Finding Cassie Crazy

by Jaclyn Moriarty

  But we cannot understand why Ashbury students attacked your school on the weekend! Why? I suppose it was someone from Year 10 here since it was your Year 10 classrooms that were attacked. But none of us can figure out who, even though we have been asking around a LOT!

  Lyd and Cass, please confirm that none of us can figure this out.

  To: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  CC: Lydia.Oberman@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Sebdavinci@hotmail.com

  Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  From: Cassie.Aganovic@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Subject: Information

  That’s right, Em. None of us can figure it out.

  To: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  Subject: UPDATE

  Hey Em, it’s lunchtime and I’ve been trying to call you on your mobile but no answer. Where are you? Give us a call, eh? I’ve got some interesting information. Very hungry so have to leave computer room now.

  To: Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  CC: Lydia.Oberman@ashburyhigh.com.au;

  Sebdavinci@hotmail.com;

  Cassie.Aganovic@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Subject: Tell us the information!

  Tell us what your interesting information is!

  Here at Ashbury, developments have continued all day. You Brookfielders have such mendacity! As you might know, the Ashbury Show Pony Club trains at the field next door to Brookfield on Tuesdays—and they have just returned to school, their faces ashtrays—because Brookfielders shouted insults (more than usual) and frightened their horses! Also, Lyd just heard that Brookfielders crept into our school grounds through the reserve at recess and put purple dye in our swimming pool! All this as revenge for some graffiti over the weekend? It is overcompensating!! It boils my blood a bit but is very exciting and who knows what will happen next!! Will Ashbury reciprocate?! I hope so!

  Love

  Emily

  PS Sorry about my phone. Frau McAllister confiscated it after I called you on Monday to get your email address. (How did she know I wasn’t speaking to someone in Deutschland?) Why do phones have to be outlawed during school hours anyway? It’s a nuisance as I have to keep slipping out of class to email you, which is detrimental to my education.

  Day 3—Wednesday

  THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

  I cannot think,

  when I am on the brink.

  Students: As you all know, a dispute has arisen between Ashbury and Brookfield. After yesterday’s string of attacks by Brookfield, it seems that, over night, Ashbury students have reciprocated.

  IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT BROOKFIELDERS ARE CONDUCTING THEMSELVES IN THIS CHILDISH MANNER. BUT IT ASTONISHES ME THAT ASHBURY STUDENTS COULD STOOP TO THEIR LEVEL. PLEASE TRY AND SET AN EXAMPLE TO THEM BY TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK.

  This has been a message from your concerned Form Mistress

  To: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  CC: Lydia.Oberman@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Sebdavinci@hotmail.com

  Cassie.Aganovic@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  Subject: Here is the information

  Hey Em, sorry about your boiling blood.

  The information was this: I’ve had a word with my contact in the principal’s office (the school secretary). And she tells me something unexpected. She tells me this: they think that the weekend graffiti artists had help from the inside.

  See, there were no broken locks, windows etc at Brookfield: someone just walked into the classrooms and painted their messages on the walls. So it’s assumed that someone at our school let the Ashbury kids in—maybe someone doing music or drama practice there over the weekend.

  That’s why they’ve cancelled communication between our schools. They think it must have started with the Pen Pal Project. Seeing as there was never a single word spoken between Brookfield and Ashbury until letters started flying.

  Charlie

  To: Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  CC: Lydia.Oberman@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Cassie.Aganovic@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Sebdavinci@hotmail.com

  Subject: Traitors

  Hey Charlo, good police work re the inside job. You should give Lyd a call some time—she recruits detectives like you. Meantime, I’ll keep an eye out for who the Brookfield traitor might be.

  Hey girls, someone from your school must’ve rigged up the PA system last night so it keeps blasting out mixes of the Ashbury school anthem every ten minutes. They’ve added techno, jazz and hip hop beats to the song to make it more entertaining. Nice distraction, & it’s pissing a lot of people off. Is this the work of friends of yours, girls?

  To: Sebdavinci@hotmail.com

  CC: Lydia.Oberman@ashburyhigh.com.au;

  Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com;

  Cassie.Aganovic@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Subject: Re: Traitors

  I only have two minutes but, I have to say, I don’t have a clue who would blast different ‘mixes’ of the Ashbury school song into your corridors. It would need to be someone with audio looping software, wouldn’t it? And what is audio looping software? Any ideas, Lyd and Cass?

  Day 4—Thursday

  THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

  The time has come to end this disaster!

  Damage has been done to floor and rafter.

  Students, A State of Emergency has been declared. Scuffles have broken out between Ashbury and Brookfield students in the vicinity of both schools. OUR SCHOOL IS IN SERIOUS DANGER.

  A notice will be sent to all homes tonight informing your parents of a PUBLIC MEETING, WHICH WILL BE HELD TOMORROW NIGHT IN THE ASHBURY ASSEMBLY HALL. The meeting will be conducted by senior teachers from each school.

  This has been a message from your concerned Form Mistress

  To: Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  From: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Subject: Re: CHECK IT OUT! THIS IS A LARF

  Ashbury sux. Ashbury sux. Ashbury sux. Ashbury sux.

  Ashbury sux. Ashbury sux. Ashbury sux. Ashbury sux.

  Ashbury sux. Ashbury sux. Ashbury sux.

  Click on the attachment for a LARF.

  To: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Charliethenegineman23@hotmail.com

  Subject: Re: Re: CHECK IT OUT! THIS IS A LARF

  What makes you say that, Em? And why so many times?

  I hear there’s a meeting at your school tomorrow night, to solve all the world’s problems. Are you going?

  To: Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  From: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Subject: NEVER CLICK ON ATTACHMENTS

  SORRY. It was a virus!!! It is believed to be yet another invidious attack by BROOKFIELD upon our school. I have now told everyone in my address book that Ashbury sux. My father was especially distressed to hear this, as he pays good money to send me here.

  I doubt we’ll go to the meeting tomorrow night, as it has really got nothing to do with us, this battle. Anyhow, it’s lunchtime now and we’re just leaving the school to go to the movies as we usually do on Thursdays. Those two are at the door of the library waiting for me and that’s loyalty for you. (Me, I mean, not them, b/c I’m writing to you even tho they’re waiting.)

  Love

  Emily

  Day 5—Friday

  THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

  It is time to bow our heads in shame

  The end is nigh for this dreadful ‘game’

  Which, indeed, is not a game

  At all.

  STUDENTS. WE NOW HAVE THE NAMES OF THE ASHBURY INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ATTACKS ON BROOKFIELD.

  The individuals in question were observed carrying out a childish prank at Brookfield yesterday after lunch.
YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. You have until midday today to report to me.

  This has been a message from your horrified Form Mistress

  To: Charlietheengineman@hotmail.com

  From: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Subject: VERY EXCITING NEWS!!!

  Exciting development here! They have found the culprits!! It’s on our noticeboard here! Someone at your school SAW them do some kind of childish prank yesterday afternoon. Stupid. They mustn’t be very good at childish pranks, to have got seen.

  To be honest, Charlie, I am looking forward to the reinitiation of the Pen Pal Project (which will surely happen now they’ve got the bad guys). I miss your handwriting on envelopes. I miss opening the envelopes. Just so you know, I wrote a letter to you today, setting out the things that I think are particularly good about you. For the sake of your self-esteem. I will post this as soon as the mail box returns outside the upstairs staff room.

  Love

  Emily

  To: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  Subject: Tactics

  They put up a notice saying they know who did it? Don’t believe a word of it. They’re trying to smoke out the bad guys is what they’re up to, those crafty teachers of yours. They try that here all the time and I personally have never fallen for it.

  But let me know if anything interesting turns up.

  Can’t wait to get that letter of yours. I also miss your handwriting.

  To: Sebdavinci@hotmail.com;

  Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com

  From: Lydia.Oberman@ashburyhigh.com

  Subject: VERY URGENT MESSAGE

  Seb and Charlie

  You’re not going to believe what’s been happening here.

  At exactly midday, Em, Cass and I got called to the form mistress’s office. And informed that we are the ones behind the Ashbury attacks on Brookfield.

  They say they’ve got some witness at Brookfield who saw us at your school yesterday afternoon, tipping grapeseed oil all over the floor of one of your empty science labs.

  As if we would do anything as stupid as that.

  But listen to what happened.

  We’re sitting there open-mouthed with disbelief and the form mistress (Mrs Lilydale) gets up and says, ‘Wait right where you are.’ Then she walks out, and comes back five minutes later and she says, ‘I’m going to have to read through these, okay?’ and she’s carrying the following things:

  1. My private Note-book, which is a book that I’m using to learn how to write,

  2. Cassie’s diary, and

  3. An envelope addressed to Charlie, which Em must have written.

  You can guess what she’d done. She’d opened up our lockers and gone through them, and got out the most personal-looking stuff she could find. I had to stop myself getting up and hitting her across the face. And you should have seen Cass; she was practically crying.

  I’m so angry I can hardly type.

  Mrs Lilydale reckons there must be some incriminating evidence in these papers. Which obviously there’s not. But she wants to read them and prove that for herself. So obviously we said don’t you DARE read our private things. So she said, well, you’d better just confess then. And we said that we had nothing to confess to. And she said, ‘Girls, we have a witness who puts you at the scene of the crime. Of course, you should have been in Maths at the time of the crime, so perhaps the witness was wrong.’ And then she calls in Ms Yen, the Maths teacher, and puts on a show of asking whether we were in our Maths class yesterday afternoon and Ms Yen looks all surprised and says, ‘No! They weren’t!’

  Well, of course we weren’t. We were at the movies.

  And we couldn’t exactly say that. We’d have got expelled, since we got in a lot of trouble last year for going to the movies.

  Then Mrs Lilydale said we have until the last bell today to confess, or she’ll read our things.

  Then she let us go so we could ‘makeup our minds’.

  There is no way in hell we’re letting her read our things. But what are we supposed to do?

  Em and Cass have gone to call their parents and I’ve come to write to you.

  Because we’re hoping you guys can help us. Obviously, we weren’t at your school yesterday afternoon putting grapeseed oil on your science lab floor. The witness, whoever it is, must have made a mistake or must be lying, but they won’t tell us who the witness is. They’re giving us some crap about how they have to protect his confidentiality.

  Can you see if you can find something that might help us? Anything about who the witness is? Anything about who really did it?

  Thanks.

  Lyd

  To: Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com;

  Sebdavinci@hotmail.com

  CC: Lydia.Oberman@ashburyhigh.com.au;

  Cassie.Aganovic@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au

  Subject: THE INJUSTICE

  Charlie and Seb

  The INJUSTICE! THE INJUSTICE!

  This is the BIGGEST DISASTER OF OUR LIVES.

  Lyd says she has told you the whole sordid story and now I am giving you an update, which is this! Cass and I called our parents and MY DAD and CASS’S MUM both came screaming up to the school!

  What parents!

  They were both very excited about the events, my dad in an unnecessarily jolly way, but Cass’s mum in a FURIOUS way.

  Cass’s mum (Patricia) is excited by children’s rights, so she was OUTRAGED at the idea that they were going to INVADE OUR PRIVACY AND READ OUR SPECIAL, PRIVATE THINGS.

  She said: ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT’.

  And Mrs Lilydale said: ‘Then they simply need to confess.’ (Infuriating!)

  And Patricia said: ‘REGARDLESS of whether they are GUILTY or NOT, I will not have you reading their private things.’

  She was so fiery-eyed!

  It went back and forth for a while, with my dad making excited exclamations of agreement, and Patricia saying she would go up to the Supreme Court right then and get an INJUNCTION to stop Mrs Lilydale!

  So Mrs Lilydale started to get a bit panicked and said, ‘BUT THERE’S A WITNESS WHO SAW THEM DO IT. AND THEIR REFUSAL TO LET US READ THEIR THINGS SEEMS TO CONFIRM THAT THEY ARE GUILTY. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TELL THE PARENTS AT THE MEETING TONIGHT?!!’

  At which Patricia thought fast and then said, ‘Well, if it’s a MEETING you’re concerned about, we’ll resolve this BEFORE the meeting. Who’s running this MEETING of yours?’

  She was on fire, that Patricia.

  ‘Senior teachers from both schools,’ trembled Mrs Lilydale.

  ‘THEN, they will act as JUDGES and we’ll hold a PRELIMINARY hearing, immediately BEFORE the meeting, to DECIDE THE ISSUE!!! It’s either that or I’m heading up to Court RIGHT NOW!!’

  So, reluctantly, Mrs Lilydale agreed.

  Patricia said she wants the hearing to be done PROPERLY like a REAL LEGAL HEARING, and she even wants a TRANSCRIPT typed up, so that she can use that to APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT if there is ANY PROCEDURAL INJUSTICE AT ALL.

  So that made Mrs Lilydale look frightened.

  And my dad said he would be the LEGAL CONSULTANT at the meeting, to make sure IT IS DONE PROPERLY LIKE A PROPER TRIAL!!!!

  And then Patricia said, without even looking at me: ‘Emily can represent the girls.’

  And I said, ‘Can I?’

  And she said, ‘Yes.’

  I am going to be a lawyer tonight!

  I’d better go and prepare.

  Cass and Lyd will be depending on me.

  See you and wish me luck.

  Em

  To: Lydia.Oberman@ashburyhigh.com.au

  CC: Emily.Thompson@ashburyhigh.com.au;

  Charlietheengineman23@hotmail.com;

  Cassie.Aganovic@ashburyhigh.com.au

  From: Sebdavinci@hotmail.com

  Subject: No problemo

  Hey Lyd

  I betcha the ‘witness’
is that a/hole Wilson. Trying to take advantage of this whole Brookfield–Ashbury battle to get revenge for your revenge.

  Charlie & me are all over it. We’ll get back to you as fast as we can.

  By the way, you once said you had a contact with a talent for breaking locks. Any chance you could hook me up with that person?

  Cheers & take it easy there, beautiful

  Seb

  PART 32

  TRANSCRIPT

  OF

  PROCEEDINGS

  TYPED BY

  BINDY MACKENZIE

  The Hearing is taking place in the Ashbury assembly hall, which is already beginning to fill with anxious parents and excited Year 10 students, all of them here for the meeting but interested in the preliminary hearing (word having got around), all scraping their chairs and chattering like budgerigars. In the front row, the Year 10 student leaders sit, straight-backed and proud. The Brookfield Year 10 captain is striking to look at, a tall, blond young man.

  A table has been set up on the stage. The table is laid with a pretty lace cloth. Judge Anderson (the Brookfield deputy principal) and Judge Koutchavalis (the Ashbury headmistress) are sitting side by side at the table. Emily Thompson’s father is alongside them and is wearing a suit.

  A row of chairs has been set up across the back of the stage for the many teachers from both schools who are attending. Ms Lawrence and Ms Yen keep whispering to each other and giggling, like schoolgirls.

  The defendants, Emily Thompson and Lydia Jaackson-Oberman, are sitting over there but where is Cassie Aganovic? It is interesting to note her absence.

  I (Bindy Mackenzie) am sitting at the end of the judges’ table and typing on my laptop. I just went ‘shhhh’ and frowned at Ms Yen and Ms Lawrence: they looked at me with surprise. Ms Lawrence raised her eyebrows, archly.

  Judge Koutchavalis is clearing her throat. She is about to speak:

  Judge Koutchavalis: Ladies and Gentleman. This is a preliminary hearing, which is being held in relation to certain Ashbury students, who shall remain unnamed. As this issue is not necessarily of interest to you, you may like to partake of the refreshments in the staff room, and we shall let you know when the meeting itself has begun. (There is some shuffling in the audience, but nobody leaves.) Very well, I shall proceed as quickly as possible so that we can move on to the public meeting. The issue is this: a witness at Brookfield claims to have seen three Ashbury girls carrying out a prank at Brookfield yesterday afternoon. Some people now think that these particular Ashbury girls must be responsible for initiating the dispute itself.