Hello,

Some of you may recognize this story as one that was published by a user named NightBird. I am NightBird, just under a different user name and such. I realize the first version of this story was never finished, which I plan to rectify. I will be uploading chapters about every week or so, and this time it will have an actual ending.

My apologies for not finishing off the story the first time around, and for the two year hiatus. And thank you to the users who messaged me and asked me to continue writing after such a long time. I really enjoyed the concept of this story and hope to upload others like it in the future.

Hopefully this will be the only Author's Note I put on any of my stories.

Cheers.


Alice Smith wanted nothing more than to get out. It really didn't matter what it was, she just wanted out of it. Maybe that's why she decided to skip school for three and a half weeks.

Her trick of hiding in the back of the school bus and then escaping out of the emergency exit had worked quite well. The wheezy old bus driver never bothered to check to see if all the students had gotten off before he pulled the bus into the little alleyway at exactly 8:03 every morning. It would remain in that alleyway until 2:46 sharp, when it would drift up to the front of the building to wait for the students to waddle on again. She just had to be hiding in the very back row again by 2:34, and she would beat the bus driver.

After the bus driver got off his bus and toddled into town at 8:07, Alice would slip out the back emergency door–which was never locked and never sent up an alarm–and head into town to see what adventures she could have that day. She'd already seen all the movies in the cinema, rode all the trains into New York, watched an open heart surgery, performed onstage in a children's play, and made chocolate candies at a sweet shop. It was amazing what the word "intern" and a quickly flashed ID could do for a person. Each day was something different, something new and exciting–but it wasn't enough.

Alice knew that the dean would eventually catch on to what she was doing. But it still came as a surprise when she hopped out of the bus on her seventeenth day of no school and saw him and her parents waiting for her around the corner at 8:08.

"You didn't think you could get away with this forever, could you, Ms. Smith?" the dean asked, a triumphant glare on his face.

Alice looked at her mom and dad. Mother was purple with anger, the hairs on her chin quivering. Dad, however, just looked reproachfully at his shoes, as if he somehow blamed himself for her erroneous behavior. Her heart twinged ever so slightly.

Turning back to the dean, she smiled and said, "Well, it was about time you caught on. I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me."

The dean looked taken aback. He composed himself, and after a minute, spoke again: "As this is a personal high for you and your silly little exploits, I'm sure we're on grounds for expulsion." He pulled a packet of papers out of the binder he was carrying. "Let's see–participating in violence on school grounds three times–"

"I couldn't get to my locker because there were so many people around it, so I had to squeeze in!" Alice protested.

"–failure to complete homework on time–"

"It was one day late. So sue me."

"–participating in the dealing of drugs–"

"Cinnamon is not a drug. And giving a cinnamon roll to your classmate isn't the same thing as giving her, oh, aspirin or something."

"–feigning sickness five times, refusing to attend school assemblies twice, failure to dress according to the school dress code on twenty-seven instances, and now failure to arrive at school without an excuse sixteen times."

"Ok, those were intentional. I'll give you that."

The dean ignored her. "Which now totals your demerit points to two hundred and five. Exactly five points over the two hundred point suspension rule." The dean looked smug. Alice wanted to smack the silly little grin his pudgy face was twisted in to.

She had an idea to get under his skin. "Hold on then," she said, leaning back and putting one finger to her chin. "By your calculations, that would mean that I get one point for late homework, two points for pretending to be sick, three points for violence, three points for drugs, four points for not dressing according to the dress code and not coming to school, and five points for not coming to assemblies. Am I correct?"

"That is correct." The dean looked at her warily. "How did you know that?"

"It's simple math, really. Anyways, what makes those assemblies so important?" She leaned in close and said softly, "Why do they get more points than something more destructive? Something like the drugs or the violence?"

The dean's face turned a violent shade of red. He pointed one of his sausage-like fingers at her. "Stay out of my notebook. Don't question the demerit point system. And if you would participate in these assemblies, you would know, Miss Smith. After all, according to these records, you have not been attending."

Alice laughed a short, barking laugh. "Well congratulations, Dr. Watson! I do believe you have solved the case, my old boy!" She spun backwards and tipped an invisible hat to the dean. "Please, call me Holmes, Inspector."

The dean's face was now purple. "I've had enough of your antics for one day," he spat in her face. He turned to her mother. She'd forgotten she was there. "Take your sorry excuse of a daughter to the nurse's office and get her dressed for school. I don't want to see her toe out of that building until three, do you hear me?" Mother nodded curtly as the dean stomped back to the school.

"Hold on, then," Alice said. "I thought I was being suspended?" The dean turned, but before he could reply, Alice started talking again. "Oh, but of course not, because that's what I would want. A whole year of no school. A whole year to cause trouble. A whole year to get up under that wig of yours, eh?" She smiled, but inside, her stomach was a boiling pit of rage. "Don't want me running around causing any more trouble, huh? And how do you expect to keep me inside the school? You don't scare me, and neither do your silly little teachers, handing out their silly little demerits!" Her smile had stretched itself out into a sneer.

The dean walked back slowly. He looked like a ticking bomb, ready to explode at any moment. But he smiled calmly. "Congratulations, Dr. Watson. I do believe you have solved the case." Without peeling his gaze off Alice, he said, "Mrs. Smith, get a tracker from one of my receptionists. I'll make sure I keep this one right where I want her." He then turned and stalked back to the entrance of the school.

Alice let out a sigh of relief. Mother grabbed her by the arm and shoved her along after the retreating hump of the dean. Dad followed like a scolded puppy.

"I do hope you're pleased with yourself," Mother hissed in her ear. The corner of Alice's mouth went up slightly. She was beyond angry, but where was the fun in making the dean think that he had won?

As soon as they stepped inside the school building, Alice searched for a clock. 8:13. The run-in with the dean had only lasted five minutes.

Mother marched Alice right up to the receptionist's desk, where she was handed a thick black bracelet. The receptionist didn't even look up from her computer screen. Odd. How did she know what Mother had come for?

When they reached the nurse's office, Mother glared over her shoulder at Dad. He stopped right where he was and gazed mournfully on at Alice. She raised her hand in half a wave and gave him half a smile, hoping it would translate as half an apology. Poor man. He really needed to grow a backbone.

When Mother shut the door behind her, she immediately pulled a white button-down blouse, a gray skirt, white stockings, black patent leather shoes, and a navy blue tie out of her handbag. "Arms," she barked at Alice.

Alice lifted her arms over her head as Mother began to yank the shirt Alice was wearing off her skinny frame. "I don't know why you insist on being so difficult." Here it was. One of Mother's infamous lectures. The people in town used to say that Mother could convince the Devil to become a regular church-goer before the mention of anything secular was banned. So was church.

"This is one of the best schools in the state," Mother continued. "Your father and I value your education. We have worked a long ways to get you here. It involved our blood, our sweat, and our tears to get you into this school. And then you go and throw it all away, and for what? One of your silly little adventures! Imagine what people would say when they heard that you got thrown out of a prestigious school! But thank the President that you didn't. Had it not been for the dean's grace and good favor, you would have to live in the streets, all on your own, without your father and I to help you. Do you know what that life is like?"

It was 8:14 when Mother had started her lecture. It went on until Alice felt her voluminous blonde curls being yanked backwards into a ponytail at 8:19. Mother was crying by now.

"And I don't know what I would do without retirement money. The government will give some, but how will I buy a new house? Go vacationing? Hire servants? What then?" Mother looked at Alice forlornly, her eyes pleading for Alice to stay in line, stay in school, and stay on the path the government had given her to lead a good life. All for some lavish lifestyle that didn't include Dad. But it was hard to argue with Mother, so Alice just smiled.

"I'm truly awfully sorry." Lies. "I wasn't thinking about you. I just wanted to do something new. So I had an adventure. And you know what? It was dangerous and not fun at all." Lies. "I mean, how could I pass up an opportunity to get a good education and take care of my dear mother? I can't think of anything more fun than that." Lies. But by now tears were streaming from Alice's eyes, so the lies almost sounded like half-truths.

It was enough to convince Mother. She opened her arms wide, and Alice stepped into them for a bone-crushing hug. Just before her ribcage felt like it would collapse, Mother took her shoulders and held her at arm's length. "There's my sweet girl," she said, patting Alice's cheek. Alice smiled, hiding her disgust. "There's the daughter that's going to take care of me. I love you, sweetheart." She reached down and fastened the thick silver bracelet around Alice's ankle. Looks like she wasn't going anywhere for a while. Mother straightened and glared at Alice.

"Bracelet comes off," she said, pointing at Alice's right wrist. A navy blue band, about one inch in width, was snuggled on tightly.

Alice sighed. "It doesn't come off. I already tried that." She'd had the bracelet for as long as she could remember, even back when she was a toddler. It had always fit like a second skin, but it seemed to grow with her. If she got bigger, so did the bracelet. She had never let Mother touch it, let alone take it off. It felt like being asked to cut off her finger if she was asked to take it off.

"We'll cut it off tonight." Mother straightened and looked Alice directly in the eyes. "Now I want no toes over the line, do you hear me, girl?" Alice nodded. "Good girl. I'll see if I can get a pizza tonight for you." The wrinkles around Mother's eyes deepened as she smiled cruelly. "Now get to class."

Alice saw Dad sulking in a corner as she left the nurse's office. She raised her right hand in farewell, but a flash of white caught her attention. It was her bracelet. Instead of being a solid blue band, it now had curvy script on it.

He's here.