Amara:
“And you decided better me.”
Megan nodded.
“Yes.”
Her mother started crying.
Megan:
“I’m sorry.”
Amara felt no warmth.
No relief.
She had imagined apology would create something.
It created information.
That was all.
“I don’t forgive you yet.”
Megan:
“Okay.”
“I may not.”
“Okay.”
“You still knew.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Simone did not push toward reconciliation.
The meeting ended.
In the parking lot Denise asked:
“How do you feel?”
“Nothing.”
“Okay.”
“That’s bad?”
“No.”
Good.
When Amara got home, Amina did not ask details.
That also mattered.
Later Amara went into Amina’s room.
“She said she was scared they’d turn on her.”
Amina:
“I believe it.”
“I do too.”
“Doesn’t fix it.”
“No.”
Amina:
“Do you want me to hate her?”
Amara thought.
“No.”
“Good.”
Amara:
“I still want you to hate Tessa.”
Amina laughed.
“I can manage some.”
They both laughed.
There was anger still.
Humor did not erase it.
But it made room.
Paige Mercer requested an apology meeting two weeks later.
Amara accepted.
Paige did not blame fear.
She blamed wanting attention.
“I thought Brooke liked me more when I helped.”
Amara:
“With rope?”
“Yes.”
“You brought it?”
“I took it from our garage.”
“Why?”
“She said it was a prank.”
“You saw me tied.”
Paige looked sick.
“I know.”
“You tightened the knot.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you stop?”
“I thought backing out after we started would make me weak.”
Amara stared.
That word again.
Weak.
Everybody was performing strength for somebody.
Paige:
“I’m sorry.”
Amara:
“I don’t know what to do with that.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
Better.
Amara did not forgive there either.
But she left less angry than after Megan’s meeting.
Maybe because Paige named vanity instead of hiding behind panic.
No moral scoreboard.
Sloane Avery’s family sent a typed letter through an attorney.
It said:
Sloane deeply regrets the distress caused by the unfortunate escalation.
Amara stopped reading.
“Distress caused.”
She handed it to Denise.
Denise finished.
“Do you want to keep this?”
“No.”
They filed it with the school and sent no response.
Brooke never apologized.
Tessa sent one message through a new account:
You got what you wanted.
Amara took a screenshot.
Blocked the account.
No answer.
That was harder than the apology meetings.
Part of her wanted to answer.
Not to forgive.
To hurt.
She told Simone during counseling.
“I want to tell her she got what she deserved.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Some.”
“What did she deserve?”
“Consequences.”
“And what don’t you want?”
“To become like them.”
Simone:
“Those are different questions.”
Amara nodded.
She could want consequences without needing personal revenge.
That distinction helped.
