Sophie Was Handed a Sealed Envelope at School — Then Principal Harris Found a Cruel Note Inside and One Message Revealed Who Had Planned the Humiliation
Chapter 4 — The Missing School Envelope
Vanessa’s face changed.
Harris wrote down the stationery record.
“Why did you take five envelopes?”
Vanessa answered:
“For parent notices.”
“Which parents?”
“I don’t remember all of them.”
Harris looked toward the secretary’s record.
“Were any notices logged?”
The secretary shook her head.
“Not from Vanessa.”
Harris turned back.
“Where are the other four envelopes?”
Vanessa’s voice sharpened.
“In my desk, probably.”
Harris asked another administrator to accompany her to retrieve them.
Vanessa left reluctantly.
As soon as the door closed, Sophie looked toward Harris.
“Did I really win?”
Harris sat across from her.
“Yes.”
“For real?”
“For real.”
He pulled up the official committee results.
All student names had been removed during scoring.
The essays were judged by number.
Sophie’s essay received the highest combined score.
“Nobody chose you because they felt sorry for you.”
“They didn’t even know which essay was yours when they scored it.”
Sophie stared at the screen.
“So the note lied?”
Harris nodded.
“Yes.”
Sophie wiped her face.
“Why?”
Harris did not pretend he knew yet.
“We’re figuring that out.”
Ms. Patel moved closer.
“But none of this changes your selection.”
Sophie looked toward the torn pieces.
“I don’t want to read anymore.”
Harris’s expression softened.
“You don’t have to decide that today.”
“Nobody is going to force you onto a stage.”
Sophie nodded.
Minutes later, Vanessa returned.
Four unused school envelopes were placed on Harris’s desk.
Vanessa looked almost relieved.
“There.”
“Five taken.”
“Four remaining.”
“One must have been used for whatever someone placed in my mailbox.”
Harris examined them.
Then he noticed something.
All four envelopes had consecutive inventory numbers printed faintly beneath the flap.
The torn envelope Sophie received carried the missing number in the sequence.
And all five had been issued directly to Vanessa.
