“We’ll talk about it at home. Let’s go.” Blake trudged behind her the whole way out to the car. She was at a loss. She couldn’t imagine that Blake would copy someone else’s work. He was a good student. But she didn’t want to be one of those parents who was always making excuses for their kids. Letting them get away with things. Still… this didn’t sound like him. But then Mrs. Grimshaw had held the evidence in her hands. Her thoughts banged back and forth like a loose hurricane shutter in the wind.
They drove to Jesse’s cottage, and Blake didn’t say a single word. They went inside and Blake dropped his school bag to the floor, went and grabbed a soda, and sank onto a chair in the kitchen. She sat across from him.
“Okay, talk to me. Tell me what happened. The truth.”
“I told the truth. I didn’t copy off someone. I didn’t plagiarize. I wrote a really good paper. I turned it in. Set it on Miss Brady’s desk. That paper you saw? That wasn’t what I turned in. Ididn’tcheat.” His words were filled with defensiveness.
“I believe you, son.” Jesse appeared in the doorway.
Blake got up and walked over to Jesse, and Jesse wrapped him in a hug. “I believe you. You’ve always told the truth. No reason to think you’d start lying now. Let’s figure out what really happened.”
Heather stared at Jesse. His absolute belief in Blake. The confidence he had in him.
And she suddenly felt like such a failure.Sheshould have been that confident. Believed in him. Not worried about what kind of parent she’d be. Just… ugh. She’d failed Blake when he needed her. The first chance Jesse had given her to be there for Blake… and she’d failed him.
Chapter 17
Jesse let go of Blake, and they sat down at the table with Heather. “Now, tell me what happened.”
“I got to Miss Brady’s class today, and she told me I had to go to see Mrs. Grimshaw. She wouldn’t tell me why. When I got there, she had this paper—and it had my name on it—but it wasn’t the paper I turned in. I swear.”
“I told you I believe you. I do. Go on.” Jesse nodded. He did believe Blake, and it surprised him howstronglyhe believed him. He couldn’t imagine Blake cheating like this.Plagiarizing.
“Mrs. Grimshaw wouldn’t listen to me. Said I was suspended. But I didn’t do it.”
There was a knock at the slider behind them, and he turned. Emily. He got up and let her in.
“I heard what happened. I came over on my lunch break. Blake would never cheat. He wouldn’t.”
“Thanks, Emily. I didn’t. But I have no idea how this could happen.”
“Well, let’sproveyou didn’t.” Emily plopped down on the seat next to Blake and dumped her schoolbag at her feet.
Blake’s eyes lit up. “I wrote it on my laptop. It’s saved online to SupremeMax Drive. I printed it out from there. I can show you what I wrote.” He wrestled his laptop out of his backpack and flicked it on. He clicked some keys and brought up his account. “See, here’s what I wrote.”
Emily leaned closer to the screen.
A deep frown settled on Blake’s face. “It’s… not here.” Panic started to spread across his face. “It’s gone… and that paper. The one Mrs. Grimshaw had? It’s… here.”
Jesse frowned. “How could that happen?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily leaned forward. “So what’s your password to SupremeMax? Could someone have figured it out?”
“My password is…” Blake closed his eyes, then opened them, a spot of red growing on his cheek. “Angela.” He shook his head. “I mean, I didn’t think anyone was interested in what I was writing or putting in there. It’s just papers and stuff. It’s the service the school suggested we use.” He slammed his hand on the table. “How could I have been so stupid?”
“You’re not stupid. But I admit that’s a dumb password. Too easy to figure out.” Emily shook her head.
“So someone hacked into Blake’s account?” Heather frowned.
“Looks that way.” Jesse was worried now. How would they ever prove that Blake hadn’t turned in the fake paper? “Who would want to do this to you?”
“Oh, that’s easy.” Emily’s face hardened into an angry glare. “Jeanie Francis.”
Emily hurried back to school after her lunch break. It seemed like every third kid stopped her in the hallway between her afternoon classes to ask about Blake. Which, technically, no one should know why he was suspended… unless someone was spreading the rumor.
And she had a pretty good idea who that person was.
