I headed to the garage, but I noticed that my field hockey gear wasn’t in my Jeep, where I had left it the night before, so I made a quick trip back up to my room, where it was sitting inside the door. That was weird. When I came back downstairs, Amy was gone.
As soon as I arrived at school, I cut the engine and hurried down to the locker hall, but the moment I opened the door, the mood shifted dramatically. Something was wrong. As I walked to my locker, heads spun, voices lowered, and all eyes were on me.
Why was everyone looking at me? Suddenly, I was the center of attention. My worst nightmare was coming true. I continued on to my locker, trying to brush off the paranoia, but I had to admit that I was confused by this development. Why wasn’t everyone talking about Griffin and his cheating, and why wasn’t Chris by my locker like usual? He was always waiting for me in the morning to greet me. I turned to look over my shoulder, and when I did, everyone was still looking in my direction. But why? Wasn’t my tip anonymous? Surely they didn’t know what I had done.
I gathered my books from my locker and then headed to my first class, trying to drown out the voices all around me, but as I walked down the hall, heads seemed to turn as if I was somehow magnetic to their chatter. Anxiety was starting to build within me when suddenly, Chris came around the corner, took one look at me, and walked past. What? I turned around in confusion as he continued down the hall without looking back at me. My stomach dropped, and I began to feel nauseous. This was not at all what I was expecting this morning, and I didn’t understand what was going on.
The first two periods of the day were filled with people whispering about me, and when I confronted them about it, they immediately stopped and looked away in denial. French was next period, and I was looking forward to seeing Chris so that I could clear up his earlier behavior.
As I walked through the door of Madame Holly’s room, our desks at the back of the room were still empty. Chris usually beat me to class, so that was odd. I decided to shrug it off and head for my seat. That’s when Madame Holly walked in and signaled for me to follow her to the hall. All heads turned as I walked to the door. Once out in the hall, she had a worried look on her face, and I immediately knew that something was wrong.
“Allie, I have something to tell you,” she began. Oh no. The last time someone led with that, I was told that I was adopted. This couldn’t be good. “Griffin somehow found out that it was you who turned him in for cheating. The Judicial Council did everything it could to keep it confidential, so we know that the information did not come from any of our members. I am so sorry. I think it would be best if you go speak with the Headmaster. He is waiting for you in his office.” Then she put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me as if she had just told me a family member had died, then she walked back into her room to begin class.
Once she went back into the room, I took a moment to digest the news that she had just shared. Griffin knew it was me? But how? I hadn’t told anyone, and nobody had seen me. Just then, I noticed a commotion out in the courtyard at the end of the hall. It was Griffin and Chris, and they looked like they were arguing, but I couldn’t hear them. Griffin held up a piece of paper as he shouted and gestured wildly. Chris leaned in close to look at the paper, then replied with equal energy and snatched the note out of his hands. I turned away and headed for the office before either of them saw me.
Once I arrived at the Headmaster’s office, he was clearly expecting me because the secretary invited me in immediately, shut the door, and then sat down in the chair next to me.
“Allie, we have some distressing news. Yesterday, you upheld our honor code by reporting an infraction, but somehow the offender has discovered that you were the person who turned him in. I don’t know how it happened, and I want to assure you that we take infractions very seriously, and we applaud you for doing the right thing. This has never happened before, where an offender has discovered their reporter, and now I fear that you are about to be put in a very uncomfortable position. The offender—,” I interrupted.
“—Griffin. Can we just call him Griffin and stop using all this fancy language? He isn’t a prisoner, and this isn’t a court case,” I said, as my palms got sweaty and my heart started to pound.
“—Okay, Griffin then,” he continued. “Griffin will be doing in-school suspension for the next week as part of his punishment. That means that he will be spending his time alone in a room doing his coursework without social interaction with his peers, but I can’t control what happens after school.”
“What about soccer?”
“He has been suspended from the soccer team indefinitely. We have a zero tolerance policy to participate in Varsity sports here at Country Town Prep,” he said, as he rested his elbows on his desk and then clasped his hands together and exhaled into his interlaced fingers.
My jaw dropped. Griffin was their star goalie. If their team lost their game this week, it was going to bump them out of the championships, and it would be my fault. That must be why Chris was so mad. I put my hands over my face at this news.
“I have called your mother and informed her of the situation so that she knows what to do if anything should happen outside of school. Unfortunately, if Griffin acts out off campus, we can’t take action against him. I am so sorry for any repercussions that you may suffer for doing the right thing, Allie,” he said, and then he rose to his feet and motioned for his secretary to show me to the door.
The thought of leaving his office and heading back out into the halls made me feel like my shoes were suddenly filled with concrete. Once I walked out this door, I was about to feel like it was hunting season and everyone was hunting me. I wanted to disappear more than ever.
Thankfully, the bell rang as I left the office, which allowed me to blend in with the sea of people scrambling through the halls to their next classes. I quickly ran to my locker, got my books, and went to math where Mr. Fallon was at the front of the room. I had forgotten all about the test that I had taken the day before. As I walked through the door, he greeted me with a smile.
“Congratulations, Allie! You got an A on your test! Great job,” he said, then he handed me my paper. I quickly grabbed it and I made my way to the back of the room, where I sank down in my chair, making myself as small as possible.
As people walked in, they glanced at me and then looked away. Maybe things were going to be okay. They didn’t seem to pay any attention to me. That’s just how I liked it. During class, Mr. Fallon drew problems on the board and called on us individually to come up front and solve them. When it was my turn, I worked out the equation and then turned to head back to my seat. As Mr. Fallon announced that I had answered correctly, someone muttered under their breath.
“I bet she cheated, better turn her in!”
I went back to my seat, put my head down on my desk, and tried my best not to cry.
At lunch, I got there early so that I could get my usual salad quickly and leave the cafeteria before too many people saw me. I was unsuccessful. I walked out of the cafeteria right as members of the soccer team walked past me, and they all gave me horrific looks. Clearly, I was a traitor. I looked down and kept walking as I went to find a quiet, grassy place to eat alone. I was starting to wonder when I might be able to talk to Chris about what happened. He always seemed to be on my side, but he also seemed to be avoiding me.
By the time the afternoon bell rang to dismiss the day, my stomach was in so many knots that I was dreading field hockey practice, too. I wished that I could skip it and just go home, but I was hoping my teammates would be there to support me like I had been for them so many times before. Earlier in the day, I made sure I had everything I would need for that night’s homework so that I could avoid stopping by my locker again. I couldn’t face any more whispers today. I walked as fast as I could to the gym, but as soon as I got into the locker room, everyone got quiet. I decided to break the silence.
“Does someone have something to say to me?” I asked, standing right inside the door. When nobody replied, Coach DeLaney called me into her office.
“Allie, I heard about what happened. That took guts. I’m proud of you for doing what is right,” she said. “That’s an important value that I hope you carry for the rest of your life.” Then she sat there, waiting for me to say something.
“Coach, I’m freaking out. Nobody was supposed to find out that it was me, and now that everybody knows, I’m the villain when I was just trying to do what this school has threatened us to do every time we take a test. How come we have to write that pledge if we get punished for actually doing the right thing?” I said, as anger poured out of me. A look of compassion came over her face.
“I know this will be hard advice to take, so I just want you to listen and try to hear me. Right now, everything is fresh, and people are angry, but eventually things won’t be like this. Things like this tend to go through stages where someone is the victim, someone is the bad guy, and people choose sides. Eventually, everyone forgets. The best thing you can do is keep your head held high and move forward, knowing that you did the right thing. We have a season to finish, and it’s not your fault that Griffin is a damn cheater.” I let out a small laugh, and she smiled at my change in expression. I appreciated her pep talk and her trying to cheer me up. “When you walk out of my office, I expect you to lead this team, and don’t put up with anyone who tries to treat you as anything other than the Captain. You call the shots. Got it?” I nodded. “Good. Now let’s get to practice.” And then she stood up, patted me on the back, and headed out to the field.
Once we were out on the field, Coach DeLaney pulled us all into a circle. “Who here has an issue with Allie?” she asked. I was caught off guard by what felt like an ambush. For a moment, everyone was quiet, and then Courtney spoke up.
“I think I speak for everyone when I say that we all do, Coach. She got Griffin suspended from the soccer team.”
