It was a day like any other. I woke to the smell of sizzling bacon and the sound of my alarm clock buzzing. I opened the window, and I could feel the cool morning breeze brush against my face. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, pulled a sweater over my T shirt and rushed downstairs.
“Jenny, come over here and eat your breakfast!” I heard my mom shout from the kitchen.
“Yes, coming!” I replied.
I sat next to my mom, who was waiting for her coffee to brew.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” my mom started.
“-and I should sit down and enjoy it. Yes mom, you say that every day.” I finished.
Mom piled my plate with bacon, scrambled eggs and toast. I started shovelling food in my mouth, listening to the radio.
“Five 12th graders attending Hanna High School were caught helping each other in their SATs. The teachers caught them red-handed, texting each other with their phones under their desks. The principal stated that the school would enforce the rules of the SAT test, and the students caught cheating would face serious consequences. The school district has sent people to schools, giving speeches about the cheating incidents and the consequences. Hopefully, this would prevent future students from cheating. That’s it for today, and now to Sarah Wells for the Morning Weather Forecast!”
“Honey, be careful of bad influences in school.” My mom told me.
“Oh, come on, Mom. What are the chances of me meeting a cheater? Besides, if there were any more people who plan to cheat, they would probably not be brave enough to do that, after what has just happened to those 12th graders!” I assured Mom.
“You would never know what is gonna happen next, and you are only 16, so just be careful, ok?” Mom said.
“Ok, Mom,”I replied.
I went into the garage to get my motorbike. It was baby blue with white stripes on the side. I put on my helmet and set off to Kathy’s house. Kathy is my best friend in school. She is kind of the beauty queen who likes fashion and all, which is the exact opposite of me. Really, it’s a miracle that we get along so well. I weaved to several streets and arrived there just as she headed out of the house with her helmet on.
“Hop on!” I shouted over the roaring of the engine.
“Thanks, Jenny. I would have to walk a mile and a half every day if it weren’t for you,” Kathy shouted back.
We zoomed through the traffic, arriving at school twenty minutes earlier than usual. Kathy sat next to a tree, playing games on her new iphone. She’d apparently forgot that she had a job to do.
“Kathy, didn’t you have to help Mr. Snyder sort out some papers?” I asked her.
She suddenly froze and jerked her head up, “OMIGOSH I TOTALLY FORGOT I HAD TO DO THAT OH NO I’M FREAKING OUT-” Kathy screamed.
“Just go now and you’ll be fine,” I interjected. “ And don’t yell like that, I don’t think Mrs Cadwell appreciates that,” I gestured towards Room 12, where Mrs. Cadwell was glaring at us.
“Oops, sorry,” Kathy said, obviously embarrassed.
“S’ok, just don’t do it next time.” I told her.
Kathy swung her backpack over her shoulder and hurried over to Mr. Snyder’s room. I sat on a bench and took out “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” to read. Just then, two guys, twins, were standing by Room D and were chatting. I took a closer look and I gasped. It was the most popular kids in the school, Brent and Jake. They were wearing identical clothes and had identical backpacks, and looked generally the same except for one thing - Jake has a scar right above his left eyebrow which he claims to have gotten it from a fistfight.
I have been wanting to ask them if one of them wants to go to the prom with me for a long time, but every time they pass by, I was always with my friends and I would not want to embarrass myself in front of them if I get turned down. But it would be really cool if they come with me. Besides, I don’t have anyone to go with anyways. I plucked up my courage and rose from the bench.
I walked over to them, and my heart was pounding faster than a race car. They saw me before I got to them.
“Hey, you’re Jenny, the school’s newspaper editor!” Jake said.
“Yeah, I love your writing!” Brent added.
“Oh...you know me?” I asked, stunned that they even read my articles.
Brent nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been wanting to stop by and talk to you since the start of the school year-”
“But you couldn’t pluck up your courage, and ole’ Brenty over here is scared that you might turn him down in front of his friends and me!” Jake intercepted.
“Hey! I told you not to mention that!” Brent exclaimed, his whole face turning red.
“Oh, I’ve been wanting to talk to you too!” I said.
“Uh, you wanna maybe go to the prom together? I’m sick of that flirt Audrey.” Brent asked.
“Oh, sure, of course, no problem!” Jenny replied, relieved that she didn’t have to ask.
“Ooooooh, Brenty likes Jenny!” Jake teased Brent.
“Oh, shut up, Jake!” Brent exclaimed.
I told the arguing twins that I’ve got to head for my History class and left. Truth is, I was so excited about what just happened and I’m rushing to tell Kathy. I ran over to Mr. Snyder’s room and barged in.
Kathy yelped. “Argh! There is something called knocking, you stupid little-oh, it’s you. Sorry ‘bout that, you are the seventh  person to barge in within 20 minutes. Mr. Snyder went out for a meeting and is not coming back until first period. So, wazzup?”
“You would not believe me, but Brent just asked me to go with him to the prom!” I told her the whole story, and she didn’t interrupt throughout the entire time.
Kathy looked really shocked and surprised. “What? You are soooooo lucky! I’m stuck with that idiot Terence, and you get Brent, the most popular kid in the school? Hey, any chance you can hook me up with Jake?”
I rolled my eyes. “You know he is going with Sydnie. They are dating, remember?”
Kathy sighed. “Guess I’ll be stuck with Terence, then. At least he is better than the snob Ian. I’m grateful that Tracy is going with him. I bet he has a crush on me, judging on how he stares at me in French class.”
I stifled a laugh. “Oh yeah, remember? He was like, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, me likes Kathy, she pretty!!!...”
“Yeah, looks and talks like a neanderthal,” Kathy said, rolling her eyes.
Just then, Mr. Snyder came in. “Don’t you girls have to go to your history class? Mr. Browne won’t be happy if you guys are late for your quiz!”
“Ok, bye!” I said, swinging my backpack over my back. We headed over to Room 23 happily.
After the history quiz(ironically, about early humans and neanderthals) I noticed that there was a tiny sheet of paper on Jake’s lap, and it seemed to me that he was copying off that paper.. Cheating? I thought. Jake is the student with the highest GPA, followed closely by Brent! They won’t cheat! Then I saw Jake pass the paper to Pierre, one of Jake’s cronies. I thought they were just chatting, since they were done with the test and apparently forgot to bring a book to read afterwards. Shortly after Mr. Browne collected our quizzes, the bell rang and everyone rushed to go to their next classes. I had PE with Kathy, Brent and Jake. Brent walked with Kathy and me to the locker rooms.
“Hey how did you do on your quiz?” Brent asked me.
“Um, fine, I guess,” I told him.
“Don’t worry that much. I’m sure you did awesome, as smart as you are,” he flirted. I blushed and  hurried off into the locker room. I changed into my PE clothes and headed out onto the blacktop.
After language arts, the last period of the day, Kathy and I went to the public library to do our homework. After finishing up an essay, Kathy put down her pen and turned toward me.
“Hey, the prom is, like, 2 days away. Have you gotten any nice clothes to wear yet? Judging from what you usually wear-” she paused and gestured at my sweater and basketball shorts, “you don’t have a single formal dress in your wardrobe, am I right?” She put on her ‘wise girl’ expression, which makes me laugh every time.
“Yeah, philosopher Kathy got it right again,” I playfully smacked her in the shoulder.
“Well, as I said, the prom is two days away. Don’t you need to look good? After all, not many people actually get asked to a prom by Brent or Jake. In fact, you are the first one ever! It is usually the girls who ask them out, you know,” She said matter of factly.
I had totally forgot about this. “Oh yeah, oh no! I have absolutely no fashion sense at all. Dang it, how could I forget?” I scolded myself.
“Hmmm, let’s think of who can actually make you look good… A redhead who is sitting right next to you. Is that right?” Kathy said sarcastically. She is always sarcastic.
“Yeah, you da expert now. Now what?” I asked her, mildly irritated.
“Let’s take you out shopping. Better drive a car, your little motorbike won’t hold all the necessities we will buy! Why are all your vehicles so small? My dad’s gonna let me have his big old van when I get my driver’s licence. Not too pretty, but it works out. Now I just have to wait for another two weeks.” Since Kathy isn’t turning 16 till October, she can’t drive yet, so I always have to be the driver. We headed to my house so I could drop off my motorbike, stash up on some cash, and drive my dad’s old Honda instead of my motorbike. Then, Kathy decided that we go to Sheridan Mall to grab some clothes and cosmetics.
I parked the car and we headed into the shopping center. Usually, when my mom comes here to shop for clothes, my dad and I will head to Bert’s Burgers and eat a Bert’s Special Burger. My dad and I both hate shopping.
Kathy took me into Fashion Paradise to pick out a dress. She picked about a bazillion dresses for me to try on. She commented on every single one, and it seems like none of the dresses looks good on me.
“Too pink...Too glamorous...Why is there a seam right there? Ruins the style ...Doesn’t look good on your skin ...Eww...no, definitely not this one…” Kathy muttered as she fit me with all the different dresses. Finally, she found a emerald green one that looked stunning.
“Wow! This so brings out your eyes, Jenny! I love how the green matches them completely!” Even Kathy, Fashion Supreme #1, looked impressed. We bought that dress and went on shopping.
Next, we went to Carol’s Cosmetics. The overpowering smell of perfume hit me smack in the face when we walked in. There, Carol, the shop owner, gave Kathy a small hug and asked her what she wanted to find. Carol gave her a thick catalog, and together they circled a few things. Kathy sure does have a lot of friends in the fashion world. Carol went into the storage to grab the stuff Kathy had asked her to get.
“What did you get for me, Kathy? Don’t want it to be too glamorous, I might scare Brent away!” I asked Kathy.
“Oh, nothing much, just some blush, some concealer, eyeshadow, lipstick…” she rambled on until my eyes glazed over.
“Oh, you are hopeless!” Kathy exclaimed.
“What? I’m just not into all this glamorous stuff!”
Kathy rolled her eyes at me.
Minutes later, Carol came back with tons of cosmetics. Kathy double checked that all of the cosmetics suit me, then insisted on pay for all of that.
“No, I’m the one who uses it, Kathy, I should pay for it myself!” I told her.
“Oh, stop babbling. This is for driving me to school every day, ok? She insisted.
Eventually, I let Kathy pay for it, and apparently she got 30% off of it.
“See, that’s why I told you that I should pay!”  She said triumphantly.
“Ok, yeah, thanks a lot, Kathy!” I thanked her a bajillion times on the way back.
Two boring days passed, and it was finally time for the prom. I went over to Kathy’s place with my dress and cosmetics.
“Oh, I’m so excited! First time to put makeup on you!” Kathy said excitedly.
“Yeah, don’t overdo it, Ms. Glamorous. I will kill you if you screw my face up.” I warned her sarcastically.
“Don’t worry, your highness, I got it covered,” Kathy replied.
Kathy started off fitting me into the dress. “People would never stop staring at you,” she told me, clearly impressed.
Then, Kathy started unwrapping all the cosmetics, and her hands started working on my face. Within half an hour, Kathy had finished her finishing touches and made me close my eyes. She led me to her room, where stood a full length mirror.
“Open your eyes,” Kathy instructed.
I did as she told, and before me stood a gorgeous young lady. I was in a silky emerald green dress that brought my eyes out. She braided a silver ribbon in my blond hair. Kathy had transformed me into such a beautiful girl.
“Thanks, Kathy! I think you better start changing too, because we have to leave in about an hour.” I am very lucky to have such an awesome and amazing nice friend.
Kathy changed into her prom dress. I’ve gotta admit, she was stunning. We headed to my car and I drove to school. Shortly after we left, Brent called me. He told me to meet him by the willow tree near the parking lot. When we pulled into the parking lot, I saw Brent. He was in a sky blue shirt with a emerald green tie, which matches my dress. He had a navy blue coat and matching dress pants. Wow, I thought. I thought he’d only look cool in t-shirts and basketball shorts. Suits and ties make him look even better. When I got out of the car, Brent stared at me in awe.
“Wow, you look...beautiful!” Brent seemed at a lost of words.
“You are too! oh, I mean, you look really handsome…”I stammered.
“Shall we go join the prom?”
“Yeah, let’s go,”
Brent offered me his arm and together we walked into the gym. We danced to a couple of songs, and after that, I told Brent that I was a little tired.
“I’ll go get some drinks for us,” Brent said, and he vanished into the crowd.
I saw Audrey shoot me an envious look. She was obviously mad when Brent ditched her to go with me. Brent wasn’t back after a few minutes, so  I walked over to the drinks bar to try and find him. Just then, I heard Jake whispering angrily to Nick, one of the straight A kids in the school. “...you don’t help me, you are in serious trouble. Keep that in mind, you useless fool. Don’t you dare pull that stunt again.” Jake and Nick always hung out together during brunch, I wonder what had happened.
“Hey, I was trying to find you,”
I whipped my head around and saw Brent holding a couple of root beers. He handed me one.
“Thanks, Brent.” I took a swig from the bottle. “Is there any chance that Jake and Nick..you know, had some incident?” I ask Brent, careful to sound as innocent as possible.
“No, but I’ve noticed that my twin has been meeting and ditching a lot of friends since the start of high school. He ditched his childhood friend, Zacky Reid, right when we entered 9th grade. After that, Zacky sent a letter to the district office requesting a transfer to Pinewood High. That was really weird. A couple of kids, like Mitch and Mike, went through the same thing. Things started getting kind of weird, and teachers suspected that Jake had something to do with it. They asked Dad about Jake. Dad just said, ‘We the Griffins were always popular, and I think my kid just made awful friends.’ Then Jake’s friendships became stable again, until 10th grade. This time, Oscar Molano was ditched. Except this time, he became truant. You wrote about that in the paper, the police somehow caught him in Mexico smoking marijuana, and we are in California! I asked him about what’s going on, but he told me to chillax and that it was nothing. When I continued to nag Jake, he snapped at me. Said that he was older and had the rights to tell me to shut up. He’s just 2 minutes older, but he always uses it against me! Anyways, I stopped nagging him. Don’t worry, I think it’s just stress.”
“Oh, yeah, ok. Just for your information, I think Jake’s gonna ditch Nick.” I told him.
“Ok. How did you know?” He asked me.
“I saw them having a dispute when you were gone," I said.
“Really? Well thanks for telling me.” Brent said half heartedly.
After Brent told me about Jake, I excused myself, saying that I had to go to the bathroom. As I did, I pulled Kathy out of the crowd, who was laughing with a bunch of guys. I dragged her to the bathroom and closed the door.
“Gerroff Me!” Kathy struggled, but I have grips of iron. Kathy’s breath smells like coke. She was probably high on caffeine.
“CALM DOWN!” I bellowed. “THIS IS ABOUT JAKE!”
Kathy froze. I let go of her, and she stared at me. “WHAT? Did you manage to get him to dance with me?”
“No,” I said. I told her about what just happened and how I suspect that Jake was cheating. Her jaw dropped.
“Wow, since when you’ve became a detective?” She said.
“THAT'S NOT THE POINT!” At that point, I got very irritated.
“I know, I know. Yeah, ok. So you think that Jake is a cheater? I don’t think so. I mean, he is the best student in this school in about maybe twenty years, and he also is one of the popular kids. How can he cheat with so much attention on him? I’ve seen girls stare at him all the time, during tests, group projects, and stuff like that.” She said skeptically. “Knock it off, Detective Knight. Now, lemme go have another coke drinking race with those guys. Matt had fifty bucks bet on me losing. I’ll split the fifty dollars between us if I win!” She ran out of the bathroom and went back to her coke games. I decided to drop the subject. I rejoined Brent and for the rest of the prom, I got the thought of Jake cheating out of my mind.
Two weeks later, it was Kathy’s birthday. She’d always wanted a pair of Beats headphones, so I dropped by the Evie’s Electronics. Just as I was getting off my motorbike, I saw Brent leaning over somebody, next to the electronics store. The other person was cowering away from Brent. What the heck is Brent doing? I thought. I went closer to the scene to check out what was happening. Then I saw it happen.
Brent had a huge scar above his eyebrow. Wait… It was Jake! I silently went towards them, trying to find out about what Jake was up to. I also took out my phone so I could record what was about to happen.
“...I told you, you are gonna die if you don’t help me on my SAT, idiot. You hear me? I warned you, at the prom. You will be the first person I try out my new BB gun on-if you don’t keep your trap shut and cooperate,” Jake gave Nick a cold smile. “See, I am obviously stronger-” he flexed his bulging biceps-”so don’t even think about fighting me. The fight might just be fair if you get Mitch, Mike, Oscar, and that scrawny idiot Zacky to help you. Cooperate, and you will be rewarded. Good luck on studying!” Jake sneered and kicked Nick in the guts and he crumpled to the muddy ground.
Jake smirked at him, not noticing that I was right behind him, recording everything that is happening. I turned around, thinking that this would be over when I turn this over to the teachers. Just as I started walking, a strong hand grabbed my shoulder and forced me to turn towards him. Jake was towering over me.
“Oh, so it is you, you nosy little brat. I’ve been thinking about why my brother was asking me about Nicky yesterday. You spilled the beans, huh? Hand over your phone.” Jake commanded. I felt my phone pressing against my leg in the pocket of my jeans. “HAND IT OVER!” he demanded. I did as he told.
“You better keep your mouth shut, or else,” Jake threatened.
Jake made me unlock my iphone, and he scrolled through the videos until he found the one of him threatening Nick. He clicked on it, and deleted it.
“No! Don’t do it!” I yelled. Jake looked at me with his cruel eyes. “Yeah, like I’m gonna listen to you.” He reaches into his backpack and pulls out his BB gun and points it at me. It is a cruel looking handgun.
“Jake, don’t do this,” I pleaded. “You should take the SAT on your own, I’m sure you could do it.”
“NOBODY TELLS ME WHAT TO DO!” Jake screamed at me. “Shut up, and get out of here!”
I shakily walked to Evie’s Electronics to get Kathy’s birthday present. Dang it, I thought. I let him delete it, now I can’t show Brent what is actually happening!  I walked past Evie glumly, who was talking to an elderly man.
“I accidentally deleted a precious picture of me and my wife,” he said desperately. “ Can you recover it?”
Evie clicked on a few things on the man’s iphone. “You have icloud storage, and everything is uploaded there, so you can just go to icloud and find all your pictures, including the ones you have deleted,”
Oh yeah! I can ask Evie to recover that video! I thought excitedly. I waited for Evie to finish showing the old man how to download his pictures, and I walked up to her.
“Hey, Evie, any chance you can recover a video that, uh, I just accidentally deleted? I asked.
“Yeah, sure no problem,” Evie said casually. “I’ll do it free of charge, since it’s you,” she whispered. Evie had been an old friend of mine. She was in 12th grade when I was in 9th, and she helped me a lot. Now, she had fulfilled her dream of opening an electronics shop and I always drop by when I need stuff fixed. I thanked her for recovering that video.
As I was walking out of the shop, I called Brent.
“Hey Jenny! What’s going on? Where are you?” Brent asked.
“I’m at Evie’s Electronics. You would not believe me, but Jake-- AH!” I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my right arm. It was Jake! He shot me! He fired again at me and the bullet hit my right leg. I screamed in pain, trying to get up.
“Jenny? Jenny?! Hang in there, I’ll be right there.” Brent exclaimed worriedly.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jake sneered, “You think you can get away with recovering that video? Not a chance! Hand over the phone!”
I gave Jake my phone. He took it, and smashed it onto the ground. My phone’s screen cracked, and it shattered into a million pieces. My heart raced.
He doesn’t know that Brent is coming, I thought to myself, I still have hope of catching Jake! Just then, I heard someone running towards me. It was Brent! Help...I thought to myself as the world around me blacked out...
    I woke to a familiar voice. There was a sphere of light right above me. Was I dead? I thought. Then I felt someone shaking me.
“Jenny? Jenny! Wake up please!” Brent yelled, waving the light over my eyes.
I woke up in a dim room. My arm and leg was numb, and I saw fuzzy human silhouettes leaning over me.
“Uh….?” I felt very woozy. Where was I? My eyes finally came into focus. Brent, Evie, Kathy, and another young man wearing surgical gloves that I didn’t recognize was huddled around me. I was laying on a old mattress, and to the left of me an IV bag was hanging with a thin tube that reached a needle in my arm. I could feel fluids entering my body from the tube and the needle.
“Thank goodness! I was so worried.” Brent said as he came up and crushed me with a hug. He seemed to know what I was thinking. “We’re in Evie’s shop’s storage, Jenny.”
“What? Why?” I asked, very confused. The last thing I remember is my whole body feeling like it’s gonna explode.
“I heard you scream while you were on the phone, luckily, I was not far from here. Evie saw Jake shoot you and threatened. to call the cops, so Jake ran away. Then she dragged you into the shop before anyone noticed anything wrong and called her brother Arnold, he’s a medic, and he pulled out the BB gun bullets.” The man with the glasses gave me a small smile. “He also bandaged it up pretty well, and since the bullets didn’t hit anything vital, you don’t need to go to the hospital.”
The medic, Arnold, added, “But don’t strain yourself just yet. I put you on some pain medications to stop the pain. You will have to be on crutches for a few weeks because the bullet hit some muscles and ligaments, but after that, you’ll be fine. I got you a doctor’s note, saying that you, ah, fell off some stairs.” He blushed at this, clearly embarrassed.
“Thanks. Why didn’t you guys just get me in the hospital?” I asked.
“Cause’ then the cops would come and then…it’s just a lot of trouble,” Brent muttered. I knew that if the cops come, I would have to tell them the truth and Jake would be in serious trouble. Even though Jake did some horrible things, he still is Brent’s twin.
“We gotta tell the cops!” Kathy said. “This is a crime!”
“No, not yet. I want to catch Jake red-handed during the SAT. This way, I have all the evidence to back me up on this. Also, I think we need to ask Brent about whether he wants his twin reprimanded before we tell the cops.” I said. I looked at Brent. I can see the gears in his head turning, figuring out whether he should turn his twin in. “It would be very nice if you do, you  know, give permission,” I said.
“Well.. he did some wrong things, so I think he has to face the consequences.” He said. “ I hope Jake won’t blame me for this, it is for his own good.” Brent added. We all knew that this was hard for him, he was his twin brother.
“Thanks Brent, that is really brave of you.” I turned to Evie. “Evie, do you have the surveillance cameras outside your shop?”
“Yeah, why?” Evie asked, puzzled.
“I want to show the principal what Jake has been up to just in case he somehow doesn’t get caught cheating in the SAT.” I said with a little smile on my face. We left the storage, me clumsily on crutches. Brent, who has a motorcycle licence too, offered to drive me home. I let him drive, since my arm was injured too.
When I got home, mom went hysterical. I told her I’d fell off some stairs, and that Evie's brother patched me up. I showed her the “Doctor’s Note” and that calmed her down.
“Why didn’t you call me?” She asked
“Uh-I dropped my phone into a toilet,”  I totally forgot about how Jake has broke my phone. “Don’t worry, mom, I’m fine.” I assured Mom. Mom didn’t seem quite happy that I’d broke my phone, but she muttered something about having to buy a new one and headed to the kitchen.
When I got into my room, I pulled out dad’s old iphone, slipped in the sim card Brent managed to retrieve, plugged it into the charger, and turned it on. Thank god it still works, I thought. I had all my basic information back, but all my photos were deleted. I jammed my finger on the on button of my computer, went to my icloud account, and started importing the pictures into the phone. After the process, I immediately texted Brent, Evie and Kathy. Since the shooting incident, Evie had created a chat group and named it “TEAM JENNY”. I know, it sounds pathetic, but I guess that proves that they were supporting me. Almost as quickly as my message got sent out, Brent replied. Brent says that that was good news, and we are now a step ahead of the masterplanner, AKA Jake. Right at this time, I was sure that we are gonna catch Jake.
Three dreadful weeks later, it was finally time for the SAT. Mr. Snyder and Mr. Browne led us into the auditorium. Inside the auditorium, there were rows of desks and chairs. Teachers sat us down randomly. Coincidentally, I was seated directly in front of Brent and Jake was in front of me. Kathy sat directly to the right of me. This is the time where Jake will cheat, getting the highest score in all of us and fooling everyone else, everyone except for his victims, Brent, Kathy and me. I was determined to catch that cheater.
Mr. Snyder climbed onto the stage and grabbed the microphone. It gave an ear piercing whine before we could hear Mr. Snyder’s voice booming from the speakers surrounding us. He made a speech on how we shouldn’t cheat, like how the people did in Hanna High School.
“Don’t cheat just because you want to get good grades,” Mr. Snyder lectured us. “ We rather you be honest and do it yourself. If you fail it because of the lack of knowledge, nobody will blame you. We, as the teachers, are supposed to help. On the other hand, if you cheat, which I hope y’all don’t, you will face the dreadful consequences. Emphasis on  dreadful. This is all I have to say, and I wish you all wonderful people luck. You may begin in 3...2...1… START YOUR TEST!” There was a ruffle of pages flipping and people picking up their pencils and then everyone was on their SAT’s. A lot of teachers, including some that I do not recognize, were patrolling the aisles. They had walkie talkies in their hands, and were constantly mumbling into it. It seems as though the teachers were bored. I looked around. Mr. Browne was apparently arguing with with a redhead teacher, as they were standing on the two sides of the room, and they were whispering fiercely into their walkie talkies. Mr. Snyder was eating a banana. I decided to stop looking around and continue on my SAT.
I took my time to do the test, and about 10 minutes into the test, I noticed something bright emitting from under Jake’s desk. It was a phone screen! Jake must have been stuck on one question and is asking Nick for the answer. I watched him for ten minutes...thirty minutes...one hour… Jake probably bribed or threatened the people surrounding him into covering up for him, like how he did to me. Obviously, or else anyone in the right mind would definitely turn him in.
Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. My hand shot in the air, and Mr. Browne came over. What happened next changed everything.
“What is the matter, Jenny?” Mr. Browne asked me quietly, careful not to disturb others.
Jake did not seem to suspect anything, he probably thought I just had a typo on my test sheet or something.
“Can we… you know, head outside first?” I asked him.
Mr. Browne furrowed his thick eyebrows, mumbled something into his walkie talkie, and said, “Ok, but this gotta be important.”
We walked outside through the back door, and stood next to a bench. The wind picked up, and bits of dry fall leaves and garbage soared through the air.
“Why do you want to come outside to talk? Mr. Browne asked. “Something happened?”
“Yeah. Uh, you might not believe me, but Jake, Jake Griffin, is cheating, he’s cheating!” I said.
“How dare you make such a ridiculous accusation towards Mr. Griffin? He is our best student, best student we’ve got since a long time!” Mr. Browne said furiously. Jake was one of Mr. Browne’s best students.
“I’m serious, I have a video clip, if you would just let me-” Mr. Browne interjected before I could finish the sentence. “ Stop all this nonsense right now! I’m gonna send you to the principal’s office! This would not be tolerated in this school.”
“If you wouldn’t listen, fine! But I would like to see Mr. Greggs, the principal.”
He talked into his walkie talkie. A short response came back, and he said, “Fine, but I assure you, if this is all a fraud, you will not get into a good college!”
Mr. Browne stormed down the hallways with me hobbling behind him and straight to the principal’s office. Mr. Greggs is broad man with graying hair and a kind face. He sat at his mahogany desk, glancing up from his macbook. He seemed startled as Mr. Browne barged in.
“What is the matter, Roland? Why are you bringing a student here? They should be taking the SAT, am I correct?”
“This student requested to see you. Henry said that it would be OK to bring her here.” Mr. Browne said.
“Ok, you may leave, my dear Roland. Tell Henry to notify me before letting anyone send students up to my SAT, please.” Mr. Greggs told Mr. Browne. Mr. Browne mumbled, “Yes,” and headed outside.
Mr. Greggs turned towards me. “So, what happened, uh- you are the school paper’s editor, Jenny, right?”
“Mr. Browne won’t believe me, but Jake, Jake Griffin was cheating during the test. He used his phone to contact Nick Schmitt. I saw him, and I have proof!” I rushed through all my words, afraid that the principal would interrupt me and tell me what “nonsense” I’m talking about.
“Ok, let’s see your proof,” Mr. Greggs said. He actually looked like he believed me.   
“Would you mind going to the lockers with me?” I asked.
Mr. Greggs agreed and together we went down the hallway. I went to the lockers and unlocked the combination lock. I fished for my phone in the pile of papers, and I unlocked the phone. I scrolled down my photos and videos until I found the one. Mr. Greggs watched it from top to bottom, and he took everything in calmly.
“Ah, I’ve been suspecting Mr. Gryffin for quite a while. I know his twin is innocent, but Jake has been acting weird lately. I was the one who consulted his parents, after all.”
“So you believe me?
“Absolutely.”
“Now what?”
“I believe it’s time to confront Jake. It is very brave of you to investigate about this, and despite being threatened and shot, you have managed this situation very well. Better than I could handle it, even. Let’s go back to the auditorium.”
To be honest, I felt pretty happy about myself when Mr. Greggs praised me. We went back to them auditorium. Mr. Greggs held up a megaphone.
“Testing, testing, 123,” boomed Mr. Greggs’ deep voice. Everyone’s attention turned towards him. “I have something to say. Everyone please put down your pencils.” Everyone did as told. “Would Jake Griffin please come here?” He could not see him, the auditorium, was very big. A minute passed, and nobody showed up. “JAKE GRIFFIN, PLEASE COME UP HERE,” Mr. Greggs accidentally turned the volume up too much. I saw Jake stumble up onto the stage.
“Thank you all for your attention. Please return to your SAT now.” Mr. Greggs turned of the megaphone. He turned towards Mr. Greggs. “Do you know why I brought you here?”
Jake looked like he just got sucker punched. “N...no,” he stammered.
“I knew that you would tell me this. Do you have any electronics on you? Perhaps a messaging device or a phone?” Mr. Greggs was trying to make Jake confess.
“No,” Jake answered firmly. He had regained control of himself.
“DON’T LIE TO ME!” Mr. Greggs yelled. I have never seen him so mad. The guy was usually very passive and timid, the typical “Mr. Nice Guy”.
“Ok, fine, yeah, but I was just bored, I was playing tetris. Who needs three hours to finish the SAT anyways? It’s so easy! Ok, I said what you wanted me to say. You happy now?” Jake said casually. He probably thought that he would get away with this.
“First off, this is against the rules. Nobody should have a phone with them during the SAT. Secondly, why would you be texting Nick Schmitt? Jenny Knight here saw you texting.” Mr. Greggs took out a walkie talkie and said, “All teachers please come here, all teachers please find Nick Schmitt and the students who were surrounding Jake Griffin. Bring them backstage ASAP.” Then Mr. Greggs said, “Well, we will find that out shortly, huh?”.
Ms. Johnston and Mrs. Cadwell came backstage with Nick and the people sitting close to Jake. Kathy and Brent were there too.
“Well, Nick, why were you texting Jake?” Mr. Greggs questioned.
“Ja..Jake made me do it! He threatened to shoot me with his new BB gun if I don’t tell him all the answers! He told me to not do well on the SAT, so he would have the highest scores! He threatened other people to help him too! Tory and Danielle! It wasn’t my fault, no!” He burst into tears.
“Ok, I’m not blaming you. You can leave, Mr. Schmitt.” Mr. Greggs said kindly.
“LIES! ALL A BUNCH OF LIES!” Jake roared in anger.
“Stop, I will listen to the others.” Mr. Greggs said calmly. I was surprised that he didn’t yell at him, Jake was being very disrespectful towards him.
The few other kids all said similar things about Jake.
Then it was Kathy’s turn. Kathy told him about how I got shot, and how he threatened people.
“Jake, turn in your phone, right now!” Mr. Greggs ordered.
Jake was in the position I was in, when he himself threatened me. He reached for his pocket inside his coat and handed his phone to Mr. Greggs. Mr. Greggs read the chats and simply said, “You are suspended for this entire week . Follow me to my office for the paperwork, and you will get a 0 for the SAT.”
“No! Please, no, dad’s gonna kill me…” his voice trailed off as he trudged off with Mr. Greggs.
The two went off the office. Brent said, “Wow, that took guts! Did you see his face, when you turned him in? That was awesome!”
Kathy patted me on the back and said, “Yeah, awesome!”
The next day, everyone who took the test in the auditorium had to do a retake, and nobody was happy with Jake. His popularity dropped to 0, and Brent became the student with the highest GPA. After the SAT, Kathy drove us to the police department(She just got her driver’s license, and ever since had offered to drive every time we needed a car).
“I’ll be there in a jiffy, just gotta park this car!” as she said that, the engine sputtered. “Dang it! I hate this stupid engine. Makes weird noises that make me uncomfortable. Just go!” she ushered us off the car.
Brent and I took a deep breath.
“This is it, Brent, we are gonna turn Jake in. Ready?” I asked Brent.
Brent exhaled loudly. “Ready,”
We walked into the police department. A blond lady in an office suit greeted us. “Hi kids, how can I help you today?” She said pleasantly.
“Um, can we see a sheriff? We are here to tell him about a crime.” Brent said straightforwardly. He’d obviously wanted this to be over with.
“Sure! Let me contact a police officer…” She pressed a few buttons on the dial pad.
“Greetings, Officer Bradford, this is Natalie from the front desk, there are some teenagers here who have to turn someone in and would like to speak to you.” The lady, Natalie, said that like she has rehearsed that line for a billion times. I heard the door swing open behind us, and with a swoosh Kathy joined us.
“Please have a seat, the sheriff will come in any minute now.” Natalie told us. We did as we were told.
“D’ya think that sheriff would believe us?” I asked, feeling nervous.
Brent smiled and took my hand. “Yeah, he should be a lot more reasonable than Mr. Browne.”
We heard footsteps coming down the white marble floored hallway. A officer greeted us, introducing himself as Officer Bradford, and asked for our names.
“This is Brent Griffin, Kathy Hughes, and I’m Jennifer Knight,” I introduced ourselves as I shook the sheriff’s big hand.
“I am informed that you guys are turning someone in. May we have recorded individual interviews with each of you? It would not take long.” The sheriff smiled. “Ms. Knight, would you kindly come with me? For Mr. Griffin and Ms. Hughes, I will have my colleagues come fetch you guys.”
The sheriff led me down some hallways into the interview room. He offered me some hot cocoa, and I gladly accepted it. He told me to sit down on a chair.
“Ok, Ms. Jennifer Knight, do you swear to tell the truth?” He asked me solemnly.
“Yeah. I swear.” I said. “And also, you can just call me Jenny from now on, everybody calls me Jenny,” I added.
“Ok, sure, Jenny. Would you now tell me what you want to tell me?”
I told the sheriff about what happened, and how Jake shot me with his BB gun.
“And that’s how I ended up on these crutches and this bandaged arm,” I finished.
“Well, we can talk all day about this Jake guy but if you’ve got no hard evidence to charge him, then this talk is useless, Jenny.” He said.
“I have a lot of evidence in my phone. Would you mind if I take out my phone?”
    Sheriff Bradford was eager to break the case. “Yeah, sure,”
    I took out my phone. I had imported all the videos and the videos from the surveillance camera into my phone. Sheriff Bradford watched it, and said, “Wow, kid, you’ve got the guts and the brains of a detective!” He pulled out a USB, and started loading the videos into it. “Now we can go and arrest that chap!”
Sheriff Bradford lead me to the lobby, and there sat Brent and Kathy.
“Hey Jenny! The officer was really nice, he gave me some hot cocoa and asked me a few questions about Jake, and then told me to wait here with Brent, who was done before me!” Kathy looked excited.
    Sheriff Bradford cleared his throat. “You chaps were really brave to investigate on this. It takes certain courage to turn in your own twin brother.” He winked at Brent, whose face turned bright red. “Do you guys wanna come with me to arrest Jake?”
    “Yeah, sure!” Kathy said almost immediately. She wanted to sit in a cop’s car since she was 3. The officer drove a big car, so there would be room for everyone. Sheriff Bradford went into Jake’s house. He rang the doorbell, and when nobody answered, he turned to Brent, said, “D'you have keys?” Brent didn’t have keys, so Sherriff Bradford kicked the door open with a cool karate kick. We walked in, with Bradford leading the way with his gun raised.
    “I KNOW YOU ARE HERE! COME OUT, JAKE!” He bellowed.
    Jake stepped out of his room slowly.
    “Put your hands on your head!” Bradford commanded.
    Jake was too stunned to say anything. He did as he was told.
    “You have the right to remain silent.” Brent said.
    “Yeah, what he just said,” Sheriff Bradford said. He snapped on some handcuffs and we headed back to the car. He put Jake in the back row of the car, where steel bars separate him from us.
    “This ain’t over yet, you idiot,” Jake spat at me venomously.
    “Shut up, Jake! I helped her to get you arrested too! If you are gonna yell at her, you would have to get through me first!” Brent defended me which made me all warm and fuzzy. Surprisingly, Jake stopped talking.
    Sheriff Bradford dropped us at my house. “Thanks for the ride, sheriff!” We all said.
    “No problem,” the sheriff said, and he zoomed off back to the police department with Jake strapped in the backseat.
    A few months after that, Jake’s trial dates arrived and we all have to testify against him on court. In the end, Jake plead guilty to several counts of assault and battery. The judge gave him six years in juvenile detention (fancy word for a kid’s jail).
    Now that Jake has received his punishment, nobody would bully people in school. Even Brutus, the biggest bully in the school, stopped his bullying habits. We were praised by Mr. Greggs through the announcement, and received a scholarship to college for our bravery. Mr. Browne was pretty ashamed of how he turned me away me as I first approached him for help, and apologized to me personally. Brent and I spent the rest of high school together, occasionally visiting Jake. He was attending school in jail.Apparently the teachers said that Jake was a pretty good student. We both hope that Jake would come out as a better person.
 
TWELVE YEARS LATER…

    Remember how Kathy and Officer Bradford said that I was a detective? Turns out, I am a natural detective. I got a degree in criminology, and is working for the police force. Brent, with his strength and courage, makes him an awesome police officer. He aced everything in police school, and is the first person ever to be accepted into the SWAT team before he even graduated police school! We work at the same police department. Cool, huh? Brent and I are married now, and unlike other couples, we can see each other at work. Oh, and Kathy, the beauty queen, went to beauty school and was the person with the highest GPA. She’s now working at a fashion salon, and she wants to be Taylor Swift’s makeup artist! I’d always thought that Taylor Swift was lame, but I guess she is now Kathy’s idol. I know, you are now thinking, what about Jake? Well, he didn’t make it to college. Barely finished 12th grade in jail, and his father supported his life for about two more years after his release. Guess what happened next? He went to work at Bert’s Burgers. Who knew? Jake actually likes his job, and he serves real good burgers. Bert, the nice old guy who was the owner, even lets Jake try and invent his own burger. Now there is a new burger - JG Supreme, named after Jake!
    “I’m not mad at you anymore, I’m actually grateful that you stopped me from cheating,” Jake said to me as he served Brent, Kathy and I burgers. “I would have never survived college with cheating, anyways. Now, my dream is to open my own pizza joint!”
    “Wow, bro, I’m impressed,” Brent told his brother. “We can help you, can’t we, Jenny?” I felt a sharp pain in my arm. He’d pinched me, signalling that I say yes no matter what.
    “Yeah, sure,” I said. I would have said that would that pinch. I glared at Brent and he shrugged.
    “Thanks, guys!” A grin broke across his face. He straightened his Bert’s Burgers cap. “By the way, Kathy and I are-”
    “DATING!” Kathy said excitedly.
    Jake kissed her cheek and went back to work.
    “Congrats!” Brent and I said.
After we finished our burgers, Jake comped our meals and together Brent and I went for a walk along the beach near the burger shop.
    “Sometimes, I wonder what would happen if you hadn’t busted Jake that day, what would happen?” Brent asked me.
    “Well, fate makes things go the way it should, and there is no need of questioning it.” I replied. ”Jake changed, hasn’t he? He’s become a honest person, and that’s all that matters.” Brent smiled at me, and took my hand.
I actually meant that, I didn’t just say that to make Brent feel better. I know for a fact that Jake had become a new person, a better man. A good natured person. I not only know it, I can feel it.

~The End~