Chapter 2 - THE PRICE OF LUNCH
Elliot took Lila out of the cafeteria immediately.
Principal Jonathan Crowe met them in the hallway before they reached the front office.
Crowe was a polished man in his fifties with silver hair and the nervous smile of someone who had spent a career surviving wealthy parents.
“Mr. Mercer.”
Elliot kept walking.
“We need to speak privately.”
“You’re going to speak after my daughter does.”
Crowe glanced at Lila.
“Of course.”
Elliot led Lila into the nurse’s office.
The school nurse closed the door.
Lila sat on the examination bed.
She looked tiny.
Elliot knelt in front of her.
“Tell me everything.”
Lila stared at her hands.
“It started three weeks after school began.”
“What started?”
“Peyton found out I was on scholarship.”
Elliot remained silent.
Lila continued.
“She said kids like me were taking spaces from people who belonged here.”
Elliot’s jaw tightened.
“She would take my lunch card.”
“Why didn’t you tell someone?”
“I did.”
Elliot froze.
“Who?”
“Ms. Dale.”
The cafeteria monitor.
“What did she say?”
Lila looked away.
“She said Peyton was joking.”
Elliot felt anger rise through his chest.
“And after that?”
“They made me carry their bags.”
“Who’s they?”
“Peyton, Maddie, Chloe, sometimes other kids.”
Lila swallowed.
“If I didn’t do it, they poured my lunch into the trash.”
Elliot closed his eyes for one second.
“What did you mean when you said they made you earn it?”
Tears appeared in Lila’s eyes.
“They would tell me to do things before they gave my food back.”
“What things?”
“Stand on a chair and say I was poor.”
Elliot’s face hardened.
“Sing for them.”
Lila wiped her cheek.
“Clean their shoes.”
The nurse looked horrified.
“One time they made me crawl under the cafeteria table and bark.”
Elliot couldn’t speak.
“They filmed it.”
“On phones?”
Lila nodded.
“And then they sent it around.”
Principal Crowe stepped into the room.
“That allegation is extremely serious.”
Elliot turned slowly.
“Get out.”
Crowe blinked.
“Mr. Mercer—”
“Get out.”
Crowe left.
Lila grabbed Elliot’s sleeve.
“There’s more.”
His anger became fear.
“What?”
“They told me if I complained again, they’d tell everyone who Mom was.”
Elliot stared at her.
“What about your mother?”
Lila’s mother, Sarah Reed, had died six years earlier.
She had been a public-school music teacher.
Kind.
Private.
Loved by everyone who actually knew her.
“They said she was a gold digger.”
Elliot’s voice became quiet.
“Who told them that?”
“Peyton.”
Lila hesitated.
“She said her mom told her.”
Elliot’s eyes narrowed.
Caroline Hargrove.
The school board chair.
His daughter wasn’t just being bullied by children.
Adults had fed the cruelty.
The nurse gently lifted Lila’s sleeve.
Elliot saw bruises around her wrist.
His stomach turned.
“Where did those come from?”
Lila pulled her arm away.
“It was just a game.”
Elliot looked at her.
“Lila.”
She started crying.
“They locked me in a supply closet yesterday.”
The nurse covered her mouth.
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who let you out?”
“No one.”
Lila’s voice became barely audible.
“I climbed through a little window.”
Elliot stood.
He opened the door.
Principal Crowe was waiting outside.
“So here’s what’s going to happen.”
Crowe swallowed.
Elliot continued.
“You are going to preserve every camera recording in this building.”
“Mr. Mercer—”
“Every hallway.”
“Every classroom.”
“Every cafeteria camera.”
“Every server.”
Crowe lifted a hand.
“There are privacy laws—”
“And there are lawyers.”
Elliot stepped closer.
“I have more of them.”
Crowe went silent.
“You erase one second of footage and I will spend whatever it takes to prove you did it.”
Crowe’s face drained.
Elliot studied him.
That reaction told him something.
“You’ve already erased something, haven’t you?”
Crowe didn’t answer.
Then Elliot heard footsteps approaching.
Caroline Hargrove walked down the hallway in a cream suit.
She looked at Lila.
Then at Elliot.
And smiled.
“Mr. Mercer.”
Her voice was calm.
“I think you and I need to talk before you make a terrible mistake.”
Elliot stared at her.
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And behind Caroline, Peyton was holding a phone.
On the screen was a video of Lila crying.
