“Mmm. Yeah. Okay, I’ll meet you there in five minutes,” Emily murmured. “No, no one knows about it yet. I’m trying to keep it under wraps. Yeah, okay, I’ll see you then. Bye.”

She shut her phone and pocketed it. She smiled to herself as she peered into the mirror and smoothed her hair into place. She whistled as she scuttled out of the room, hair flying out wildly behind her. AJ peered out the window, eyebrow raised suspiciously. He glanced in the direction of her bedroom, having heard the conversation, then back outside. Emily rushed out the front door and down the street, where a car was driving up. The car stopped, and she opened the door and climbed in.

AJ watched the car speed away, and he muttered to himself, “This isn’t like her. Time to get the others involved.”



Twenty minutes later, Ophelia, Tiffani, Angela, Cy, and Louie were crowded into AJ’s room. He took a breath and began to speak.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “I have called you all together for one purpose. For the past few weeks, Emily has been running off at roughly three-thirty in the afternoon. Shortly before leaving, she received a phone call that lasts between ten and thirty seconds. After this, she leaves and gets into a car waiting down the street. Today, I overheard her telling the person on the phone that she’s trying to keep ‘it’ under wraps, whatever ‘it’ is.”

“What’s the point of all this?” Tiffani asked.

“I was about to get to that. I propose that we basically do a CSI-type thing and figure out what Emily is up to.”

“Sounds cool,” Ophelia remarked. “At least it’ll be a fun way to spend the day, right?”

“Sure,” Cy agreed. “We’ll be happy to help.”


“So, we’re going to be CSI: Oakdale,” Louie mused.

“Yeah,” Ophelia agreed. “But one thing.”

“What?” AJ asked.

Ophelia smirked and continued, “I get to be Grissom.”

“Why do you get to be Grissom? You’re a chick,” AJ argued.

“Grissom is awesome,” Ophelia shot back. “Besides, I called him first.”

“Ooh, then I get to be Catherine!” Tiffani called out.

“Oh, the blonde ex-showgirl, turned geek. How surprising,” AJ teased. “Fine, then I want to be Nick.”

“The former athlete,” Tiffani remarked. “Yeah, big surprise there.”

“Shut up, Tiff.”

“Who do I get to be?” Angela asked.

“You can be Hodges,” Tiffani replied immediately, with a snicker. Angela glared at her.


“Guys, guys… you’re forgetting something,” Cy spoke up.

“What?” AJ asked.

“To really be like CSI, we don’t just need to be like the characters. We need… an awesome theme song by The Who.”

“Oh, like American Woman?” AJ asked. Cy slapped the back of his head. “Ow!” AJ cried out. “What was that for?”

“American Woman is by The Guess Who. The Who did songs like Behind Blue Eyes,” Ophelia explained.

“You’re lying,” AJ accused. “Behind Blue Eyes is a Limp Bizkit song.”

Ophelia and Cy exchanged glances and rolled their eyes. “Kids these days,” Cy muttered. Louder, she added, “The Who did the song first. Limp Bizkit covered it later.”

“Fine, fine,” AJ said. “Just don’t hit me again.”

“So, we still need a theme song,” Louie mused.

AJ grinned wickedly and said, “I know a song by The Who we can use.”

“We’re not using Squeeze Box,” Ophelia said immediately.

AJ groaned, “How did you know I was thinking that?”

“Because you have a one-track mind,” Tiffani explained.

Angela spoke up. “How about I’ve Had Enough?”

Everyone stopped talking and stared at her. “What did you say?” Ophelia asked.

“I… gosh… I just suggested maybe I’ve Had Enough,” Angela stammered.

Ophelia thought for a few seconds. “Nice suggestion, especially given one part.” She paused and began reciting some of the lyrics:

“I've had enough of living
I've had enough of dying
I've had enough of smiling
I've had enough of crying
I've taken all the high roads
I've squandered and I've saved
I've had enough of childhood
I've had enough of graves…”

“Works for me,” AJ said. “Okay, we need to split up and get information.”

“Right,” Ophelia agreed. She frowned. “Well, I know where to go when there’s a question of teenaged girls acting weird. Cy, I’ll need you to come with me, for protection. His protection, not mine. The person in question will probably know something.”

“Okay, good. Tiffani and Angela, I want you two to go through Emily’s stuff and look for clues. I’m sure you’ll find some hints as to why she’s acting so weird,” AJ said. “And Louie and I will go out into the public and question people. I’m sure we can find something out.”

“Great. Okay, does each pair have the number of someone from each of the other pairs, in case something comes up?” Ophelia asked. Everyone nodded.

“Hey, what if Emily’s hiding a body somewhere?” Tiffani asked.

“Or part of a drug ring?” AJ added.

“Or building scale miniature replicas of crime scenes.”

“Or hanging out with the owner of a fetish club.”

They both laughed. “Be serious, guys,” Ophelia scolded. “This is real life, not TV!”

“Okay, fine,” AJ sighed. “Let’s get cracking.”


Everyone hurried off on the missions. Angela and Tiffani walked across the hall to Emily’s room.

“Hold on,” Angela said. “I need to use the restroom.”

“It’s right between their rooms,” Tiffani said, pointing.

“Thank you.”

Angela hurried to the bathroom and shut the door behind her. She plucked her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed a number. “Hi, it’s me," she whispered. "I think you might be getting company in a little while. Mmm? Ophelia and her weird friend. Cy, I think. Yes. Well, you’re very welcome, and thank you again for the clothes. This is my way of repaying you.”