The Thief

16. Trouble

Evane

The lunch room is as noisy as ever. Today is the first day that Asher has come back to school and people have noticed. Some just smile as they walk by our table, but others make small conversations saying they're glad Asher is okay.

As I few girls walk away I say, "Well I'm glad I'm not the talk of the school anymore."

"I don't exactly enjoy the spotlight, but I'm willing to take it away from you for at least a little while." Asher continues eating.

Ember nods. "Sadly this will only last for a few days and then it will go back to the way it was before."

"Don't worry," Asher looks at me. "I'm sure me collapsing in front of the whole school will over power anything about you. I mean, people saw it with their own eyes." He gives me a smile and I return it. We haven't really talked about what happened, but we haven't seen each other until now.

"You guys are in a good mood." Ember looks back and forth between us. I haven't told her yet. There's been too much going on.

I look at both of them. "There's no reason not to be in a good mood. My life is finally normal for once."

There's a commotion on the other side of the cafeteria as someone walks in. A crowd had formed, but it's slowly parted as the three guests make their way toward us.

It's Merrik. One of his hands rests on his police belt and the other holds the leash to Paco. The dog surges forward and Merrik gives me a grim look. His partner, Officer Logan, walks behind him. She's staring at Asher.

"I spoke too soon."

They approach the table and I stand. Merrik avoids my eyes.

"Asher King?" Logan asks.

"Yeah?" He glances at me before standing. We both know what this is about.

"Step forward please." Paco smells him and sits down in front of him, barking once.

Merrik pulls out a pair of handcuffs. "You're under arrest for breaking and entering and theft. Come with us."

Asher steps toward them and turns around. Merrik put the cuffs on and they lead him away. The room is absolutely silent until the moment they're gone, then there's an eruption of whispers.

I sink down to my seat, Ember is staring at me.

"Do you know what that was about?" Ember asks.

I nod. "He's just in some trouble." I glance around and see people staring at our table. "I don't want to talk about it here."

Asher

I'm put in Merrik's police car again, but this time there's no stops and no pretty girl to keep me company. I know I'm not going to get off easy this time; they have evidence. Good evidence.

I keep silent, I know I'm supposed to wait for a lawyer before I say anything, but who knows what the lawyer situation will be. Todd definitely won't let Emily get me one. I'll probably be assigned one and that means they won't try very hard. I'm not eighteen yet so I won't get too harsh of a sentence, but any sentence to juvey is unwanted.

We pull up to the station and I'm escorted inside. They take off the handcuffs to fingerprint me and take a mug shot.

Merrik and his partner take me to a room after that and handcuff me to the table. Then they leave. I hear the lock on the door click in place.

The chair I sit is atrocious and no matter how I sit I can't get comfortable, but maybe the chair isn't the only reason for that. I fidget with the handcuffs, knowing I could get them off if they hadn't taken all my belongings when I got here. I'm not sure how long I wait. I wish they had given me a paper or something to do. I refuse to think about the reason I'm here or what this is going to mean for me. I'll have plenty of time to think about that later.

Instead my thoughts turn to Evane. I wonder what she's doing right now or if she's worried about me. She's probably disappointed in me more than anything else. I'm glad I went over there last night and talked to her before this happened.

The door squeaks open and a small woman in business dress comes in. She stands in front of the table and sets her bag on it.

"Asher King?" I've been asked that too many times today, I nod. "Nice to meet you Mr. King. I'm Erin Hall, your attorney."

"Don't call me Mr. King, my name's Asher."

She nods and sits down delicately, pushing her straight blonde hair behind her shoulder. "Do you know why you're here, Asher?"

I'm about to reply sarcastically, but this lady's my only help. "I'm a thief and a liar."

"You were caught on camera." She takes a folder out of her bag and opens it revealing pictures. She places them in front of me.

I'm in front of the store from last night. It was taken when I had turned away from the building. I hadn't been careful enough.

"The odd thing is that nothing was taken from this store. You didn't even go inside."

"I realized it was closed, so there was no reason to go inside. How can they arrest me for stealing when I didn't steal anything."

"These pictures and the dog recognizing your scent is the evidence they have. You were wearing the same hoodie that was in other security footage from different stores.."

"So what happens now?"

She takes the pictures away and puts them back into the folder. "We go to court and I try to get the best sentencing for you that I can. This is your first offense and you didn't take anything that was worth a lot, so you might get lucky." She looks back up at me. "Why were you stealing, Asher? Your foster mom Emily is one of the best I've heard of, even if she is overworked, there shouldn't be a reason for you to steal."

I look at the table. I can't tell her about Todd, his threat still remains. Now that I've been arrested he can't use that against me, but he can still hurt Will and Katie. I can't risk that.

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