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“You can’t even prove she’s done anything.”
“No—” he says. “But we have to keep the campus safe and secure in the meantime.”
Later in the car I turn to Ave
ry. Her nose is buried deep in her cell phone, her fingers working furiously. “Just tell me what happened,” I say.
She stops texting and blows her nose into the bottom of her shirt. Finally, she sighs. “My life is over. That’s what happened.”
“Your life is not over, Avery.”
“It is over! You heard him. I’m expelled. Daddy is going to kill me.”
“You father is not going to kill you.” Me, now that’s another story.
She turns back to her phone. Explaining the situation to her friends seems more pressing.
“Please,” I say, reaching for the phone. “Just tell me what the hell is going on.”
She throws up her hands dramatically and I understand that to her it does feel like her life is over. “Someone is framing me,” she tells me. Then she shrugs as though it is the most logical and likely thing in the world.
“And why would someone do that?”
“I don’t know. Because they can.”
I purse my lips. When she was little, I knew how to fix things. Or at least where to start or what to try. They grow up, but nothing really changes. It’s always going to be a guessing game. “I have to ask—did you send those texts to Laura Duffy? Because if you did Avery—they will find out.”
“But I didn’t,” she scoffs. “I told you that. They can’t just accuse me of something I didn’t do. I know my rights!” she exclaims wildly, with all the false bravado a teenage girl can muster.
“You see, Avery—they can, and they have.”
She glares at me her mouth agape. “WOW. My own mother doesn’t even believe me. What happened to being innocent until proven guilty?”
“Avery. Honey,” I say softening my tone. I reach over and place my hand on hers. She pulls away. “It isn’t that I don’t believe you. That’s not what I said.” I take a deep breath in and slowly let it out. “I’ve never known you to do anything like this. Ever.”
She looks up at me, and I see something in her expression flicker. Relief, maybe.
I tilt my head and narrow my gaze. “It’s just that we have to prove your innocence, which means I am going to need you to be straightforward with me. About everything.”
“I am.”
We sit in silence for a long time before she speaks again.
“You know what this means?” she asks without waiting for a reply. “I have to miss Christmas competition. I'm not allowed to go to the formal, and I'm cut from all pep rallies. I’ll miss finals. They can flunk me.”
I sigh, and she begins crying again.
“We’ll fix this before that happens,” I promise.
“There’s no point.”
“Are you sure you have no idea who sent those texts? You can tell me Avery. You can tell me anything.”
She shifts in her seat and glares at me. “Of course, I don’t know. LIKE I TOLD YOU A THOUSAND TIMES.” she screams. “I should have known you wouldn’t believe me.”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you. I just have to know where to go from here,” I tell her thinking of her father.
“You know what? Just forget it,” she says. I watch as she folds her arms and shifts away from me. “I don’t care if I ever go back to that place.”
