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There's a thief in my school.

Well, actually, more than one. Which isn't that surprising, I suppose, considering there are 3500 undergrads here and due to statistics, not all of them can be honest. But I keep having firsthand experience with it- or my friends do. It started with a doormat and ended with a French horn.

I know, I know how it sounds. First someone took the pen off of the dry erase board my roommate and I put up on our door for people to leave messages on. No biggie- it might even be that it just fell off or someone knocked it off and it rolled out of sight. But I believe that if the board itself hadn't been firmly fixed to the door, it might not be there either. Then Bri found this adorable doormat with a bumblebee design on it (she's obsessed with them) and put it outside, and within 48 hours it was gone. That's the most preposterous part- who needs a doormat? Especially that one? It's not like they could use it- it's rather easily identifiable. Bri is so furious, she's writing an article about it in the newspaper.

Wait until I tell her the rest of the story.

At the music department, Jeff's backpack disappeared, and in it his books, and his cell-phone. The books have not turned up, neither has the bag, but he received a huge cell-phone bill that included a call to Sara's apartment on the night of one of her parties. Meaning whoever took it not only knows both him and Sara, but is a friend. Part of the group. Someone they trust.

Then Claudia's bag disappeared. It was found in a boys' bathroom in the science building, empty. The bookstore has already said that if anyone tries to return her books for money that they'll call campus police and her.

We thought it might have ended there. But then, today, I was walking back from lunch and ran into a friend from the music department who said that this weekend two of the lockers in the music building were broken into. Two flutes, a textbook, and a French horn were stolen.

It's almost frightening. I'm very glad I never leave anything in the music department when I'm not there, and now I have double reason not to, more than just leftover big-city-girl paranoia.

And it has to be an insider. Not just for the cell-phone reason, but because the music building is locked as soon as the teachers leave. Someone either knew about the secret, very back door that's occasionally left open for students to go in and practice at night, or had a late-entry pass to get in the building after hours (we all have them, if we're taking any sort of private lessons- you call the police who are next door and they'll unlock the door for you if you have that pass) or they simply got into the building by day, concealed their tools somewhere (a crowbar was used to pry open the lockers, which were built more for looks and convenience than true theft deterrence), and just stayed until everyone was gone.

I wonder what drove the person (or people) to it. Does someone just really really want a nice new stereo? There aren't many indigent students on campus- not in this private Catholic university. It can't be kleptomania if someone resorted to breaking into the lockers. Someone needed money so badly they were willing to do practically anything. Could it be drugs? Gambling debts? Something else I can't even imagine?

But my mind keeps running over the whole thing. There is someone I go to school with who is so desperate for money (somehow I doubt they have a hankering for horns) that they'll break into their friends' lockers and steal their friends' bags.

I pray the person is found soon. Because I don't want to suspect my friends. And I don't want to suspect my non-friends simply because they're not my friends.

I'm just that way. I don't want to suspect anyone. I don't want to believe that someone I know (and probably know well) could do that. I want to trust.

Is it better to be cynical from the beginning, or trust until your faith is broken? I'll never know. But I hate it, either way.

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