Chapter 137

Elena POV

Ms. Rodriguez handed back our first essay on Darren’s memoir during third period.

I’d written about whether people could truly change or if transformation was just learning to hide who you really were. Got a B+. She’d written in red ink: Thoughtful analysis, but try to be less cynical. Sometimes redemption is real.

I stared at those words. Sometimes redemption is real.

Maybe. Or maybe Ms. Rodriguez was just another person Darren had fooled.

“El, you coming?” Mia stood by my desk, backpack already on. Lunch period.

We found our usual spot in the corner of the cafeteria, away from the popular kids and the drama. I pulled out my phone and showed her the essay.

“Your teacher really drank the Kool-Aid, huh?” Mia said.

“Everyone has. It’s like no one wants to believe someone who did something terrible might still be terrible.”

“Your parents believe it.”

“My parents are traumatized. They can’t see past what he did