A head covered with curly black hair bowed over a pencil as its owner scribbled furiously at his paper, determined to finish his AP Calculus mock-test. Just outside stood four harbingers of the destruction of life as he knew it. At approximately 11:20 AM, SWAT agents burst through AP Calculus teacher Deepa Stephen’s door, knocking it off its hinges. They immediately aimed their guns at this seemingly defenseless boy, whom NC knew as David Escobar, but whom police soon revealed as the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar.

“It was terrifying,” long-time friend and senior Nolan Hubbard said, visibly shaking after the incident. “I mean, David’s like the nicest kid in school. He’s been my best friend for years, and we’re in the middle of this test and all of a sudden he’s not who I thought he was.”

The world believed that the Colombian National Police shot and killed Escobar in 1993, but experts now believe that the Colombian government reported the false incident to gain legitimacy in the eyes of their people and the international community. Escobar, they now believe, escaped the clash unharmed and decided to hide rather than risk another confrontation.

“The best disguise is that of an innocent boy, and Escobar adapted to his new life quite well, it appears,” drug expert Molly Cokayn said. “He’s widely regarded as an excellent student and a very kind person. It’s incredibly impressive, the extent his disguise goes.”

Escobar, posing as a fourteen year old, entered NC’s School for International Studies in 2012, nearly 19 years after his presumed death. There he flourished, thriving under the rigorous course load and excelling particularly in music. Just last year, in 2015, NC’s former band director, Greg Williams, appointed him drum major.

“He was the all-star, you know?” band member and freshman Lucas Magalhaes said. “Everyone looked up to David. I don’t think anyone would’ve guessed that David was really a drug dealer.”

Escobar wanted to retain links to his past life: he kept his surname and place of birth in official records.

“He was really proud of his Colombian heritage,” senior Lejla Dulic, who served as drum major with Escobar, said. “We all knew he was Colombian. But he’s always so nice. I really don’t believe that he’s that Colombian drug lord.”

Escobar now resides in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, awaiting extradition to Colombia. Dressed in orange, a sad reflection of his school’s colors, metal cuffs forced his hands to clasp together during his interviews. His hair, recently cut, still retained the curls for which students widely know him for.

“I wanted a new start,” he said. “You know, most people don’t get second chances. And when they do they’re not handed them. You’ve got to create your own second chance. I’ve changed now. Freshman year I said, I told everyone in class, ‘No, I’m not related to Pablo Escobar.’ And I’m not, at least not anymore. I feel like we’re two different people. I’m David, he’s Pablo. We are mutually exclusive.”

Yet Cokayn cautions NC not to fall for Escobar’s tricks: “He’s a master manipulator. He can make you believe all kinds of things as long as it suits his needs.”

Students and teachers remain unconvinced. Students remember Escobar as a friendly, helpful student, willing to lend a hand whenever necessary.

“He helped me a lot in Model UN,” senior Justin Nguyen said. “I was new to a conference and he told me all I needed to know. He spent a long time just talking to me, making me feel better. He’s really not a bad guy.”

Others raise more logical questions: “He can’t be Pablo Escobar. This isn’t Sky High. He didn’t baby-fy himself. He’s too young to be a 67 year old man,” sophomore Raklyn Rice said.

Police, however, take no chances. The police chief Ray C. Cest asserted his confidence in Escobar’s true identity as Pablo, citing similar mannerisms both display.

“We’ve been watching him for a while now,” Cest said. “And we’ve had people reading all the biographies about Escobar around the clock. They’re one and the same. We have almost irrefutable proof.”

Escobar will remain imprisoned until his extradition, but recently asked for trial in the United States.

“A trial in Colombia will not be fair,” he said, “and I did no wrong. I am not Pablo Escobar. I am David Escobar. Yes, the names are similar, and yes, we both come from Colombia, and yes those are very suspicious, but it’s just coincidence.”

The justice department refuses to comment on Escobar’s case, but his inconsistent statements speak for themselves. He at once claims to once identify as Pablo Escobar, before turning around and insisting he bears no relation to the man.

When a reporter pointed out his contradictory statements, he replied sarcastically: “Just call me a presidential candidate.”

While Escobar sits in a holding cell, NC rallied around him.

“Even if he is Pablo Escobar, he’s still our classmate and friend,” Hubbard said. “We’ll fight for him.”

April Fool’s, you fool!

XOXO, The Chant