Jordan looked at her.

“You didn’t mind discussing me with the Whitmores when I was enrolled.”

Mercer’s expression tightened.

Renee touched Jordan’s arm.

“Wait outside.”

He reluctantly agreed.

Inside, Brooke sat beside her mother.

She did not look at Maya.

Mercer began.

“We are here to address yesterday’s incident.”

Renee folded her arms.

“Good.”

Mercer continued.

“After speaking with staff and reviewing the available video, we believe both students contributed to an escalating conflict.”

Maya almost laughed.

Renee did not.

“My daughter was sitting down.”

Catherine Whitmore spoke.

“After months of provoking Brooke.”

Maya looked at her.

Catherine was elegant, composed, and completely certain she controlled the room.

“What exactly did I do?”

Catherine turned.

“You have repeatedly investigated and circulated allegations regarding my family.”

“I haven’t circulated anything.”

“You contacted former students.”

“Yes.”

“You filed records requests.”

“Yes.”

“You questioned teachers about my son.”

“Yes.”

Catherine leaned forward.

“You have been systematically targeting Brooke’s family.”

Maya stared at her.

“I asked about grade changes.”

Brooke’s eyes shifted.

Catherine’s expression did not.

“That is precisely the kind of insinuation I’m referring to.”

Maya opened her backpack.

Principal Mercer immediately spoke.

“What are you doing?”

“Showing you something.”

She placed Dana Cole’s document on the table.

Mercer looked at it.

Every trace of color disappeared from her face.

Catherine saw the reaction.

“What is that?”

Maya slid the page forward.

“The search record from my brother’s locker.”

Nobody moved.

Maya tapped the first timestamp.

“The school says the flash drive was found at 10:42.”

Then the second.

“The electronic access sheet says his locker wasn’t opened until 11:06.”

Brooke looked at her mother.

Catherine picked up the paper.

“This proves nothing.”

“It proves your timeline is impossible.”

Mercer found her voice.

“This appears to be an unofficial copy.”

“It came from the employee who processed the report.”

Mercer’s eyes sharpened.

“Who?”

Maya smiled.

“You’d like that.”

Renee almost smiled too.

Catherine pushed the paper back.

“This meeting is about yesterday.”

“No,” Maya said.

“It became about Jordan the moment Brooke told me to leave her brother alone.”

Everyone looked at Brooke.

Catherine turned slowly.

“You said what?”

Brooke finally looked up.

“She’s been asking about Evan.”

“So?”

“I told her to stop.”

Catherine’s voice grew colder.

“You mentioned Evan during the confrontation?”

Brooke’s confidence disappeared.

“I…”

Maya understood immediately.

Catherine did not care that Brooke had grabbed her.

She cared that Brooke had connected the confrontation to Evan on camera.

Maya leaned back.

“That’s what you’re afraid of.”

Catherine looked at her.

“What?”

“Not the video.”

Maya glanced at Principal Mercer.

“Not me.”

Then back to Catherine.

“You’re afraid someone will start asking why Brooke thought my investigation into my brother had anything to do with Evan.”

Nobody spoke.

Mercer ended the meeting immediately.

Maya received two days of “administrative leave.”

Brooke received the same punishment.

The district called it a neutral cooling-off period.

The public called it something else.

Parents flooded the school board with complaints.

Why was Maya punished for being grabbed?

Why had the teacher waited?

What did Evan Whitmore have to do with Jordan Brooks?

The ten-second video had created the one thing Westbridge could not control.

Curiosity.

And curiosity spread faster than any official statement.

Then an unexpected person contacted Maya.

Brooke.

The message arrived at 11:17 p.m.

WE NEED TO TALK.

Maya showed Jordan.

“Block her.”

“I want to know what she wants.”

“She wants whatever evidence you have.”

“Maybe.”

“Maya.”

“She’s scared.”

“So?”

Maya looked at her brother.

“Scared people make mistakes.”

They agreed to meet the next afternoon in a public café.

Jordan sat two tables away.

Brooke arrived wearing sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt instead of her usual polished school clothes.

She looked exhausted.

Maya did not offer a greeting.

Brooke sat down.

“You recorded me.”

“I didn’t.”

“The video.”

“Someone else did.”

Brooke rubbed her forehead.

“My mother thinks you have access logs.”

Maya said nothing.

“Do you?”

“Why?”

“Because she asked Evan about them last night.”

That got Maya’s attention.

“What did he say?”

“Nothing at first.”

Brooke looked toward the window.

“Then they started screaming.”

“Your mother and Evan?”

“And my dad.”

Maya waited.

Brooke swallowed.

“I heard Evan say, ‘You told me the logs were gone.’”

Jordan stood from his table.

Brooke noticed him.

Her face hardened.

“You brought him?”

Maya looked at her.

“You grabbed me in a classroom yesterday. You’re lucky I didn’t bring the National Guard.”

Jordan came over.

“What exactly did Evan say?”

Brooke stared at him.

For the first time, she looked ashamed.

“You really didn’t do it, did you?”

Jordan’s expression turned cold.

“You dragged my sister out of her chair before asking yourself that?”

Brooke lowered her eyes.

“I believed what my family told me.”

“So did half the city.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jordan sat.

“Save it. What did your brother say?”

Brooke took out her phone.

“I recorded some of it.”

Maya stared at her.

Brooke opened an audio file.

Catherine’s voice came first.

“You said Jordan only saw the first set of changes.”

Then Evan.

“I don’t know what he saw.”

Daniel Whitmore shouted.

“You told us he didn’t copy anything.”

Evan answered.

“I was seventeen!”

Catherine said, “Lower your voice.”

Then came the sentence that changed everything.