Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Impartial impartial (impartial), adj. Treating everyone the same; not taking sides in an argument; fair and just. At recess, Jessie didn't waste any time. Evan watched as she pulled index cards, one by one, out of a big envelope. All the fourth-graders crowded around. "You're the plaintiff," she said to Evan, and handed him a green index card that said PLAINTIFF on it. "That means you're the victim of the crime." Evan studied the card, then stuck it in his back pocket. A kids' court sounded like a crazy idea to him. A crazy Jessie idea. But he was used to those, and this one might get him a new Xbox 20/20, not to mention the satisfaction of proving Scott's guilt in front of

everybody. For that, he was willing to give it a try. "I'm Evan's lawyer," said Jessie, and she gave herself a purple index card that said LAWYER FOR THE PLAINTIFF. Then she turned to Scott. "You're the defendant, which means you're the one who's on trial." She gave him a yellow index card that said DEFENDANT on it. Then she started to hand out five orange index cards. "Hey!" shouted Scott. "Don't I get a lawyer?" "Hold on! You'll get one in a minute," said Jessie sharply. She continued handing out cards. "I want Ryan," said Scott. "Sorry," said Ryan, holding up an orange card. "I'm a witness." "Then I want Paul." "He's a witness, too," said Jessie, handing Paul the last orange card. "Everyone who was at Jack's house on the day of the crime is a witness." "Well, then who's going to be my lawyer?" asked Scott, crumpling his DEFENDANT card. Jessie ignored his question. She held up a purple

card. "Megan, you're on the jury," she said. Evan's heart jumped. There was one vote he could count on. "When's the trial?" said Megan. "After school," said Jessie. "On Friday." Megan shook her head. "I think we're going away this weekend." "You can't miss the trial!" said Jessie. Evan wanted to shout the same thing, but he kept his mouth shut. "I'll talk to my mom," said Megan. "Maybe we can leave later. But you'd better give this card to somebody else." She handed the purple card back to Jessie. "Oh, all right," said Jessie, sounding disappointed. "Take one of these." She handed Megan a white card that said AUDIENCE on it. It only took Jessie another minute to hand out the twelve JURY cards and the rest of the AUDIENCE cards. All the audience members were girls because all the witnesses were boys and the jury, as Jessie explained to everyone, had to be fifty-fifty.

Evan looked around. It was weird, the way all the kids were going along with Jessie's idea. Didn't they know this was all fake? And how did Jesse know all this legal stuff? How did she always know things he didn't know? Jessie rounded up the six girls who held white audience cards. Then she turned to Scott. "You can pick anybody from the audience to be your lawyer. Technically, we don't even need the audience. No offense," said Jessie, turning to the girls. "I don't want a girl lawyer," said Scott. "Suit yourself," said Jessie, shrugging. "But don't come back and complain you weren't offered legal counsel." "A bunch of girls!" said Scott. "Some offer! I'll be my own lawyer. I'll defend myself." He turned to Jessie. "And I'll beat you at it, too!" he said. That was just like Scott, thought Evan. Always thinking he was the best. Always the kid who had the best stuff. Who took the best vacations. Who had everything.

"Good," said Jessie. "Defend yourself." There was just one more index card in her envelope. Evan watched as she pulled it out slowly. The card was red. It had one word on it. Jessie looked around like she was making a very important decision, but Evan knew she'd already decided who would get that red card. Jessie never left anything until the last minute. "The judge is going to be... David Kirkorian." There was dead silence. Then Paul shouted out, "Are you kidding me?" "He can't be a judge!" said Ryan. "He collects human bones!" "I do not!" said David, turning bright red but stepping up to Jessie and taking the card out of her hand. Then everyone started talking at once. David, meanwhile, held up the red card and shouted, "Ha, ha! I'm the judge! I'm the judge!" They made so much noise, the duty teacher came over to see what was going on with class 4–0. That quieted everyone

down. Nobody wanted the duty teacher getting involved. One of the unspoken rules on the playground was Never tell the duty teacher what's really going on. "Why him?" asked Paul after the duty teacher walked away. "Because he's the only one in the whole class who's impartial," said Jessie. "He's not friends with Evan or Scott. He'll be fair. He won't play favorites. And that's the most important thing about a judge. A judge has to treat everyone the same." David held up the red card in one hand and placed the other one over his heart. "I solemnly swear that I'll be a fair judge," he said. "Good," said Jessie. But Evan couldn't believe it. Who was going to listen to a kid like David Kirkorian? For Evan, the day went downhill from there. All afternoon in class, they worked on things that Evan hated: math fact drills, spelling rules, and writers' workshop. Then Mrs. Overton discovered that one of