that could possibly help us with this investigation to please return back to your classroom.” Principal Clearwater waited expectantly, but no one moved. “I repeat, anyway without information is asked to return to class.” Again, no one moved. Who was willing to go back to class when they could legitimately ditch? Principal Clearwater sighed and waved up the front row.

I listened to a few track buddies chat as we waited until we had to return back to class. I felt a presence behind me that hadn’t been there before. I turned around, greeted by a wide smile and black shirt.

I looked up. “Hey, Spencer! What’s up?” he asked excitedly.

“Nothing much. You?” I asked, not exactly in the mood to talk, but still trying to remain friendly.

“Actually, I was on my way to sit with my friends. We were going to practice our lines,” he said excitedly.

Lines? “Oh, yeah, good luck, Leading Man,” I smiled.

“That’s what I came over here for. The days of the play have been scheduled for the weekend of the fourteenth. I was wondering if you thought you could make it.” He bounced with anticipation.

I hesitated. That was Ashley’s court date.