Zeke and Jacky went to the dress rehearsal. They wanted to have a good look at all the other dancers but one of them was late. When everyone had arrived, Zeke and Jacky looked closely at the three dancers wearing masks. But they all looked alike. Zeke and Jacky were never going to work out who the thief was just by looking at them.

Zeke’s street dancing was rubbish for the whole rehearsal. He couldn’t focus because he was thinking about finding the thief. Mr Newman gave Zeke a warning.

‘I’ll give your role to another dancer if you don’t do better than this,’ he said.

Zeke groaned. What else could go wrong? He was about to find out.

‘Have you seen the video camera?’ asked Jacky. ‘I can’t find it.’

Zeke stared at her. ‘That means we can’t get any proof at all now,’ he said.

Zeke was sick with worry. They only had one day to get some proof that Zeke wasn’t the thief.

‘Maybe you have dropped the video camera somewhere,’ said Zeke. ‘We’ll go and look after the rehearsal.’

They both looked for it everywhere they could think of. There was no sign of Jacky’s video camera anywhere.

Jacky sighed. ‘Maybe I left it in Principal Blake’s office,’ she said. ‘That’s the only place we haven’t looked.’

Zeke’s heart jumped with hope. ‘Let’s go and see if it’s there,’ he said.

Jacky and Zeke rushed towards the Principal’s office. Principal Blake was just coming out of his office and he did not look pleased.

‘I was just coming to find you, Zeke,’ said Principal Blake.

Zeke began to stammer. ‘W-w-why?’

‘Someone has stolen my laptop computer from my office. You and Jacky were the last two people in there.’ said the Principal.

‘We didn’t do it,’ said Jacky quickly.

‘Are you sure?’ asked Principal Blake. He gave Zeke a long, hard stare.

‘Zeke was with me all the time,’ said Jacky. ‘He couldn’t have done it.’

‘Maybe you were both involved,’ said Principal Blake. He held up Jacky’s video camera. ‘By the way, you left this behind.’

Zeke was really worried now. He knew he hadn’t stolen the laptop, but he had no proof. This was much worse than when he was caught shoplifting with the street gang and got taken to the police station. Back then he had been guilty. Now he had a lot to lose. Not just his place at All Star High, but all his friends too. Would they still believe in him if he was expelled?

Jacky was thrilled to see her dad’s video camera again. If the camera had been left switched on, maybe it would have filmed the person who stole the Principal’s laptop.

She looked at the camera. Yes! It was still recording!

‘Principal Blake, I think we can prove we didn’t steal your laptop. And we can show you who did,’ said Jacky.

‘Can we?’ asked Zeke. He had given up hope.

I’m sure we can,’ said Jacky and she played back the video on her camera. ‘Look, it’s the same thief – the one wearing the mask.’

Zeke noticed something. ‘Just look at the clock on the video,’ he said. ‘We were at Mr Newman’s dance rehearsal then.’

‘That means whoever wasn’t at the rehearsal at that time …’ began Jacky.

‘… is the thief,’ finished Zeke.

The rehearsal hall was noisy with students practising their street dancing. Principal Blake walked in with Jacky and Zeke. Everyone stopped dancing. ‘Mr Newman, I need to check the register,’ said Principal Blake.

After a minute, he looked up and said, ‘One of you was late for the dance rehearsal today.’ Nobody moved. Nobody said a word.

‘Simon,’ said Principal Blake. ‘Why were you late?’

‘Don’t bother lying,’ Jacky said. She held out her camera. ‘We have proof that you are the thief.’

Simon slowly took off his mask. His face stayed as stiff as a mask carved out of wood. He was angry that he had been found out.

‘I just wanted to get Zeke into trouble,’ he said. ‘I thought if I got him kicked out of the Gang-Stars they’d let me take his place. But they didn’t! They stuck by him.’ Simon let go of his anger and became embarrassed. ‘Then I thought that if Zeke got kicked out of the dance performance, I’d get his part at the concert. I wanted to be the lead dancer.’

Principal Blake led Simon to his office.

Zeke was happy it was all over.

‘Thanks Jacky,’ he said. ‘Because of you, nobody thinks I’m a thief and I get to stay at All Star High after all.’

Jacky smiled. ‘And we both get to do Concert in the Park tonight,’ she said.

‘That reminds me,’ said Zeke. ‘I’ll ask the Gang-Stars to film us. They’ll probably want to borrow your camera. Is that all right?’ ALL ST*R HIGH