"What are you kids doing here at school time?" I heard someone yell from afar.

I turned my head towards the voice and saw an old man waving at us from a boat.

"Come here," he shouted.

"I'll go see what he wants," said Harvey.

"I'm coming too," I said.

"Me too," said Jamie.

I took off my shoes and placed them beside our picnic mat. I ran after Harvey and Jamie, my feet sinking into the sand with every step.

"Why did you take off your shoes?" asked Jamie.

"Because I like walking barefeet in the sand," I replied.

"What are you kids doing here at school time?" the old man repeated his question as we drew nearer.

"Uh, you have already asked that," said Harvey climbing into the boat as if he owned it.

Come to think of it, maybe he did.

"Does Harvey's father own this boat?" I asked Jamie.

"No," he said.

"His father seems to own everything," I said.

"Uncle owns that one," he pointed to a small row boat with two oars resting on the seats.

"That little boat?" I asked.

"Actually, it is one of the boats we use at the lake. The one where I, Harvey and our cousins spend our summer vaccations. Her name is Carla," said Jamie.

"Cool," I said. "I've always wanted to ride in little row boats."

A small man carrying a cloth came up to Carla. He jumped in and started cleaning one of the seats.

"Can we go for a ride?" I asked.

"Sure we can. After all, my uncle owns it," replied Jamie.

"Come on. Let's go ask him," I said excitedly.

"You go. I'll go up and see what is taking Harvey so long," he said.

I turned my head and saw that Harvey and the old man were engaged in a rigorous conversation.

"What if he says no?" I asked Jamie, gesturing towards the small man cleaning Carla.

"He won't if you don't let him. Act like the owner," he said. "Besides, he knows us."

"You should come with me then," I said.

"Nah! It'll be fine. Tell him we're here if he refuses," he said.

"Okay then. I'll be back in a jiffy," I said to Jamie and ran towards the little boat.

"Hey, are you going to go for a boat ride?" I asked the man.

"What if I am?" he spat.

"Uh, I just wanted to ask if you could let me and my friends ride the boat too," I said. "I've always wanted to ride a boat with oars."

"I don't rent my boat," he said grumpily.

"I'm not renting it. I just want to go for a ride," I said.

"I'm not letting grubby little girls in my boat," he scowled. "Especially those who don't know that boats are rowed not ridden."

"Me, grubby? Have you taken a look in the mirror lately?" I said rudely.

"Shut up you rude little freak," he said angrily.

"Take me for a row. At once," I ordered.

"Who are you to order me about?" he was so angry that he even forgot to be rude.

"You do not refuse a boat ride to the owner," I said, holding my head high, acting like the owner as Jamie had said.

"What? Now you call yourself my boat's owner?" he said, seething.

"I am," I said.

"You grubby little teenagers. Always thinking everything belongs to you," he scowled. "Get lost before I make you."

"Chill with the insults," I said.

"Get lost!" he growled.

I couldn't pull the owner card again. I clearly wasn't good with it. But I had to go for a row in Carla.

"I'll be back with the owners," I said.

"You filthy little girl. This is my boat," he yelled. "Stop saying that it's not mine."

"I'll call the police," I threatened, seething at his rudeness.

"Oh I'll call them before you do," he said.

"You'll regret it," I replied.

"Oh you'll regret it, you grub," he said.

"You are so rude," I said. "Go on, call the police for all I care."

He flung the cloth he was holding, mumbling angrily. I flipped my hair and strutted off to ask Jamie to come with me. The rude little man was in for a very rude awakening.

I went into the big boat, where Harvey and Jamie were standing, talking to the old man.

"Jamie, the man was rude to me. He said that he owned the boat," I said.

"One second, Mary," he said.

"What's going on here?" I asked.

It looked like Harvey was negotiating about something. Was he buying the boat? I know he is rich, but rich kids don't just go around buying everything they want. He probably gets as much pocket money as I do.

Jamie pulled me to the side.

"What going on?" I asked again.

"This man is blackmailing us to rent his boat for two hours or else he's going to call the police and report us for skipping school," Jamie explained.

"What the actual hell?" I exclaimed. "He can't do that!"

"He can," replied Jamie. "And what's more, he's asking for a lot of rent and we don't have that much money with us."

"I have some," I said.

"Some isn't gonna help," he said. "Harvey is trying to make a deal."

"Hope he's doing better than I did," I said.

"Oh yeah. What did he say?" asked Jamie, smiling.

"He said no," I said.

"He did? I wonder why," said Jamie, widening his eyes.

"He said that he owned the boat," I said.

"He did? I wonder why," said Jamie, again.

"What is going on?" I asked, confused.

His smile turned into a grin and the truth dawned on me. He was lying to me about Carla. If that was even the name of the little row boat. I will never trust him again. I waited for him to laugh at me and say that I got pranked.

"Nothing. I would go talk to him, but we are renting this boat for today," he gestured towards the big boat. "Maybe another time."

So he wanted to stretch the prank into something bigger. Well, I had the perfect way to deal with it.

"Oh yeah? He's calling the police right now, because I said to him that I'll be back with the owners," I said calmly.

"What?" he jumped. "I just thought he'd flip and yell at you."

"He did. But I kept 'acting like the owner', like you said," I scowled.

"I can't belive you, Mary," he said.

"And I can't believe you. You just have to prank me at every opportunity you get," I said. "He might call the police any second."

"No!" he exclaimed and ran in the direction of the rude little man.

The severity of the situation hit me with full force. We might get arrested. Without another thought, I followed.

"Hey guys! Where are you going?" I heard Harvey call out behind us.

Neither of us stopped.

"I'm sorry," I panted as soon as I reached the man.

"Where are the owners, huh?" he sneered.

"I was confused," I blurted out. "I didn't mean to. I had no idea."

"I don't understand what you are saying," he said.

"I'm saying that I didn't know this boat was yours. I thought it was my friend's father's. I'm sorry," I said.

"Yes, she was confused," Jamie backed me up.

"Tell that to the police," he sneered.

"Please don't call the police. We are sorry," Jamie was practically begging.

"I've already called them," he smirked.

"No!" I exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Harvey asked, clutching at my shoulder.

I pulled both the boys to the side and told Harvey what happened.

"We're screwed," groaned Harvey.

"Why don't we just run away," I said. "We'll escape both the fishermen and the police."

"That's actually a good..." his words were drowned in the blaring of the police cars' sirens.

"What the actual hell did you tell the police?" yelled Harvey, whipping around to face the little man.

He smirked in reply.

"We have to go. Now!" said Jamie, taking off towards Harvey's car.

"My dad's gonna kill me," said Harvey, following.

"Mine too," panted Jamie.

I followed them wordlessly, until I realised that it was too late.

"The police is almost here. There's no time to leave," I panted.

"What should we do?" asked Harvey, slowing down.

"Hide!" I said. "Let's go hide in that big boat. The old man won't rat us out. Or he won't get any money."

We ran towards the big boat and quickly climbed into it.

"Have you brought the remaining money?" he asked greedily.

"We can't rent the boat today. The police is after us. We have to hide. We'll pay you back some other day," said Harvey.

I saw a small door and ran to it. I pulled it open. It was a small toilet.

"No way am I going..." started Jamie.

"No time," Harvey growled and pushed him inside.

"I don't think..." I started.

"I said, no time," Harvey pushed me onto Jamie and stepped in.

He closed the door with a bit of difficulty and breathed a sigh of relief.

I was squashed in between the two boys.

"Get off me," I tried pushing Harvey away from me. The key word being tried.

"I can't," snapped Harvey.

"I'm the one practically standing inside the toilet seat. You don't find me complaining," hissed Jamie.

"What's going on?" asked the old man, pulling open the door.

Harvey tumbled out and fell. His face inches away from the old man's feet.

"Your mind works a bit slow, doesn't it?" hissed Harvey. "The police is after us."

"What did you do?" asked the old man. "Are you in trouble?"

"No, the police is looking for us to take us out to tea," said Harvey sarcastically.

"What..." started the old man.

"Keep your mouth shut and you'll get a load of money," snapped Harvey and got in again and shut the door.

The old man mumbled something on the other side of the door and his footsteps faded away.

"Poor man. He's nuts," I whispered.

"He isn't. Too clever for words. I bet he did that to get more money out of us. Mean creature," Harvey seethed.

"Chill out," I giggled for some reason.

"Shhh," said Jamie.

We stood quietly, cramped in the small toilet. Jamie's breath fanned the back of my neck, and Harvey was practically standing on my toes. My carefully styled hair was messy. The damp floor of the toilet was in direct contact with my barefeet. The thought of all the germs that could be crawling onto my feet made me cringe with disgust. It was also very hot and stuffy in the small toilet. Not to mention horribly smelly.

'Poor Jamie,' I thought, smirking. 'He's the closest to the toilet seat.'

"Pooh! The smell is horrible. I can't hold my breath any longer," said Harvey. "Jamie, let down the lid."

"What lid?" asked Jamie.

"The toilet seat lid," answered Harvey impatiently.

"I was being sarcastic, you idiot. There is no lid," said Jamie, scowling.

I giggled again.

"Will you shut up?" asked Jamie angrily.

"What's so funny? Here we are in the middle of a life and death situation and all you can do is laugh," Harvey whispered angrily.

Before I could reply, the police sirens ceased blaring.

"They're here," I whispered.

"We're doomed," whispered Jamie.

"Shhh," hissed Harvey.

The tension in the small toilet suddenly rocketed sky high. All of us went rigid and held our breaths, not making the slightest sound.

"Testing. Testing. This is the Chief Police Inspector. My men have surrounded the entire beach. It is more to your own advantage that you step forward and show yourselves. We might be lenient with you and your sentence might not be too harsh. Let me make this clear that we are fully armed and any funny business on your part might result in serious consequences for you. You have two minutes to surrender. Over."

The speech sent shivers down my spine. After it was over, the only sound to be heard was of three hearts beating furiously. I forgot the funny side to this adventure.

"I think..." I started.

"Shhh," hissed both the boys.

After presicely two minutes, I heard the unmistakable sound of the police's boots' on the wooden floor of the boat. It sent adrenaline pumping through my body.

"Last chance for you to surrender. We are gaining in on you. I am warning you again. We are armed. No funny business. Oh and yes, we have your car being towed away to the police station. Over."

Harvey gulped.

The last sentence was said almost humorously. As if he was taunting us for being so idiotic as to hide ourselves when our car was out in the open. There wouldn't be the slightest difficulty in finding out who owned it. Our fingerprints were all over the car. Our backpacks were inside. And there is a high probability that Harvey keeps his ID and driver's licence in the dashboard of the car.

The footsteps of the policemen drew closer by the second. I bit my lip and waited for them to halt in front of the door and pull it open. Even Harvey straightened himself and stopped leaning on the door. He didn't want to tumble out again and fall in the policemen's feet.

The footsteps passed right away and nobody stopped to look inside the small cubicle. We let out a collective sigh of relief.

As soon as we relaxed, the door was suddenly jerked open and out fell Harvey. I fell on top of him. Only Jamie managed to exit the toilet with dignity.

I quickly rolled to one side and sat up. The policeman looked confused.

"What were you three doing in there?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

"Uh, nothing," said Harvey, standing up.

The policeman extended his hand out to me. I hesitated for a moment and then grabbed it. He pulled me up. I saw that he was wearing socks but no boots. He must have taken off his shoes to sneak up to our hiding place. That's why we didn't hear his footsteps.

"No seriously, what were you doing? It looks like you came straight from a dump," he said.

Harvey scowled at him.

"Seriously, dude. You three stink," he wrinkled his nose.

By that time a few more policemen had gather around us. I couldn't make head or tail of the situation. Why weren't they arresting us?

"Here's our chief," said the policeman, stepping aside.

We saw a stout policeman with a bushy moustache come up to us.

"Don't look so intimidated," laughed the Chief Inspector, eyeing me. "I just want to ask a few questions."

"I'm not," I said defensively, wishing nothing more than to scratch his eyeballs out.

Why did he bring a whole police force if he just wanted to ask us a few questions?

I felt an instant dislike for him. He looked like one of those people who let their power get to their heads and tried every possible way to show that they were top dogs. Self centered and over confidant. Not to mention a pervert. He was a power freak. And he thought that I was intimidated by him. Not to mention that it was his fault that we had to hide in a small smelly toilet for about ten whole minutes.

"So, kiddies," he started, eyeing us all one by one, rubbing his moustache.

Did he just call us kiddies? I found another reason to hate him.

"I'm not gonna ask for any explanations regarding the fact that you three were in a small toilet, together, may I add," he smirked. "You all look rather sweaty."

I felt a wave of anger surge through me as I found one more reason to hate him. I balled up my fists and resisted the urge to slap him across the face.

"What are you talking about?" scowled Harvey.

"There, there. No need to get all upset at being disturbed. I just wanted to inform you that there are three dangerous criminals out here on the beach somewhere. Have you seen them? Can you describe them to me?" he asked.

We looked at each other.

"You mean you don't know who they are?" asked Jamie stupidly.

"We have a vague idea. There are two men and a woman," he replied. "A fisherman called us to inform that he and his girlfriend were threatened, and that they were in mortal danger. I think we got here on time. I have sent a team for their protection."

"He what..." started Harvey.

I stepped on his foot to shut him up.

"We don't know," I said, making my eyes wide with fear. "You don't think they will hurt us? Do you?"

"No dear. I'll protect you," he said, patting my cheek.

I flinched under his touch, but luckily, he didn't notice. I saw Harvey smirk slightly.

"We should go then," I said, dropping the frightened act, not wanting the Chief Inspector to pat my cheek again. "Come on guys."

"See ya," said Jamie cheerfully.

"Bye," said Harvey, rather coldly.

"We'll come with you," said the Chief Inspector.

We climbed down the boat accompanied by the Chief Inspector, a few policemen and the old man. We decided to leave our belongings at the beach in order to just get the hell out of there. There was nothing much. Just a picnic mat, a hamper, sand coverd éclairs and my shoes. As soon as we rounded the boat and Harvey's car came into view, we saw that it was hooked to a tow truck.

"That's our car," I said to the Chief Inspector, taking up the frightened act again.

"Is it? I was told that it belongs to the criminals," he said, rubbing his moustache.

"You found them," yelled the little man, running up to us.

He had four policemen guarding him. I mentally scoffed.

"These are the criminals?" asked the Chief Inspector.

"Sure they are!" the little man exclaimed.

"Can you tell me what happened?" the Chief Inspector asked me.

I told him the whole story. He kept rubbing his moustache and nodding.

"Why didn't you tell us they were hiding in your boat?" The Chief Inspector asked the old man.

"Because he forced us to pay him money to keep his mouth shut," I replied.

"Hmm," the Chief Inspector rubbed his moustache again.

It looked as if he rubbed his moustache every time he stopped to think something.

'How is his moustache so bushy if he keeps rubbing it all the time?' I mused, without rubbing my upper lip.

"Why did you hide instead of surrendering?" he asked us.

"Because we were scared," I said.

"Our dads will kill us if we get arrested," said Harvey.

Jamie just nodded.

"Why did you exaggerate the tale of what happened? And where's your girlfriend?" the Chief Inspector turned towards the little man.

"What girlfriend?" scowled the little man.

"You said that you and your lovely were in danger," said the Chief Inspector.

"I was talking about my row boat," the little man scowled again.

"Hmm," the Chief Inspector rubbed his moustache, yet again.

I wished fervently that he rubs it completely off of his face one day.

"You can be charged for blackmailing, taking bribe money and hiding potential criminals in your boat," he said to the old man. "But that's for me to decide."

I smiled. I hope he really does charge the greedy old man for taking our money. Well, Harvey's to be precise.

"And you," the Chief Inspector turned to the little man. "You can be charged for making up lies and faking phone calls to the police station resulting in wastage of time of the police. And also, blaming three innocent teenagers for something they didn't do. But that's for me to decide too."

I couldn't stop myself from throwing a triumphant smile at the little man. He scowled in return.

"As for you three kiddies," the Chief Inspector turned to us, rubbing his moustache. "You did not surrender when I asked you to. But I absolutely understand that. You were scared and frightened. And you did not want to get into trouble with your parents. The only illegal thing you have done is skip school. You know, school is a very important part of your life. If you don't go to school, you end up being someone like them," he gestured towards the two fishermen. "But if you do go to school, you end up being someone like me," he let out a bark of laughter.

"I'd rather not go then," I whispered to Harvey.

He stepped on my foot.

"So now it's up to me to charge you for your crimes," he looked around, rubbing his moustache.

Everyone listened with bated breaths. My heartbeat quickened.

"I am all for forgiveness and second chances. But..." he stopped to rub his moustache again, creating suspense.

"What?" asked Harvey impatiently.

"It solely depends on me," he said, nodding. "Yes, it does."

"Yes, it does," I echoed, looking at him with wide eyes.

What else could I do? Desperate times call for desperate measures.

"You are all under arrest," he said and gestured to his men to cuff us.

The old man yelped.

The little man swore.

Jamie gasped.

And Harvey groaned.

I glared at the self centered, over confidant, power freak, pervert of a Chief Inspector.

He smiled and rubbed his moustache yet again, making me want to rip it off of his face for good.

Author's note:

Longest chapter yet. What do you think?

I'm adding this book to the Wattys awards 2016. I don't know if it's a good idea or not. What do you think?

Please do vote and comment. I can't do this without you. You know that. So please, please, pretty please, with a bunch of cherries on top, help me ^.^

If you haven't voted on any of the previous chapters, or if you are a silent reader, just this once, please, please, pretty please, with a bunch of cherries on top, go back and click on the little star button ☆☆☆

Thank you and virtual hugs to all.

See ya.