Free Criminal by Helen Chapman

Jacky Singh stared into her locker in panic. Her heart was pounding. She started to take everything out of her locker. The floor was soon a mess of books, folders and rubbish.
    Zeke Porter tried to get to his locker, which was right next to Jacky’s, but there was too much mess on the floor.
    â€˜Hurry up, Jacky,’ he said. ‘We’ve got our first class soon. Now is not a good time to clean out your locker.’
    â€˜I’m not cleaning it out,’ said Jacky. ‘I’m looking for something.’
    Zeke looked over Jacky’s shoulder and into her locker. ‘What are you looking for?’ he asked.
    â€˜My camera,’ said Jacky. ‘I know it was here this morning but now it’s missing.’
    â€˜Maybe you put it down in my locker by mistake,’ said Zeke. He cleared a path to his locker, and opened the door. They both looked inside. It was a mess, but there was no sign of Jacky’s camera.
    Jacky and Zeke were members of the Gang-Stars. The Gang-Stars had first met at an under-12s Music Club. It was so great to meet up again at high school that they started a gang.
    Suddenly it seemed as if everyone at the lockers was talking at the same time. No, not everyone. Just the members of the Gang-Stars.
    â€˜Someone’s taken my mp3 player!’
    â€˜My purse is missing!’
    â€˜Where’s my mobile?’
    â€˜My memory stick isn’t here!’
    â€˜Who’d take one drumstick?’
    â€˜My DVDs are gone!’
    â€˜A thief has stolen our things!’ said Jacky.
    This was the first time that the Gang-Stars had had anything stolen. They were puzzled and angry. The bell rang for the start of classes. There wasn’t anything they could do now so almost everyone got what they needed and left.
    Zeke stayed behind with Jacky. He picked up her stuff from the floor and passed things up to her.
    â€˜Who do you think the thief is?’ he asked.
    Jacky didn’t answer him. She had a question of her own.
    â€˜What are
you
missing?’ she asked.
    â€˜Nothing,’ he said.
    Jacky was surprised. She turned and looked him in the eye.
    â€˜Nothing?’ she repeated.
    Zeke tried to make things sound better. He quickly said, ‘Nothing as far as I can see, but my locker’s such a mess that I won’t know if anything is missing until I need to use it.’
    Jacky thought that Zeke’s answer was strange. Why would a thief steal from every Gang-Star member except Zeke? Unless of course Zeke was the thief.
    Jacky knew that he had been in trouble before. He used to be in a rough street gang before he came to All Star High. Maybe Zeke was hanging out with his old gang again. Maybe he was stealing for them. No. Jacky didn’t want to think that Zeke could be the thief. He wouldn’t do anything like that again … would he?

Zeke and Jacky walked to class. They didn’t notice that someone was close behind them and listening to every word they said.
    â€˜Do you still see your old friends from the street gang?’ asked Jacky.
    Zeke looked worried. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Why do you ask?’
    Jacky didn’t want to say what she had been thinking. Instead, she just said, ‘No reason.’
    Zeke could tell that Jacky was wondering if she could trust him. He knew that he wasn’t the thief but he also knew that things looked bad for him.
    In their class, their teacher, Mr Newman, said, ‘The town’s Concert in the Park was cancelled last Friday night because of the storm. It’s going ahead this Friday but the planned dance team can’t make it. I’ve been asked to send four dancers in their place.’ Mr. Newman looked at his students. ‘Zeke, you’ll be lead dancer. Your backup dancers will be Ziggy, Florence and Simon.’
    Zeke was excited. This would be the most amazing show he had ever done. He could just see it now. The park would be filled with thousands of people