Dedication: For my friend, Katie Krishnan, for being an awesome editor,the Melon kids, for being the reason I wrote this book,& my family, for always encouraging me!Thank you, everybody!
Chapter 1-The Night Before The store’s light dimmed. The door was closed and locked by the store owner, Mr. Blackwell. Mr. Blackwell started walking to his car. All of a sudden, a shadow creeped by.“Who’s out there?” Mr. Blackwell said with a shaky breath. No response.“Who’s out there?” Mr. Blackwell said again, louder this time. Still, there was no response. “I’m going to call the police if you don’t show yourself. I’m going to count to ten!” Mr. Blackwell yelled, hoping to get the person out of the bushes. He hoped this would work. He started counting, while dialing nine-one-one. “One...two…..three…...four...five...six….seven….eight...nine….ten!” The shadow moved faster this time. Closer to the store, further from him. Mr. Blackwell pressed the ‘call’ button on his phone. It started ringing.“Hello?” said a police officer who had picked up his call.“My…...store……………..person…….come quick!” Mr. Blackwell said.“Sir, I can’t understand what you are saying,” said the police officer calmly.“There….there is someone around at my store. Can you come to my store?” said Mr. Blackwell, taking ahold of himself.“Do you know that this person is not just playing around?” said the police officer.“Sir, this is private property. I have a sign up so people know that,” Mr. Blackwell said.“OK. We’ll send someone over right away,” said the police.“Thank you ever so much,” said Mr. Blackwell.Mr. Blackwell closed the call. He looked around. Sirens were getting louder and louder. Then, the shadow passed him and slinked away.
Chapter 2 - Police Cars It was a really hot day in Sacramento, California.It felt like i was going to burn. I couldn't go to the cold, cool, pacific ocean because I hadn't packed my swimsuit. Dumb me. All of a sudden I heard sirens wailing. Looking back, I saw police cruisers racing down Klinton Street. Wondering what had happened, I went to my mom. “Hey Mom, can I go somewhere real quick?” I asked her.Now, my mom is the typical what and why person. She has to know everything.I mean, in a good way. She just makes sure everyone is safe.That's just her. “Why, Allie-cat?” my mom answered.“Um, I just saw Alissa and I want to say hi to her. Can I please go?”“Fine, but just for fifteen minutes. OK?”“Kay.” And I ran off. I had just gotten out of my mom's view and now was gradually getting to the sidewalk. I saw the last police cruiser in sight and was running toward it. But I had no idea what was about to happen.
Chapter 3 - Here Comes Alissa Once Mrs. Parker told me that Allie had gone looking for me, I knew she did not go looking for me. I thanked Mrs. Parker went looking for her.I finally found her running after a police cruiser that was going down Klinton Street. When I caught up with her, I yelled, ”HEY, ALLIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” I knew I was yelling like a maniac, but she was too far away! Allie spun around, and started walking towards me. “Hey. What are you doing here, Alissa?” she asked when she got beside me.“Um, you made a good excuse of ‘looking for me,’” I answered, not knowing what to say.“Mhm. I need to go,don’t I?”“Your mom never said anything about that, Allie.”“Still.”“What?”“I gotta go. See you tomorrow, at the beach?”“Sure.”She walked away, and I followed her. “Stop following me, will ya?” she said to me, turning around.“Sorry. Well, bye.”“Bye.”
Chapter 4 - Allie’s Regret The next morning, I felt bad about what I had said to Alissa. I decided to go to her house. It was eleven A.M., my parents were still asleep but Alissa would be awake at that time. I went out to the kitchen. I wrote a note to my parents so they would know were I would be. I crept outside. The salty smell of the beach filled my nose. It was a cold morning.
Chapter 5 - Alissa’s Morning“Good morning, kiddo,” my dad said, filled with glee.“Fine,” my voice sounded utterly bland, and that was also my mood. I knew this was going to be a bad day. I had to meet Allie at the beach,though. I wouldn't have time to eat breakfast.I would just grab a water bottle and go. “Alissa, remember to take Selestle out for a walk. Yesterday you forgot, and she was whining all day,” my mom said, breaking into my thought.“Oh! Sorry, Mom. It must have been hard to do calls with Selestle whining the whole time! I’m sorry, though. Really,” I said.“Hahaha! It's OK.” my mom said, laughing.“Mom, I gotta go. I promised Allie I would meet her at the beach today.” “Oh……OK. But make sure you guys don’t go to far, OK?”“Sure. Bye.” "Bye."
Chapter 6 - The Robbery When Allie got to the beach it was empty. Literally. No dogs roaming around without owners.No people to tell me that I couldn't put my stuff on that part of the beach. Nothing. “Daydreaming, or listening to me?” a voice said.I spun around and saw alissa looking at me with a smirk on her face. “Oh………..neither. So….um…..do you still want to see what happened with the police cruisers?” I said.“So now you’re interested, huh?”said alissa,with a disapproving look on her face.We walked all the way to the store down the street, saying nothing, at least not to each other. “Wow, I wonder what happened!” I said.“Mhm. Do you want to ask the police officer over there if we can look inside?” Alissa said.“Sure,” I said. “Hey, girlies. Why ya here?” said a police officer out of nowhere.“hi officer. My name is Allie Parker and this is my friend Alissandra Peterson, but everyone calls her Alissa. We’re here to look in the inside of the store. But first, I have a question. Can I bring my dog inside?” I asked. “Sure, you can take your dog in. But don’t touch anything, and make sure your dog don’t touch anything either.” Suddenly, Alissa said something. ”Sir, this is my dog. You can pet her, her name is Selestle, but you can call her Selly,” she said, way more braver than last time she tried to say anything. “She’s a cutie, ma’am. I’d love to pet ‘er, but I gotta go. Bye,” the police officer said.“Sir, where will you be if we need you?” I asked.“Probably in the staff room, but I can’t promise you I’ll be in there,” he said.“What happened over here,” I asked.“Oh, it was a robbery,” he said blankly, and started to walk away.“C’mon. We don’t want to be here all day,” I said, and started walking towards the store.When I stepped in, I looked around. The whole place was stuffy and hot. Almost everything in the store had fallen down. Racks were partly broke, some vending machine lights had gone out.Paint was peeling of the wall, which made the wall color look more of a dark white than a minty green. Then I saw something. No, two things. Caught under the cash register was a piece of hair and a piece of cloth the color of black. On the floor was a half torn dollar bill.
Chapter 7 - Partners In Crime “Do you think anyone knows what you did yet, Mr. Billy?” said my very annoying helper, Tyson. “Shut up, you dummy! We are in public!” I said to Tyson. I bet he is the worst partner in crime. “Some people are looking at us and calling someone, sir. What should we do?” said Tyson.“Nothing. Just walk faster. You are slower than my great-grandma,” I exclaimed. We quickly walked across the street.I dragged the bag of loot from the store across the street.All of a sudden,the traffic guard asked me what was in the bag.“Um, groceries.” I replied nervously. I looked around.People were looking at me from every angle. I started sweating.I didn’t know if I was to hot, or if I was to embarrassed. The traffic guard took out something from his pocket.It was his phone. A minute later,the police had arrived at the scene. They snached my bag of loot out of my hand.“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” The police said. I knew I was in serious trouble.I would go straight to jail, along with Tyson.I would spend the rest of my life in a prison cell, and I would be miserable for ever and ever. I would have never thought this could get any worse.
Chapter 8-The Conclusion
“Hey! What happened over there?” Asked Allie.“Don’t know. Do ya want to check it out?” Replied Alissa.“Sure, if you want to.” Allie said. The girls walked down the street to the comotion.Bailey, Allies dog, walked toward the center of attention.“I’m so sorry si-”Allie just then saw what Bailey had seen. This man’s T-shirt was completely black, and was torn on the side.His hair was blonde.And at the top of his bag, was the other half of the dollar bill.
“This man robbed the bank! This man robbed the bank!” Allie and Alissa started screaming. They took both halves of the dollar bill, and put them together. “Yep, that’s him alright,” a police officer said.