“Then the only other option is the Detroit detox clinic. It’s for adults, but her warranty might cover part of the treatment. Look, I don’t want to give you false hope—the boys Lacy was with spent two months at that clinic and they’re already smoking again—but if you can keep her from getting access to cards long enough, there’s a chance she can recover. I suggest you sign her up while she’s on suspension. Monitor her closely, take away her phone, don’t give her access to the internet, and change all your passwords. She was a good kid, and somewhere in there she still is, but she needs fixing. Honestly, a replacement is your best option.”

Joey heard a chair scraping the floor, then the principal’s footsteps.

“Joey?” she said, opening the door. “Come on in.”

Joey sat down next to his mother. Outside the large picture window in Ms. Jones’s office, a couple of high schoolers were making their way across the soccer field to the parking lot. There was a small boy walking on his own, his backpack heavy, his legs bending mechanically as he hurried away from the group of boys who were laughing and tossing pebbles at him.

“I called you in here,” Ms. Jones said, “because I know you love your sister and want to protect her.”

Joey nodded.

“Your sister was caught today doing drugs. Now, I’m going to ask you a question, and I need you to be honest with me—because there are times when it’s easy to lie, and you’ll hurt the people who you’re trying to protect. You understand?”

Joey nodded again.

“Did you know your sister was smoking fluff?”

Joey wasn’t sure how much dishonesty he was programmed with, but when he opened his mouth, the word came out effortlessly. “No.”

Ms. Jones let his answer hang in the silence. “You want to try that answer again?”

Joey shook his head.

“Okay then,” Ms. Jones said, and extended a tablet across her desk toward Joey. “I think you need to see what can happen to your sister.”

On the illuminated screen was a boy lying in bed. One of his fingers had been scraped down to the metal frame and he was gazing at the camera with a grin that reminded Joey of Lacy. His mother took the tablet from his hands and placed it back on the desk. “He doesn’t need to see that.”