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AJ was the second parent to get there. As soon as he walked inside he saw me sitting in the chair, shaking because I was so nervous.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked, closing the door behind him.

I jumped up and ran over to him. "I didn't do it! I swear! They're just blaming me because these guys won't tell who really did it!" I said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... What happened?" AJ asked, leading me back to the seat I was in.

"I'll explain once the other parents get here." Ms. Holmes told AJ.

I sat back down and AJ stood next to me. I looked up at him. He looked even more tired than he had this morning. I was guessing that Ms. Holmes had woken him up while he was trying to get at least a few hours of sleep. He looked back down at me and smiled.

But he wouldn't be smiling anymore after Ms. Holmes got through explaining that I did something I didn't!

We had to wait about 10 more minutes for the other guys parents. 10 long, gruesome minutes. Ms. Holmes kept sending me these looks like, "Ha ha. I got you!". I should kick this woman's ass.

As Ms. Holmes explained what had happened, I could feel the tears coming on. It's what happens when you're put on the spot in the principals office and you know you didn't do it. It has happened to me before in Nevada.

She finished and I hung my head. My hair covered up my face, which I guess is a good thing since there were tears running down my face. I didn't want these guys to see me cry. They were too damn cool.

There was a moment of silence. But not like at a funeral... More like angry silence. But then AJ spoke up, "I don't fuckin believe it."

Oh no. He's mad now. I couldn't look up.

"I know that Kelly wouldn't do that. Especially when she just got in a lot of trouble at this damn school. She's smart enough to know not to get herself in trouble again." He said.

I looked up. Was AJ defending me? Weird... But I guess it's a good thing since I DIDN?T DO IT!

"There's no one else that we can think of." Ms. Holmes said, "No other girl has anything against Lindsay Johnson."

"That you know of!" AJ snapped, "For all you know there could be a whole fucking club of girls plotting ways to get back at her for whatever little thing she's done!"

Ms. Holmes shook her head and opened her mouth to say something. But AJ cut her off, "I don't give a shit what you say because I KNOW that she did not do it!"

"She didn't, Ms. Holmes." Evan said.

"Who did it then?" Ms. Holmes asked.

Evan was quiet for a moment until his mom told him to tell the truth. "Carly Redken." He said.

Carly Redken! But... she's...

"She's a cheerleader though. I thought she was a friend of Lindsay's." Ms. Holmes said.

Evan shook his head. "No. Lindsay got her mad so... she came to us." He said.

"And you told her what to write?" Ms. Holmes asked.

"No, she told us what to write. We don't know anything about her." Another boy, Anthony, said.

"Oh, well... " Ms. Holmes looked baffled, "I'm sorry, Miss Conner. And I'm sorry, Mr. McLean to have disrupted you. I guess the two of you can go now. And I'll get Miss Redken here right away."

"Damned straight you're sorry." AJ mumbled as he led me out of the office.

Once we got out into the office, Jamie came right over to me. "Hey, what happened?" She asked. She'd waited next to the office for me since it was already lunch. Chad, Kayla, and Jena were there too and came up behind her.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and said, "The bitch thought I wrote shit about Lindsay."

Ms. F looked at me. She obviously was tempted to say something about my cursing, but when she saw AJ standing there she held herself back.

"Is that your dad?" Jena asked.

I looked at AJ and nodded. "Mmm hmm."

"But you told us that was a lie." Kayla said.

"What I told you was a lie." I answered, "He's my dad."

"And you'd better be happy," AJ said, "I just about cussed out your principal in there."

I smiled at him and said, "I'm very happy about that."

"Good. Well I gotta go. So far I've gotten an hour of sleep." He said, "I'll see you later, okay?"

I nodded. He began to leave but I stopped him. "Wait, AJ." I called.

He did so and turned around. "Yeah?" He asked.

I walked over to him and hugged him. "Thank you so so so so so so so much for believing me and telling Ms. Holmes where to stick it."

AJ hugged me back and laughed. "But I didn't tell her where to stick it... but you know I would have if I'da thought of it."