Chapter 3 - The Group ChatThe group chat was called February Rain.
Five students were members.
Hailey Brooks.
Samantha Cole.
Ava Monroe.
Jordan Pike.
And Lexi Grant.
Samantha had been in the passenger seat.
The others had apparently learned about the accident that night.
Katherine watched only the beginning.
Officer Vega stopped the recording before messages involving students outside Katherine’s case appeared.
“What did Andrew actually recover?” Principal Morgan asked.
Andrew looked ashamed.
“Hailey used an old family tablet that still synced to our cloud account. I found archived screen recordings when I was searching for vehicle backups.”
“Why were you searching now?” Katherine asked.
Andrew looked at her.
“Because yesterday I heard Hailey talking to Samantha.”
“What did she say?”
“That Teacher Appreciation Day was going to be ‘fun.’”
Katherine’s stomach turned.
Andrew continued.
“She made a joke about your wheelchair.”
His voice broke slightly.
“I asked why she hated you so much.”
“And?”
“She said you were trying to destroy her scholarship applications.”
Katherine understood immediately.
Three months before the accident, Hailey had submitted an essay for the Hartwell Civic Leadership Scholarship.
The essay described volunteer work at a housing nonprofit.
Katherine had been asked to write Hailey’s teacher recommendation.
Then she discovered the volunteer hours were false.
Not slightly exaggerated.
Invented.
Hailey claimed eighty hours.
The nonprofit confirmed twelve.
Katherine refused to certify the application.
Hailey withdrew before the scholarship committee formally reviewed it.
She blamed Katherine.
Andrew said:
“I didn’t know any of that.”
Katherine stared.
“You signed the parent section.”
“I signed where she told me.”
“Without reading the hours?”
He looked down.
“No.”
Again.
A pattern.
Andrew trusted the version of Hailey that required the least resistance.
Officer Vega asked him to stop discussing details until formal interviews could occur.
Good.
Katherine was beginning to understand why procedure mattered.
The hallway door opened.
Counselor Ortiz stepped inside.
“Hailey’s mother is here.”
Andrew looked startled.
“Rachel?”
Hailey’s parents were divorced.
Rachel Brooks lived forty minutes away and worked as a physical therapist.
Hailey spent weekdays with Andrew because Westbridge was closer.
Rachel entered a minute later.
She looked from Andrew to Katherine.
Then the USB.
“What happened?”
Andrew whispered:
“She was driving.”
Rachel stopped.
“What?”
“The night Ms. Reed was hit.”
Rachel stared at him.
“You told me the police had no suspect.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You repaired the car.”
“I thought she hit a barrier.”
Rachel looked at him in disbelief.
“You believed that?”
Andrew’s face hardened defensively.
“She was seventeen. She was scared.”
Rachel’s response was immediate.
“She was driving your SUV without permission at night in a storm and came home with the back end smashed.”
Andrew said nothing.
Rachel turned toward Katherine.
“I am so sorry.”
Katherine almost laughed.
Everybody was sorry.
She was tired of sorry.
“I need you both to stop apologizing to me right now.”
Rachel nodded.
Andrew looked wounded.
Katherine didn’t care.
Officer Vega explained that Hailey would be interviewed only with proper juvenile procedures and counsel.
No dramatic arrest.
No handcuffs.
The police would verify the footage, vehicle data, repair history, witness statements, and messages.
Andrew asked:
“Can I see her?”
“Yes,” Ortiz said.
Rachel followed him.
Katherine remained with Principal Morgan.
Her body had begun to shake.
Not visibly at first.
Then enough that Morgan noticed.
“You’re going home.”
“I have afternoon classes.”
“No.”
Katherine looked at her.
Morgan softened.
“That is not administrative authority. That is a friend asking.”
Katherine closed her eyes.
“I don’t want Hailey to take another day from me.”
“She already took something.”
Katherine flinched.
Morgan continued.
“Don’t give her control over what recovery is supposed to look like too.”
The words landed.
Katherine nodded.
“Fine.”
Morgan smiled.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t sound victorious.”
“I’m trying not to.”
Before Katherine left, Sophie waited near the office.
“Ms. Reed?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry about what happened in class.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“I didn’t say anything either.”
Katherine looked at her.
“You sent someone to get help.”
“After Hailey had already dropped everything.”
“Yes.”
Sophie swallowed.
“I heard her joking about your accident before.”
Katherine went still.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What did she say?”
Sophie looked nervous.
“She said you should be grateful because ‘some people get hit harder.’”
Katherine’s blood went cold.
“Who else heard?”
“Three people.”
“Did anyone know she meant literally?”
“No.”
Sophie shook her head.
“We thought she was just being horrible.”
Katherine understood.
Cruelty could hide confession in plain sight.
Sophie continued.
“There’s another thing.”
“What?”
“Hailey’s been asking people to delete videos.”
“Videos of what?”
“Stuff she did after you came back.”
Katherine stared.
“Like today?”
“Not exactly.”
Sophie looked toward the classroom wing.
“Things with your wheelchair.”
May you like
And suddenly the crash was only part of what Hailey had been hiding.
After injuring Katherine, she had spent weeks turning the consequences of that injury into entertainment.
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