"Is it?" she asked. "Or is it the same story, just with different characters?"
Before Elijah could respond, his phone buzzed with a text from Alicia:
Meeting journalist today after school. She wants your side of the story. Can you meet us at Riverside Park at 4:00?
Across town, Alicia Tran sat in her AP English class, barely listening to the lecture on Shakespearean sonnets. Her mind was consumed with the investigation she had launched into the deleted security footage: her cousin in the IT department had promised to check the access logs, but it would take time to do it discreetly.
When the lunch bell rang, Alicia hurried to find Naomi Reyes, who was waiting in her car outside the school grounds, as they had arranged.
"Thanks for meeting me," Naomi said as Alicia slid into the passenger seat. She was younger than Alicia had expected—perhaps in her early thirties—with sharp eyes that missed nothing and a notebook already open on her lap. "Tell me everything you know about Elijah Walker."
For the next thirty minutes, Alicia shared the story as she knew it: from Cartwright's public mockery to Elijah's hidden talent, from Dell's mentorship to the shocking vandalism and suspension.
"And you're sure Elijah didn't damage the piano?" Naomi asked, her pen poised over her notebook.
"Absolutely," Alicia replied without hesitation. "It would be like... like a poet burning libraries. That piano was his voice."
Naomi nodded thoughtfully. "What about Mr. Delacroix? I understand he's in the hospital."
"Mild stroke, they said. Elijah and I are going to visit him tonight."
"Would he be willing to talk to me?"
Alicia considered this. "Probably. Dell believes in Elijah more than anyone."
After school, Naomi and Alicia met Elijah at Riverside Park, a small green space halfway between the school and Elijah's apartment. He arrived looking tired, the strain of the past few days evident in the shadows beneath his eyes.
"Thank you for meeting me," Naomi began after introductions. "I think there's more to your story than a vandalized piano."