Katie and I made it to third period before we were called down to the office. At least we were in study hall when the call came trough the PA.

“Mrs Jenkins, could you please send Katie Richards and Morgan Smith to the office.” Every eye in the room looked at the two of us.

“They are on their way.” Mrs. Jenkins said, nodding at us. Katie and I hadn’t pulled anything out of our bags, as we had pretty much just sat down. Katie and I walked out of the lecture hall and toward the stairwell to head to the first floor.

“I wonder what we are in trouble for now…” I said, letting the thought trail off. Katie looked at me.

“How much do you want to bet that it has something to do with this morning. We seem to be the only two people besides Jen that missed the fact that we were delayed by two hours today.” She said as we started to descend the steps.

“You’re probably right.” I said to her. “The question is, what are we going to do about what happened this morning?”

“I have no idea.” She shrugged, before pushing open the door to the main office. Mrs. Vickers looked up and smiled at us.

“Mr. Gallagh would like to see both of you. He and Officer Mullin are in the conference room.” She said, pointing down the hall toward the conference room. Katie and I glanced at each other.

“Mr. Gallagh would like to see us?” I asked.

“Yeah, He thinks he’s come up with how you guys didn’t get notified this morning, and who was behind the delay this morning.” Mrs. Vickers said. I dumbly nodded and followed Katie to the door of the conference room which was closed. Katie reached out and knocked on the door, and Officer Mullin opened it.

“Ah, Come in, Girls.” He said, “Have a seat, we are waiting on Jen to come down as well.” Katie and I looked at each other and raised our eyebrows. Mr. Gallagh chuckled.

“No, you guys aren’t in trouble, although Miss Richards, please have your mother make sure that copies of everything relating to what happened this morning gets to my secretary, please.

“Yes, Sir.” Katie said quietly. There was another knock on the door, and Officer Mullin admitted Jen and Lieutenant Chang into the room. Jen sat next to me and gave me a bewildered look. Lieutenant Chang sat across from us. Officer Mullin walked around the table and sat between Mr. Gallagh and Lieutenant Chang.

“I heard about this morning’s delay as I walked into my office at ten till eight. Apparently the switchboard at the district offices were getting calls as to why there was a delay, and no one even knew any thing about it. Well, I think I know what happened but, before I explain it, I would like your mothers here.” Mr. Gallagh said. “I’ve already called them, and they are on their way.” Jen and I had glanced at each other. Here was another day that Mom would be missing work due to something related to me and school. It was a good thing that Mom worked from home 95% of the time.

“So why call us down now, rather than wait until our mothers arrived?” I asked.

“Because we received a threat.” Lieutenant Chang said. “It was against you, Morgan, and they said that they would kill you if you walked out of this building. The source is almost certainly the same person who was behind the delay this morning, or an accomplice.” I started shaking. Katie reached over and held me, and I felt Jen start stroking my hair. Mullin and Chang exchanged a glance.

“Morgan there are more people in this building that will protect you than you realize. We’ve had plain clothes units here since this morning. I dug around in my bag and pulled out my phone. I had Dr. Franklin on speed dial, and I pushed the button and held it so that my phone would call the speed dial.

“Why won’t you just tell us what is going on?” I heard Jen ask. Dr. Franklin picked up her phone.

“Good Morning, Morgan, is everything ok?” She asked. I was calling her on a school day, in the middle of school. She knew that everything was not ok.

“No.” I said into the phone, my voice almost a whisper. “Can you come to the school, Please? We’re in the conference room, and there is something that I think you need to hear.” I knew that Dr. Franklin would end up at the school, based solely on the way my voice was giving away my emotional state.

“I’ll be there in about ten minutes, I need to have Suzanne clear some appointments. Is your mom on the way?” She asked.

“Yes. Her and Mrs. Richards should be here any minute.”

“Ok, Hang tight, I’ll be there in a few.” Dr. Franklin said. I heard a door shut and then her talking to Suzanne. I felt Katie wrap an arm around me.

“Ok, I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere so I’ll see you when you get here.” I said, and then hung up the phone. There was a knock on the door and I jumped. Officer Mullin rose and walked around the table to open the door. I suddenly realized that we were sitting in a position that we wouldn’t be seen by someone standing in the door way. Officer Mullin stepped aside and admitted Mom and Mrs. Richards into the room. Mom glanced at Lieutenant Chang and raised an eyebrow. He pursed his lips. Susan looked at Mr. Gallagh, who motioned for our mothers to have a seat. A few seconds later, there was another knock at the door and Officer Mullin, who hadn’t made it back to his seat opened the door a second time. He stepped aside and Dr. Franklin came in. I must have visibly relaxed when Dr. Franklin walked in, as Katie had released her grip on me.

“Now that everyone is here, Let me try to explain what happened this morning.” Mr. Gallagh stood. “Do you guys remember that last year we set up a reverse calling system to notify people of something major happening within the school district?” The five of us nodded, the forms that had been sent home didn’t make much sense at the time but as time went on everyone started to understand what the system was in place for. That system had been used in that past to make sure that every knew of delays, early dismissals, and closures. That was when it dawned on me what was going on.

“Someone altered the database…” I said suddenly.

“Yes. I started to do some digging after I heard about the small mob that attacked Katie’s car this morning, Mrs. Richards, please make sure that my office gets copies of everything. I would like to see if there was any student involvement in any way.” Susan nodded. “What I discovered shocked me. I specifically went and looked at the records that belonged to the three of you in the database. I highly doubt that the three of you share a number that can’t be assigned. The number in the database: 000-000-0000.” Katie and I shared a look. I had an idea of who had done this, and I think Katie did as well.

“Joyce Paskly…” Susan said, suddenly realizing what had happened.

“Yes, we realized after we started fielding calls about a delay that we knew nothing about that something was up. Someone that knows how the delay system works called in the delay knowing that the three of you wouldn’t find out about it. We determined that the call came in from a pay phone, and finally figured out who did it. Susan you hit the nail on the head. Joyce Paskly has been arrested for misuse of the phone system, and the charges for destruction of school property.”

“Ok, What about this threat?” I said. Mom, Susan and Dr. Franklin looked at me, and then at Officer Mullin and Lieutenant Chang.

“Threat?” Mom asked.

“Yeah, someone called the school and said that if Morgan left the building, they would kill her.” Lieutenant Chang said. “We already have several plain clothes units in the school as well as around it. We are ready for everything.” I had noticed some people that I had never seen in the building and now I knew why. “We have a few ideas, some of which I’m surprised that a pair of guys came up with some of this.” The Lieutenant looked at Mom.

“Go on, Lieutenant, we may be able to help you with the ideas.” Mom said. She knew the kind of stuff that Chang had come up with in the past.

“We change Morgan’s appearance. I think we could make her a strawberry blond, get some colored contacts, change her makeup, change her clothes.” I glanced at Dr. Franklin.

“Dr. Franklin and I had discussed the colored contacts…” I said. Mom glanced at me.

“What color were you thinking?” Mom asked.

“Grey. I love the way it looks and I like the idea of becoming a strawberry blond. I’m not wearing any makeup, and I don’t have any clothes to change into here.” Mom looked thoughtful, like she was trying to figure out what I would look like as a strawberry blond.

“Now, there is one other trick to this.” Chang said. “This new girl can’t exit the building with Katie and Jen.” I looked at him. That would be one of the most difficult things about this.

“What do you suggest?” Susan asked.

“Officer Evans will pick Morgan up in an unmarked car, and will take Morgan Dr. Franklin’s office. Morgan, do you know Evans?” I shook my head. “She’s a relatively new Officer, and she does have a daughter who attends Morrison.” Morrison was one of the Middle Schools on the Southern end of town. “We will need to give you an assumed name, any suggestions?”

“Samantha.” Mom said suddenly. I shrugged. I was too worried about the thought of someone trying to kill me. I glanced at Mom, and then at Jen.

“Where did you come up with that?” Jen asked.

“Samantha Marie was the third girls name on the list that your father and I had for names of our children.” Mom said. I never realized that mom and dad had gone into that much detail in naming us.

“Oh.” Jen said.

“I like it.” Katie said.

“Ok, so Morgan is now Samantha, at least when she leaves the building tonight. Now we need to get the contacts, hair color and a change of clothes.” Chang said. “Is there anything that Morgan is not allowed to wear?”

“Pants.” Mom, Katie, Jen, and my self all said at the same time. Lieutenant Chang raised his eyebrows.

“Actually, pants may be the perfect disguise for what we are trying to do.” Dr. Franklin said. This was the first time that she had spoken since she had walked in the room. I turned to look at her. She was the one that had suggested full time skirts. “May I suggest an outfit?” Chang looked at her.

“This is your patient, Doctor, suggest away.”

“Pink shirt of some kind, skinny jeans, ballet flats, and lets put her hair in pigtails.” Dr. Franklin looked at me, presumably picturing me dressed as she had just described. “I will take the clothing that she has on now with me, and she can put them on when she gets to my office this afternoon.”

“Sounds good to me.” Mom said. “Who is going to go get the hair color, contacts and clothes?” The bell rang, signaling the change from third period to fourth period.