Matt is a normal high-school student until one day he is taken out of his classroom by police officers. While Matt tries to figure out what has happened, rumours are spread across school that he has been arrested.

No I did not. I did not. I DID NOT.

I did not say those things, and I did not plan those things. Won't anyone believe me?

Matt Donaghy had not been arrested by Rocky River police. Matt Donaghy had not been handcuffed and led forcibly from the rear of Rocky River High to a waiting police vehicle and taken to police headquarters to be charged with any crime. No one had been a witness to such a spectacle. But it would be talked of as if it had happened. It would be talked of, and shared, and discussed like a scene in a movie that not everyone had seen, but a few had seen, or claimed to have seen, and by being talked of with such zest, such dread and enthusiasm, it would shortly come to seem that, at Rocky River High, nearly everyone had seen it, and had opinions about it.

"He was cuffed? Matt was cuffed?"

"Not his ankles, though. So he could walk."

Had Rocky River police actually entered the school? During fifth period? Those classmates of Matt's who'd seen the plainclothes detectives lead him out of study hall would describe the men in varied ways, disagreeing on details, but all agreed that the detectives had been wearing suits, and had spoken quietly to Matt.