Into the light

Play dumb

*11 months later*

It's exactly 3 days until Cassie and Jacob turn 14, they were extremely excited but Cassie didn't really want it to come so soon, If this is what growing up looks like then she doesn't want it. She hadn't felt so alone in her life before, right now she was all she had other then a few not so close friends and her brother at home who she didn't really class as someone she could talk to. They just fought with each other, mainly play fighting but sometimes it got serious, or argued against each other for stupid reasons.

"Cassie, a word please?" Her science teacher pulled her over at the end of class, she sighed and walked over to him, she knew what this was about. "You're failing my class and you got into a fight while I wasn't here, have you got a reason for this behaviour?" He scoffed. Cassie shook her head, "I didn't start the fight, Jess did and no, I don't have a reason for failing. I'm just failing..." she worded it all wrong, once again she came across a bit too sarcastic which made her seem rude. Her teacher scoffed, "detention tonight" he handed her a slip, Cassie threw her head back and took the slip from his hands before walking out of his classroom. Great, not this again.

The day dragged on since all she could think about was what her dad was gonna say to her when she gets home, she's failing a class, she got into a fight and she's got another detention, he's gonna be pissed. The final bell of the day snapped her out of her thoughts, well isn't this fantastic? Another hour of painful silence, and she didn't have her sketch book with her today either so she was totally doomed. She grabbed her bag and headed for the library where the usual group of students were all sat blankly, she was starting to become a regular in this group, in fact she probably already was, she had received 7 detentions in the past month. She might as well just start calling herself an OG.

"Let me do it Sarge..." jay spoke up while hank placed a photograph onto the board. Hank turned around to look at him, "i mean, I've talked to this kid before. She trusts me a little so I think it'd be best if I went under, she'll maybe follow along..." jay reworded his sentence to make it sound kinder. Hank thought about it for a second, "alright fine, but I want you to try and find her before she gets home from school. Just tell her to stay quiet until the case is finished, then you can explain when we're done" he sighed. Jay looked at hailey as the partners nodded in agreement, it was true, the kid had some kind of relating bond with him.

"C'mon, let's go. She's maybe on her way home or even still at school..." jay grabbed his jacket as hailey followed along in his footsteps. They drove along the school route in attempts to spot wild curly hair, but so far they couldn't really see what they were hoping to find. "She must still be at school" jay concluded and pulled up outside of the campus. The pair checked the time, 15:30pm, "or at home..." hailey added doubtfully. Jay shrugged his shoulders before the pair got out and walked towards the school entrance with their badges and guns on display.

"Excuse me, could you tell us where we'd be able to find Cassie evans?" Jay smiled down at the desk lady and showed her his badge. The old woman looked up to them, "Miss evans? Well my first guess would be detention but if she's not there then she's probably on her way home...try the library" she huffed rudely. Jay and hailey looked at each other, "thanks" hailey smiled at her then lead jay out of the reception. "She must get a lot of detentions to have that kind of reputation..." jay frowned. Hailey smiled weakly but nodded as the pair headed towards the sign that read library. They eventually got there as jay sighed, "bingo" he smiled weakly since he spotted Cassie slouched on a chair while bouncing her leg up and down and twirling a pen between her fingers.

Cassie was slowly and painfully dying of boredom since it was eerily silent, she looked up when she felt a pair of eyes locked onto her tiny body. Her heart stopped beating for a second, she didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that she could see the detectives, who arrested her nearly a year ago, stood smiling at her. She smiled back as jay stepped into the library, "excuse me ma'am, we're with the Chicago police department. Could we borrow Cassie for a few minutes?" He whispered to the teacher on duty. The teacher smiled, only because of his rank, and waved Cassie off. Cassie nodded and left her bag on the floor before getting up and following jay out of the silent room.

"Oh god, what've I done this time?" She laughed nervously. Jay and hailey chuckled too as jay shook his head, "you've done nothing wrong don't worry, is there some place we could talk in private?" He smiled. Cassie looked around but the only place she could think of was the classroom next to her, "in here should do..." she opened the door to the maths classroom. Jay looked at hailey, "Will this get you in trouble?" Hailey tilted her head. Cassie laughed but stepped inside as the two detectives followed suit, "I'm already in trouble so it doesn't really matter..." she looked at them with regret. She closed the door and turned the lights on, "you're in trouble already? What did you do?" Jay smiled slightly. Cassie laughed and sat on one of the desks, "I got into a fight today and I'm failing my science class so I'm in trouble for many things..." she raised her eyebrows.

Jay raised his eyebrows, "a fight?" Hailey seemed shocked. Cassie tried to cover her knuckles where there were bruises and grazes, "yeah...this girl in my class called one of the quiet kids an awful name so I told her to shut up. She turned around and pushed me so I punched her, I guess it turned into a fight from there..." she looked down to her knuckles. Jay frowned, "hey it's okay, you were just defending yourself, you stuck up for someone too. You did good, do they hurt?" He pointed to her hands since he had already saw the bruises. Cassie smiled at him, "no I'm fine really" she nodded but they did hurt a little bit though.

Hailey and jay smiled at her before hailey sat down on the desk opposite Cassie and began talking, "so we're here to talk to you about something really important okay?" She turned serious. Cassie nodded as jay continued, "we're working on a case which involves your dad and I'm going undercover. All you need to do is play along, you don't have to act any different, just play dumb and act like you've never seen me before" he smiled seriously. Cassie widened her eyes, "what's he up to now?" She sighed. Jay frowned, "We can't tell you anything right now but I promise we will as soon as it's over" he smiled softly. Cassie nodded, "wait, how are you going undercover and how long is it gonna take?" She asked curiously.

Hailey smiled, "he's gonna take on the role of the babysitter that your dad advertised for, it could take anywhere between a few days or a week or two..." she explained the situation. Cassie sighed, "ugh, he actually put out for a babysitter? I thought he was joking..." she rubbed her face. Jay smiled, "hey at least you got me and not someone else" he joked. Cassie laughed, "yeah totally, so I just gotta pretend I don't know you? That's it?" She asked sweetly. Jay nodded, "that's it" he smiled. Cassie jumped off the desk, "got it" she nodded and opened the classroom door so they could all leave. The partners smiled and nodded, "I'll see you soon strangers" she waved him and hailey off as she walked back into detention to suffer for 15 minutes more.

Jay laughed but looked at hailey once they were out of sight, "she doesn't even care that we're after her dad, somethings going on at home hails..." he spoke quietly. Hailey grabbed his shoulder reassuringly, "well you'll be able to find out, at least we can help the kids if something is up. She'll be okay at the end of all this, I promise..." she smiled as the two left the school and jumped into his car ready to set up for jays undercover bust.