Chapter 6 - THE LIST
Twenty-four names.
Twenty-four students.
Every one of them was receiving some form of financial aid.
Ava Reyes was on the list.
So was Jordan Lee, who had been suspended for “aggressive conduct” after a locker-room fight nobody could ever explain.
So was Malik Turner, who left school after being accused of stealing a watch that was later found in a teacher’s desk.
And at the bottom was my name.
MIA BENNETT - SOCIAL DISRUPTION / FAMILY STATUS UNKNOWN.
I read that line twice.
“Family status unknown,” I said.
Dad looked sick.
Helen scrolled through the folder.
Each student had notes.
Not academic notes.
Financial notes.
Parent occupation. Estimated household income. Donation history. Whether the student had influential relatives. Whether the family was “likely to create legal exposure.”
It wasn’t discipline.
It was a risk chart.
My hands went cold.
“Who created this?”
Ben opened the metadata.
“Original author: M. Crowe.”
Vice Principal Melissa Crowe.
Dad left the room so fast his chair rolled backward into the wall.
We found Crowe in her office packing papers into a leather bag.
Dad stopped in the doorway.
“Put the bag down.”
She froze.
Helen stepped beside him.
“Ms. Crowe, you are being placed on administrative leave pending investigation.”
Crowe laughed once.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Then explain the list.”
Her eyes moved toward me.
That was all I needed to see.
She knew.
“You were never supposed to be part of this,” she said.
Dad’s voice went flat.
“What does that mean?”
Crowe looked at him with something close to pity.
“It means your little experiment with your daughter created a problem none of us planned for.”
My heart started pounding.
“Us?”
Crowe realized too late what she had said.
Helen caught it too.
“Who is us?”
Crowe zipped the bag.
“I want a lawyer.”
Then the fire alarm screamed.
Red lights began flashing in the hallway.
Students poured from classrooms.
Ben’s radio crackled.
“Security to server room! Smoke reported in server room!”
Dad turned toward him.
The server room held the restored footage.
We ran.
The sprinkler system came alive.
Ben swore.
“Backup drives are in there.”
Helen grabbed his arm.
“Don’t open that door.”
A firefighter alarm panel beeped beside us.
Then I noticed Vice Principal Crowe was gone.
May you like
So was the leather bag.
And someone had left the emergency exit propped open.
