10
He was gone when I woke up.
He wasn’t in the office either. He had to teach
periment
く
the class experiment.
I texted him in the afternoon:
Ashley not bugging you today? Dinner
tonight? Need to talk.
I hadn’t even hit send when the office door
burst open.
“Sarah! Where did you hide my pen?”
Ashley had grabbed my collar and almost
pulled me off the chair.
The other people rushed in.
“Ashley, calm down!”
Her eyes got red.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to… But my grandpa
gave me that pen. It’s really important to me.
Sarah, you can look at it if you want, but can
you tell me where it is?”
“Grandpa? Pen?”
I was stunned.
Ashley’s grandpa was a physicist who did all
kinds of crazy stuff for the country.
Before his death, he left her a pen, hoping
she’d follow in his footsteps.
I respected that man. I would never steal from
him.
“I left it in the lab yesterday. Only Sarah was
working on experiments. Sarah, I’ll never talk
<
to Mark again if you give me back my
grandpa’s pen!”
Ashley dropped to her knees, bawling her
eyes out.
Everyone was staring at me.
Everyone knew I fought with Ashley and Mark
a lot.
“Mark, say something!”
Someone called out.
I looked up. Mark was standing in the
doorway.
