CHAPTER 87

GIOVANNA HAD EFFECTIVELY AVOIDED Kat and Alexa all morning so far. But everyone else seemed to notice her —even the other kids with red shoes. They laughed. Pointed. Whispered to their friends. Some even made some horribly nasty comments. What was going on? Apparently losing the makeup and wearing the red shoes were a way bigger deal to them than Giovanna had imagined. She hurried to her class —and kept her head down.

“Giovanna!” Mr. Cutter motioned to her like he was waving down his Uber ride.

Here we go. She had no choice but to wait until he caught up.

“I’m so sorry about your mom,” he said.

How could he know about her drinking issues? “My mom?”

“The incident at City Hall.”

A wave of dread swept through her. “What happened?”

Mr. Cutter’s face paled. “It was on the news. I thought you knew.”

Giovanna looked down the hall to be sure Kat and Alexa weren’t anywhere near. “Tell me.”

“Come with me.” He walked her to the teacher’s lounge and explained everything, then showed her the YouTube site on his phone. Pancake’s video clip was horribly clear. Which explained the disgusted looks she’d been getting.

“Oh, God.” Did God hear her —even though she whispered? Was He listening to her prayer even though she’d done so many awful things? Even though He knew what she planned to do next? “I’m dead.” And any hope of there being another way out of this died too.

He put his hand on her shoulder. Handed her a napkin. “There’s going to be a lot of questions about this.” Mr. Cutter didn’t look at her like she was trash —even though she totally felt like it.

You know you need to do it. Oh yeah, she really did. There really was no other way. “I can’t talk now. I need time to process all this.”

Mr. Cutter nodded. “I’ll write you a pass to the Learning Resource Center. After that, go to lunch. Will that give you enough time?”

You know you need to do it. “Yes.” Did he hear the shake in her voice? “I think it will be all the time I need.”