Chapter 4: Something She Didn't Say on the Phone
I called her from the back porch with the door shut.
Sandra picked up on the first ring.
"Thank you for calling back," she said.
The formality of it — we had never been formal with each other, not in eleven years — made my chest tighten.
"What didn't you tell me?" I said.
"Chloe isn't the only one."
I heard the words.
I understood them individually.
It still took several seconds for them to arrange themselves into meaning.
"What do you mean she isn't the only one."
"There's another girl.
In their class.
Her name is Priya.
She came to Chloe two weeks ago because she didn't know who else to go to.
She'd been getting the same kind of messages.
From Leo.
Starting in September."
September.
Before he'd even started sending them to Chloe.
"She's been too scared to tell her parents," Sandra said.
"She made Chloe promise not to say anything.
But after today — after what Leo did showing up here — Chloe told me everything."
I sat down on the porch step.
"Karen.
Are you there?"
"I'm here."
"I want you to know I'm not calling the school to punish your son.
I'm calling because Chloe and Priya deserve to feel safe when they walk into that building on Monday.
That's the only reason."
"I know," I said.
"You're right."
"I also think—" She paused.
Carefully.
"I think Leo needs help that isn't just a consequence.
I think something taught him this was acceptable.
And I think you need to find out what that is."
The Discord group.
The guys from school.
*That's just how you talk to girls when you like them.*
"I already started," I said.
We stayed on the phone another few minutes, working out the practical things — whether to contact the school together or separately, whether Priya's parents needed to be told tonight.
Sandra was measured.
Careful.
She was angry, I could hear it underneath everything, but she was holding it in a shape that could still be useful.
I was grateful for that.
I didn't deserve it, but I was grateful.
After we hung up, I sat on the porch for a while longer.
Two girls.
Months of messages.
A group on Discord teaching fifteen-year-old boys that persistence was the same thing as attraction.
I went back inside.
Climbed the stairs.
Knocked on Leo's door again.
"Come in."
He was lying on his bed now, staring at the ceiling.
He sat up when I came in.
"There's something you didn't tell me," I said.
He looked at me.
"Priya," I said.
His face changed.
Not guilt — he was past guilt.
Something closer to exhaustion.
Like a person who had been holding a heavy thing for a long time and had just been told they could finally set it down, even if setting it down meant everything fell apart.
"How do you know about Priya?" he said.
"Because Chloe told her mother.
Because Priya was scared to tell anyone and Chloe carried it for her."
He put his face in his hands.
"Leo.
Look at me."
He looked up.
His eyes were wet.
Not crying — close to it, but not there yet.
"How many girls?" I said.
"Two.
Just two.
I swear."
"You swear," I repeated.
Not accusing.
Just letting the word sit there.
"Mom, I know.
I know what I did.
I've known for months and I didn't know how to stop it or undo it or—"
"You could have stopped sending the messages."
"I know."
"That's all stopping it required."
"I know." His voice cracked on the second one.
"I know."
I sat down on the edge of the bed.
Not close.
Not the way I would have sat a year ago, when he was still a boy who brought me his problems.
There was a distance between us now that hadn't existed this morning, and I didn't know yet whether it was permanent.
"Monday," I said, "I'm going to the school with you.
We're going to speak to the principal together.
You're going to tell the truth.
All of it."
He nodded.
"And the Discord group.
You're going to give me the name of it tonight."
A long pause.
"Leo."
"If I give you the name," he said slowly, "other kids' parents are going to find out."
"Yes," I said.
"They are."
He was quiet for a moment.
Then he picked up his phone from the nightstand and held it out to me without another word.
I took it.
The group was called *The Playbook.* Thirty-one members.
Leo had joined in August, two weeks before school started.
The pinned message at the top of the chat read: *She says no the first time because she wants to see if you'll try harder.
Always try harder.*
I read it twice.
Then I set the phone face-down on his desk.
"Get some sleep," I said.
"We have a long day tomorrow."
I walked to the door.
"Mom."
I stopped.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"I know that doesn't fix it."
I stood in the doorway for a moment without turning around.
"No," I said.
"It doesn't.
But it's a place to start."
I pulled the door shut.
Downstairs, I opened my laptop.
Thirty-one members.
I didn't know all their names yet.
But I was going to find out who was running that group, and I was going to find out tonight.
May you like
The name at the top of the admin list stopped me cold.
It wasn't a student.
