Chapter 17
Then
amy
Amy was having one of those weeks, and it was only Monday morning.
Tara Connelly, who taught Honors history, had emailed to say she needed to take leave for an unspecified period of time for personal reasons; according to Kate, Tara’s husband Luke had left her for another woman, just upped and vanished without a word.
Amy would have to cover for Tara, and of course it couldn’t be helped, and she felt desperately sorry for the poor woman; but it had all come at the busiest time of the school year, with mountains of grading due and senior prom just five days away.
And now there was a moose in the playground.
From her office on the second floor, she had a good view of the elementary school climbing frame on the far side of the playing fields.
A moose had got itself trapped in the bars, probably a yearling born the previous spring; its antlers were relatively short, and its fur a grey-brown rather than the black coat of an adult male.
But it was still enormous, standing almost seven feet tall at the shoulder and weighing as much as a small car.
Amy could have literally driven her Prius beneath its belly.
She’d already put the main high school on lockdown, and called in the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.
Fortunately the elementary school next door was closed because of a field trip today, but she wouldn’t put it past one of her students to go out and attempt to rescue the moose or even – yes, Raylan Adams, she was looking at you – get the idea into their stoned heads to try to ride it.
She hoped the VFWD got here soon. The trapped animal was bellowing in fear, smashing its antlers against the climbing frame and stomping and kicking in its attempts to break free.
Its struggles were becoming increasingly frantic, and even at this distance she could see blood pouring from a deep cut on one of its legs.
And then, as it swung its vast head from side to side, Amy suddenly got a glimpse of something navy and gold.
A school shirt.
One of her students was stranded out in the middle of the playing fields behind the climbing frame. They’d have to go past the moose to get back into the school, but whoever was out there was clearly too terrified to move. And if the moose somehow freed itself, her student could be in real danger.
Calling out to Susan to call the VFWD again, Amy ran out of her office and along the hallway, pelting down two flights of stairs and shoving open the fire door to the parking lot.
The knot in her stomach tightened when she got close enough to see that the student rooted to the ground with fear was Maggie.
But Finn had beaten her to the rescue. He was already walking across the playing field towards Maggie, his pace calm and cautious.
‘You’re gonna be fine, Maggie,’ Finn said, keeping his voice low and steady.
‘You’ve got this. I know you’re scared, but it’s going to be OK.
The moose is just frightened, same as you.
And look at him: he’s not going anywhere.
He’s stuck; that’s why he’s freaking out. Come on, Mags, let’s go back inside.’
His calmness steadied Maggie. Finn put his arm around her, leading her back towards the school and giving the climbing frame a wide berth.
Amy met them at the edge of the field. ‘Are you all right, sweetheart?’ she said, giving the girl a quick hug. ‘You gave us quite a scare, Maggie. You and the poor moose.’
Maggie sniffed and nodded.
‘What were you doing out there?’ Amy asked, as they walked back across the parking lot. ‘Why aren’t you in class? You know we’re on lockdown.’
Maggie looked like she was about to burst into tears again.
‘Maggie?’ Amy said, stopping short. ‘What is it?’
‘Tell her,’ Finn said.
Maggie’s lip wobbled as she pulled out her phone. She swiped the screen a couple of times, and then held it out to Amy.
Amy recoiled when she saw the photograph on Maggie’s screen.
‘Maggie! This isn’t you, surely?’
‘Of course not,’ Finn said angrily. ‘Someone’s used AI to make it look like her. They’ve posted it all over TikTok and Insta, and tagged her name.’
Amy glanced again at the disturbing deepfake image. It was a graphic photograph of a naked girl in a very ugly, lewd pose. Maggie’s head had been superimposed on the picture; Amy knew it wasn’t her, but it was very convincing. She could only imagine the poor girl’s shame and humiliation.
‘Who did this?’ she demanded.
Maggie looked at the ground.
‘Finn?’ Amy asked.
‘I don’t know,’ her nephew said, his outrage evident. ‘It was posted anonymously. I’ve taken it down everywhere I can, but it’s been reposted so many times, it’s impossible to trace.’
‘Publishing deepfake pornography is illegal,’ Amy said. ‘Vermont has laws against revenge porn. I’ll report this to the police. I’m sure they’ll be able to—’
‘Please don’t!’ Maggie cried.
‘Maggie, I can’t ignore this,’ Amy said, frowning. ‘I have a duty of care to you, as I have to all my students. I can’t allow this sort of bullying to go on in my school. I don’t have a choice.’
‘You’ll just make it worse,’ Maggie said tearfully. ‘They’ll take it out on me, and it won’t change anything anyway.’
‘Mags, Aunt Amy’s right,’ Finn said. ‘This isn’t just bullying. This crosses a line. It’s, like, illegal. We have to report it.’
Maggie looked at him, her face twisting with emotion. Amy guessed she knew exactly who’d posted the video, and was too intimidated to tell them.
‘Maggie, darling. I can’t help if you don’t let me,’ Amy said.
‘I don’t want to get anyone into trouble with the police,’ Maggie insisted. Her eyes filled with tears again. ‘It’s just a stupid joke. I shouldn’t let it get to me. I’m graduating on Sunday. I won’t have to see anyone in my class again if I don’t want to.’
Amy felt troubled. Maggie was parroting the kind of words adults – in this case, probably her mother, Kate – trotted out to bullied kids when they knew there was nothing concrete they could do about the situation.
She wanted to say more, but she was distracted by the arrival of two uniformed VFWD officers. The moose bellowed as the two officers approached it, and Maggie cowered behind Finn.
‘Please, Ms Gray,’ Maggie sniffed. ‘Can I just go home now?’
‘Of course,’ Amy sighed. ‘Your mom can take you. We can manage for the afternoon without her.’
‘And you won’t call the police? Please?’
One of the officers called out to them. ‘Ma’am? You all need to get inside.’
Amy ushered Finn and Maggie back into the school through the fire door.
She had a school on lockdown, a prom in five days, and a thousand things to organise.
Before she made any decision on reporting this to the police, she’d sit down and talk it through with Kate.
She didn’t want to make things worse for Maggie by escalating the situation, and the sad truth was, even if she reported this to the police, nothing was going to change between now and prom.
Maggie was right: she was graduating on Sunday. She just had to survive another week, and everything would be fine.