Chapter 10 - Richard Monroe
Richard Monroe stepped down as CEO temporarily.
The company board announced an internal review.
District contracts were frozen pending procurement examination.
No one had proven he bribed school officials.
No criminal charge had been filed.
But the emails were enough to destroy the image he had built.
Donor.
Community leader.
Education supporter.
Privately pressuring administrators to protect his daughter.
Publicly shaping a video of Mia.
Then another issue surfaced.
Tax records showed Monroe Construction’s charitable foundation had paid for a district leadership retreat attended by Whitmore.
The company called it standard sponsorship.
Investigators asked whether Whitmore had disclosed the benefit.
She had not.
The ethics board opened a separate case.
Mia was tired of Richard Monroe.
Every week his name returned.
She told Brooks.
“I want my story to stop being about him.”
Brooks nodded.
“That’s a healthy boundary.”
“So what do I do?”
“Live.”
Mia stared.
“That’s annoyingly simple.”
“It’s also difficult.”
Mia tried.
She returned to volleyball practice.
The first day was terrible.
Everyone knew.
Nobody said anything.
That was worse.
Finally Mia stopped practice.
“Can everyone please just ask?”
The coach frowned.
“Ask what?”
“The thing you’re all pretending not to think about.”
A teammate named Jenna raised her hand jokingly.
“Did the trash smell?”
Mia burst out laughing.
“No. It was dry.”
Another girl asked:
“Are you okay?”
“Sometimes.”
Someone else:
“Do you hate Hailey?”
“Yes.”
Honest.
Then:
“Is Lexi coming back?”
“Eventually.”
“What are you going to do?”
Mia thought.
“Play volleyball.”
The coach clapped.
“Excellent answer. Serve.”
Practice resumed.
That became one of Mia’s favorite memories.
Not because everyone responded perfectly.
Because life moved afterward.
Lexi returned three weeks later.
Not to Mia’s classes at first.
A phased plan kept them separate.
Counselor Ruiz asked Mia what she needed.
“I don’t want her sitting beside me.”
“Reasonable.”
“I don’t want teachers telling me to forgive her.”
“Agreed.”
“I don’t want everyone moving me out of places because she’s there.”
Ruiz nodded.
“That matters.”
Why should Mia always leave?
The plan placed responsibility on Lexi to maintain distance initially.
The first hallway encounter happened anyway.
They stopped six feet apart.
Lexi looked terrified.
Mia didn’t.
“Hi,” Lexi whispered.
Mia said nothing.
Lexi continued.
“I’m not supposed to approach you.”
“Then why are you?”
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
“You already did.”
“I know.”
Mia stared at her.
“Are you asking me to make you feel better?”
Lexi’s eyes filled.
“No.”
“Then stop apologizing at me.”
Lexi swallowed.
“Okay.”
She walked away.
Mia felt cruel for ten seconds.
Then relieved.
Boundaries could sound harsh.
That did not make them wrong.
At home, Laura asked how it went.
“I told her to stop apologizing.”
“Good.”
“You don’t think that’s mean?”
“No.”
“What if she really is sorry?”
“She can be sorry without requiring access to you.”
Mia wrote that down later.
Not because she was sentimental.
Because it was useful.
Richard Monroe eventually gave an interview to investigators.
He admitted contacting Whitmore.
Admitted asking for informal resolutions.
Admitted sending the video to employees.
Denied intending to mislead the public.
When asked why he intervened so aggressively, he said:
“I was protecting my daughter.”
Brooks reportedly answered:
“From what?”
That question became central.
From false accusations?
Sometimes perhaps.
From disproportionate punishment?
Maybe.
But also from ordinary consequences.
From records.
From uncomfortable conversations.
From seeing herself accurately.
Mia wondered whether protection could become its own form of damage.
Catherine seemed to believe so.
She began attending family counseling with Hailey.
Richard did not.
Then one afternoon Mia received a letter through Counselor Ruiz.
From Hailey.
Mia refused it.
For three days.
On the fourth, she asked for it back.
She opened it alone.
The first line read:
I kept waiting for someone to fix this for me.
Mia almost stopped.
Then she continued.
That is probably the biggest thing my dad taught me.
The letter did not ask for forgiveness.
Hailey admitted choosing Mia because she thought Mia was isolated.
Admitted she believed Lexi would follow.
Admitted she expected Whitmore to call it peer conflict.
Then:
When you stood up, I was still sure I could win. When Mrs. Carter walked out with the phone, I was scared of the video, not of what I had done.
Mia’s hands tightened.
The next line surprised her.
That difference scares me now.
Mia folded the letter.
She did not know what to do with it.
So she did nothing.
May you like
For once, doing nothing was her choice.
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