As she turned to see who was talking about her, a sudden shock of cold hit her body. Two eighth graders, a boy and a girl, stood before her as the girl splashed a bottle of water right onto the middle of Eve’s chest. She felt the water drip down her stomach and onto the floor.

Sophie hollered something at them as they scurried off, their laughter echoing down the hall.

At the start of her next class, Eve’s social studies teacher informed her she’d been summoned by Principal Yu.

Eve could no longer avoid her.

“Eve, come on in.” Principal Yu welcomed her into an office dressed up as a greenhouse. Plants hung from the walls and sat in the sunny windowsills. A row of succulents lined her desk.

Eve sat down and fixed her eyes on the plants. “Hi.”

“What happened to your shirt?” Principal Yu asked.

“Just clumsy. Spilled my water bottle.”

“I see.” Principal Yu paused. “I’m sorry you have to miss social studies for this. But maybe you’re not,” she joked.

Eve couldn’t politely pretend to laugh like she might have two months before.

“How are you, Eve?” Principal Yu sounded casual.

Was she going to expel her now, for writing the list?

“Fine,” Eve answered.

“Hmm.”

Eve, still staring at the plump green leaves, sensed Principal Yu nodding.

“Your parents say they’ve noticed some changes in you recently,” Principal Yu said. “As have I.”

Huh? Her parents? Eve looked up. “They talked to you?”

“A bit,” Principal Yu said like it was no big deal.

How embarrassing! Why would they do that?

“They said there have been some new friends in your life lately, and that you’ve been wearing some makeup, dressing differently.”

During the Brody days, Eve had put on her makeup in the bathroom at school and taken it off with wet tissue before she got home. Apparently it hadn’t fooled them.

“And now,” Principal Yu went on, “it seems you’ve had a tough week. It has been a difficult few days, yes?”

Eve bit the insides of her cheeks. “Ha. Few days…”

“I can imagine that being number one on that appalling list was hard for you.”

Eve swallowed. “Yes.”

“It would be too much for anybody.”

Eve thought of Sophie, how much she had wanted that kind of thing for herself. Would it have been too much for Sophie, too?

“Truly. Anybody. Even if they don’t know it,” Principal Yu said as if reading Eve’s thoughts.

“Wait, so this isn’t about the spray paint on my locker?” Eve looked up. She saw that Principal Yu looked a bit sad herself.

“Well, not entirely,” Principal Yu answered.

“And this isn’t about you thinking I wrote the list?”

“No.” Principal Yu shook her head emphatically. “No, I don’t believe you did it.”

“Wait.” Eve shifted in her seat and leaned in toward the desk. “Maybe that’s a problem, Principal Yu. Maybe you should suspect me. Because this all should have been investigated right away. Every claim should be taken seriously.” All her fury about how long this had been going on began to come out. “Why has no one gotten in trouble for all this? Sophie Kane lost her friends! Winston Byrd, too! Girls are crying in bathrooms! And adults don’t do anything!”