SEVENTY- SEVEN

I went out of my class one day and the monitors on our floor came on. The Principal said,"Good morning students, it has come to our notice that some items belonging to various teachers and students have been reported missing for a few days. According to the CCTV camera footage, they were stolen. So please do not be alarmed as your bags and lockers are searched, thank you."

Some security guards came to our floor and began searching our lockers as they had spare keys.

They were searching and I wondered who might have taken it then one guard said,"I've found all of them..."

The whole floor gathered at that locker and I knew it was familiar, until the guard read the name pasted on the inside...it was mine.

Everyone turned and looked at me.

"What?! It wasn't me!"

"Tell that to the Principal."The guard said as he dragged me away.

I was before the Principal and she said,"I'm disappointed in you Tommy, and your brother will be too. Why would you steal those objects?"

"Yeah, why would I steal those objects, I have everything I need! And more! They were planted there."

"You have had a history of fighting so maybe you are turning a kleptomaniac."

"No I'm not."

"I'm sorry, but you are going to be put on a bond of good behaviour."

"Probation?! But I did nothing wrong!"

She didn't listen to a word I said till there was a knock on the door. Her secretary told her a student wanted to meet her.

The Principal wanted to dismiss the student but the secretary told her,"It has something to do with the robbery."

The Principal allowed the student in and it was Rose. I could tell because of the clothes she was wearing.

All the male guards were stunned at this teenager as she modelled to the Principal's desk.

She said,"It wasn't Tommy who did it, it was Andy."

The Principal didn't believe her and asked,"Do you have any proof?"

She went to a video and showed it to her as Andy payed a freshman big money and gave him a mask of my face.

She gave him the objects and he picked the lock of my locker and put the objects in.

Everyone was stunned.

"How did you get this video?"The Principal asked.

"I followed her, I saw her steal a teacher's Rolex watch and took a picture..."She showed them the picture,"...then she kept stealing objects with her two friends help and they had that boy plant them in Tommy's locker."

The Principal apologized to me and dismissed the two of us.

As we went out I hugged Rose and said,"You're a life saver Rose! Thank you."

"Anything for my friend."

I felt butterflies in my stomach, Ruby had never called me her friend before.

We had Art class after that but Rose didn't seem to be an Art expert, yet I was so I helped her.

We were supposed to paint a sky from imagination or memory but she couldn't.

I gave her some pointers on how she could make it look more realistic and she was a fast learner, just like her sister.

She came to my house that day and Mark cooked for us.

The three of us were at table and she reminded me of Olivia, we had everything in common and she wasn't rude or scary like Ruby, she was gentle and open.

Mark kept bothering me to bust some moves with her but I told him I didn't want to ruin the friendship we had.

What if she doesn't have the same feelings for me?

I just kept it cool.

I went to an elevator in my school one day and forgot to get off at my floor then it ascended.

It took me to Ruby's floor and I was shocked to see what she was wearing.

She was in a pineapple shaped outfit and it had windows and a door like SpongeBob's house.

I went to ask her what was going on but she blew me off.

"Buzz off traitor, I'm allowed to wear whatever I want."

"But you're not in uniform, you'll get into trouble."

"Rules are like eggs, they're meant to be broken, besides what do you care?"

After that, she walked away.

This girl is really something...

I went to my class late but thank goodness Rose had saved me a seat, right beside her.

It was music class and everyone was to compose a song using any instrument of their choice.

I couldn't sing because I sounded like a hyena with a sore throat and I couldn't play the cello, violin, viola, drum kit, steel drums or any other of the forty different types of musical instruments available.

Mark had taught me the basics of the piano, so I picked that.

Rose played the piano as well and sang. It was amazing how quickly she had put lyrics into the song and she got the highest marks in the class.

There was no problem there because she sounded like a siren, I had only heard one person whose voice was better than that and that was Lucille.

That day, Mark dropped us off at Lucille's house and I could tell Ms Lucy took a quick liking to Rose as she was teasing me that I liked her.

We slept in Lucille's mansion that day and our laundry was done by the servants so we could easily change and go back to school the next day.