When Danny got onto the bus Monday morning, no one cheered. Everyone went quiet and cast their eyes down, only taking secret glances his way when they thought he wasn’t looking. He sat down in his usual seat halfway back. The door clattered shut and the driver revved her engine in a cloud of diesel left behind for the trees and fields to absorb.

Janey got on next. She sat right down beside him, loyal to the end. “Hey.”

Danny sighed. “Hey.”

Janey patted his shoulder but said nothing. They’d been through it all yesterday. She’d begged him to tell, or, at a minimum, to let her tell. Danny was having none of it.

“I can’t rat out a teammate,” he’d told her. “I didn’t do it. If that’s not enough for them, then fine. I’ll never tell. And you doing it would be just like me doing it.”

Janey had stood in the middle of his room and pulled at her ponytail. “They should be thanking you, Danny. You saved Mrs. McGillicuddy and those kittens. You can’t miss the big game. It’s just not fair. You’ve been dreaming about this. Look at everything you’ve gone through.”

“I may miss the big game this year, but if I’m a rat, my football career is over in Jericho anyway. It’s a team sport, Janey.”

Her reply, which he couldn’t argue with even now, had been, “If Bug was a real team player, he wouldn’t let you be punished for something we know he did.”

“I can’t control Bug,” he’d replied, “just me.”

He wasn’t surprised in the least to see Mr. Trufant waiting for him just inside the entrance to the school. They made eye contact and Danny followed him without being told. At the conference table in Mr. Trufant’s office, Coach Kinen waited along with Mr. Crenshaw and, at the head of the table, Ms. Rait.

Danny sat down, folded his hands, and looked at his knuckles.

Suddenly, the door flew open and his mom rushed in and sat beside him. “I’m sorry. I had a job interview at seven thirty that I couldn’t change.” Danny knew that was a code for the AA meetings she’d been going to.

Mr. Trufant adjusted the tight blue knot of his tie, then cleared his throat. “That’s fine, Mrs. Owens. We just sat down, and I’m sorry we have to meet again like this, but we need to chart a path forward here.”

“Innocent until proven guilty,” Coach Kinen barked before smacking his palm on the table. “I can’t see how there’s anything to discuss. Danny can’t take her test under the circumstances, and we certainly can’t prevent him from playing next Saturday.”

Ms. Rait huffed and shook her head before muttering, “Unbelievable.”

“Believe it, lady.” Coach Kinen glared at the teacher.

“Let’s not do this, Dave.” Mr. Trufant looked scary with his bald head, steel glasses, and wrinkled brow, and he obviously wasn’t afraid of Coach Kinen. “You need to let me do my job.”

Coach Kinen bit his lip and nodded.

“Good,” said Mr. Trufant before turning to Ms. Rait. “Martha, I will not go around you here. What happened is horrible. No one should have to go through that. It was criminal, and I’m sure the police will sort it out.”

“Sort it out?” Ms. Rait scoffed. “He threatened me. He was there.”

Danny’s mom sprang up from her seat and pointed a finger at the teacher. “If Danny says he didn’t do it, he didn’t do it! And he saved your cats!”

“Then who did?” Ms. Rait asked. “You can’t say he doesn’t know. Why would he be there? Yes, he saved the cats, after he, or someone he knows, lit a fire to destroy my property and kill my pets! Do you know those tar shingles flew hundreds of feet? They burned two acres of my neighbors’ corn. What if the wind was different? My house could have burned down! If I was in bed . . .”

She brandished her crutch. “Without this? I could have been killed, so don’t you tell me how he saved my cats!”

“Ladies, please.” Mr. Trufant held up both hands. “We are trying to work this out in the best interests of everyone here.”

“That means I roll over and keep my mouth shut.” Ms. Rait was steaming. “That’s what that means.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Martha. You’re quite wrong.” Mr. Trufant frowned at her. “If Danny turns out to be the perpetrator, he will be punished to the fullest extent of the law and within the parameters of this school district.”

“Good.” Ms. Rait folded her arms and sat back.

“However—”

Ms. Rait clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “Oh, however.”

“Yes. However.” Mr. Trufant spoke calmly and quietly, and it somehow made his words more powerful. “It is a fundamental right in our country that people are presumed innocent. I do not want to punish someone who not only may have done nothing wrong, but who may have done something very right. So, I am recommending that we suspend Danny from your class and that we allow him to play this Saturday, unless he is found to be guilty before that. But—let me finish—I will not implement this plan unless you agree.”

“Unless I agree?” Ms. Rait pointed to herself.

“Yes.” Mr. Trufant nodded. “If you don’t agree, we’ll have to come up with an alternative.”

The room went quiet.

Outside, Danny could hear the rumble and muted chatter of his classmates getting ready for the day.

Finally, Ms. Rait spoke. “Okay, I’ll tell you what I will agree to . . .”