Left in the Dust: The True Cost of Following a Fool novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Open Session

The Casa Verde school board met in the high school auditorium on Thursday at seven.

By quarter to, there was nowhere left to sit.

I had never seen so many of the town's faces in one room.

The trucker from my mother's counter stood against the back wall with his arms folded.

The deputy from the highway stood beside him, in uniform, with a notebook.

Tegan sat in a wheelchair in the aisle with her cast stuck out in front of her, and my mother was next to her holding a bag of chips she had forgotten she was holding.

Drew had taken the seat directly behind me.

"You ready?" he said.

"No."

"Good. People who are ready make mistakes."

I almost smiled.

On the stage, the board sat behind a long table with name cards.

Keeley's mother sat in the middle, in the chair, in a navy blazer this time, with a gavel in front of her.

Keeley sat in the front row with a white bandage on the side of her head and Brent beside her.

Neither one of them looked at me.

"We'll move to public comment on item four," Keeley's mother said. "Student conduct on the day of the Entrance Exam. Each speaker has three minutes."

A line formed at the microphone.

Two parents went first, and both said the walkers had been punished enough.

Then I stood up and walked down the aisle with the flash drive in my fist.

"State your name for the record."

"Keira Haverty."

"Miss Haverty," Keeley's mother said. "I want to remind you that you are a party to an open complaint, and I'd ask you to keep your remarks brief."

"I'll be brief."

I held up the drive.

"This is a recording from the phone of Tegan Clayson, who is sitting in this aisle in a wheelchair. It was running the whole time she walked. I'd like the board to hear it."

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