She Heard Nothing novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: A Threat With a Tie

Sabina and I ran the whole length of the field, and neither of us said a word about it.

Outside the bunk room, a crowd had formed on the gravel path.

Forty freshmen stood in clumps with their breakfast trays forgotten, and in the middle of them Lottie sat on the step with a pen in her hand.

A man in a navy suit stood over her with a clipboard.

He had silver cufflinks and a patient smile.

"It's a formality, Miss Ferris," he said. "You sign here, and we all go to breakfast."

"I'm reading it," Lottie said.

"It's a single paragraph."

"I read slowly when something is wrong with it."

I stopped at the edge of the crowd, breathing hard.

Sabina stopped beside me.

The lawyer saw her first, and his smile adjusted.

"Miss Pelham. Your mother was worried. She said you were upset."

"I'm eighteen," Sabina said. Her voice was hoarse. "I decide what I sign. I didn't sign it, and neither is she."

"This is a family matter."

"Then why is Lottie holding the pen?"

The lawyer's mouth tightened.

I walked forward, took the typed sheet gently out of Lottie's hand, and turned to the crowd.

"I'd like to read something," I said. "It's short."

"Ms. Wrenfield," the lawyer began.

"It's about Lottie, and she's right here."

I read it out loud, clearly, all the way to the end.

"I confirm that I was paid by Abby Wrenfield to film the events of Thursday."

For a moment nobody on the gravel said anything.

Then the girl who had given me the granola bar said, "She filmed it for free."

Keep reading free with an account. Start She Heard Nothing from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.