Page 22 of Unraveled

“Right.” I followed Ms. Lane to her office, still not wanting to give in. I’djustgotten things back on track. I didnotwant to feel this weak all over again. Not this soon.

My head was throbbing by the time I’d finished giving my account of the incident. Ms. Lane had asked for so many details, and I’d had to work my brain hard to recall the little things, my memory stubborn and sort of vague on what happened at the end.

Mom was fuming in the chair beside me. I’d never told her how much trouble Zane had become this year. The things I’dhadto tell her had always been glossed over, the details vague while I’d tried to protect her.

“Thank you, Izzy.” Ms. Lane finally looked up. “We’re going to match your account and Zane’s with the cameras, so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Mrs. Donovan, is there anything you’d like to ask before we finish?”

Mom took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She didn’t open them until she began to speak. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but I’d like to know if anything else has gone on with this boy and my daughter that I don’t know about.”

My cheeks instantly flushed, and hurt mixed with anger in Mom’s expression when she saw. Ms. Lane just looked at me, waiting, and once I gave her a tiny nod, she immediately grabbed the mouse for her computer.

“Let me get a printout.” With a few clicks and some typing, Ms. Lane slipped out of the room and was back in just a couple of minutes, a thick file in her hand.

Mom’s gaze shot to me in alarm, but I refused to meet it, keeping my eyes locked on that file. Everything Zane had ever done was in there. I’d promised Tucker last fall that I’d go to Ms. Lane about him, and I had. About everything. Now, it was like my dirty secret was out on display.

“This is everything that’s been reported so far.” Ms. Lane handed Mom the file, and she took it nervously, slowly flipping through, taking her time to read down every page. She looked at me when she was done, disbelief and hurt in her gaze.

I looked down at the floor, feeling open and exposed. Never wanting to have put that burden on Mom.

“You know, it might be good if we discussed this as a group. While you’re all here,” Ms. Lane suggested, taking the file back.

“What do you mean, as a group?” Mom asked.

“I mean all of you. You and Izzy and Zane and his parents. They’re here right now, too. Maybe this is a good time to talk things through. We’d need your consent, of course.”

“Let me call my brother.”

I gave Mom a confused look.

“You were just assaulted, Izzy, and your uncle is a cop.”

I nodded, her reasoning making sense but also making everything so much more real. My stomach swooped, and the nausea that had subsided came back with a vicious vengeance as I tried to pep talk myself down.

Mom slipped her phone back in her purse when she hung up and smiled. “I’d love to sign that consent. My brother will be joining us soon, too. You’re still feeling okay, aren’t you, Izzy?”

I swallowed the butterflies swarming up my throat, my head in a constant throb. “Yep.”

Ms. Lane gave a staid smile. “Great. Let me go let them know.”

As soon as the door clicked shut, the tension in the room more than doubled. The air felt heavy. I waited for Mom to speak, but she just stared. A multitude of emotions played in her expression, but the disappointment and hurt were the strongest. I felt awful. I needed her to understand.

“Mom, I–”

“Don’t.” I snapped my mouth shut. “I understand that you’ve had to learn how to function without me, but a lot of that was frombeforemy incident. You might be eighteen now, but I am still your mother. There are some things I need to know about. Like that.” She gestured to the file Ms. Lane set on her desk. “I can’t make you tell me everything. In fact, I know you’re not going to, but it would be nice to feel like you didn’t need to shut me out completely.”

“That’s not what I was trying to do,” I whispered, my voice going tight. “Youknowwhy I kept things from you in the fall. You were barely coping and just starting to get help.”

“And I told you that hiding things from me would only make me feel worse,” Mom snapped, both of us falling silent after that, tension eating up the room.

Chapter 9

ISABEL

Once Uncle Blake arrived, we followed Ms. Lane to the large conference room next door.

“The Hernandez’s will be joining us in a minute. Principal Hiller is finishing up their discussion. He’ll be joining us, too.”

“Good.” Mom followed Uncle Blake to take a seat in one of the padded office chairs, and I sat in one beside her, my stomach flipping back and forth.

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