Not through spying software.
Their family used a shared tablet in the kitchen for streaming and school schedules. Paige had logged into a messaging app months earlier and never logged out.
Caleb opened the tablet looking for a basketball score.
A notification appeared.
TESS: she looked like she was gonna cry lol
He tapped without thinking.
Then read upward.
Months.
Screenshots.
Jokes.
Aaliyah’s name.
The article.
Race.
The word angry over and over.
One message from Paige:
She wants to be the calm reasonable Black girl so bad.
Tess:
fr
Paige:
Would love to see her lose it once
Another:
Then everyone would stop acting like she’s some victim
Caleb sat at the kitchen island for twenty minutes.
He screenshot several messages.
Then stopped.
He felt sick.
Not because he suddenly discovered Paige could be cruel.
He knew.
Because he had spent months telling himself the conflict was mutual.
Two stubborn girls.
Personality clash.
Paige says stupid things.
Aaliyah keeps records.
Both escalate.
The messages removed symmetry.
Caleb confronted Paige that night.
“What is wrong with you?”
She realized immediately what he had seen.
“Get off my account.”
“Why are you talking about her like this?”
“She has been making my life hell.”
“How?”
“She got me written up.”
“You got yourself written up.”
Paige stared.
“Wow.”
Caleb continued.
“Stop.”
“Or what?”
He had no answer.
Tell their parents?
School?
He was class president.
Her brother.
He imagined what would happen.
Suspension.
College admissions.
Rumors.
Family screaming.
Graduation jeopardized.
So he chose the cowardly middle.
“Just stop.”
Paige smiled bitterly.
“You’re not going to do anything.”
Caleb hated that she was right.
He began saving screenshots.
Not reporting.
Saving.
He told himself evidence would matter if things became serious.
That was how people delayed responsibility while feeling responsible.
April brought senior events.
Prom.
College announcements.
Cap-and-gown pickup.
Service Day.
Graduation planning.
The newspaper staff decided to create a final print edition.
Aaliyah wanted something lighter.
Senior memories.
Teacher superlatives.
Advice.
One retrospective on the discipline-policy story.
Walsh suggested Aaliyah not write the retrospective herself.
“Conflict of interest.”
“Because I wrote the original?”
“Because half the school thinks you personally rewrote district policy.”
Aaliyah laughed.
Fair.
Junior reporter Miles Chen wrote it.
The article described the data.
Policy change.
Student debate.
It quoted Aaliyah once.
I think the biggest improvement is that teachers are being asked to describe what happened rather than summarize who a student is.
That sentence irritated Paige beyond reason.
She showed Tess.
“See?”
Tess read it.
“Okay?”
“She’s talking about me.”
“No, she isn’t.”
“She is.”
“How?”
Paige stared.
Because at some point, she had begun hearing every discussion of bias as accusation.
The article did not name her.
It did not describe her.