Writing is the only thing I've ever known. It is the one thing I've been taught to love. It is my little secret.
Last year I published a new short story in each weekly edition of the school paper. They were all under the name Danee Jo. I would have loved so much to see those letters spell out my true name - the name you'll know soon enough - but there was some sort of pleasure I got from being the only one to know. It was my own little inside joke that at the time only got funnier with each passing day and new tale.
Then people started getting more and more curious. They all wanted to know who this person was that had the guts to write material so similar to things happening in the very building - and even out of it.
Not even the newspaper editor knew. Each story would appear mysteriously every Monday morning having been slid beneath the locked door.
I would watch as people search yearbooks desperate to find this Danee Jo. They never once thought to rearrange the letters of such an odd name to find the very obvious secret number one. I'm sure you, my current dear reader, never thought so either.
When the year finally came to a close I was beyond disappointed. After ten months full of stories not a single person had put together all of my clues. To my enjoyment there were still the ten months of senior year. They never really tried to figure out who knew their secrets and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe in that way they were smarter than me. They seemed to realize I had used the two best things in high school - gossip and the odd form of present invisibility.
It's funny how easy it was for me to be invisible. It's even funnier that I was never on your list of possibilities. Don't get excited just yet. You still have some time until the big reveal.
I've been on every court for all of these four years. I was the class president junior year- the beginning year of stories. I even served a short stint as editor on the school paper but that was sophomore year.
Even after all those essays for class after class and the short story from freshman language class no one put two and two together.
Do any of you even know what two plus two equals? After these couple of years I am seriously beginning to wonder if you do. Now take a moment and see if you can solve my very simple clues.
My name is Haleigh Steward and I am the Jane Doe writer that has tortured you all for these couple of years. And with this I end my reign and pass the crown to the next Danee Jo.