Chapter 2 - EIGHT MINUTES AGO
Ava did not grab the phone.
She wanted to.
Instead she held out her hand.
“Show me.”
Tracy locked the screen.
“Ava.”
“Show me.”
“This isn't the place.”
“You made it the place.”
Maya and Brooke remained near the gym doors.
Neither girl pretended not to be listening anymore.
Tracy glanced at them.
Then at parents farther down the sidewalk.
Her voice lowered.
“We can talk in the car.”
“No.”
“Ava.”
“Did you post me crying?”
Tracy looked around again.
That answered enough.
Ava's breathing started shaking.
Not the soft crying from before.
Something faster.
Meaner.
“Give me the phone.”
Tracy pressed it against her chest.
“I posted a short clip.”
“When?”
“A few minutes ago.”
“How many?”
“What?”
“How many people saw it?”
Tracy did not answer.
Maya spoke quietly from behind them.
“It's on your page.”
Ava turned.
Maya was holding her own phone now.
Not filming.
Looking.
She swallowed.
“Thirty-one thousand.”
Tracy's face changed.
“That isn't—”
“Thirty-one thousand people?”
Ava whispered.
Maya looked miserable.
“It went up.”
Tracy stepped toward Ava.
“Listen to me. It was just the first moment. You came out, sat down—”
“You filmed me before you came over.”
“Yes.”
Ava stared.
“From where?”
“The parking lot.”
“You watched me cry.”
“I was giving you space.”
Ava laughed.
One broken sound.
“You zoomed in.”
Tracy stopped.
That meant yes.
Brooke shifted uncomfortably.
Ava looked at Maya's screen.
“Can I see?”
Maya hesitated.
Then handed it over.
The account name at the top was familiar.
Tracy & Ava
A smiling profile picture from Christmas.
Ava had approved that picture.
She remembered.
The video began with Ava walking through the gym doors.
No sound at first.
Then sad piano music.
She sat.
Opened the paper.
Looked down.
The camera zoomed.
Her face broke.
Text in the caption beneath the post read:
Watching your child learn that hard work doesn't guarantee the answer they wanted is one of the hardest parts of motherhood. Proud of how she gets back up.
Ava had not gotten back up yet when Tracy posted it.
Timestamp:
Eight minutes ago.
Ava looked at her mother.
“You wrote that while I was still sitting here.”
Tracy said nothing.
“You posted my comeback before I even had one.”
“It was a caption.”
“No.”
Ava handed Maya's phone back.
“It was a lie.”
Tracy's face hardened defensively.
“I was trying to frame it positively.”
“You didn't even talk to me.”
“I knew you were disappointed.”
“You didn't know anything.”
Tracy reached for her.
Ava moved back.
“Don't.”
The word stopped her mother.
That had never happened before.
Tracy looked stunned.
Then Coach Dana Grant came through the gym doors.
Forty-four.
Navy polo.
Clipboard tucked beneath one arm.
She looked at Ava.
Then Tracy.
Then the two girls.
“What happened?”
Ava laughed again.
“Ask her.”
Tracy straightened.
“This is a family matter.”
Coach Grant's eyes went to Maya's phone.
Then Tracy's.
“Did you record students outside my tryouts?”
“Only Ava.”
Maya said:
“You got me in the background.”
Brooke nodded.
“Me too.”
Tracy looked irritated.
“I can blur you.”
Coach Grant's expression changed.
“That isn't the first question.”
Ava looked at her coach.
“Can I go back inside?”
Coach Grant did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
Tracy stepped forward.
“Ava, we're leaving.”
Ava picked up her backpack.
“No.”
“You are fifteen.”
“I know.”
“You're coming home.”
Coach Grant said calmly:
“She can wait in the athletic office while you both cool down.”
Tracy turned.
“You don't get to interfere with my child.”
Ava's face burned.
Coach Grant remained still.
“I get to respond when a student is distressed on school property.”
Ava walked toward the doors.
Tracy called after her.
“Ava.”
She stopped.
Turned.
Her mother finally lowered the phone.
Ava looked at it.
“Take it down.”
Tracy's mouth tightened.
“It already got picked up by two repost pages.”
“Take yours down.”
“Ava, once something starts moving—”
“Take. It. Down.”
Coach Grant looked at Tracy.
Maya looked at Tracy.
Brooke looked at Tracy.
Three witnesses.
Tracy unlocked the phone.
Her fingers moved quickly.
The post disappeared from the public page.
Thirty-seven thousand views.
Eleven minutes.
Gone from Tracy's account.
Not gone anywhere else.
May you like
Inside the athletic office, Ava called her father.
For the first time in almost a year, she did not ask Tracy first.
