Chương 6
I laughed because Marissa laughed. That is not an excuse. The girl had done nothing to deserve how we treated her. I am ashamed of my behavior and have contacted her family privately. Please do not praise me for admitting what the video already shows.
Elodie read it three times.
There had been no private contact.
At two twenty-four, Leah knocked softly and entered when Elodie answered.
“You’re supposed to be asleep.”
“So are you.”
Leah sat on the edge of the desk chair. She was thirty-four, wore her hair in a severe black bob, and had worked for Gabriel long enough to know where Adrienne kept emergency chocolate.
“Kira Bell’s representative emailed me seven minutes ago,” she said. “I haven’t responded.”
“She said she contacted us.”
“Her representative contacted me before the post went live. Technically, that is contact.”
“It makes it sound like she apologized to me.”
“Yes.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
Elodie set the tablet facedown.
Leah looked at the coat folded over the chair. “Your father is considering keeping the collection in storage.”
“He can’t.”
“He can. He owns it.”
“Mom made it.”
“Both things are true.”
“She wanted the tour.”
“I know.”
“Then tell him.”
“I have.”
“And?”
“He told me to stop using Adrienne’s wishes as a weapon.”
Elodie looked toward the door.
“Did she really want it?”
Leah’s expression did not change, but her hands folded more tightly.
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“She spent two years planning it.”
“Dad says the schools aren’t ready.”
“Your father says many things when he is afraid.”
Elodie picked at the edge of her pendant.
“What is he afraid of?”
Leah looked toward the hallway, though no one was there.
“Losing the part of your mother he can still lock in a room.”
Elodie did not like hearing it. The sentence felt disloyal even though it matched something she had suspected.
Leah stood.
“Go to sleep.”
“Everyone keeps saying that when they want to stop talking.”
“Tonight, that is exactly what I want.”
At school on Monday, two police officers stood near the entrance.
They were not there for Elodie. A parent had reported a threatening message posted beneath the video, and the school had decided visibility was the same as prevention.
Elodie’s father wanted her to remain home for the week. Elodie refused. He wanted security to accompany her through the building. She refused that too. They compromised on an officer waiting in an unmarked car across the street, which fooled no one because the man wore an earpiece and stared at every passing vehicle.
Maya was at their lab table when Elodie entered science.
She moved her backpack from the neighboring stool.
Elodie sat.
Mr. Harris began a lesson on chemical bonds with the desperate enthusiasm of a teacher who had been instructed not to mention the internet.
For eleven minutes, Maya said nothing.
Then she pushed a folded paper across the table.
It read: People are taking pictures through the fence.
Elodie wrote: I know.
Maya added: Sofia says Marissa Dane lost two sponsors.
Elodie wrote: I don’t care.
Maya looked at her.
Elodie crossed out the sentence and wrote: I do care. I wish I didn’t.
Maya drew a small square beneath it, then another square inside the first.
During lunch, three younger students asked Elodie to repeat the line about class. One wanted to record it.
“No.”
“Come on,” the boy said. “It was iconic.”
“She said no,” Maya told him.
He left with a disappointed shrug.
Elodie unwrapped a cheese sandwich made by the housekeeper. Maya had dumplings in a steel container. For several minutes they ate without speaking.
Finally Maya said, “Your card was kind of ridiculous.”
Elodie laughed before she could stop herself.
It came out too loudly. Two students turned.
Maya smiled into her lunch.
“It is ridiculous,” Elodie said.
“Unlimited access?”
“It doesn’t mean I can take things.”
“It sounds like you can take things.”
“I know.”
“Why does it have a crown?”
“My grandfather liked crowns.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“It was to him.”
Maya considered this.
“Do you always carry it?”
“My dad makes me.”
“Why?”
“So people know who I am.”
Maya picked up a dumpling, then put it down.
“That seems like the exact thing your speech said not to do.”
“It wasn’t a speech.”
“It’s on shirts already.”
Elodie thought she had misheard.
“What?”
Maya showed her a shopping site. REAL CLASS NEVER NEEDS TO ANNOUNCE ITSELF appeared across sweatshirts, mugs, tote bags, and phone cases. One seller had placed a black crown beneath the words.
Elodie felt sick.
Her mother had said the sentence years ago after a woman at a charity dinner complained that a server did not recognize her. Elodie had repeated it in the boutique because it came to her, not because she wanted strangers to print it on polyester.
“Can they do that?”
“Probably not?”
By the end of lunch, Leah had sent cease-and-desist notices to seventeen sellers.
By the end of the day, there were seventy-three.
Marissa posted another statement that evening. This one named Mercer House, criticized its “confusing access policies,” and said she welcomed an independent review.
She also said Julian Park had confirmed Elodie entered a restricted preview without visible supervision.
Julian’s confirmation appeared in an entertainment-news article under the headline SALES ASSISTANT BREAKS SILENCE.
He had not spoken publicly. His attorney had provided a written statement after Marissa’s team contacted him.
The statement said Julian had been instructed to maintain the privacy and security of invited guests. It said he regretted his tone but denied discrimination. It did not mention the commission incentive.
Gabriel read it at dinner.
“He is lying,” Elodie said.
“He is protecting his employment record.”
“He doesn’t have an employment record. He’s suspended.”
“Which makes him more likely to protect it.”
The dining room table could seat fourteen. They ate at one end, separated by a bowl of lemons no one used.
May you like
Elodie pushed rice around her plate.
“Are you suing him too?”
