Into the Spotlight

Pilot (1)

"You're joking, right?"

"Loosen up, Reagan," a classmate said. "It's not like anything is going to happen if you miss a whole hour of school."

"You don't know my family... Besides. I don't have a choice. Uncle Jamie's graduating from the academy tomorrow."

Meghan didn't see what that had to do with missing an hour of school. "What's your point, JoJo?"

"I can't miss, Megs," JoJo sighed. She hated that nickname, but her family and best friend were never going to quit using it. "My grandpa would have my head... after telling the truancy officer who made the arrest to keep me there for the number of hours I wasn't where I was supposed to be."

Meghan nodded in agreement. She wished she had her friend's family. Having parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Family members that weren't one mistake away from being arrested or faking their own deaths. Her grandmother had passed away a year ago, and her oldest brother was on a two mile radius. Making it so she had to live with her other brother.

"Besides, wouldn't Mike get a call about you, too?"

"Gee... thanks for putting military school back on the table. How did I forget about that?"

"Don't ask me. I'm not the one with the super brain," JoJo remarked.

"No, but you do have access to the commissioner's courtesy card."

"The last thing I want to do is use that card, Megs. My dad didn't even let me use his card the last time you and I tried to skip."

"Then why have it?"

"It's not a monopoly card for us. All it does is let them know where I am and why I would be at a station." JoJo looked toward the people in suits behind her friend. She turned her gaze to the watch her grandfather insisted she wear so she didn't have to rely on her cell phone for the grounding period. "How long have we been out here?"

"Bout twenty minutes. Why?" JoJo pointed behind her friend who saw the same thing she'd seen. "Well, if your grandfather doesn't ground you... I mean, Jamie might give you a warning, but Danny? Commissioner?"

"I know. I'm already in trouble for skipping a day last month."

"Yeah... sorry I talked you into that. It never would have gone that far if Trevor wasn't such a moron."

"No one forced him to get high and punch the crossing guard. Why did Mike send him to get you, anyway?"

"Work. That bike messenger job is an all day and late-night thing. I see more of Trevor than I do Dad and Trevor doesn't even live with us anymore."

"Would he consider entering the academy?"

"And now it's my turn to ask if you're the one who's joking. You know he gets paid to take the LSATs by students who either have test anxiety or are too lazy to put in the work themselves."

"He wasn't forced to do that, Megs. But... I get it. My dad probably would have done the same thing to support me if he had to." She looked back to her detail. "I'd better go over to them before Max has a coronary. Think Mike would let you come over tomorrow? I could use the company until Uncle Jamie crosses the podium."

Meghan chuckled at the thought of her asking for this after she had tried to visit her brother, Neal Caffrey, in prison. "Well... what D-" she looked over her friend's shoulder as had been done to herself. The sight of Mike leaning against his bike made her blood simultaneously boil and run cold. "Seriously?!" she shouted. "I can't believe they called you."

"Seriously. I told them to call me if you were so much as five minutes late to any class," Mike said as he came closer. "Hey, JoJo."

"Hey, Mike."