Two days later, it was Wednesday.
Sandy had forgotten all about Monday, when she had been in the middle of a scene brought about by the discovery of her picture of Annie.
That was until she had been summoned to her guidance counselor's office. During class. Via the loudspeaker. The loudspeaker that was part of the public address (PA) system that announced everything everywhere in the school. And yes, all messages delivered via the PA system were school-wide - no isolated announcements possible.
So the whole school knew that Sandy had been summoned. Was she being called because of the picture? Fortunately and unfortunately, the PA system did not say.
Sandy made her way to her guidance counselor's office.
The guidance counselors, the school administration and the school leaders all had offices that shared a common waiting area. Sandy passed that waiting area and knocked on the door of Mrs Johnson, her guidance counselor. When she was called from within, she entered.
Mrs Johnson was not alone. There was a weary-looking middle-aged woman and a short stocky man there whom Sandy did not recognize.
The guidance counselor invited the student to sit. Then she introduced the woman as Detective Larioza and the man as Detective Gomez.
They were cops! Were they there to take Sandy away? Sandy had distributed those pictures of Annie. Were the cops there to arrest her because of that?
Detective Larioza pulled up a chair close to Sandy's. She had black hair with strands of white mixed in. "Do you know Connie Baker?" she asked the teenager.
"Yes," Sandy replied. Oh god, oh god, oh god, it was about Annie's photos!
"What is your relationship with her?" the detective asked.
"We're friends," Sandy answered simply.
"What do you know about the relationship between Connie Baker and Annie Billings?"
"They're friends."
Detective Larioza paused to jot something on her notepad. The other detective was writing on a notepad of his own.
"Have you heard about the nude photos of a small black-haired girl on the Internet?" Detective Larioza asked.
"Yes."
It really was about the photos! Well, Sandy assumed that the photos on the Internet that the woman referred to was the same as the picture of Annie that she had before. She had not dared to visit the website address that Connie had given her since the computer at home was in the common area.
"Do you know the girl in the photos?"
"Yes. Annie."
The detective wrote some more. "What do you think of the photos?"
"Nothing," Sandy replied noncommittally.
Detective Larioza looked at Sandy closely. "Do you know how the photos got on the Internet?"
"No," Sandy replied without turning away. It was half-true. She did not know how Connie had obtained it.
Detective Larioza glanced at her notes. "We think Connie Baker posted the photos on the Internet. But she could not have taken the photos on her own. Someone helped her."
"I didn't have anything to do with it!" Sandy blurted.
Detective Larioza looked back at her. "What makes you say that?"
"I..." Oops.
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