An eighth-grade student found herself in hot water for buying chicken nuggets for lunch – using a $2 bill.

Danesiah Neal, an eighth grader at Fort Bend Independent School District’s Christa McAuliffe Middle School outside of Houston, Texas, attempted to pay for lunch with a $2 bill given to her by her grandmother, Sharon Kay Joseph. However, cafeteria workers at the school didn’t believe that it was real – they never see $2 bills, apparently – and she was sent to what Neal called “the police office.” The school district has since clarified that the Fort Bend ISD has its own police department. According to Neal, the police officer told her that she could be in “big trouble” for using the bill which they believed to be counterfeit.

How much trouble? Under federal law, a person who intentionally uses counterfeit money can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and subject to a fine.

Some semblance of sanity eventually took over and school officials called Joseph, who confirmed that she had given the bill to her granddaughter to pay for lunch. In the meantime, the police (who apparently didn’t have much else to do that day) went to the convenience store where Joseph was given the bill. They also took the bill to a local bank where it was eventually determined to be real. Phony crisis averted.