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Chapter 26

Amelia's mother still used the jackhammer on the concrete base. Alice couldn't see where on the concrete base she was using the piece of equipment. Suddenly, as soon as the sound of the jackhammer died down, police officers emerged on the scene. They rushed to Amelia's mom. An officer went to get Alice out of the crane's cab. Two officers went to rescue Liam, Amelia, and Rosalie who were still stuck in the harnesses. The principal also came with the officers. She went to talk to Alice. "What happened?" She asked Alice. "I think that there's somebody who just made a crime." She told the principal. Alice looked at Amelia's mother who still had tears in her eyes and was staring down in the deep hole she made in the cement. The officers looked down in the hole, and then looked at her. "How did you know I was here?" Alice queried. "I did follow you a little just after you down the sidewalk. I thought that your parents would be worried if they knew that you went to a dangerous place where the people would be hurting those troublemakers. So I got in my car and followed you until you got to this construction site." The principal explained.

As soon as Amelia and Rosalie were freed, they all ran up to the principal. "Alice, we're sorry. About what we've done to you." Amelia said. She held onto the ear protectors with both hands as she talked. Alice thought that she was talking about the stuff she and Rosalie did to her at school. "We're not talking about the bad things we've done to you at school. We're talking about the schedule." Rosalie elaborated. The principal thought that sounded suspicious. "What are you talking about? The bus schedule?" She grilled. Rosalie and Amelia nodded their heads. They both felt guilty. "I thought that the mistake was done by somebody who worked at the school." Alice commented. Amelia and Rosalie both shook their heads. "No, it was our fault. We made the mistakes on your bus schedule so that you won't board the bus and talk to your friends. Amelia did it all on her computer. I helped her hack into the middle school's database." Rosalie explained. Alice felt a little angry. "Why did you do it?" She asked. "I felt jealous about you Alice. You are helping people at the school. You seem to get attention by doing it. I just wanted attention too." Amelia explained. "We know all of the mistakes that we've made on the school schedule. We want to fix our mistake. After what happened here tonight, I don't want to be a bad person. I don't know what that ghost's problem was, but I think he was doing the weird stuff at school." Rosalie said. She had her head pointed down at the dirt. "What do you mean by a ghost? Is this construction site haunted?" The principal queried. She frowned at the two girls. Alice looked at them then at the principal. "I don't think that this place is haunted anymore." She told the principal. The officers were shocked by what they saw in the hole in the concrete base.

The principal helped Alice, Liam, Rosalie, and Amelia home. She had them driven to their houses using her car. Alice was the first one to be dropped off. Alice got inside the house. Her parents were worried when they saw the principal's car pulling up on the side of the road. They asked Alice how and why the principal got her here in her car. That night, the parents asked how her day went. Alice explained to her parents about the whole situation in the construction site. She told them about how three kids she goes to school with were being hung in harness attached to a crane's hook. Alice also said that she saw police who were at the scene. She didn't tell her parents about Amelia's mom and about James. Her parents wouldn't believe her if she said that she saw a ghost. The next few days were pretty calm for Alice. Her bus schedule was finally fixed the following day. So after school, she could ride the bus with her friends back home. Alice haven't felt this happy in a while ever since she walked all the way home past the construction site. Amelia, Liam, and Rosalie were not seen at the school again. Nobody has ever heard from them after that. Though on Monday, Alice received a letter from the principal's office. She had her stuff put away on that day. She opened the letter and began to read just before she talked to her friends. The letter was from Liam. The letter tell Alice how much he's sorry for making fun of her. Liam also states in the letter that he will try to be a better person than when he treated her. There was also some news about "Citywide Construction" recently. They said that they have fired Amelia's mother from the council board. She is going to pay them back the money she had embezzled from the company. Also she is charged with the murder of a construction worker during the project. The old structure of steel girders were torn down. Everything in the desolate construction site was torn out. During the months of May and June, construction on the new small mall were nearly completed. Near the end of the school year, Alice goes to visit a grave. It was James' grave. She left him some flowers and hoped that he is happy about the mall. During the summer break, the small mall was completed. The people who lived nearby all go to it for their groceries. Alice also comes here with her parents. Every time she comes here, she can't stop thinking about James, and how proud he is about this lot being used for what it is supposed to be used for.