The officer spoke with the principal first.
I watched their faces change. The principal glanced toward me, then toward Daniel. My stomach tightened.
Daniel went still.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer right away.
The officer approached us with careful steps, the kind adults use when they are carrying news too heavy for a child, even though I was no longer a child.
“Emily,” he said gently, “I’m Officer Hayes. I knew your parents.”
The music kept playing behind him, but the sound seemed to fade into water.
I gripped the wheels of my chair.
Officer Hayes looked at Daniel, then back at me.
“There is something you were never told about the night of the accident.”
My throat closed.
Daniel’s face turned pale.
And suddenly, I understood that prom had not brought the past back by accident.