Chapter 4 - This had happened before
I asked:
“Have they touched your tablet before?”
Emma typed:
YES.
My stomach dropped.
“How many times?”
She paused.
Then typed:
DON’T KNOW.
“More than five?”
She nodded.
“More than ten?”
Long hesitation.
Then another nod.
I sat down.
“What happened?”
She wrote:
HIDE IT. MOVE IT. TURN SOUND OFF. TAKE WORDS AWAY.
I stared.
“Take words away?”
She opened the school portal.
Showed me an old incident report.
Three months earlier.
Teacher note:
Emma became distressed after peers adjusted settings on her device. Situation resolved.
Resolved.
No names.
No discipline reference.
Another report:
Student device temporarily misplaced during lunch. Returned without significant damage.
Another:
Peer disagreement involving personal electronic property.
I looked at Emma.
“Did you tell anyone they were targeting your communication?”
She typed:
YES.
“Who?”
Three names.
One teacher.
One counselor.
Assistant dean.
Then:
THEY SAY IGNORE.
That was the moment my anger shifted away from two teenagers.
May you like
Teenagers bully.
Schools exist partly because adults are supposed to intervene before cruelty becomes routine.
