Hi readers! This is the beginning of a new story about a girl\u2026 who wants to be taken seriously for her crimes, and when she gets charged for murder, she has to decide whether to admit to it so as to be taken seriously for once, or to deny it and prevent herself from getting severely punished. If she denies the charge and is still found guilty, however, she could be in even more trouble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The police officer puts his hands on his head and sighs. He drops the papers onto the desk. \u201cI don\u2019t know what to do with you,\u201d he tells me, his tone condescending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d I ask him. I keep the mask on. Innocent. Sweet. Underestimated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve put you in juvie-\u201d he pauses to count on his fingers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeven times,\u201d I inform him, a smile plastered onto my face. Polite. Helpful. Ladylike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeven times, and yet this is the first time you\u2019ve ever done something like this. It\u2019s supposed to help you heal, you know. Get better. Not commit crimes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know,\u201d I say sadly. Like I care that he\u2019s disappointed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat provoked you to do something so extreme?\u201d he asks. \u201cI thought you were better now. A girl shouldn\u2019t be breaking laws, let alone breaking this<\/em> law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My eyebrows crease out of genuine confusion. \u201cWhat?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know what.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t\u2026\u201d I say softly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He sighs and picks up the paper. \u201cYou want to know what you\u2019re being charged for? You\u2019re really pretending like you don\u2019t know?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFine. Arson, shoplifting, vandalism\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I nod after each charge. He continues. \u201cSpeeding, driving under the influence, taking illegal drugs, murder-\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMURDER?\u201d I interrupt. I can\u2019t help it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He looks at me with raised eyebrows. \u201cYou want to deny it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m about to say yes, of course, because that\u2019s a bigger charge than anything I\u2019ve ever done before, when I realize something. He\u2019s finally seeing me as a criminal, as someone who needs to be taken seriously, instead of a naive little girl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But I don\u2019t know if I want to take that bullet. I could be put in jail for a lifetime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have to decide now. Should I shoot myself in the foot and finally get treated the same as a man would? Or should I deny it and be laughed at by people who believe that a teenage girl is too weak, too fragile, too feminine, to do something so serious? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I also don\u2019t know what evidence they have that I did it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCan I have some time to think about it?\u201d I ask, crossing my fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThink about what?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhether I want to deny it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He considers this, then figures I\u2019m not enough of a threat, even with the belief that I\u2019ve literally murdered<\/em> someone. \u201cFine,\u201d he tells me. \u201cYou get 24 hours.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you,\u201d I breathe out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re separating you from the rest of the jail. We don\u2019t want any more blood on our hands. You get a special room. Extra locks.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n My lips curl up at his insinuation that I have both the capability and morality to do something like that. He\u2019s not underestimating me. Not this time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He sees me as more than a girl now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He sees me as a murderer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi readers! This is the beginning of a new story about a girl\u2026 who wants to be taken seriously for her crimes, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":1403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-arts","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1410,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/1410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}