Chapter 8 - The Second Smear
By Tuesday morning, Claire’s gradebook was online.
Not the real gradebook.
A screenshot.
It appeared on an anonymous parent account with a caption claiming Claire had deliberately lowered Lucas Turner’s grades after learning his father challenged her.
The image showed Lucas receiving three failing scores in two weeks.
Students shared it before first period.
Lucas stared at the screenshot on Mason’s phone.
“That’s fake.”
Mason frowned.
“How do you know?”
“I got an A-minus on the source project.”
The screenshot showed 52%.
His debate reflection appeared as 48%.
He had actually received 92%.
“Can you prove it?”
Lucas logged into the student portal.
His real grades appeared.
Mason whistled.
“Someone’s stupid.”
“No.”
Lucas felt cold.
“Someone thinks nobody will check.”
He went directly to Helen.
Within an hour, the district released a brief statement that manipulated academic records were circulating and that the posted image did not match school data.
Claire had not altered Lucas’s grades.
The correction did not stop the screenshot.
People reposted it with captions like DISTRICT COVER-UP?
Lucas watched misinformation evolve in real time.
Once a claim found an audience, disproving it became another piece of the conspiracy.
At lunch, Priya found him sitting alone.
“You’re not eating.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“That can happen when people are stressed.”
“I’m fine.”
She waited.
Lucas sighed.
“I hate when adults do that.”
“Do what?”
“Wait until I admit something.”
Priya smiled.
“It’s cheaper than mind reading.”
Lucas pushed his tray away.
“Do you think my dad made the grade screenshot?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you think he could.”
“I think it would be irresponsible for me to accuse him without evidence.”
Lucas rubbed his eyes.
“I used to know what he could do.”
Priya sat across from him.
“What changed?”
“I did.”
He thought about it.
“Or maybe nothing changed and I just know more.”
“That can be painful.”
“He’s not evil.”
“I didn’t say he was.”
“Everyone acts like if he did this, everything good about him was fake.”
Priya shook her head.
“People can do loving things and harmful things. One does not erase the other.”
“Then what am I supposed to do with both?”
“Hold both.”
“That’s terrible advice.”
“It is difficult advice.”
After school, district IT traced the fake grade screenshot to a publicly available template, not school systems.
Anyone could have made it.
No direct link to David.
Lucas almost felt relieved.
Then Glenn asked whether Lucas recognized a font overlay used in the image.
He did.
Turner Strategic Media often used the same custom font package.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Lucas said quickly.
Glenn nodded.
“No.”
Lucas hated how grateful he felt.
The district’s outside counsel began interviewing Turner Strategic Media employees.
Most declined to speak voluntarily.
One did not.
Her name was Lydia Chen.
She had worked as David’s senior editor for six years.
Lucas knew her.
She sent him a birthday card every year.
Lydia met district investigators at a law office downtown.
Lucas learned what she said from Mara because some portions directly concerned him.
Six days before the viral video, David had asked Lydia to prepare messaging related to what he called an “educator conflict-of-interest campaign.”
She refused after learning the target was a teacher involved in a district ethics complaint.
The night Lucas brought home the footage, David texted her.
I have what we need.
Lydia asked what he meant.
David did not answer.
The next morning, he sent her the twenty-two-second clip and asked whether the audio sounded “clean.”
Lydia responded:
It sounds cut. What is the source?
David replied:
Don’t worry about source. Just quality.
She refused to touch it.
Then, according to Lydia, David told her:
Claire wanted a public fight. Now she has one.
Lucas read the message twice.
Mara sat beside him.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
That answer came easier now.
David called that evening.
Lucas almost ignored it.
Mara said, “Your decision.”
He answered.
“Hi.”
His father sounded tired.
“You spoke to Lydia?”
“No.”
“Did Mara?”
“She told me what investigators said.”
David exhaled.
“Lydia is angry about a promotion decision.”
“Is everyone who says something bad about you angry?”
“People have motives.”
“So do you.”
Silence.
Lucas closed his eyes.
He hated fighting with him.
“Did you make the fake grade screenshot?”
“No.”
The answer came firm.
Lucas believed him.
Or wanted to.
“Okay.”
David sounded surprised.
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Thank you.”
Lucas swallowed.
“I also believe you edited Ms. Morgan’s video.”
David’s softness vanished.
“We’ve discussed that.”
“I believe both.”
David said nothing.
Lucas thought of Priya.
Hold both.
“You didn’t make the grade thing,” Lucas said. “And you did make the video.”
“That is not—”
“I have to go.”
“Lucas.”
He almost hung up.
Then David said, “I miss you.”
Lucas’s eyes filled.
“I miss you too.”
He ended the call.
That was the truth.
It did not solve anything.
The next morning another truth arrived.
Glenn recovered the sharing history from David’s cloud folder.
The edited video had been sent to exactly two people before it spread widely.
One was Mason’s father.
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The other was school board member Robert Kline.
Robert Kline chaired the committee evaluating the district communications contract.
