Maya’s expression remained flat.
“Take it down.”
Tessa hesitated.
“They’re defending you.”
“No.”
Maya shook her head.
“They’re enjoying having permission to bully her.”
Tessa looked uncomfortable.
“She bullied you.”
“Yes.”
“And got suspended.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So making humiliation funny because the person deserves it is literally how half this started.”
The plastic flowers disappeared.
Several memes remained online beyond anyone’s control.
Maya did not chase them.
Nicole called that progress.
Three weeks before graduation, Sloane requested restorative mediation.
Maya declined.
Counselor Elizabeth Park told her she never had to meet.
Maya went home believing the decision was final.
Then one question stayed with her.
The anonymous letter.
Not who wrote it.
She knew now.
Why had Sloane written it before the conflict became obvious?
Maya had barely been thinking about her then.
Sloane had already built an argument around Maya’s existence.
After four days, Maya agreed to one meeting.
Nicole asked whether she felt pressured.
“No.”
Calvin asked whether she expected an apology.
“No.”
“What do you expect?”
Maya thought.
“An answer.”
The mediation happened inside a small conference room after school.
Sloane arrived wearing jeans and a plain gray sweatshirt.
No bomber jacket.
No Student Council lanyard.
No teammates.
Without the visual pieces Maya associated with her, Sloane looked unexpectedly young.
Seventeen.
That did not erase anything.
It made the waste of the year feel larger.
Park explained the rules.
Either student could stop the meeting.
No obligation to forgive.
No discussion of reversing discipline.
Maya spoke first.
“Why did you write the first letter?”
Sloane looked down.
“Because of the ambassador picture.”
Maya waited.
“You weren’t even an ambassador.”
“I know.”
“So?”
Sloane twisted a bracelet around her wrist.
“You were everywhere.”
Maya frowned.
“I wasn’t.”
“I felt like you were.”
That answer interested her.
Sloane explained.
The tutoring article.
Journalism award.