“I wanted proof.”
“You had no permission to touch my things.”
“You were hiding something.”
“I was carrying my schoolbooks.”
“Then why were you so upset?”
“Because you opened my backpack in front of people.”
“And look what we found.”
Madison gestured toward the spilled contents.
The crowd’s attention shifted to the open bag, the books, the notebook, and the photograph of Amara’s mother.
A tall boy in a gray Westbridge sweater bent to pick up one of the examination fragments. He studied it for a moment before looking toward Madison.
“This just looks like a normal test,” he said.
Madison glared at him.
“Nobody asked you, Ethan.”
Ethan straightened.
“Then maybe stop making everybody watch.”
Chloe moved closer to Madison.
“Can you not?” she said to him. “This is between them.”
“No,” Ethan replied. “You’re filming it. That makes it everyone’s business.”
A few students murmured in agreement.
Madison’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Amara, tell them,” she demanded. “Tell them how you got the answers.”
Amara’s gaze remained steady.
“I got them by studying.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I worked for them.”
“You’re impossible.”
“And you’re holding evidence you don’t understand.”
Madison scoffed.
“Evidence?”
She waved the phone toward the torn papers.
“This is evidence. Your test is right here.”
Amara glanced at the fragments again.
Then she looked directly into Madison’s eyes.
“That isn’t the only copy.”
Madison froze.
The change was immediate.
Her smile disappeared. Her shoulders stiffened, and her eyes flicked toward the phone.
“What?”
Amara did not repeat herself.
The caller spoke.
“Amara, what do you mean?”
Madison recovered just enough to laugh.
“She’s bluffing.”
Amara said nothing.
“She’s trying to scare us,” Madison insisted. “She knows she’s been caught.”
“Madison,” the caller said, “please hand the phone back to Amara.”
Madison hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because I asked you to.”
A long silence followed.
The school’s parking lot was no longer a place of casual conversation and hurried departures. Students had gathered in a broad semicircle around the confrontation. A few teachers had emerged from the main building, alerted by the noise. A security officer stood near the entrance, speaking into his radio while watching the crowd.
Madison glanced at the teachers.
Then at her friends.
Then at Amara.
“You planned this,” she whispered.
Amara’s voice remained low.
“No. You did.”