"Is that the truth?"
Naomi's eyes narrowed slightly, letting a quiet weight settle over the boy.
He shrank into his shoulders, something cold crawling up his spine, but still held his tongue.
Naomi fell back on the oldest trick in the book for getting a kid to talk. "Tell me quietly, and it stays between us. Keep stonewalling, and I'll just go get Ms. Carter instead."
"Then you'd officially be his accomplice. Might even land you a week's suspension right alongside him."
She said nothing further, just watched him, patient, waiting.
He was a kid, but weighing consequences was practically instinct at any age.
Sure enough, after a short internal battle, the boy who'd been so loyally tight-lipped a moment ago folded.
"Pretty lady, you got it right. Julian told us to help him teach Lily
