The next day, Rozena was exhausted. She’d managed to get home and back into her bed without her mother noticing she’d been gone, but it was difficult to hide how tired she was.

To Rozena’s relief, her mother assumed her exhaustion was all just stress about the upcoming hearing with Mr Peterson and the Rising Star people. Before she left for work that morning, her mother stopped in the doorway to Rozena’s room.

“Maybe you should go visit Emma this afternoon,” she said. “I’m worried about you sitting here all by yourself, all day long. And don’t worry about tomorrow.” She looked at Rozena seriously. “All that you have to do is tell the truth. Mr Peterson is not an unreasonable man.”

Rozena went to hug her mother. “Thanks, Mom. You mustn’t worry either, okay?”

The day dragged by once Rozena was alone again. All she could do was wait, and hope that the app on Devon’s phone would record something useful.

The previous evening, with the SCRAM Kids, it had seemed like such a good plan. Now, in the light of morning, it seemed much more unlikely. There was only one day for the plan to work. What if Devon didn’t do anything illegal enough to get him into trouble? Then she’d have nothing to show for all her trouble.

She walked over to Emma’s house in the afternoon, but found it hard to relax with her friend. The vow of secrecy she’d made meant that she couldn’t tell Emma about SCRAM or about any of the things she’d been doing in the last few days.

Emma wanted to talk about how the drugs might have gotten into Rozena’s bag, and all about the hearing, but Rozena was so worried about it all that she simply didn’t know what to say. Before long, she went home.

As she came near her building, she found herself looking out for Colin’s car, hoping that the SCRAM Kids might have something to tell her of how the day had gone, but there was nobody waiting for her.

Her mother made an effort to be home in time for supper, and even got some takeaway food – a special treat for Rozena – but all through the evening, all Rozena could do was listen for the deep rumble of the SCRAM car’s engine.

At last, late that night, she gave up and went to bed. She would find out whether the plan had worked the next day.

Tell us: Do you agree with Rozena’s mother that the best thing to do in a situation like this is to simply ‘tell the truth’?

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