Chapter 8 - Chloe’s Version
Noah did not believe her.
Not immediately.
Chloe saw it.
“Of course.”
“You’ve lied about me for six weeks.”
“I know.”
“You posted that I hacked the grade system.”
“I know.”
“You told people I cheated.”
“I know.”
“You kicked my lunch across a cafeteria yesterday.”
Her eyes dropped.
“I know.”
“So forgive me if ‘my dad was mysteriously inside the chemistry office’ isn’t enough.”
Chloe flinched.
Good, Noah thought.
Then hated himself for enjoying it.
She sat on the bleacher.
“Reynolds gave me the card because he said Ms. Howard had moved my athletic eligibility file into the chemistry records room.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You’re student council vice president. You know where records are kept.”
“I know where student records are supposed to be kept.”
“Then why did you go?”
Chloe looked at him.
“Because I was failing chemistry.”
The confession surprised him.
She continued.
“If my grade dropped again, I couldn’t play in the regional tournament.”
“Your spreadsheet said your actual GPA was 2.31.”
She stared.
“You really saw it.”
“Yes.”
Chloe rubbed her palms together.
“My dad told me Reynolds was handling it.”
“Handling your grades?”
“He said there were tutoring adjustments.”
Noah almost laughed.
“You believed that?”
“For a while.”
Her defensiveness returned.
“You think because my dad has money I understand every form adults put in front of me?”
“You understood enough to bully anyone who questioned it.”
That landed.
Chloe looked away.
“My father hates weakness.”
Noah said nothing.
“He says people only respect winners. If something threatens you, you deal with it before it grows.”
“And that’s your excuse?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
“No.”
That disarmed him more than another argument would have.
Chloe continued.
“When Eli’s mom started complaining, Dad said Eli was trying to destroy the team because he wasn’t good enough.”
“And you believed him.”
“Yes.”
“So you spread it.”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
Chloe swallowed.
“Reynolds told my father you copied confidential academic files and were threatening to post them.”
“I never threatened anyone.”
“I know that now.”
“When?”
“Monday.”
Noah waited.
“After you found the answer key?” she asked.
“I didn’t find it. They found it in my locker.”
“I know.”
“Now.”
“Yes.”
“What did you think then?”
“That you put it there.”
Noah stared.
Chloe’s face reddened.
“Reynolds said you were trying to create evidence that the school was targeting you.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“I didn’t stop to ask.”
“No. You made videos.”
“I know.”
“You called me a criminal.”
“I know.”
“You told half the school my mother probably taught me to steal hospital drugs.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
Noah’s voice shook.
“That one was funny, right?”
“No.”
“You got twelve hundred likes.”
“I deleted it.”
“That doesn’t undo it.”
“I know.”
For once, Chloe had no response prepared.
The silence lasted.
Then Noah asked, “What happened in the chemistry office?”
Chloe stared at the football field.
“My dad was standing beside Ms. Howard’s desk.”
“Your chemistry teacher?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know he was there?”
“I don’t know. She wasn’t there.”
“What was he doing?”
“Putting something into his coat.”
Noah’s pulse accelerated.
“What?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Did he see you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Chloe’s voice dropped.
“He told me to go back downstairs.”
“And you did.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Twenty minutes later, they searched your locker.”
Noah looked at Maya.
She had stopped pretending not to listen.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Chloe laughed weakly.
“Tell them what? That my father was in a classroom?”
“You knew something was wrong.”
“Not then.”
“When did you know?”
“Monday.”
“The recording.”
“No.”
Chloe shook her head.
“When Reynolds told me the spreadsheet had been deleted.”
Noah frowned.
“Why?”
“Because my father told me two weeks ago it never existed.”
That was new.
Chloe continued.
“He said the thing you saw was a draft report generated by software. Not real records.”
“But Reynolds knew it existed.”
“Yes.”
“And Grant knew I might have copied it.”
“Yes.”
Noah sat several seats away from her.
The field below them was covered in morning mist.
“What did you say after practice Monday?”
“You heard it.”
“I heard parts.”
Chloe took a breath.
“I told Reynolds people were asking why your academic case happened right after you saw the spreadsheet. He told me to keep pushing the cheating story.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked ashamed.
“Because I thought if people believed you, they’d investigate my grades.”
There it was.
Not innocence.
Not coercion.
A choice.
Self-preservation.
Noah said, “So you destroyed me because you were afraid you’d lose soccer.”
Chloe’s eyes flashed.
“You think it was just soccer?”
“What else?”
“My father.”
Noah waited.
Chloe rubbed at a small mark on her wrist.
“My whole life, he’s decided what happens when I disappoint him.”
Her voice nearly broke, but she steadied it.
“If I lose my scholarship opportunities, if I embarrass him publicly, if I admit he fixed anything—”
She stopped.
Noah could feel sympathy trying to enter a place still filled with anger.
He resisted.
“You can be afraid of him and still be responsible for what you did.”
“I know.”
“Then prove it.”
Chloe looked at him.
“How?”
“Tell Ramirez.”
Her face changed instantly.
“No.”
“Then this conversation is over.”
“Noah—”
“You want me to believe you? Go on record.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Noah stood.
“You’re right.”
He picked up his backpack.
“I don’t understand what it’s like to have a rich father fixing everything.”
Chloe stood too.
“He doesn’t fix things.”
Her voice cracked.
“He owns them.”
Noah stopped.
Chloe reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a flash drive.
Black.
No label.
“My father keeps backups.”
Noah stared.
“Of what?”
“I don’t know everything.”
She held it tighter.
“But I know where he keeps them.”
“Where did you get that?”
“His home office.”
Noah took a step closer.
“You stole it?”
“Yes.”
“What’s on it?”
“I haven’t opened it.”
“Why not?”
Chloe’s eyes met his.
May you like
“Because the password hint is your name.”
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