At 7:00 a.m., we headed over to the restaurant, hoping that Jamey would be there. We didn't know if he would walk or drive there. His car was still at the house near the school and that only baffled us more. Almost as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, we see a lone figure walking across a recently plowed field. It is Jamey, looking a tired but not much worse for wear. It turns out that Jamey hadn't run away from the police when they showed up. All he did was hide behind a bush. This bush was right in front of the school, next to the bus circle. Jamey remained hiding there, not 15 yards from the police car, for 2 or 3 hours. He watched as the police searched the area and he saw the maintenance truck pull up. When Matt's dad showed up and parked almost directly in front of him, Jamey was tempted to jump into the back of the car but he was afraid of being seen when he dashed to the car. Finally, after all the commotion at the school died down, he snuck away and made his way for the restaurant. He also told us he was afraid to go get his car because surely the cops had seen it and staked it out, waiting for him. Also, while crouched behind the bush, he fought off throwing up a few times. His excuse was because of all the pizza he had eaten combined with the running. We were convinced that he was just scared.

As for the other three guys, well, they did get caught. Their plan probably would have worked since all the rooms were locked. However, one teacher's door wasn't closed all the way so when the officer pulled on it, it opened. After a quick search of the building, he found the three holed up in the room with stacks of newspaper. After making sure the three weren't armed, the police called their parents. Before the whole thing started, everyone agreed that if they were caught, they'd take the blame and not point the finger at anyone else. The police were sure that others were involved but a few fortunate things went our way. They never checked the video camera and one of the cars that was used belonged to one of the three. Basically, their punishment was to clean out all of the newspapers and they had to set up chairs for graduation. They also got a small write-up in the local newspaper.

I also don't think that the parents that had to come out there were too upset. In fact, I think they were rather amused by the whole thing and not too annoyed at being up in the wee hours of the morning because of their sons. They could tell that we had planned fairly well and realized that there was no way we could have transported all the newspapers we had in one car. I know that a few of them knew I was involved but none of the parents ever held it against me or any of the others that got away.

Parent to son, "Why did you have to get caught?"

I went home, safe in the knowledge that, all in all, everything was ok. I told my parents all about the evening and they had a good laugh about it. Then I went to sleep.

Fer"for all of you looking for a good prank, don't get any ideas"rick