“Kevin, stop. We were kids.”
I stepped into the room.
“So was I.”
Everyone turned.
Kevin looked at me like he had been waiting for judgment, but I did not go to him.
I faced Travis.
“You knew the truth, didn’t you?”
He swallowed.
“I knew enough,” he admitted. “I didn’t want him angry at me.”
I nodded.
“Thank you for finally telling the truth. I wish you had found the courage before I had to grow up without it.”
Matilda appeared beside me and took my hand.
Then the former principal stepped forward.
“Maggie, I’m sorry. We failed you.”
At seventeen, I would have needed those words.
At thirty-eight, I could stand without them.
I told the alumni board the scholarship could stay only if it truly helped students who had been silenced.
Kevin lowered the paper.
“I know I don’t deserve a second chance.”
“You already had one,” I said. “What you’re asking for now is trust. That takes longer.”
I did not move back into his house that week.
