The rest of the summer went by with lightening speed. CJ had spent the week after the rafting accident hanging out with Gibbs and helping him get the house ready for another winter. On the last day with him they'd gotten so much accomplished and the memory of the incident had faded enough that Gibbs took CJ to the batting cages for old time sake.

They eventually retrieved her bike from Hanlon Park and CJ was mobile once again.

The schedules arrived and 'the gang' compared them together at the park. The problem was that this year most of them were Juniors and so had a different lunch period. Even Steven who was taking a mixed bag of coursed ended up with a Junior lunch slot. That left only Ainsley and CJ with Freshman/Sophomore lunch. That sucked so much. Lunch was really the only time they had at school to hang out. Most of them being bus students they got there just before morning bell and only had 20 minutes at the end of the day before the bus took them home.

On the first day of school CJ stepped off the bus with a confident grin and spring in her step that was not there the previous year. They played the "can you spot the freshman" game and laughed all the way to first period.

By the end of the first week that not sharing lunch break really was getting annoying and had to be fixed. CJ had even gone into the guidance office to see about switching courses and schedules, but to no avail.

They couldn't even plan pranks at school, all planning would have to happen on the weekends. It really did put a damper on the whole social part of school and since that was the part CJ was enjoying it really changed how she felt about being there every day.

Owen was the first to suggest it, just don't go to math class. "You have math when we have lunch, it's your best subject and you say it's boring as hell and you aren't learning anything… just don't go…"

At first CJ thought he'd dislocated his brain on the river as well as his hip. But as they made their way into week three and she was getting more and more socially deprived the idea sounded better and better. Cutting class was something CJ had never considered let alone tried.

But on the Tuesday of the third week of classes CJ ran into Avery on his way to the cafeteria and it only took 2 "C'mon CJ"'s before she was following him to their usual table and not going to math class. They had a great time and finally started talking about setting up a few pranks. They laughed, joked and every few minutes someone would call out a math question for CJ to answer so that she could feel like she was doing what she was suppose to be doing.

It was way too easy. Just don't show up. Way too easy. The whole "there might be consequences" didn't even dawn on CJ until the ride home and even then it was a passing fancy. The evening passed without so much as a question of how were classes and she sailed through dinner without a hiccough. Yep, way too easy.

And then Wednesday arrived. CJ made her way to her first class and as announcements finished Mr. Roberts placed a small pink slip on CJ's desk. CJ had never seen a pink slip in her life. She had heard of them, she knew they were a combination hall pass appointment card. The appointment was with Mr. Black the deputy principal. The hall pass was because the appointment was in the middle of classes. The only reason you got an appointment with a deputy principal, there were two because of the size of the school, was because you were up to 'it' in spades.

The knot that immediately formed in CJ's stomach made her almost lose her breakfast. She hadn't been on the inside of an office in… in years… it could be measured in years. Which for a split second made CJ smile, until she realized she would be in the deputy principal's office at 10 am.

The morning dragged on and on it was as if the clocks all stopped moving completely just to torment her. On a couple of occasions CJ tried to snap herself out of it. Jeez she said to herself, this is the not the first time you've landed in it. You'll be find she gave herself a pep talk. She didn't have a class with one of her friends until after lunch… so she had no one to commiserate with.

9:58 and she quietly excused herself from English class and made her way to the office. She smiled again when she didn't know what to do. She had been at the school for a year and hadn't the slightly clue where to go or what to do. That had been the longest stretch she'd stayed out of trouble. Well the longest she'd gone without getting caught anyway.

She entered the open office area hesitantly and looked around. There was a large counter behind which 2 secretaries sat, one for each deputy principal, office doors to the each side of the desk where the deputy principals had 'private' offices and a bench along the wall opposite where students waited for their appointments. Looking at CJ the middle aged woman behind the counter closest to the door asked "You need something deary? You looked lost."

"Ah, ya, I have an .. appointment" CJ wasn't sure exactly what to call the meeting and so she just waved the pink slip in the air. The knot in her stomach gave a lurch and she felt weak. All sorts of scenarios playing out in her head and not one of them was a happily ever after ending.

The secretary gestured for CJ to hand her the slip, which she did and waited to be told what to do.

"You deary are here to see Mr. Black. He's backed a moment so you'll have to sit on the bench until he can see you."

"Thanks Ms. Turkington" see said looking at the name plate to get the woman's name.

Until that very moment CJ had failed to recall that Steven's cousin Natalie, whom she had met at a bar b q that summer was the second secretary, the one who worked directly with Mr. Black. Catching Natalie's eye she nodded and tried to go sit on the bench. Natalie would have nothing of the sort.

"CJ what are you doing here?" genuinely surprised to find CJ in the office.

Embarrassed and turning the brightest shade of red, CJ once again waved the pink slip in the air.

"Oh" Natalie was momentarily taken aback but quickly recovered and asked how Steven was doing as she hadn't seen him since the barbq. The conversation flowed effortlessly and so when Mr. Black opened his door and called CJ by name she was startled back to reality as to why she was there in the first place. Natalie patting CJ's hand and offering a supportive smile quietly went back to work.

CJ entered the office and Mr. Black quietly closed the door before taking his seat. The office, if you could call it that was not much bigger than a large walk in closet. The desk was pushed up against the wall to give Mr. Black more room to move. CJ stood there beside his chair hand on his desk to steady herself. The stressful rollercoaster that had been her morning was not shaping up to be worth sitting with her friends for lunch. Quietly and gently Mr. Black began.

"CJ it seems that Mr. McLean has marked you absent in math class yesterday. Why might that be?"

Giving her best charismatic smile she could under the circumstances CJ began with a lightness in her tone she was not feeling. "Well, sir, that would be because I wasn't there sir"

"You weren't there?"

"No sir, I wasn't there"

"You knew you were suppose to be there though, right?"

"Yes sir I did know I was supposed to be there, I just wasn't there."

"I see. Where were you then, if you were not in math class with Mr. McLean as you were supposed to be?"

"In the cafeteria sir"

"In the cafeteria?"

"Yes sir"

"You do realize that I need to give you a detention for cutting class, don't you?"

"I guess I knew something would happen, I wasn't sure what, you see I've never been in this situation before sir"

"Well then you will serve detention this afternoon after classes."

"Yes sir" and with that he handed CJ three more pink pieces of paper. The first a hall pass to get back into class. The second a slip of paper for detention in room 302. The third a punishment slip that needed a parent's signature.

Reading each paper in turn on the way back to class CJ's heart beat so fast she could hardly think straight. She found her desk and sat quietly, paying no attention to the lesson going on. She had to think, she had to find a way around all this. There was a bit of a cascade effect. She was going to miss the bus because of the detention and then she wouldn't be able to hide why because she needed a signature for tomorrow. This was one royal mess for the sake of a 45 minute lunch period. CJ spent the rest of the day as a zombie and when she finally caught up with some of her friends in their afternoon class she told them what had happened and what was going to happen.

Atti, always the helpful friend, suggested she just skip the detention as well and sign the slip herself. She did spend a whole 30 seconds thinking about it before Steven knocked some sense into her and told her that would definitely make things worse. "Just go to the detention and take the city bus home. You're parents are always late and you'll get there before them. But I am with Atti on the sign the paper yourself thing."

CJ was stunned. Steven was suggesting she purposely and deliberately break the rules. Yes, he'd follow along with other's plans but he had never before made the suggestion to break the rules. CJ momentarily flashed back to Steven in sixth grade hyperventilating because he'd forgotten his homework. He'd come a long way since then… she was probably mostly to blame for that. Talking it through and being with her friends she felt more at ease and better able to come up with a viable arrangement.

3:20 arrived and CJ found herself outside of room 302. Walking in she surveyed the lay of the land. It was one of the English department rooms that was used to house those students serving after school detentions. She handed her detention slip to the teacher at the front. In a bored and thoroughly unexcited voice he asked "You a bus student?"

"Yes" CJ answered honestly.

"You can leave at quarter to four to catch the bus, but you have to sign out first."

"OK" quickly different scenarios started to play in CJ's head. She was going to be able to catch the bus, she whispered to the obviously regular attendee at the back of the room "is he pulling my leg or can I really leave early to catch my bus"

"Nope, he's for real, parents complained that their kids were stranded at the school if they weren't allowed to catch the bus, even if in detention. The school has to let bus student catch their bus."

"Sweet! Thanks for your help". The older boy simply nodded.

CJ barely had time to work on anything before it was time for her to pack up and run for the bus. Steven was mystified when she hopped on board and snagged the seat beside him. "What … are … YOU… doing HERE?" he asked flabbergasted that she would skip out on detention. Why was she being suicidal?

On the way home she the whole detention letting out bus students early thing. Now all she had was the form... and really that was nothing… she had forged her father's signature years ago. That was not new, what was new is she was going to make sure he didn't find out about it this time.

The slight uneasy feeling she had when her parents arrived home and they asked about her day soon dissipated as the supper time conversation moved onto the nasty case they were working.

On Thursday morning CJ dropped the signed punishment form off with Natalie in the office and headed off to first class. It was over. No one knew what she'd done and all's well that ends well.

That was until she met Avery on the way to the cafeteria Monday morning.