For the first time that morning, she felt that the day might be manageable.
Then Madison walked in.
She wore the same immaculate blazer, her blonde hair perfectly straight, and her expression carefully neutral.
Chloe and Sloane followed.
Madison glanced toward Amara.
For a moment, their eyes met.
Neither spoke.
Madison sat at the front of the room.
Mr. Larkin began the lesson.
But Amara noticed that Madison did not open her notebook.
She kept looking at her phone beneath the desk.
At lunch, Amara sat at her usual table near the library windows.
She had brought a sandwich, an apple, and a small container of pasta left over from dinner. Her mother had packed an extra portion that morning, insisting that Amara needed a proper lunch after the previous day.
Marcus sat across from her.
“People are talking,” he said.
Amara sighed.
“I know.”
“Some are saying Madison made the whole thing up.”
“Some are saying I cheated.”
“Yeah.”
Amara looked out the window.
The courtyard was bright, the trees moving gently in the breeze.
“I just want the school to finish reviewing it.”
Marcus nodded.
“That makes sense.”
He hesitated.
“I saw the photograph in the group chat yesterday.”
Amara turned back toward him.
“What did you think?”
“I thought it looked like a practice sheet. I didn’t think it proved anything.”
“Did you know where it came from?”
“No. But I heard Chloe say it had been circulating for days.”
Amara frowned.
“Days?”
“Yeah. I don’t know exactly.”
She considered that.
If the image had been circulating before the examination, then Madison’s claim that it was proof of a leak seemed even less reliable.
But Amara did not want to jump to conclusions.
“Thanks for telling me.”
Marcus nodded.
“You’re not alone in this, you know.”
Amara gave a small smile.
“I appreciate that.”
At the next table, two students were discussing the video.
One of them glanced toward Amara.
“Honestly, I think the whole thing is overblown,” he said. “Madison was just trying to prove cheating.”
His friend frowned.
“By ripping up her papers?”
“She probably got carried away.”
Amara kept eating.
Marcus looked irritated.
“That’s not an excuse.”
The other student shrugged.
“People make mistakes.”
Amara placed her sandwich down.
“People do make mistakes,” she said calmly. “But a mistake is something you acknowledge and try to repair. It isn’t something you keep defending after someone asks you to stop.”