“Richard Newman please come to the main office immediately, Richard Newman to the main office,” the principle announced over the intercom. Great, I hate math anyway might as well blow off a few minutes to see what he wants. So I got up to go but before I made it to the door I felt a tugging on the back of my shirt.

“Your shirt was stuck. I wanted you to look your best before you walk into the snake pit,” whispered my close friend Tommy. “Thanks,” I said back. Once I emerge out of the class room I think back to what I possibly could have done wrong. Nothing. I’m on Honor Society my mom would kill me if I get kicked off. I’ve never done anything wrong in school. Maybe I lied once or twice but nothing major.

A few days ago a girl died from a drug over dose but I had nothing to do with it. I barely even knew the girl. I reached the door to the office so I stopped to calm myself. When I went to open the door my hand slipped from sweat. I guess my second to calm down didn’t work. Let’s hope I don’t have to shake Mr. Manning’s hand.

When I got inside of the small dark room I looked for Mr. Manning but instead there were two officers standing inside the door. I thought I was tall being 6 feet. I guess not they were like skyscrapers standing next to me. I instantly found Mr. Manning because he is short and round compared to them.

“Take a seat,” sighed the principle.

“Okay but what is this about,” I stuttered. One of the skyscrapers moved in front of me. He placed down an official looking folder.

“Mr. Newman, my name is Bill and this is Jeremy. We looked through all of the students records here at Saint Anne’s High School. Mr. Manning said you are well respected by both students and teachers. You are a senior and you play football,” I cut off Bill.

“What does any of that have to do with anything,” I blurted.

“We believe you could help us,” Jeremy said. What are they talking about help them? So I opened the folder and gasped. It was a picture of the girl, lying on the floor in the girl’s locker room, dead. From the few conversations we had I liked Annabel. She was one of the cheerleaders. She was also on the Honor’s Society with me.

“Why are you showing me this, and help you with what?” I finally asked.

Bill replied, “We need you to help us find out who killed her. We don’t want this to happen to any of the other students,” he said pointing to the horrific picture. “Please think about it tonight. I will be back tomorrow morning to see if you’re up to helping us.” My head is spinning. The police want me to help them find out a case. Wait. Did he say killed? I thought she over dosed.

“Wait, did you say killed. All the students said she was doing drugs,” I said.

“We will be back tomorrow to see if you’re up to it,” responded Jeremy. At that both of the officers got up and left. Mr. Manning and I were left in his office looking at each other.

“I think it’s best if you get back to class,” he said hesitantly. I nodded and walked out. I’m so lost one minute I’m learning about God knows what in math and then the police tell me they need me to go undercover. I left math at 9:30 now its 10:45. Where did the time go? I thought I was only in there for a few minutes. That’s fine I don’t like math anyways. If I run I could probably get to science in a few minutes.

“Hey what’s up? You were down there for a while,” I heard Tommy’s familiar voice behind me. I turned to talk to him but Mrs. Valley yelled at us.

“I’ll tell you later,” I whispered. I had so much pent up energy I was going to explode sitting there watching the clock. I could tell Cathy was getting mad at me shaking. She kept giving me dirty looks. Too bad it’s not like everyday a police officer says they need your help to find someone.

The bell finally rang and I got up to run but Mrs. Valley called me over to see her. She said that she assigned the homework at the beginning of class so she had to give it to me now. Once she stopped blabbing I ran down the hall to find Tommy. I found his neon green backpack in a second. The backpack was as subtle as a firework going off. I personally liked the blue one but he said it ripped so he needed a new one.

“Tommy,” I screamed right next to Cathy. “Sorry,” I apologized but I kept running. I really need to try to be nicer to her.

“Hey, what happened in the meeting earlier,” he questioned.

“Yea, so I walked in and saw Mr. Manning and then…” wait am I supposed to tell him. I don’t know any of this legal stuff. What did I get myself into? “Umm, he just talked to me about how I didn’t have enough service hours for NHS,” I lied.

“Are you okay? You’re acting strange,” Tommy said. But the bell rang to cut him off. Finally the school day is over. I need to go home and try to make sense of all of this.

When I got home I sat in my room and stared out the window. I always think better when I look out my window. So let me put everything into perspective. I was sitting in math, then I got called to the office, the police talked to me, I’m going to help solve a murder, what happened? I was sitting in math and now I’m solving a murder case. How did all of this escalate so quickly? I can’t say no to the police but I won’t help them either. The best solution I can come up with is sleep. I’m just going to go to bed and see what happens tomorrow.

“Rise and shine, time to get up,” my mom bellows. I think I would rather roll over and die then go back to school. Maybe I can fake an illness. “Mom I don’t think I can go today I feel awful,” I moaned. “Nonsense, you missed a day last week you can’t miss again,” she replied. Great I forgot about that.

When I walked through the front doors of Saint Anne’s Mr. Manning immediately called me in. Déjà vu, the same two cops and Mr. Manning are all standing in the same spot as yesterday. “So what have you decided,” Bill asked.

“Well I don’t think I have much of a choice so I might as well help,” I said. Jeremy wasn’t even listening he was already pulling out a laptop. He turned it on and told me to watch. All I saw was Annabel standing there putting her hair into a ponytail when a figure appeared through the door. Then Bill closed the laptop.

My heart sank I didn’t know what to do now. I was caught. They had me on video. I tried to get up and run but Jeremy already handcuffed me to the chair. How did he do that? I didn’t even feel it. “She deserved it,” I screamed. No matter how much I yelled none of them flinched, not even Mr. Manning.

Bill started to say something, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?”