Chapter 3 - The Deleted Video
Lily shot to her feet.
“That’s mine.”
Vivian looked down at the phone in her hand. “It was left inside.”
“No, it wasn’t. It was in my bag.”
Vivian smiled without warmth. “Then maybe you should be more careful with your belongings.”
Emma stepped forward. “Give it back.”
Vivian’s eyes narrowed. “You have a strange habit of giving orders in a place where you don’t belong.”
“Give. Her. Phone. Back.”
For a second, neither woman moved.
Then Vivian placed the phone in Lily’s hand.
“There. Problem solved.”
She walked away.
Lily unlocked the screen.
Her face changed.
“No.”
“What?” Ava asked.
Lily opened her video folder and scrolled quickly. “It’s gone.”
“The video?”
“And Recently Deleted is empty.”
Emma looked down the hallway. Vivian had already disappeared around the corner.
“Did she know your passcode?”
Lily nodded slowly. “Brooke does.”
“How?”
“Brooke made me give it to her two weeks ago. She said if I didn’t, she’d tell Ms. Vale I stole money from the costume fund.”
Emma stared at her.
“Did you?”
“No!”
“I know. I had to ask.”
Lily started crying then, not loudly. Just silent tears she kept wiping away like they embarrassed her.
Emma sat beside her.
“Listen to me. You are not in trouble.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.”
Lily looked toward the trophy case.
“My mom used everything she had left to pay for this year. If they kick me out, she loses the money. And I need the spring showcase if I want the scholarship audition.”
“What scholarship?”
“City Conservatory summer program.”
Ava whispered, “Lily’s the best one here.”
Lily shook her head.
“She is,” Ava insisted. “That’s why Brooke hates her.”
Emma remembered the way Brooke had said back row.
Not because Lily was bad.
Because someone wanted her invisible.
A middle-aged woman in a navy sweater came down the hall carrying a clipboard. Emma recognized Margaret Grant from the website photo—founder and owner of Brightwood.
“Ms. Reed?”
“You know who I am?”
“Vivian told me.”
“That was fast.”
Margaret kept smiling. “I think it would be best if your cousin found another studio.”
Ava’s mouth fell open.
Emma stood. “Excuse me?”
“You disrupted class, touched a student, and created an unsafe environment.”
Emma pointed at Lily. “She was slapped in front of your instructor.”
“I reviewed the matter.”
“In five minutes?”
Margaret’s smile vanished.
“The decision is final.”
Then Lily’s phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number filled the screen.
May you like
I SAVED THE VIDEO BEFORE THEY DELETED IT.
DON’T TRUST MS. GRANT.
