Finally Heard: Chapters 58-72

Everyone’s aghast.

“But we’re seeing a lot of kids unable to focus in class. Glued to their phones at recess. Not engaging the way they used to. Clearly, something’s amiss, and we’re concerned.”

“It is illegal for anyone to use an electronic device to contact another person, intending to intimidate, annoy, harass, or threaten that other person,” he says.

Mrs. Carter pulls up a picture of her mama on her phone. A lovely Black woman with the most beautiful, voluminous head of hair.

Now that I understand how the videos are appearing, I feel so much more empowered.

As they bicker back and forth, I try to think of the last time I saw a police car at my school.

My eyes flit to the office window.

“I was supposed to be smarter,” Carla says. “To check! To not be duped.”

I hug my arms to my chest as I sit, even though I’m hot. I’m sweltering.

“I’ll give you two days to tell me the whole truth. Screenshots. Printouts. If there’s another side to this, I need to see it. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to discipline you for cyberbullying. Which, as you know, has serious ramifications. I’ve already told your parents.”

“My mom’s probably going to send me to some horrific summer camp for cyber delinquents over this,” Nate says.

I summon the courage to be brave, too, and tell her what I should have said earlier. What I’ve been keeping inside for months.

But each time, the verdict is the same—either Finn goes down or I go down or we both go down.

All three sound terrible, but I know I’d feel substantially worse if I dragged my friend down with me.

“I talked with Rosa, and she wants to start a class with me down at the Y,” Mom informs me. “Teaching other small businesses how to use social media in a creative, sustainable, and most importantly, balanced way.”