IDK. If you can safely get to it, it could have answers.

I go back and forth with Jamal until he stops answering. Satisfied I’ve got a new lead, I peek inside the classroom’s window and see Natalie at the editor desk. She looks up when I tap the window. She doesn’t move. I tap again, and she swoops her blond-streaked hair from one side to the other before finally making it to the door.

“What do you want?”

“What do I want? You don’t own the classroom.”

“Well, since it got trashed during Angela’s memorial, we’ve been on high alert.”

“Trashed?” I jerk my head.

“Don’t act all brand-new. I know you had something to do with it. Mr. Kaine saw you in here before the memorial.”

“I had nothing to do with that. Why would I trash the newsroom?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because you didn’t get the editor position. You’re mad we honored Angela instead of posting your article. Your brother is on the run, suspected of killing Angela. Should I go on?”

“I didn’t trash the class.” My face feels hot. I tense my jaw to hold in my anger. “If I’m suspected of doing it, how come no one’s called me in?”

“Because Mandy said she locked up behind you after Mr. Kaine left, but we all know you could’ve come back. You weren’t at the memorial.”

I don’t answer her. I wasn’t at the memorial, but what I’m most confused about was why Mandy would cover for me. She left before me, not after me. I didn’t trash it. Who did? And why?

“I had nothing to do with that. Mandy already told you.” I step away from Natalie. More puzzled by the fact someone trashed the room. I look to Angela’s corner and her desk is spotless, totally cleared out. Natalie’s box on top of the desk. She’s not only the editor, she’s already claimed her desk.

I turn back to Natalie. “Did you know Angela was working on an article with me? To help me show I have what it takes to be editor.”

Natalie’s lip twitches. Her eyes are steel. I can’t read her. Can’t tell what she’s thinking, but the way she’s looking at me now is like she knew Angela wasn’t a sure vote for her.

EACH ONE TEACH ONE

I never know what to expect when I run a Know Your Rights workshop. They were bigger back when Raheem Smith was shot, and after Calvin Pascal killed himself in Rikers after waiting three years for a trial, unable to pay bail on a twenty-dollar robbery charge. The horrors of his time as a teen among adult inmates wouldn’t let him go, so he made it stop.