Interview with Mira Wohl, Willamette University cafeteria, October 2, 2010

From Flight Risk: The Robert Jackson Kelley Story

“I could have whipped out my phone right then and taken a picture. Had it on Twitter in like five seconds, right there under my name, @mira_mira_on_the_wohl. And probably would have gotten like a hundred thousand new followers, too. Or sold it to the newspapers. There wasn’t any reward money yet, but a few days later, I could have gone to the sheriff and my tip still would have been worth something. Could have told them what he was wearing, where he’d been prowling around. I bet Vera Hunt would have interviewed me.

“But of course I didn’t do any of that. Justine wanted to, but I told her no way. I’m not a snitch, for starters. Plus, he looked so beat up, like a homeless person or like he’d been in a fight. And he was wandering around like he was lost, like he totally didn’t have a plan. He looked like he didn’t know who we were for a second, and I thought, ‘How long has he been out here, all wet and dirty?’ Turning him in would have been just mean, like kicking a puppy or something.

“And this might sound crazy, but I totally got what he was doing. I scored the part of Juror Number Eight. The best part in the play, the most lines. I sat down with my English teacher and went over all of it, so I could really act, like Kristen Stewart or Emma Stone. My teacher thought I was a natural! But I could barely even be happy. Because you know what people were saying? That I cut my hair because really, the jurors are all guys, and I thought it would help me get a part. People in this school just make up whatever they want. I cut it because I’ve had the same long hair since I was, like, five, and Alex and I broke up, and I just felt like a friggin’ change. So many of my so-called friends turned on me after the breakup, and I was tired of being my same old self, basically, and doing what everyone expects me to do. If I could have stolen a plane and flown off this friggin’ island, I would have done it, too.”