Monday came quickly and surprisingly neither Cassie nor her friends had been bothered by the police since the night of the tragic incident. Cassie pulled up at her school's parking lot with Phoebe who was staying at her house till her dad got back. The sight of police cars parked outside the school was a surprise to them and it slightly frightened both girls. Cassie reached for her bag in her back seat and flung it over her shoulders. Phoebe did the same. They looked to the direction of the police cars.

There was a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties standing in front of the school talking to the school's principal. He was a beautiful man, looked like he spent any time he could in the gym. He was hairy in a sexy way, on his arms, his face, his upper lip which Cassie stared at. The principal laughed in the most exaggerated manner. She batted her eyelashes like an ignorant girl in love with a bad boy.

The officer, on the other hand, had a very serious and professional look on his face, he furrowed his eyebrows in an almost indecipherable manner, at the principal's elaborate outburst. Cassie noticed a badge pinned to his blue shirt. Freetown was a small town with one high school, one university, one major hospital and basically one of every other major institution. Because of that, Cassie knew of every single doctor, nurse, lawyer and policeman in Freetown. Yet, she had never set eyes on that man before, she had never seen his picture anywhere neither had she heard of him.

"Hey Phoebes, do you have any idea who that guy is?" she asked as they neared the school's entrance.

"No, I've never seen him before, he must be new here," she replied, nonchalantly.

"Yeah probably," Cassie concluded, tearing her gaze from the principal and the officer.

They walked into the school and spotted Danny and Matt engrossed in a discussion by Danny's locker.

"Hey boys," Cassie greeted once they had approached them.

"Sup," Danny waved at them.

"What are you guys talking about?" Phoebe asked.

"Boobs," Matt replied.

"I shouldn't have asked," she pursed her lips.

Cassie was glad to see everyone back to their normal selves, or at least trying to return to their normal selves. They promised themselves to not speak about that night for a while, not until it wasn't such a traumatizing memory.

"Matt, how did things turn out for you? your mum seemed pretty mad when she picked you up from the station," Cassie asked in a sympathetic tone.

"Oh that, she just yelled as usual, and I ignored her as usual," he said, deadpan. Matt never really got along with his mother, he always blamed her for his dad leaving when he was younger and hated her the more for not letting him live with his father.

"You know she loves you right?" Cassie asked placing both hands on his shoulders.

"Maybe if I hear it often I'll start believing it," he scoffed.

She quickly changed the subject in order to avoid any awkward tension.

"Hey, do any of you guys have any idea why there are cops outside the school?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's like the whole station is here," Phoebe exaggerated.

"They're setting up cameras outside the school and basically just tightening up security around town," Danny said.

"Oh, that's great," Cassie replied

The bell rang indicating it was time for them to head to their respective classes. The hallway gradually started clearing up as students began to disperse. Cassie had been too distracted with talking to her friends that she forgot to get her books out of her locker. She scurried over to her locker and in the process, she bumped into someone.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I'm such a klutz," she apologized frantically, a bit embarrassed by her clumsiness.

"It's alright," the person laughed "If it makes you feel any better I sometimes run into trees, so I don't judge clumsy people."

She looked up and saw that it was the handsome man she saw talking to the principal earlier, the officer.

"You're a cop right?" she asked pointing to his badge.

"Detective," he corrected. "Detective Brady Bauer."

She smiled at hearing the word detective, she instantly imagined introducing herself as 'Detective Cassidy Meyer' someday.

"How come I've never seen you around here before?"

"Left Freetown many years ago for a taste of the big city, but now I'm back to protect my people, I'll find the bastard even if it costs me my life," he replied with great passion and determination.

"You know, I've always wanted to be a detective, I'm passionate about solving crimes, it excites me," she beamed.

"That sort of passion will take you places," he nodded, clearly impressed. He shoved his hands into his pocket and pulled out his business card. She took it and looked at it, then looked up at him with a confused expression.

"What's this for?" she asked staring at the card like he had just handed her a gun.

"If you ever want to play detective, give me a call," he smiled and then he casually walked away.

Cassie stood unmoved, still staring at the card. She could not figure out if he was just pulling her legs or if he had been serious. She definitely didn't plan on brushing off the possibility of him being serious. As she stood she imagined herself at a crime scene, and for a second, for just a second she felt as though she was living her dream.

"Cassidy Meyer, don't you have a lesson to be at right now?" her principal asked snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Winter, I forgot to grab my books from my locker," it was when she said it that she realized that she still didn't have her books.

"You're ten minutes late to your first lesson, but I will let you out of this one because this is your first time," she said with a smile.

"Oh, thank you Mrs. Winter," she said, relieved.

--

The classes were a drag, Monday's were the worst days ever at Freetown high, the day seemed hotter and gloomier, the classes seemed longer and even more boring. It was definitely everyone's worst day, even the teachers always looked like they did not want to be there.

The group of friends met at their usual spot and made their grand entrance into the cafeteria.

They were all quiet at the table for a while,  to relax a bit from the tiring lessons they just had.

"What the hell is this thing?" Tucker complained, squinting his eyes at the food trying to make out what it was.

"It looks like someone threw up, consumed their vomit and then threw up again," Phoebe gagged.

"Okay I've lost my appetite," Jesse said, dumping his fork on his plate and taking a huge gulp of water. "Thanks a lot, Phoebes," he said to her accusingly.

"You're welcome," she laughed.

"So guys, did anyone see that detective that was talking to Mrs. Winter?" Cassie asked

" Mrs. Winter was all over him,"Phoebe scoffed. "Like she stands a chance, that guy was divine, he was like freaking Thor," she swooned. Tucker groaned.

"That lady couldn't even get anyone, she's appalling," Matt joked.

"That's not a nice thing to say, Matt," Cassie rolled her eyes at him. "Anyways, I bumped into him earlier and told him of how I'd love to be a detective one day and then he gave me his card saying if I wanted to play detective one day I should give him a call."

"Wow, that's so great,'' Danny clapped.

"Hey, babe why do you look unsure?" Tyler asked, squeezing her hands lightly

"Yeah, I thought it's what you've always wanted to do," Jesse leaned forward.

"Yeah, well it's too good to be true, no detective in their right mind will do that, I just think he was joking, you know he probably said it facetiously," she said, pulling a disappointed face.

"Yeah sounds too good to be true though, " Tucker added, "but you won't know till you try." Cassie raised an eyebrow up at him. "You should give him a call to ask him if he's serious," he said further

"He'll probably think that I'm some annoying needy kid with a dream," she protested.

"Well like Tucker said, Cass, you won't know till you try," Danny encouraged.

"Yeah give it a try, babe," Tyler said, taking her hand in his and planting a delicate kiss on the back of her hand.

"You guys should get a room," Jesse teased.

"Oh be quiet Jesse, you're just jealous because you're all alone," Cassie teased. He mimicked her voice playfully which made them all laugh.

"It will be so rad if he's actually serious about you helping out," Tucker said

"Yeah totally," Phoebe said with a huge smile forming on her lips.

"I know right?" Cassie said, with her mind drifting off to dreamland. She made a mental note to visit the station after school to ask if he was being serious, or if he was only speaking tongue-in-cheek.