Chapter 4

I just wanted it to be over. I started reading faster, the words blurring slightly.

"I know you're focused on your goals, and I would never want to be a distraction. But I hope, someday, you might see me as more than just a classmate. I hope I can be someone who supports your journey, who quietly cheers for your dreams."

A low whistle came from the student section. A few hushed, but audible, comments followed.

"Whoa, heavy."

"Think she knew?"

"Maybe they're already a thing..."

My face burned. This was a thousand times worse than I could have imagined.

Ethan was still frozen in his seat. But now, his eyes met mine across the auditorium. There was a desperate, pleading look in them. Stay calm, they seemed to say.

Mr. Davies, however, looked almost gleeful at the audience's reaction.

"You see?" he boomed. "This is the kind of gossip and speculation such behavior incites. It disrupts the entire school environment."

He turned back to me, his expression hardening. "Sarah, you've been quiet. Did you know about this? Did you encourage this?"

"No, Mr. Davies." My voice was firm.

"And yet, you kept the note," he pressed. "That implies a certain... complicity."

He was painting me as a willing participant in some secret, inappropriate affair.

"This is unacceptable," he declared. "This kind_of clandestine communication has no place in an institution dedicated to learning. The writer of this note shows a distinct lack of courage, hiding behind anonymity. If you cannot tell me who wrote this, Sarah, I will have no choice but to publicly censure this behavior in the school paper. And your participation in the National Mock Trial championships will be... under review."

The threat hung in the air. Mock Trial was everything to me.

He was trying to break me, to force me to give up a name. He assumed it was some troublemaker, someone he could easily make an example of.

He had no idea the person he was hunting was his own golden boy.