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“Yes, please show us the way,” the officer said.

I led him, his partner, and two EMTs back to the entrance. We rushed past a throng of high school students as we went down one long hall and took a left down another. A large group of kids circled around Sue and Alice.

“There,” I said to the officer. “They’re behind all the kids.”

“Got it,” he said.

He stopped at the edge of the circle.

“This is the police. You need to let us through,” he said in a loud and authoritative voice. The group immediately opened up. I saw Sue and Alice right where I’d left them. The two EMTs with their kits and plastic stretcher pushed through first. They knelt down on either side of Alice. Once again, she struggled to sit up. I don’t know what one EMT said, but she settled back down.

Soon they had her on the sturdy plastic stretcher with her head strapped down, as well as the rest of her, so she wouldn’t fall. I figured the head strap was to keep her steady in case there was any kind of head injury.

A whole lot of chatter rose from the group of students.

Soon, Principal Sykes was telling all the students to return to their classes. After the hall cleared, the officer turned to Sue and me. “I’d like to get your statements.”

“Why don’t we go to my office?” Principal Sykes asked. She was all smiles for the police, but then she looked over at me, and the smile was gone. Yep, I was not her favorite person. I’d been teaching at the high school for six years. She and I had always gotten along, but this was a big boo-boo. I was in deep shit.

We all trooped along behind her, Sue and I taking up the rear.

As soon as we were all in Principal Syke’s office, which was rather large, we sat down around the table that she used for different meetings.

“First, I would like to assure you all that Alice Daly’s father has been informed that his daughter is on the way to the hospital. Until we have all the information we need, we have not told him anything as to what occurred.”

She looked at Sue and me and we both nodded.

The officer who had taken charge took out a notebook and smiled.

“We’re here to get some facts. Who here saw what happened?”

I raised my hand. Force of schoolteacher training.

“And your name?” he asked.

“Marlowe Jones. I teach eleventh grade math.”

He nodded. “Anyone else?”

“I’m the AP English teacher,” Sue said.

“Did you see anything?”

“I just saw Alice on the floor and Cindy filming everything on her phone.”

“Cindy?” the officer questioned. He looked around the room. I stayed silent, waiting for Principal Sykes to answer. Everyone knew Cindy, and I knew that Principal Sykes had had multiple run-ins with the girl and her parents.

Let her explain who the little wench is.

“Principal?” he prompted.

“Cindy is one of our seniors. She used to be class president until she had to step down.”

“She stepped down?” the officer frowned. “Was she in trouble?”

Sykes sucked in her lips, making her look like a goldfish. “She was caught with some drugs in her locker, but she was able to explain things to our satisfaction. However, she felt compelled to step down from her presidency.”

“What kind of drugs, and how much?” the second officer asked.