The Price of Freedom

Chapter 1: Change

Katelyn stared at the mottled grey ceiling. Everything around her was either a dull shade of grey, black, or brown. She sighed. They desperately needed some new color in the principal's office. This was not the first-time Katelyn had been in Mr. Stalit's office. Oh no. She was not necessarily a trouble maker; it's just that trouble always seemed to find her. Today was no different. Her day had been going just fine until she had been requested in to see Principle Stalit.

Flashback:

She had Geography with Ms. Kline and two weeks ago, they had received partners to work on the final project together. With her luck, Katelyn would get assigned with some dweeb, though she hoped to be with James or Winston or Jackie even. Most of the kids were studious, but then there was the rough bunch aka the slackers, the forget-me-nots; the I-don't-care-crowd; and the students who were so spoiled by their parents, they think heck this assignment doesn't apply to me, I'll get someone else to do it. Ms. Kline handed out the assignments with the partner's name scribbled at the top, and to Katelyn's great joy, she had been chosen to be bonded with Amanda Tendols for the next two weeks.

Amanda was the last person, Katelyn wanted to be around. The two of them had a history together since middle school, when Amanda and her ring of spoiled brats decided what everyone's social status in the school was. Her friend group had a reputation and that included not doing homework or at least getting some poor pupil to do it for them. Meadowbrook High School, though a diverse culture of kids, still had a social structure and it didn't matter what grade you were in. The upper-classmen had heard of Amanda and her gang even before she entered high school. Most of them either ignored or avoided her, but as Amanda rose through the ranks, most of them submitted to her like she was some queen. It also didn't help that her father was on the school's board of directors.

Present:

Katelyn stared at her hands and then curled them into a fist. How she wanted to punch that smug smile off Amanda's face. Amanda sat across the room from her smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Flashback Continued:

A week had gone by and Katelyn had begun the project and she tried everything imaginable to be nice to Amanda. Sure, it looked like Amada was working on the project when they met together in the library after school with the books in her lap, only to be concealing some fashion or entertainment magazine. Katelyn had to ask Amanda multiple times to send her the work she finished so they could combine it into a portfolio, but she always came up with some excuse why it wasn't done. If Amanda didn't begin to pull her weight soon, then both would suffer for it.

There was two days left to finish the project when Amanda sauntered into the library with her league of girls. She made a beeline for Katelyn and that meant trouble. There was nowhere for Katelyn to go so she continued with her studies hoping Amanda would miss her. Boy, was she wrong. Amanda wasn't even 10 feet away, when she practically launched herself at the table. With one hand, she knocked all of Katelyn's books onto the floor and with the other scattered her pens and pencils.

"What the heck is your problem?!" Katelyn hissed. She looked around hoping to avoid the librarian's death glare for being too loud. She began to gather her fallen belongings.

"Oops. My bad," Amanda laughed tossing her blond hair over one shoulder.

"Have you at least finished your part of the project yet?" Katelyn asked warily. She was getting tired of this girl real fast.

"That is for me to know and for you to find out," Amanda said.

"You do realize it is due Friday. That's a day and a half from now." Katelyn said narrowing her eyes.

"Duh. I may be blond, but I'm not stupid."

"You could have fooled me…" Katelyn muttered under her breath. "Meet me here in the morning so I can put our parts together before class." Katelyn turned her back to Amanda. "Then I can be done with this nightmare," she said to herself as she tucked her books safely away in her backpack. Katelyn turned back around to make sure Amanda understood, only to find herself alone. Grinding her teeth in frustration, Katelyn got up and left the library.

Two days later Katelyn tracked down Amanda and to her surprise she was handed a small stack of papers. Amanda shrugged nonchalantly. "I told you I'd finish," she said with a sly smile.

Katelyn narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She looked down and flipped through the pages. As far as Katelyn could tell all the pages were there, so she slipped them in the folder containing her part and packed it away. Katelyn stood up and faced Amanda. "Thank you."

Amanda nodded. "Now I can be done with this boring class and with you," she scoffed and walked away.

Katelyn just shook her head. "That girl is never going to change." Katelyn gathered her belongings and headed off to her first class.

End Flashback.

Present:

The door to the principal's office opened and in walked Ms. Kline and Principle Stalit. They both had a serious look on their face. Katelyn knew she didn't do anything wrong at least to her knowledge. Her conscious was clear which was why she was slightly puzzled as to why she had been called in. It was Saturday morning and there was mutual agreement around the room that no one wanted to be sitting in that stuffy old office. Ms. Kline pulled up a chair next to Principal Stalit's desk and folded her hands in her lap.

"Katelyn and Amanda, it is to my great disappointment to explain why you are here," Ms. Kline said quietly. She looked over at the principle who nodded firmly. "It has come to my attention that the project you turned in last Friday, does not appear to be as it is."

What the heck was this woman talking about?! Katelyn thought to herself even more confused. She glanced over at Amanda who looked just as perplexed.

"What Ms. Kline means it that your project has been plagiarized. There is extreme prejudice for this kind of offense as I am sure you are aware," Principle Stalit said.

"Plagiarized?! Did you not see my three pages of documented sources and in-text citations?" Katelyn said a slight edge to her voice.

"Same here!" Amanda piped up.

Katelyn thought back to her portfolio. When she had scanned Amanda's part of the project, she did confirm the essentials of a bibliography and in-text citations. So where exactly was this plagiarism?

"Prove it," Amanda said as if reading Katelyn's thoughts. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"I looked over your sources when I thought that some of these seemed familiar so I dug out my old assignments and strangely enough several of them matched from a paper done last year," Ms. Kline said. "I don't know which one of you did it, but it doesn't matter. Due to it being a group project, the student handbook rules state that plagiarism is unacceptable and all parties assigned are to receive academic punishment. On top of that I am afraid you will be receiving no credit for this assignment."

Katelyn's stomach dropped even though she knew full well who was responsible. This would totally wreck her academic GPA for the year and her school record for that matter.

"Amanda what have you done?!" Katelyn said furious.

"Hey, how do I not know it wasn't you!" She snapped back.

"Do you really think I believe you pulled your weight in this project? You waited until the last possible moment to begin! How could you do this to me?!" Katelyn was pissed.

"Procrastination isn't the same as plagiarism. I'm not stupid." Amanda retorted.

"Enough, you two. Like Ms. Kline said, it doesn't matter who did it. You both take the fall. Please wait outside while we discuss your academic punishment." Principle Stalit snapped.

Katelyn got up and went to pace the hallway, leaving Amanda standing there alone. Though Amanda had popularity, a pretty face, and a well-known family, she wasn't the greatest at academics even if her parents thought so.

"Ms. Kline, you are right. I plagiarized my part of the project and it is my fault." Amanda said hanging her head.

"Thank you for coming clean Amanda, but this does not change the fact of your academic consequences," Principle Stalit said. "Please wait out in the lobby."

Amanda nodded and left.

Ten minutes later Amanda was called back inside the office. After some muffled yelling and something being slammed on the table, she exited red faced. Katelyn had returned from pacing the hallway and sat deflated in one of the chairs. She refused to look at Amanda as she walked by.

"Miss Katelyn, could you please come inside?" Ms. Kline asked.

Katelyn slowly got up and steeled herself to face a punishment she felt she didn't even deserve. She took a seat and then looked up at both adults.

"Is there anything I can do to atone for this?" Katelyn asked desperately. "I'll do anything! Even write twenty papers!"

Ms. Kline glanced over at the principle and then they chuckled lightly. Katelyn was a bit taken aback.

"What's so funny?" Katelyn asked confused.

"Katelyn, we wanted to tell you we apologize for the scare we gave you before. When I was going through your project I had a distinct feeling Amanda would try and pull something like this off. You see her brother did the same thing last year and she happened to use his work thinking I wouldn't notice. However, she also told me that you were very persistent on getting her to do her part and I appreciate that. Due to this situation, you did your part and it checks out, therefore you will be receiving full credit for your work, and no you do not need to write twenty papers," Ms. Kline said. "I am sorry I had to call you in this morning, but I needed a way to get Amanda to come clean though there was plenty of evidence it was her corrupt work."

Katelyn sat there looking stunned before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Ms. Katelyn, I am sure you are aware to not disclose this conversation to Amanda even if she asks," Principal Stalit said. "She has received her academic duties, so she shouldn't be bothering you at least for a little while. Thank you for coming in and I am sorry that you got dragged into this. You are now free to go."

"Wow, thank you," said Katelyn standing up.

"Have a good weekend," Ms. Kline said.

Katelyn smiled at her and exited the office. Once outside, she hopped on her bike and began her journey home. What a great way to start her Saturday! Her mother was going to be delighted to hear this one. Katelyn shot out of the school's parking lot and onto the sidewalk.

Fifteen minutes later, she rounded the corner to her neighborhood when suddenly a cop car sped past her siren blaring. Katelyn watched it turn down her street and then noticed more flashing lights up ahead. Curious, Katelyn pedaled faster and followed the cop car. Then to her horror, it skidded to a stop in front of her house and two cops jumped out. Katelyn began to freak out. She dumped her bike in the street and ran up the front steps of her house when two arms grabbed her from behind. Katelyn whirled around to see one of the officers.

"I'm sorry miss, but you can't be here," he said sternly.

"What are you talking about? What's going on? This is my house!" Katelyn tried to wrestle away from him, but he kept a firm grip on her arm.

The officer began to pull her away from the house.

"No! Let go of me!" Katelyn yelled. "Where is my mom? What have you done with her?!" Panic gripped every fiber of her body.

Now more officers arrived and several entered the house guns drawn. No! This couldn't be happening… In a surge of strength, she wrenched herself away from the officer, but she didn't get far before she was tackled from behind. With the breath knocked out of her, Katelyn watched terrified as more officers swarmed the house.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled and then the front of the house exploded showering the ground with glass and splintered wood. The officer instinctively covered Katelyn, but she could still feel the searing heat of the flames that now began to lick the ground around them. In alarm, the officer jumped to his feet and yanked Katelyn away from the burning house.

"No…Mom!" Katelyn screamed. The flames had set the lawn ablaze and the wood cracked and splintered before collapsing onto their front porch. Katelyn was ushered away to a safe distance where she fell to her knees, and watched in horror as her home became engulfed in flames. Little did she know that her world was about to change forever.