Page 153 of Wicked Brutal

There’s more than I expected. Way fucking more. This isn’t someone moving their kid from one private school to another. There are medical releases. Housing paperwork. Travel consent. Copies of identification. A passport information page. Ally’s passport.

My pulse is hammering now.

I hear Cat behind me. “I’m sorry, but if the school is applying the collegiate weighting scale, why does the handbook specifically reference equivalent AP rigor?”

I reach the final page. Photograph it. Then put everything back. Exact order. Edges straight. Folder closed. Sticky note exactly where it was. I turn. Mrs. Halverson is still looking at the computer. Cat is still politely ruining her afternoon. I walk out through the side entrance.

Iz is telling Coach Dempsey a story that apparently requires his entire body. He catches my eye for half a second. I tap my phone against my thigh. Got it. He doesn’t react. I keep walking.

My phone vibrates before I hit the stairwell.

Kaid: good?

got it

Cat: YOU OWE ME.

deeply

Cat: I have just pretended not to understand grade weighting for twelve straight minutes. I feel dirty.

Danny: thoughts and prayers

Iz: so brave

Cat: Fuck all of you.

I take the stairs two at a time. Not because I’m panicking. Because now I have the answer in my fucking pocket. I just haven’t read it yet.

Becca unlocks the music-room door before I knock. Ally is standing behind her.

The second she sees me, she searches my face. “Well?”

“I have it.”

Her shoulders sag. “Was it mine?”

“Yeah.”

She closes her eyes. “He’s pulling me.”

“Yes.”

I lock the door behind me. Then we move to the back of the room. Ally sits on the piano bench. Becca beside her. I crouch in front of them and open my photos.

First page. Withdrawal. We already know that. Second. Academic release. Third. I zoom.

Receiving Institution: L’Institut Sainte-Catherine

Ally leans closer. “What is that?”

“No idea.”

“French,” Becca says.

I glance at her. “You know it?”

“The language, dumbass. Not the school.”