Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Accused accused (accused), n. A person who has been charged with a crime or who is on trial for a crime. Jessie and Megan were walking to school, and they were late. Jessie had called Megan at 7:00 that morning, and again at 7:30, and then at 7:55 and 8:10, but Megan had still been late leaving her house. ("I was late because you kept calling me," she grumbled on the way out the door.) Ten whole minutes late. So now they were half running, half walking, trying to get to school before the bell rang. Normally, Jessie wouldn't have minded missing the before-school time on the playground, but to day she had things to do. On the playground. Before

school. With no grownups around. "C'mon, c'mon," she said to Megan. Megan's legs were longer than Jessie's, but Megan was slow because her mailbag kept banging into her knees. "Why do we need to get there so early?" asked Megan. She was loping along, about ten feet behind Jessie. "You'll see when we get there. Keep running, keep running." "Better hurry, girls," said Darlene when they got to the crosswalk. "I heard the first bell." Jessie and Megan speed-walked across the street. Running wasn't allowed. "Oh, no!" said Jessie when they rounded the corner and caught sight of the playground. "They're already lining up. Come on!" By the time Jessie and Megan ran onto the blacktop, the entire fourth grade was lined up, waiting for the signal to file into school. The girls should have gone to the end of the line, but Jessie marched right up to the middle, where Scott Spencer

was trying to knock Paul's baseball cap off his head. Evan was standing farther up, bouncing the class basketball. He was Equipment Manager this week, which meant he was responsible for bringing in all the playground stuff—balls, jump ropes, Frisbees. "Hey," said Scott, noticing Jessie. "The end of the line is back there!" "So?" said Jessie, rummaging in her backpack. "So no cutting," said Scott. "Isn't that the rule?" Even Jessie could tell he was making fun of her. "I'm not cutting," said Jessie, pulling a piece of paper from her backpack and holding it out in front of her. "I'm serving you with a warrant for your arrest." A few of the boys in front of Scott turned around, and some of the girls at the end of the line moved up so they could see, too. "You're what?" asked Scott. "Here, take it," said Jessie, shoving the piece of paper closer to him. Scott reached out and grabbed it like he was going to rip it to shreds.

"That's it!" shouted Jessie. "You touched it. That means you've been served. Now you have to appear in court." Jessie was pretty sure she knew what she was doing. She had been reading a booklet called "Trial by Jury: The American Legal System in a Nutshell." It was one of the public service booklets that her mom wrote as part of her business as a public relations consultant. Scott immediately dropped the paper on the ground like it was on fire. "You can't do that!" "Oh, yes I can," said Jessie. "If you touch it, that means you've been served. You can't get out of it now." "Get out of what? What are you even talking about?" By now, everyone in the line had turned to watch. Evan had stopped dribbling the basketball, but he didn't leave his spot in line. Jessie picked up the arrest warrant from the ground and read it out loud. She had written it using the calligraphy pen her grandmother had given her for her last birthday.

Warrant for the Arrest of Scott Spencer Scott Spencer, you are hereby charged with the Crime of Stealing $208 from the pocket of Evan Treski's Shorts on September 5th of this year. On Friday you are to appear in Court to plead your case. There, a Jury of your peers will decide if you are guilty or not. If you are found guilty She got as far as that when Scott interrupted. "You gotta be kidding me," he said, crossing his arms and laughing. "You're joking, right?" Jessie shook her head. Not a single person in the fourth-grade line was talking. Everyone was watching Jessie and Scott. She continued reading, "'If you are found guilty—'" "Are you saying," said Scott, his eyes narrowing and a scowl appearing on his face, "that I stole

money?" Jessie took a deep breath. She knew it was a big deal to accuse someone like that. "Yes, I am," she said. There were murmurs among the fourth-graders. "What about you?" asked Scott, turning toward Evan and taking a few steps forward. He reached out to poke Evan in the chest, but Evan swatted his hand away before it ever touched him. "Are you saying I stole your money?" Jessie looked at Evan. He dribbled the basketball twice, then held it in his hand, staring at it. Suddenly, Jesse realized that she should have talked to Evan before doing any of this. He was the one who'd been the victim of the crime. He was the one who would still have to play with Scott every day at recess. He was the one who would have to testify against him in a court of law. But it was too late now. Everyone was watching them. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen next.