Chapter One

When Samantha heard the alarm go off, she already new it was going to be a bad day. She washed her face, looking at herself in the mirror she realized that she could never pull it off. She just didn't have the face that could easily hide a lie. She dressed and did her hair, burning herself with the curling iron as she did her bangs. She stood in the kitchen 25 minutes later sporting a white t-shirt, blue shorts, and a casual ponytail, bangs down in her eyes. As she made her toast, she thought back to the day before, Planning Day. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but as usual she was chickening out just 6 hours before it was to take place.

It was suppose to teach him a lesson. It was suppose to do only good. But, she thought, isn't it a bit cruel.

The smell of burnt toast brought her back to reality. She realized she didn't have much of an appetite. She continued to get ready, the way she did every morning. By 8:20 her mom was yelling up the stairs that she would be late for the bus, yet again, if she didn't hurry. She took one last look in the mirror and was off.

Her best friend, Ciera, was waiting for her when she got to school, with the rest of the gang. They all looked excited, except for Samantha.

The day went on as usual; tests, pop quizzes, homework. At lunch, she couldn't eat, she just listened to the plans and nodded her head, she was in a trans like state. But when the bell rung for 6th bell study hall, panic and adrenaline filled her body. She stumbled and almost fell over a sevvy in the hallway. She must have been on "auto pilot" because the next thing she knew, she was being pushed through the study hall door, Ciera, right behind her; and with one last breathe she braced herself for the worse.

Chapter Two

As she walked into the room Samantha saw the victim, Mr. Damien Talaban. The dark room offered no attempt to soothe her panicked mood. She walked across the room to her usual seat, noticing the particular way Talaban was eying her, as if he knew what was going on. She sat down in the back corner of the room just as Ciera passed her the note. The note saying the time. The note that had the power to frighten her more than anything else. She had never done anything like this before; she never stepped outside of her comfort zone, never talked back. Now, suddenly, she was, and she didn't know what to think about it. The bell pierced the air as she realized she still hadn't read the note. She unfolded the intricately folded paper.

Hey sammi,

K, so here's the fully written plan. At exactly 12:35 you are gonna scream bloody murder, u know, like a seizure; and make sure Damien runs out of the room to call the nurse. As u do that, me and jordy are totally gonna put the strawberry extract on his plate, totally gonna look like real blood.. He is gonna flip, good thing we found out he is totally squeamish. Yes, I know I am a genius

REMEMBER: 12:35

-Ciera

She folded the note and noted the time on the clock, 12:30. She pulled out her homework, her latest installment of The Pigman for English. Her fingers were trembling as she tried to hold the book. The palms of her hands engulfed with sweat. Again, she looked at the clock. 12:32. She then turned to her friends, all smiles, totally psyched about the prank. Why can't I just smile, why can't I have fun like them? Am I a total killjoy? She looked around the room, her eyes landed on Damien; totally unaware. She wasn't sure what was happening, was she starting to feel sorry for the very same person she hated only the day before. Gawd, I HATE my conscious.

She forced herself to look at the clock. 12:35. She was in a cold sweat, her whole body now shaking. With one look at her excited friends, not doing a very good job of hiding their excitement, she started one of her reenactment of a seizure.

The entire class turned their heads. She rolled her head back and fell out of her chair; she made a loud thud as she hit the floor. She forced herself not to look at anyone, she focused her eyes on rolling back into her head, something she sure would cause a migraine. Then she felt Jordy throw a two tablets of Alka-Seltzer into her mouth, something they had "forgotten" to tell her. She really started to perform. Her whole body convulsed. Her arms banged on the floor. Her legs pulsed with energy of their own. It wasn't until she dared to unroll her eyes did she notice that the container of the sticky strawberry sauce, cleverly hidden under her desk, was empty. She rapidly stopped. She sat up and tried to make her eyes appear glazed over, she even tried to start crying, trying to swell them up. She sat up, noticing the classroom evacuating as the nurse rushed in. With one look of comfort and support, her friends left her to finish her performance.

Samantha walked with the nurse to the office 15 minutes later. She had been caught. It was all going fine, until she slipped on a question. She had said she remembered her friends yelling at her, apparently, that was the wrong answer. She had no clue what was going to happen to her. I could be EXPELLED, or suspended, either way my parents are going to send me to a shrink. Why did I ever go along with this? On top of it all, she couldn't help but think that on top of all of this, she still didn't know what happened to Talaban.

That proved to be for the best.

Three days later, Samantha sat at her vanity stand, brushing her hair for her first day back at school. Samantha was supposed to have been lucky, she got the minimum punishment, 3 days suspension, 5 days of detention, and her parents had grounded her from TV, radio, cell phone, home phone, and going out for a month, along with seeing a shrink 3 days a week. She was anxious to see her friends and find out what had happened to Damien. She looked at the clock, 7:02. She grabbed her backpack and headed down stairs for breakfast. She had just enough time for some OJ and toast. She packed them for on the go to avoid her parent's stares and lectures.

She caught the bus just in time and took her usual seat in the front. Normally, she would talk to everyone on the bus, but for some reason today, she settled for her ipod. People were staring at her. Whispering behind her back. She tried to look out the window, to no avail. She couldn't shake off their stares. It wasn't until half an hour later when she got to school, did she figure out why.

She jumped off the bus to find her friends in a protected cluster around the parking lot. The rest of the kids wouldn't go near them. She quickly ran over and moved her way to Ciera.

" What's going on, what did I miss? Why is everyone staring at us"? Ciera looked at her confused then seeming to realize that she hadn't heard answered, " You remember that prank"?

"Yeah" replied Samantha

" Well, apparently, Talaban didn't look at his food again before he blindly took a bite"

"So"?

" Well, he is allergic to strawberries, had an allergic reaction, and well……."

" Well, WHAT"! Samantha yelled getting very nervous.

Seeing that his friend couldn't take it anymore, Jordy finished it off.

" He….died"

Numbness came over her body. She felt faint. The world began spinning, and she couldn't stop it. Her heart seemed to beat so hard, it's all she could hear. The last thing she remembered was Jordy running for help.

Chapter Three

She woke in the back of the nurse's office just twenty minutes later, her friends surrounding her. She didn't know what it was, but she felt comforted just by them being there. Was it the familiarity of Jordy's spiked hair? The simplicity of Kate's long curls? Or the fact that Ciera's freckles were always there for her? Whatever it was, she felt that with the help of her friends she could face anything.

She slowly got the energy and sat up. Ciera nodded for Jordy to close the door. He locked it with the bolt. They all gathered around her. Ciera spoke first.

"Look, we know this must be a lot for you, especially since you just now found out…everything. But we have big problems now. The police are coming today to question all the students, and for some reason, the kids think that we did it. So, we will be under high suspicions. Got it?"

The words hit her like a bullet. Samantha could only manage a slow nod of her head.

" The questioning starts in an hour, we have to come up with an alibi or something. Oh, and there's still the little detail that, we couldn't grab the jar of strawberry sauce before they made us evacuate the room." Kate said, rather panicked.

"So, that means……NO!" Samantha thought out loud.

"Yes, they have all of our fingerprints to tie us to the crime" Ciera answered.

Samantha was so confused. She was hearing and speaking, but it was like she was watching it all happen from above, like it was happening to someone else. But she had to face reality, the worst-case scenario was happening. Now the question was, what do we do now?

"We need to get that jar back, immediately!" Samantha heard herself say, coming back from her daze.

"Right, and how do you expect to do that? Is the Easter Bunny going to help us? The police already have it." retorted Jody

"It's our only chance of not being charged of murder. I for one don't want to go to Juvy." Samantha answered his sarcastic remark. " Who's with me?"

"I guess we have no other choices, I'm in" replied Kate.

" Me too" Chimed in Ceria.

" Well, how about Jordy?" asked Samantha?

" Fine, but if we get caught, I was an innocent bystander" Jody surrendered.

"Right, now let's get bust out of this pop stand," Samantha said enthusiastically.

As they snuck out of the nurse's office, Samantha started doubting herself. What was I thinking? We can't possibly pull this off. What if we get caught? What if…. Her thoughts were cut short as they saw the cop car pull up to the school. They ducked behind a swinging door and waited for them to get out of their car and pass them. They all took a deep breath and ran through the door, passed the parking lot, into the nearby woods.

"No turning back now," Ciera yelled as they trespassed on the forest floor.