I pull out my phone from my pocket and take a picture to show Mr. Bartley. I’d love for him to explain how the assignment promotes respect and tolerance.

More people stop, stare, whisper.

I spin around, meet them head-on with my glare. A few drop their gazes, shame-faced. Someone laughs behind me like this is a joke. My head snaps around whiplash-fast as I search for the comedian. Enraged, I call out, “Who did this?”

Chapter 33: Cade

I watch the scene as if I’m outside my body or in the middle of a bad dream and can’t wake up. For a few heartbeats, my mind goes absolutely blank. Then the scene comes barreling at me. All the air leaves my lungs as if I’ve been sucker punched. A flash goes off. I inhale. Then another flash and another. I turn around and try to find Logan. I hear her, but can’t see her.

“Who did this? Who did this?”

People stare, whisper, laugh, take pictures, and crane their necks to get a glimpse at the peep shows. I slam my locker door, but just my luck it bounces back and nearly clobbers me in the face. I reach in and grab a sticky note.

“Jew lover,” it says. I stand there staring at it. But then, like someone hit a switch, it all comes full circle. I smile, deliberate and challenging. Jew lover? Hell yeah. I’d gladly side with Jews and my grandpa any day over these racist, hateful assholes. I stick the note on the front of my sweatshirt, and start to pick off the rest.

Chapter 34: Mason

A lioness. From ten feet away, that’s what Logan looks like to Mason with her nose-flaring and wild-eyed “Who did this?” He admires her for it, but hell, does she really think someone’s gonna confess?

He read the article and the pieces clicked into place—why Cade and Logan were in Principal McNeil’s office with Mr. Bartley. Why Mr. Bartley’s been…different—not exactly in a bad mood, but not his usual enthusiastic self, either. And why yesterday Mr. Bartley ignored Logan.

Last night, Mason’s dad went on a tirade over the article. “How dare they embarrass our school like this! Mason, you call the team together for a meeting tomorrow morning in the locker room. I want them focused on hockey and not this nonsense. We cannot let this distract us from winning regionals.” He used words to describe Cade and Logan that made Mason’s stomach slither like a pit of snakes. His mom tried to calm his father and paid for it with a verbal lashing. Mason closed his bedroom door, stuck his earbuds in, and cranked up the tunes.