Chapter 10: Charmer
"Hey, Dani," Chris said, walking with Gia to their sixth period study hall. The black-haired girl spun around to see Chris and Gia walking over.
"Oh, hey guys."
"Where's Sam?" Gia asked.
"Vending machine." Chris nodded. They would pass that on the way to the auditeria. The three girls walked down the hall and turned, bringing four vending machines into sight. In front of one was a short, blonde girl, putting quarters in. While she tried to decide what to get, Chris snuck over and pressed two buttons, C3.
"What the hell!" Sam exclaimed as the package of chocolate fudge Grandma's Cookies started to fall. "Chris!" Smiling boldly, the brunette in question ducked down and grabbed the cookies, ripping open the bag and biting into one. Sam was giving her the evil eye, so, after rolling her eyes, Chris dug in her pocket and handed over two more quarters.
"Bitch," Chris muttered jokingly.
"Takes one to know one," Sam countered.
"Touche." Laughing, the girls made for the doors, but were stopped by a tall boy. Chris rolled her eyes again. "What do you want, Ethan?" He bit his lip.
"I need a paper signed," he whispered. How did she know? Oh, right, Ethan had a grudge against her ever since eight grade, when she put a paper she faked a signature on in his desk and he got caught with it. He's been trying to get her in trouble since.
"Right. Have fun with that." She went to walk away, but he grabbed her arm.
"Come on. Please?"
"I don't do that kind of thing. It's against the rules." He scoffed.
"Just one itty-bitty signature." She sighed.
"Fine, give it to me." He smiled and handed her an envelope with a report card in it. She walked to the nearest locker and pulled out a pen. "What's your mom's name?"
"Yovonne Idella," he told her. Smiling mischiviously to herself, she scribbled a signature on the paper, stuffed it back in the envelope, and sealed it. Looking annoyed, she handed it back.
"Twenty bucks," she said, holding out a hand. He sighed and pressed the twenty into her hand before walking away.
"Did you really just do that?" Dani whispered to her, appalled.
"Sort of," Chris said with an evil grin.
WC
Now all four girls sat in the principle's office, calm as anything. He had a smug grin on his face as he stared at them, the unopened envelope in his hand. Chris stared blankly back.
A while later, a slightly annoyed Neal, and a curious Peter walked in. "Ah," Mr. Shelton said as they entered. "Mr. Caffrey, I'm sorry I had to call you, but..."
"It's fine," Neal said. He noticed the unopened envelope. "Is that it?"
"Yes."
"You haven't looked at it yet."
"I don't need to, Ethan Idella turned it in," Mr. Shelton explained, motioning to the boy standing smugly in the corner
"I see... so you have no proof if it really was her, just his word."
"I... Well... No, I suppose not..." Peter took this opertunity.
"Neal is sort of an expert when it comes to forgeries. He can quickly verify if it's fake or not."
"Is this true?" Neal nodded once.
"Yes. I'll need to see a real paper signed by Mrs. Idella, and then her name signed by both Ethan and Chris."
"That can be arranged." A moment later, he was standing at Mr. Shelton's desk with three papers signed Yovonne Idella,and the still unopened envelope. Peter knew that Neal would say it was signed by Ethan, it's just the kind of thing he would do. Casting a glance at Chris, Neal opened it and pulled it out. He scanned it for a second before he rolled his eyes and shot a small smile at Chris, both went unnoticed by everyone but her and Peter.
"Is it fake?" Mr. Shelton asked.
"Most definately," Neal told him.
"And did Christeen sign it?" Peter held his breath.
"Yes," Neal said, making Peter blance. He couldn't believe his ears. Chris just grinned. "And it's incredible acurate."
"You're in a heap of trouble," Shelton said to Chris.
"Not exactly," Neal said. This stopped Shelton in his tracks.
"What do you mean, 'not exactly?'" Neal smiled.
"Take a look," he told them, moving aside. Everyone but Chris gathered around. Peter chuckled under his breath at what he saw. Youranne Idiota.
"Explaine this!" Shelton said, outraged.
"He kept bugging me, so I said I'd sign it. I was gonna write 'Eef Off' but he told me his mom's name, and I couldn't resist. I figured he'd actually look at it." The final bell rung, cutting off whatever Shelton was going to say.
"I want my money back!" Ethan shouted.
"What money?" she asked innocently. It occured to Peter that an innocent Chris was a lot like an innocent Neal. It just didn't happen.
"The twenty you charge people to forge signatures," he replied through gritted teeth.
"I don't forge signatures! And I never charged you for anything." The other girls nodded in agreement.
"Let's go," Neal said, grabbing her arm and pulling her from the office.
"I gotta go to my locker," she protested. He sighed but let her lead the way. She dialed it quickly, swung it open, and began shifting through her books. She took two out, and replaced them with three that were in her bag. "'Kay, let's go." They walked out to the car.
They only drove for a few minutes before Neal spoke. "That was pretty careless,"
"I didn't do anything wrong. He was bugging me. I figured he would look at it before he did something like that."
"You did steal twenty dollars," Peter pointed out.
"Allegedly." Neal smiled. Peter rolled his eyes.
"Am I to suppose that you really do forge signatures for money?" Neal asked.
"That's what they've been trying to prove since I was in eight grade. That and some other things." She was almost as slippery as her father.
"Have you ever been caught?" Peter couldn't help but ask.
"Once. I got a detention. That was in seventh grade."
"You said eighth before."
"Exactly," she said with a smile. "Took me off the suspect list for a while. But now, whenever there's a... discrepancy in signatures, me and my friends are pretty much the usual suspects."
"Just what the world needs," Peter muttered, "another criminal Caffrey."