Criminal (2 page)

Zeke and Jacky walked to class. They didn't notice that someone was close behind them and listening to every word they said.

‘Do you still see your old friends from the street gang?' asked Jacky.

Zeke looked worried. ‘No,' he said. ‘Why do you ask?'

Jacky didn't want to say what she had been thinking. Instead, she just said, ‘No reason.'

Zeke could tell that Jacky was wondering if she could trust him. He knew that he wasn't the thief but he also knew that things looked bad for him.

In their class, their teacher, Mr Newman, said, ‘The town's Concert in the Park was cancelled last Friday night because of the storm. It's going ahead this Friday but the planned dance team can't make it. I've been asked to send four dancers in their place.' Mr. Newman looked at his students. ‘Zeke, you'll be lead dancer. Your backup dancers will be Ziggy, Florence and Simon.'

Zeke was excited. This would be the most amazing show he had ever done. He could just see it now. The park would be filled with thousands of people all watching him dance.

‘I'm going to do the best street dancing ever,' he said to himself.

Mr Newman was still talking. ‘I'd like Jacky to be your music back-up,' he said.

Jacky was excited too. She'd always wanted to play her violin at Concert in the Park. How amazing to be on stage at night and see all the people holding up
glowsticks
in the dark.

Their excitement didn't last long. At the end of the lesson a boy with spiky red hair darted into the room.

‘There's a surprise locker inspection,' he called out before darting out again.

‘Who is that?' asked Jacky.

‘Don't know,' said Zeke.

Mr Newman dismissed the class. Zeke followed Jacky to the lockers. Principal Blake was there already.

‘Everyone open your lockers,' he said. ‘There have been reports of theft. I will

not have any sort of
criminal
activity at All Star High.'

There was clanging and banging as the students opened their lockers. When each locker was open, Principal Blake began his inspection. He didn't notice that someone was close behind him, just waiting until he got to Zeke's locker.

Principal Blake took one look inside Zeke's locker and said, ‘Zeke, you have some explaining to do.'

‘Why?' asked Zeke, and then he saw exactly why.

There in his locker were an mp3 player, a mobile phone, a purse, a drumstick, a memory stick, some DVDs and a camera. The Gang-Stars were shocked.

‘There's all our missing stuff!' they cried out.

Principal Blake turned to Zeke. ‘Give everything back,' he said, ‘and then come to my office.'

The Gang-Stars wanted an explanation. ‘What's going on, Zeke?' asked Aaron.

Zeke looked at his friends. ‘I didn't steal your things,' he said. ‘Why would I?'

‘Well, if you didn't steal them, who did?' asked Becca.

Zeke took a deep breath. ‘I don't know,' he said. ‘But I've got to go to Principal Blake's office now.'

No-one in the Gang-Stars knew what to say. They wanted to believe Zeke but how could they? They watched him walk to Principal Blake's office. Most of them were thinking the same thing. If Zeke is a thief he is out of the Gang-Stars.

Being in Principal Blake's office usually meant that you were in trouble for something. Zeke's heart was pounding. He knew he was in big trouble.

‘Zeke, you know I let you come to All Star High because I wanted to give you a second chance,' said Principal Blake.

Zeke knew what Principal Blake was talking about. When he was in the rough street gang, he had been caught shoplifting. When he left the street gang and started at All Star High, Zeke had promised Principal Blake never to do it again. He wanted to prove that he could be trusted.

‘I know you gave me a second chance,' he said. ‘That's why I don't hang out with the old street gang. I swear I didn't steal that stuff.'

He stopped talking when he heard a knock on the door. Before Principal Blake could answer, Jacky came into the office.

‘I've got to tell you something important,' she said to Principal Blake. ‘None of those stolen things were in Zeke's locker when the bell went. We looked for my camera in there. After that Zeke was in class with me, so it couldn't have been him who put the stolen stuff in his locker.'

Principal Blake looked at them both.

‘I want to believe you, but I need some proof,' he said.

Jacky felt her camera in her pocket and thought of a brilliant plan.

‘We can get you proof,' said Jacky. ‘Just give us a few days.'

Zeke didn't know what Jacky had planned, but he was glad she had a plan.

‘I think someone is setting you up. They want you to get into trouble,' said Jacky.

‘But why?' asked Zeke. He couldn't think why anyone would want to get him into trouble. He was sure he hadn't upset anyone.

‘I don't know why, but we'll find out. We are going to set a trap,' replied Jacky. ‘We need to get the Gang-Stars to help.'

Everyone wanted to help Zeke prove he was
innocent.
‘What can we do?' they asked.

‘I need you all to leave something easy to steal in your locker,' said Jacky. ‘Then I'm going to hide my dad's video camera on top of the lockers. It can record whoever takes the stuff.'

‘Great plan, Jacky,' said Zeke. ‘We'll get to see who the real thief is.'

On Monday, Claire's scarf went missing. But Jacky's camera ran out of battery power. They couldn't see who stole the scarf.

‘Look, I can see a hand,' said Jacky. ‘But then the battery died. I can't see their face.'

‘It could be anyone's hand,' grumbled Zeke. ‘Even mine. That means we have no proof.'

On Tuesday, Callum's headphones went missing. This time, someone had slammed the lockers so hard that the camera had fallen over on to its side.

‘Great shot of the ceiling,' said Zeke when he played back the videotape.

‘Well, it's not my fault that someone slammed the lockers,' replied Jacky.

‘It means we still can't prove I'm innocent,' said Zeke.

On Wednesday, Jacky taped the camera down. It couldn't move now. So, when Natalie's CDs went missing, the camera worked perfectly. It showed someone stealing the CDs. The thief had opened Zeke's locker with a key and put the scarf, headphones and CDs inside.

‘How did they get my locker key?' asked Zeke.

‘Didn't you lose it last week? You had to bring in your spare key,' said Jacky.

‘You're right, but it looks like I didn't lose it. Someone stole it. But why?' Zeke wanted to know.

Jacky and Zeke watched the rest of the video. They waited to see the thief's face. When they did see the face they were
confused.

‘I don't believe it. We finally film the thief but we can't work out who they are. He or she is wearing a mask!' said Jacky.

‘It could be anyone,' said Zeke. ‘There are three dancers wearing exactly the same mask for the concert.'

Zeke and Jacky were one step closer to finding the thief. It looked like it had to be one of the dancers who was performing with Zeke in the Concert in the Park: Ziggy, Florence or Simon. But which one?

Principal Blake called Zeke and Jacky to the office again.

‘Well, have you got any proof?' he asked.

They explained about the thief in the mask. ‘That's not enough,' said the Principal. ‘The stolen things were found in your locker, Zeke, so you can't blame this on other people without proof.'

They asked Principal Blake for more time to find out who the real thief was.

‘I'll give you twenty-four hours,' said Principal Blake. ‘Then if you still can't give me any proof, I will have to call the police. We may have to
expel
you, Zeke.'

Zeke had always known he could get expelled if he got into trouble again. He couldn't let that happen when he hadn't done anything wrong. He just had to find the real thief.

Zeke and Jacky went to the
dress rehearsal.
They wanted to have a good look at all the other dancers but one of them was late. When everyone had arrived, Zeke and Jacky looked closely at the three dancers wearing masks. But they all looked alike. Zeke and Jacky were never going to work out who the thief was just by looking at them.

Zeke's street dancing was rubbish for the whole rehearsal. He couldn't focus because he was thinking about finding the thief. Mr Newman gave Zeke a warning.

‘I'll give your role to another dancer if you don't do better than this,' he said.

Zeke groaned. What else could go wrong? He was about to find out.

‘Have you seen the video camera?' asked Jacky. ‘I can't find it.'

Zeke stared at her. ‘That means we can't get any proof at all now,' he said.

Zeke was sick with worry. They only had one day to get some proof that Zeke wasn't the thief.

‘Maybe you have dropped the video camera somewhere,' said Zeke. ‘We'll go and look after the rehearsal.'

They both looked for it everywhere they could think of. There was no sign of Jacky's video camera anywhere.

Jacky sighed. ‘Maybe I left it in Principal Blake's office,' she said. ‘That's the only place we haven't looked.'

Zeke's heart jumped with hope. ‘Let's go and see if it's there,' he said.

Jacky and Zeke rushed towards the Principal's office. Principal Blake was just coming out of his office and he did not look pleased.

‘I was just coming to find you, Zeke,' said Principal Blake.

Zeke began to stammer. ‘W-w-why?'

‘Someone has stolen my laptop computer from my office. You and Jacky were the last two people in there.' said the Principal.

‘We didn't do it,' said Jacky quickly.

‘Are you sure?' asked Principal Blake. He gave Zeke a long, hard stare.

‘Zeke was with me all the time,' said Jacky. ‘He couldn't have done it.'

‘Maybe you were both involved,' said Principal Blake. He held up Jacky's video camera. ‘By the way, you left this behind.'

Zeke was really worried now. He knew he hadn't stolen the laptop, but he had no proof. This was much worse than when he was caught shoplifting with the street gang and got taken to the police station. Back then he
had
been guilty. Now he had a lot to lose. Not just his place at All Star High, but all his friends too. Would they still believe in him if he was expelled?

Jacky was thrilled to see her dad's video camera again. If the camera had been left switched on, maybe it would have filmed the person who stole the Principal's laptop.

She looked at the camera. Yes! It was still recording!

‘Principal Blake, I think we can prove we didn't steal your laptop. And we can show you who did,' said Jacky.

‘Can we?' asked Zeke. He had given up hope.

I'm sure we can,' said Jacky and she played back the video on her camera. ‘Look, it's the same thief – the one wearing the mask.'