Caught and Punished

I had walked into the mall on a Friday afternoon with a group of my friends, Steve, Bill and Ryan. The plan was pretty' simple; Bill would stand guard while Steve, Ryan and me went into the jewelry store. Steve and Ryan would distract the clerk while I went around to one of the glass cases and picked the lock. Once I got what I needed, I would clear my throat as though I were simply coughing as a signal to let them know I was ready. Then we would get out of there, playing it casual and nothing would go wrong.

I couldn't' believe even now that I had sunk this low; but this was very important to me. See, I'm' not exactly the criminal type. I've' never stolen a thing in my life until this point actually; so why now right? Because tomorrow is my three-year anniversary with my girlfriend who I am very in love with; Leslie and I met in the tenth grade and now that we had both graduated high school, things were complicated. I was having trouble finding employment while she was going back to school; it was hard for us to get out and do things together like' we use to.

Especially when I had no money and pretty much all the money she had went towards getting back and forth to her classes, buying herself food and paying for supplies she needed for class.

I wanted more than' anything to do something nice for her for our anniversary though. I'd' sold a lot of my important belongings to make as much cash as I possibly could, and so far I had around fifty dollars. Just enough to treat her to a nice dinner and' maybe a movie. I didn't' have enough to buy her any kind of a gift though and it broke' my heart when I realized that.

Steve, Bill and Ryan...well they were use to this kind of stuff really. They were a couple of low life but they had been my friends since seventh grade and I always trusted them no matter what. So' when they realized how upset I was that I couldn't' afford to buy anything for Leslie...they asked me if I was willing to do anything to get her something nice. That's' when they came up with this plan.