I’d just gotten off the bus and was on my way to homeroom when Hannah came running up to me.
“Katie! Come quick!”
“What? What happened?”
She didn’t answer. But I could tell by her face that it wasn’t good.
I followed her around the corner and down the hall, trying to figure out where she was going. Finally she began to slow down, and I realized we were by the lockers.
My locker.
Just to remind you, I basically never go to my locker in school. I don’t even lock my locker. Most kids don’t. The lockers are too far away from the classrooms, and kids are far too lazy to drop stuff off there in between classes. We’d rather lug our entire lives around in our backpacks.
So I hadn’t been to my locker in four days—the last time was when I put everyone’s phones there.
Which is why when I saw the door swinging open and the bag of phones sticking out, a sick feeling came over me.
The feeling that said, I should have locked my locker.
I walked past a few kids who were standing around, grabbed the bag, looked inside, and breathed an immediate sigh of relief. The phones were still there!
I quickly scanned the rest of my locker. “I don’t think anything’s missing,” I said. “But then why would someone go into my locker?”
Hannah shook her head. “This is middle school that’s why.”
I started to put the bag back, but Hannah put her hand on my arm. “Hold on. Maybe you should count them.”
“Count them?”
“Yup,” Hannah said. “I’m sure they’re all there, but just to be sure.”
Another uneasy feeling came over me as I realized she was right. Just because someone hadn’t stolen the bag didn’t mean someone hadn’t stolen something.
I counted.
Ten phones.
I counted again.
Ten phones again.
“One’s missing,” I said, my voice barely audible.
Hannah’s eyes went wide. “Are you sure?”
I counted again. “Yup, I’m sure. There are supposed to be eleven phones here. There are only ten.” I couldn’t believe it, but I had to say it.
“Someone took a phone.”
Then I thought something almost funny. I thought, I should text Eliza and tell her what’s going on.
I think that’s what they call “irony.”
Hannah grabbed the bag from me and we counted the phones again. Then we turned every phone on to see whose they were, and we were able to figure out that it was Jake’s phone that was missing.
“I can’t believe it!” Hannah said. “Who would do this?”
“Who do you think?” By the look on Hannah’s face I could tell she was thinking the same thing. Or should I say, the same person.
Charlie Joe.