Ready or Not by Meg Cabot

rang, and when I picked it up, I was surprised to hear Dauntra on the other end.
    â€œSam?” For some reason, she was yelling. I soon realized why. Wherever she was, it was really noisy in the background.
    â€œDauntra?” I was kind of surprised to hear from her. Dauntra had never called my house before. I didn’t even know she had my number. I mean, all of the Potomac Video employees’ phone numbers are posted on the bulletin board in Stan’s office, but I didn’t know Dauntra had copied mine down. “What’s all that noise? Where are you?”
    â€œSome police station,” Dauntra yelled. I heard someone in the background going, “Put that down, or the cuffs are going back on.”
    â€œA police station?” I echoed. “What are you doing in a police station? Are you all right?”
    â€œI’m fine,” Dauntra said cheerfully. “I’m just under arrest.”
    â€œArrest?” I nearly dropped the phone. “You mean…you’re calling me from JAIL?”
    â€œUh-huh,” Dauntra said. “Because I don’t think I’m going to be out in time to make my shift at the store tonight. Can you do it for me? Four to closing? I promise I’ll make it up to you someday!”
    I was still in shock over where she was. Also, I was glad neither of my parents or Theresa was around to overhear my end of the conversation. I wasn’t sure how excited they’d be over someone from work calling me from jail.
    â€œWhat did you get arrested for?” I asked her.
    â€œWhat?” Dauntra moved the phone away from her mouth and yelled, “You guys, SHUT UP, I can’t hear her.” Then she said, into the receiver, “What’d you say, Sam?”
    â€œI said, What did you get arrested for?”
    â€œOh, that,” Dauntra said. “A bunch of us did a die-in. In front of the Four Seasons, you know, where your buddy the president is having his big fund-raiser. Boy, was he ever surprised!”
    Um, he wasn’t the only one. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, either.
    â€œSo, can you take my shift or not?” Dauntra wanted to know. “And if you can’t, can you call around and see if anybody else can? I only get one phone call, and I really don’t want to lose my job.”
    â€œYou only get one phone call, and you called me?” I was shocked. “Dauntra, shouldn’t you call a lawyer?” Then I remembered something. “My mom’s a lawyer. Tell me where you are, and I’ll get her to go down there and—”
    â€œI don’t need a lawyer,” Dauntra said. “Somebody’ll be posting my bail soon. But not in time for me to make my shift. So will you do it?”
    â€œSure,” I said. “I mean, of course. I mean—” I heard someone on Dauntra’s end of the line shout an obscenity. “Oh my God, Dauntra. Be careful!”
    â€œCareful?” Dauntra laughed. “I’m having a blast! Thanks, Sam!”
    And then she hung up.
    Which was how I found myself, an hour later, manning the cash register at Potomac Video and trying to find a channel on one of the shop’s overhead TVs that was showing the demonstration where Dauntra got herself arrested.
    Sadly, the TVs at Potomac Video aren’t hooked up to cable, since they’re just supposed to be used to show whatever movie we’re trying to promote that week. So all I could get was snow. Finally, Stan made me quit and put in the latest Jason Bourne DVD. He hadn’t seemed too surprised when I showed up for Dauntra’s shift.
    â€œI don’t even want to know,” he said, when I attempted to feed him my (made up) excuse for where Dauntra was (visiting a sick aunt). “Just watch out for shoplifters. We get a ton of them Saturday nights. Stupid neighborhood kids with nothing else to do. They think it’s hilarious to rip off an Xbox game or