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I still don’t say a word.
“People want names. They want whoever’s responsible for this to take accountability.”
“And you think I’m responsible?” I question.
Mr. Hall sighs a discouraged sigh.
“We know, Aveena. Drop the act.”
I frown. “What act?”
“We know you released the confessions. And we know you made the Facebook group.”
My jaw plummets to my feet.
“You think I did this?” I shriek.
The worst part is, even if I wanted to prove to them I wasn’t the admin by bringing up the group settings, Brie was smart enough to make a fake account so that no one could trace it back to her.
Mr. Hall pauses for a long moment.
“Brielle Randall came clean. She told us she overheard you talking and you almost broke her nose to keep her quiet.”
I’m smoking with rage.
Of course they’d believe that Malibu Barbie over me. They’d believe a talking monkey if he said the right thing, anything to save their own ass and please the angry parents.
“Why would I ever do that?” I snap. “The confessions were humiliating. They ruined my life.”
“Did they? To me, it looks an awful lot like they—what’s the expression—put you on the map,” Mr. Hall counters.
I’m completely baffled.
“You think I did this for attention?” Tears fill my eyes.
“Miss Randall pointed out you’ve always been quite the loner and you don’t have many friends.”
“If I wanted to make friends, I’d talk to people. Not destroy my own reputation. You’re wrong. Brielle did this. She released the confessions. She made the Facebook group.”
“Look, Aveena… High school is messy, life is hard—I get it. Our intention is not to punish you here. You’re an excellent student. Maybe even one of our best. After all, only the best get a scholarship to Duke.”
My jaw tightens, a tear rolling down my cheek slowly.
They’re going to blackmail me, aren’t they?
“Wipe your tears, kid. We have a proposition for you.”
Yup, blackmail coming right up.
“People already know it’s you, but Zac… He’s been difficult to pinpoint. His confessions are… well, you know how bad they make us look. Parents are furious. All you have to do is tell us who he is.”
I steal a glance at Xavier’s mom.
She avoids my gaze by every means possible. She seems tortured. Terrified. She knows Zac is her son. She has to. That’s why she’s not doing the talking. Why she dumped this on Mr. Hall.
I bet she never wanted to find the responsible students in the first place. She knew it’d be like digging her own grave. She probably ignored the parents’ backlash until she had no choice, which would explain why their blackmail didn’t come sooner.
“Give us Zac, and I promise we’ll make this go away quietly. No punishment, no consequence. Duke never has to know about the havoc you wreaked here.”
