Welcome to Case Closed. You're listening to Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney, narrated by Stephanie Racine. Let's pick up where we left off last time.

Before. Friday, 11th December, 1992.

Dear diary, it's happened again.

I've been suspended, but it really wasn't my fault.

I didn't want to go to school at all today.

I didn't feel well, and if mum had let me stay in bed, then none of this would have happened.

So it's her fault, really, just like everything else. But I expect she won't see it that way when she

finds out. Sticks and stones, Nana used to say, but Taylor could have been really hurt if I hadn't

done something.

We were in science and using the Bunsen burners for the first time. I'd always wondered what they

were, but we hadn't been allowed to touch them until today. I liked the smell of gas when we

turned them on. It reminded me of Nana's old oven. Mr. Skinner taught us what to do. Bunsen burners all have a hole and that's important. When the hole is closed, it makes a yellow flame, but when it is open, it makes a hot blue flame. Basically, it's all about combustion. Gas can be dangerous, though, and so can flames, obviously.

So when I came back from the toilet and saw Kelly holding the flame up close to Taylor's

hair, I had to do something.

They said her nose was broken this time.

I don't even remember doing it, really.

I just wanted to get her away from Taylor.'

"'Mr Skinner pulled me off her and asked what happened,

"'and I said I didn't know.

"'He yelled at me not to lie and that he'd seen me,

"'but I wasn't lying.

"'All I can remember is Taylor and Kelly's faces too close together.

...