A Year Full Of Surprises

A Year Full Of Surprises - Chapter Twenty-Seven.

Chapter Twenty-Seven...

I sat nervously outside Mrs. Hippo's office, waiting for someone to call me in or ask me to go somewhere. I had knocked and received no reply, so sitting outside had seemed the best option.

After a few minutes of twiddling my thumbs, Zack exited the office, not even bothering to look in my direction. He sure seemed annoyed considering he was the one who had blackmailed me into doing this.

A policewoman stuck her head around the door when Zack had left and asked me to come in. I was grateful that Mrs. Danks was absent so that I didn't have to put up with her angry glares. She wasn't required to hide her obvious opinions, whereas the police weren't supposed to pressure me into making a decision, they were just gathering facts.

"Hello Jessica, my names Anna." She introduced herself. "I know you've seen a different police officer nearly every time we've talked to you, which must be confusing." She said warmly.

I'm guessing she was either new and inexperienced or she was planning to bribe information out of me. Either way, I was sticking to my story no matter what they threw at me.

"It doesn't bother me, I just want this to be finished." I said honestly. I might as well put some truth into my statements. I had noticed the recording device set on the table, that would no doubt be analysed and analysed when it was taken back to the police station.

"And why is that?" She asked. I hadn't been questioned like this before, it had always just been on the topic of Zack and what he had done to me. This was more like the things you saw on TV where they managed to turn your words against you and make you say things that gave away more than you wanted it too.

"It's really stressful, especially when I have schoolwork and stuff." I answered vaguely, deciding that I needed to be even more careful with my answers than normal.

"Your grades began to drop a couple of years ago, is that correct?" She inquired. I nodded. "Is there any particular reason for this? Trouble at home? Trouble at school?"

"Not really, it just started becoming harder for me to understand things. I stopped putting as much effort into my studies." I lied.

I tried not to make a comment about how off topic this was, but decided to leave it. "Mrs. Danks informed me that you wanted to drop the attempted rape case on Zack, after you had found out that he had stopped pursuing the assault charge on Jordan Armstrong." She stated, probably for the tapes benefit rather than mine. "Can you please explain your decision?"

I hesitated before retelling the same line I had fed Mrs. Danks. "I believe that he made a mistake and I don't think I should ruin his life by sending him down. He's apologised lots and I believe he's truly sorry." I told her, trying to put as much sincerity into my voice as possible.

The policewoman nodded and asked a question that I had premeditated. I had an answer prepared. "Why did you wait until after the case on Jordan Armstrong was dropped before you dropped your's in turn?"

"I also didn't believe that Mr. Armstrong should risk losing his career when he hadn't done anything wrong. He had only used self defence and Zack was wrong to try and get him into trouble for assault." I answered confidently, that bit was all true.

"What is your relationship like with Mr. Armstrong?" She inquired, asking something similar to what a police officer had asked me before. What were they trying to insinuate?

I shrugged. "He's my teacher." I said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I was grateful when he pulled Zack off me, but I've never really talked to him outside of my maths lessons." I lied.