Chapter 6 - Somebody Was Watching
The police arrived fifteen minutes later.
Nia hated calling them.
She hated that the same system she needed for protection was the one her son had just learned not to trust automatically.
Officer Lena Brooks took the report at the kitchen table. She was Black, in her forties, tired-eyed and careful.
"Do not delete anything," she said. "Screenshot it, preserve the number, and don't answer."
Andre folded his arms. "Can you trace it?"
"Maybe. If it's a spoofed number, it takes work."
"And until then?"
Brooks glanced toward the window. "Cameras. Lights. Don't let Malik walk alone. And if you see a car sitting outside, call us."
Malik hated every word.
He had been hit at school, and somehow his family now had to change how they lived.
The next morning, the district announced a formal investigation. Mrs. Baxter remained on leave. Thomas Baxter released a statement accusing "outside agitators" of turning a classroom discipline issue into a political spectacle.
Rachel read the statement aloud in her office and said, "He just made this worse for himself."
Caleb sat across from her. "Am I in trouble?"
"For taking the picture?"
He nodded.
"School policy might say yes. I say sometimes rules collide with conscience. That doesn't mean every rule should be ignored. It means you should understand why you broke it."
"Because nobody else was helping."
Rachel nodded. "Then say that if they ask. Don't decorate it. Don't exaggerate. Tell the truth."
At school, students walked past reporters to get inside. Malik's seat in Room 214 was empty because Nia kept him home.
At noon, Emma texted Caleb.
You need to see this.
She sent a photo of a folded note she had found taped inside her locker.
STOP LYING FOR HIM.
Below the sentence was a black marker drawing of a noose.
Caleb's stomach dropped.
He forwarded it to his mother.
Three minutes later, another message arrived, this time from a student he barely knew named Jordan Lee.
Jordan wrote: My sister had Baxter two years ago. She complained too. My parents were told to drop it.
Then another student messaged.
And another.
By the end of lunch, Caleb had six names.
Six former students.
Six stories.
And one of them said Mrs. Baxter hadn't always used a ruler.
May you like
She had once locked a student in a supply closet for forty minutes.
That student's family had signed a confidentiality agreement.
