The evidence she had apparently wanted now belonged to everyone else.
Laila lifted the strap over her shoulder.
She walked toward the studio door.
Ruiz entered at almost the same moment.
She looked from Camille on the rug to Laila’s shaking hands.
“What happened?”
Laila stopped.
For one second she considered explaining everything.
Then exhaustion won.
“Ask them.”
She pointed toward the students holding phones.
Then she walked into the hallway.
Her legs started shaking before she reached the drinking fountain.
Ruiz caught up and asked her to sit.
Laila said she was fine.
She was not.
Adrenaline made her fingertips numb.
Her shoulder hurt where Camille had grabbed her.
Her forearm burned from blocking the strikes.
Worst of all, she could still hear the question beneath everything.
Why did you get everything?
The assumption had survived an entire year.
Ruiz called the nurse and administration.
Camille was evaluated separately.
She had a bruised hip from falling onto the rug and no serious injury.
Laila had minor redness along one arm and shoulder.
Assistant Principal Reed called both families.
Renee arrived first.
She found Laila in a conference room with the black camera bag beneath her chair.
Her daughter looked physically fine.
That frightened her more.
“What happened?”
Laila stared at the table.
“Camille tried to hit me.”
Renee became still.
“Did she hit you?”
“Not really.”
“Did you hit her?”
“After she kept coming at me.”
Renee nodded slowly.
“Did you stop?”
“Yes.”
That was enough for the first minute.
Renee moved her chair beside Laila.
No speech.
No lecture.
Just a hand on her back.
Laila started crying.
She hated that.
Not because crying was weakness.
Because Camille had spent months predicting an emotional explosion, and part of Laila still felt as though any visible emotion gave something away.
Renee understood without being told.
“You don’t have to perform calm for me.”
That sentence broke whatever remained.
Laila cried harder.
Marcus arrived fifteen minutes later.
He had driven from work without changing from his navy mechanic’s shirt.
His first question was whether Laila was injured.