Ride Along ✅

1. The Project

Mondays are the worst and the closer I got to graduation day the less motivation I had to go to school. I'm standing by my locker grabbing my things for social studies when my best friend skips over to me. "Hey" Riley smiles brightly.

"Hi Riles" I reply with a soft chuckle. "Where's Lucas?" I smirk causing a harsh blush to rise on her cheeks. I knew there was a reason for my best friend's particularly good mood. Her and Lucas had been dating since freshman year and at this point the two were practically a married couple. Except they still have an active sex life.

"I don't know what you're talking about" she replies making a laugh fall from my lips.

"Sure you don't honey" I nod, pretending to go along with her response as the warning bell rings. "We should go" I sigh. She nods and the two of us head off to class. Luckily the two of had every class together this year unlike past years where we always had to part at sometime of the day or other. I think teachers learned their lesson.

We walk into the classroom where Lucas is already seated. He was the only other one of our friends with class this period. I smirk as I take my seat diaganol from him while Riley sits in front of me, across from her boyfriend. "Have a good morning Huckleberry?" I tease causing his cheeks to turn a light shade of red.

"I don't know what you're talking about" he argues making me chuckle.

"Mhm. Sure you don't" I laugh as I sit back in my seat. Ms. Norton walks in silencing everyone as she places a stack of papers onto her desk along with a copy of our textbook.

"Good morning class" she smiles brightly. "Today I'll be handing back your last exams before announcing an exciting project we'll be starting."

I gnaw my bottom lip as she begins passing out test papers. Social studies wasn't exactly my best class, it was actually probably my worst. I wasn't very good at memorization so a lot of the time dates swirled in my head, getting jumbled up like alphabet soup. It was beyond frustrating. She places my test in front of me and I flip it over reluctantly to find a large C written on top. I glance up at Riley to find yet another stellar A shining back on hers while it seems Huckleberry earned an average B+. I sit back in my seat in frustration awaiting the explanation of this mysterious project. When she's finished handing out the exams she moves back towards the front of the room and claps her hands, catching everyone's attention.

"Alright" she smiles. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way we can discuss the project. This will be considered your final" she explains. I sit up intrigued. "It will count for 25% of your grade. Which for some of you" she sighs dramatically, "could be the deciding factor in whether or not you graduate in June." That would be me. Thanks so much for the reminder. "Each of you will begin shadowing someone next week. Who you shadow will be based on the career interest tests you all took at the beginning of the year. You'll be receiving your assignments at the end of the week" she smiles.

"But what do we have to do?" I ask without raising my hand earning an annoyed glare from the woman.

"You'll shadow for a month starting next week, April 1st" she explains. "Shadowing will last a month. In that month it will be your job to find a social issue in the field and do a presentation."

"Like what?" Lucas asks causing our teacher to sigh. She hated interruptions.

"Wage inequalities, sexism, poverty" she lists on and on. She's cut off by the bell, throwing her hands up in frustration as we all pack our things and head out of the classroom.

"So" Riley smiles as Lucas takes her hand in his. "What do you think you're gonna get?" she asks me curiously. I shrug as we make our way to our lockers.

"Don't know" I admit. "I just hope it's something interesting."

~ 🚔 ~

"Freeze" I shout, holding my gun in my hand. The suspect stops dead in their tracks and puts their hands up in surrender. "Drop the weapon" I instruct firmly. The man drops his knife and I motion my head to my partner who steps forward to handcuff him. I hoister my gun as my partner reads the suspect his rights before putting him in the back of the car. "Nice work Diaz" I compliment my partner.

Nicholas Diaz. He was about the same age as me, from the same year in the academy. No one else wanted to be paired with the newbies so we paired up with each other. We had quickly become the best team in the department. "All in a day's work my friend" he smirks making me roll my eyes as we climb into the patrol car. We head off back to the station with our suspect spewing off expletives the whole ride. I'm thankful for the change in noise when we walk back into the station.

"Matthews" Sargeant Connor calls from his office. "Let Diaz take the suspect to booking. I need to discuss something with you" he says sternly. I look to Diaz who shrugs before leading the suspect away. I take a deep breath and head into my boss' office.

"Yes sir?" I ask as I close the door behind myself.

"Take a seat Matthews" he insists, motioning to the seat in front of his desk. I do as I'm told and focus my attention on my boss. "There's been a request put in from Abigail Adams High for a mentor" he explains making me furrow my eyebrows.

"Okay" I draw out the y in confusion.

"Since you're my best cop on the force I figured there would be no one better. Plus you're only three years older than the student and I think you'll have a better chance at bonding" he adds. I nod.

"Okay" I give. "What will happen to Nick and how long is this?" I ask curiously.

"Nick has requested time off, apparently he's getting married" he waves off. "The student will be your ride along for a month and Nick will be back as your partner when the program ends."

"Will the student be allowed on all ride alongs?" I ask, knowing how violent things can get sometimes.

"It will all be discussed on Monday" he replies. "As for right now" he sighs, sitting back in his seat. "Have a nice evening." I smile and nod, standing from my seat. "I won't let you down sir."

"Wouldn't dream of it."