Chapter 6 - ASHLEY'S REAL REASON
Ashley returned to school under temporary behavioral restrictions.
No contact with Emily.
Teachers watched.
Students whispered anyway.
Emily expected Ashley to look ashamed.
She looked furious.
At lunch, Ashley passed Emily’s table without stopping.
Then whispered:
“You ruined everything.”
Emily stood.
“You attacked my grandmother.”
Ashley kept walking.
That afternoon, Emily found a note in her locker.
MY DAD SAYS YOUR MOM WAS A THIEF.
Emily crumpled it.
Then opened it again.
Because underneath:
SHE STOLE RECORDS.
Technically true.
Laura copied confidential foundation documents without permission.
Was that theft?
Maybe.
Whistleblowing and unauthorized copying could coexist.
Again:
messy truth.
Emily hated it.
Then Jake messaged her from an anonymous account.
ASHLEY DIDN’T TELL ME WHAT WAS IN THE BAG.
Emily replied:
Then why attack her?
No response.
Ten minutes later:
SHE SAID YOUR GRANDMA WAS BLACKMAILING HER DAD.
Emily’s anger shifted.
Ashley may have believed Margaret was extorting Richard.
Who told her that?
Richard.
Then Jake sent one more message.
SHE SAID IF WE GOT THE BAG BACK THIS WOULD ALL GO AWAY.
There.
Ashley’s cruelty had been real before.
Classism.
Bullying.
Humiliation.
But the street attack had another motive.
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She thought she was protecting her father.
And Richard had allowed his seventeen-year-old daughter to believe taking evidence from an elderly woman was justified.
