From the Desk of Zoe Washington

When she hears Trevor arrive home from the library, Zoe decides to tell him why she has been so angry with him. She tells Trevor that he began ignoring her when he joined basketball at the start of sixth grade; he counters by saying that Zoe ignores him during the school year to hang out with Maya and Jasmine. This is surprising news to Zoe, but she resumes with explaining the much bigger cause of her anger. One day last month when she was home sick, she overheard Lincoln and Sean complain about her telling on Sean for fighting. They called her a loser and joked about her tripping and falling twice in gym (once caused by Lincoln intentionally). They laughed and Trevor laughed too; he told them he was not really friends with Zoe. Trevor admits to saying and doing this, but insists he did not mean any of it. He apologizes, but Zoe feels Trevor’s actions permanently altered their friendship.

At dinner, Mom asks Zoe about her internship, but Zoe bluntly tells her she does not want to discuss it. What she hides is that she would rather talk about Marcus. Back in her room, she becomes convinced that finding the alibi witness who can attest to Marcus’s innocence is the only answer: “[…] then I would be able to believe that he really didn’t do it.