Fine

Fine!

I received a fine for the first time. Yes! It makes me feel so grown up. Now at least something exciting happened in what was shaping up to be a boring weekend. I looked at the envelope excitedly, but it didn't seem to be from the local council. Do councils send fines with heart stickers? Weird! I need to show it to Dad, I'm sure he’ll be able to tell.

Dad looked at the heart stickers and shook his head. “Nope. This can’t be from the council.” He didn’t even bother reading the letter. “Someone’s clearly pranking you. Probably one of your friends,” he added, picking up his phone and disappearing into the bathroom.

The letter said " You are fined $50 for not picking up after your dog at the park last week. I don’t even own a dog, but I did walk Peter's dog to help him out, though I can’t remember if it was last week or the week before. I turned over the envelope in my hand but the heart shaped stickers at the back were completely out of place. Since Dad was so sure it was not from the council, I was starting to get curious. Who could have sent it? I decided to show it to my best friend Paul when I meet him at his place for dinner tonight.

“Why are you showing me this?” asked Paul. “Are you saying I’m the one who sent it? Why would I do such a thing? This wasn’t me. How can you even think I’d do something like this?” His voice started to rise, and a frown appeared between his eyebrows.

“I know you couldn’t have done it, Paul. I’m not saying anything, just sharing it with you,” I said. “Anyway, forget it. Let’s go get dinner.”

Paul lived alone but was a wonderful cook. After dinner, as I went to toss some things in the recycle bin, an envelope with heart stickers caught my eye. I didn’t say anything. But the question lingered but what was Paul hiding? Was he involved?

I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept thinking about the envelope, about Paul, and about what he might be hiding and why. We had been best friends since primary school. If he was the one pranking me, why would he act so secretive? We’d played enough pranks on each other before. This felt… different. I finally drifted into a restless sleep.

The next morning, Sam called. He was a good friend of Paul’s too. “Has something happened?” he asked. “Paul’s been moody and withdrawn lately. Do you know what’s going on?”

Hmm. Something fishy was going on.

I was worried about Paul. What was going on with him, and why wasn’t he sharing anything with us? If he was in trouble, I hoped he knew he could trust us to help him. I decided to go over to Paul’s place, pick out the envelope from his recycling bin, and confront him with it. But when I got there and rummaged through the bin, the envelope was gone. I could’ve sworn I’d seen it last night.

I pressed the doorbell, but before Paul answered, I heard loud voices arguing inside. I couldn’t make out the words clearly because of the music blaring in the background, but it sounded like Sam and Paul. Had Sam come to check up on Paul too?

When Paul finally opened the door, I asked, “I heard you arguing. Who were you talking to? Was it Sam? Is he here?”

“No, I was just listening to a play on the TV,” Paul muttered, avoiding my eyes.

I decided to go and meet Sam. I took my leave, but as I reached the front steps, I heard the argument start up again. This time, I quietly circled around to the back of the house. As I passed the study window, something caught my eye — the envelope. It was lying on Paul’s study table. I froze. Why had he taken it out of the recycling bin? Why hide it? I didn’t know what to think anymore. I needed answers. I marched back to the front door and rang the bell again, this time determined to confront him.

Paul opens the door and is surprised to see it’s me again. Before he can say anything, I march into his study and pick up the envelope. Paul snatches it from my hand and holds it behind his back.

“What is the meaning of this, David? What do you want?” he asked.

“Why are you hiding that envelope from me?” I demanded.

“It has nothing to do with you,” he replied.

“It does! It’s proof that you are the one pranking me.”

“I’m what? What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

“Oh, come on. Don’t pretend. You sent me a similar envelope with that fine. A prank is fine but why all the secrecy?” I pressed.

“I know nothing about any prank! You know the new girl in our class—Emily? She sent me a message in this envelope, and I wasn’t ready to share it with anyone yet. Not even you,” Paul said, thrusting the envelope into my hands.

I opened it to reveal a letter from Emily, exactly as Paul had said.

But the envelope was exactly the same.

Was Emily involved?

I told Paul everything that had happened, in full detail.

We decided to go to Emily’s house to get some answers.

She looked surprised to see us.

“What are you guys doing here? Has something happened?” she asked.

“Are you pranking David?” blurted Paul.

“Pranking? What? I don’t understand,” said Emily.

“He received a fine from the council in exactly the same envelope you used to send me the letter. How is that even possible?” Paul asked.

“Oh! So that’s where the letter went. I’ve been searching for it all weekend,” said Emily. “That fine is actually mine! I must’ve brought it to school by mistake and put it in that envelope to keep it safe. Then I stuck it in my book. It must’ve gotten mixed up when we bumped into each other on Friday—remember that, David?”

“Ah! That explains everything,” I said sheepishly. I was just glad that, once again, everything in my world was….. fine.