"That's not mine!" Holli screamed. She sounded like a banshee. "She put it there! She planted it!"
Stan, the owner, walked over with Karly's coffee.
"The hell she did," Stan grunted. "I been watching this kid for twenty minutes. She ain't moved from that chair. She fixed my register."
He pointed a thick finger at Holli. "That one, though? She's been running around like a headless chicken."
Higgins turned purple. "Ms. Talley..."
The officer picked up the bag. He sniffed it. He couldn't tell what it was, but it looked like cocaine.
"You're coming with us," the officer said to Holli.
"No! My dad is on the school board!" Holli was crying now, mascara running down her face. "It's flour! It's just flour!"
"We'll let the lab decide that," the officer said, cuffing her.
Karly packed up her notes. She looked at Higgins.
"Principal," she said, her voice trembling just the right amount. "Can I go home? I just want to pass the exam."
Higgins looked ashamed. He had raided a study session based on the word of a spoiled brat.
"Yes, Karly. Go home. I... I apologize."
Karly walked out into the cool night air.
Holli was being shoved into the back of a squad car. She saw Karly. Her eyes were full of hate.
Karly didn't smile. She didn't wave. She just watched.
It was flour. Karly wasn't stupid enough to carry real drugs. But Holli would spend the night in a cell. She would have a record of arrest. Her reputation was nuked.
Karly walked to the bus stop.
She checked her phone.
Bertrand had sent another message.
Name your price.
Karly typed back.
I don't want money.
I want you to add one full scholarship slot to the Norton Foundation Summer Internship, designated specifically for a student from St. Jude Preparatory Academy.
She hit send.
She leaned her head against the bus window as it rumbled toward the trailer park.
Dad's surgery was scheduled. Ardell was fired. Hakeem was terrified. Holli was in jail. Bertrand was hooked.
She closed her eyes.
For the first time in two lifetimes, Karly Lowe slept without dreaming of the fall.
