She pressed it against her chest. “Absolutely not.”
Security stepped forward.
Piper’s voice rose. “You cannot take my private property.”
“No one is taking it,” Mr. Bell said. “But you are not leaving this room with potential evidence after destroying one device.”
“That device fell,” she snapped.
Lukas, still in the doorway despite being told to leave, muttered, “Into water. By itself. With her hand.”
Mr. Bell shot him a look, and Lukas disappeared into the hallway.
Piper’s second phone buzzed again.
She looked down before she could stop herself.
This time, the notification preview showed more.
“If the board sees the clinic numbers, your father loses the grant.”
My mind caught on one phrase.
The clinic numbers.
The charity clinic was not just a workshop project. It was part of a city-school partnership. Students packed first-aid kits for a weekend outreach program, and local donors funded the supplies. Piper’s family foundation had sponsored half of it.
I had thought she framed me because she disliked me.
Now it looked bigger.
Ms. Ward crossed her arms. “What clinic numbers?”
Piper swallowed.
The door opened again.
Principal Moreau entered with two people I didn’t recognize: a woman in a navy coat and a man carrying a tablet. The hallway behind them was packed with students pretending not to listen.
Principal Moreau looked at my cheek first. Then at Piper’s wet phone on the desk. Then at the second phone pressed under Piper’s blazer sleeve.
“Piper,” she said, “your mother is on her way.”
Piper’s relief was immediate.
Too immediate.
“Good,” she said.
The woman in the navy coat stepped forward. “I’m Marta Klein, district compliance office.”
Piper’s relief vanished.
Ms. Klein looked at me. “Nell Diaz?”
I nodded.
“We received an anonymous file last night about altered first-aid supply counts connected to the Hartford student clinic project. Your name was in the report as the person likely to be blamed.”
My breath stopped.
“Anonymous?” I whispered.
Ms. Klein turned her tablet around.
There was a blurred screenshot of the same source row I had found.
But at the bottom was a note I had never seen.
“Piper is not acting alone.”