“If you say so.”
“Maeve would have said so too.” I wipe the tears off my cheeks with my sleeve.
Theo smiles. “Yes, she would.”
34
Emma
The gossip at school is off the scale since word got out that Henry’s been suspended. I can hardly choke down a mouthful at breakfast the next morning, although that might have something to do with the fact that Mum’s flying into Edinburgh this afternoon. Since Henry took the rap for me, it’s his parents who’ve been invited to a meeting—a virtual one—with Mrs.Sinclair, but Mum insisted on coming over anyway, once I told her what had really happened.
Tori and Sinclair are understandably speechless. And they still are when I finally tell them, in the dining room, what really happened with those exam papers. We’re late, and most of the seats around us are already empty.
“But thatishis office,” says Sinclair. “If that’s where he told you to go, why wasn’t he there, and why did he leave the exam papers lying around?”
I shrug. “He says he told me a different room, 2150.”
Tori nods. “That’s the little meeting room. I’ve had to see him there before.”
“But I could have sworn he told me to go to his office.” I lower my voice slightly as a couple of fifth-formers walk past us.
“He did.”
I jump a mile. Tori, Sinclair, and I all whirl around simultaneously. Grace is standing behind us. She’s still holding her tray.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to listen in on you. But he really did say that. It was the other day when he filled in for Ms.Ventura in chemistry, wasn’t it? I heard him mention his office.”
I stare at Grace. “What room number did he say? Do you remember that too?”
“2350,” she says, without a second’s hesitation.
I turn to Sinclair and Tori. “You see?”
“Maybe he made a mistake,” Tori suggests.
Sinclair looks at me. And then he says what I’ve been thinking. “Or maybe he did it on purpose.”
“Why would he do that if the exam papers were in his office...” Tori stops. Her eyes dart from Sinclair to me and back again. “Hold the bus, are you saying...?”
“So that Emma would see them,” Sinclair says.
“Wasn’t the door locked?” Grace asks.
I shake my head. “No. I knocked, and when I didn’t get an answer, I walked in. And then those papers were lying there.”
“Whoa.” Grace pauses. “So he definitely did mention his office. And he even repeated the room number for you. I know that for a fact because I was making a video for my Insta, and you could hear him in the background.”
“Wait!” My cutlery clatters as I put it down. “You’ve got him on video saying that?”
Grace looks at me. “Yes, I—I wanted to make this reel and—”
“Have you still got it?”
“I don’t know. I uploaded it without sound. But the original might still be on my phone.”
“Could you check?” My voice trembles. Grace is looking at me like I’ve gone mad. “Please, it would make all the difference. For me, but especially for Henry.”
At that moment, she seems to put two and two together. “Is this to do with why he was suspended?”
