Tyler looked between the three boys.
"Second question."
Chris immediately raised a hand.
"Can we take a break?"
"No."
"I don't even know what you're going to ask."
"You can take a break after."
Chris slowly lowered his hand.
"That feels unfair."
"A little," Noah admitted.
Kai nodded. "Yeah."
Tyler rested his chin against his hands.
"Second question."
Chris leaned back.
"Fine."
Tyler looked at the three of them.
"If you're being blamed for something you didn't do, why don't you just expose Oliver's secret and clear your names?"
The reaction was immediate.
Noah's expression tightened. Chris stopped moving altogether, while Kai looked away. Even Eris turned her attention fully toward Tyler.
For several seconds, nobody answered.
Chris finally broke the silence.
"...What?"
Tyler blinked.
"You heard me."
"I heard the words."
"Then what's the problem?"
Chris stared at him.
Noah frowned.
"You're seriously asking that?"
"Yes."
Tyler's voice remained calm.
"You didn't start this."
None of them argued.
"You didn't take whatever Oliver had."
Noah's jaw tightened.
"You didn't tell Danny and the others about it."
Chris folded his arms more tightly.
"And none of you promised Oliver you'd keep his secret."
Tyler let that sit between them.
"Technically, you don't owe him anything."
Noah shook his head almost immediately.
"That doesn't mean we should tell everyone."
Tyler looked at him.
"Why not?"
"Because it's not our secret."
Noah held his gaze.
"It doesn't matter if people are blaming us. It isn't ours to tell."
Chris nodded.
"Exactly."
Kai glanced between them before speaking.
"And if we expose him just to clear our own names..." He paused. "Wouldn't that make us no different from Danny and the others?"
Tyler said nothing.
Chris leaned forward.
"They found something out about Oliver and decided to use it against him."
He glanced at Noah and Kai.
"If we do the same thing just because it helps us, then what's the difference?"
"Exactly," Noah said.
Tyler studied the three of them.
They weren't hesitating. They were angry about being blamed. Frustrated. Cornered.
But none of them wanted to solve their problem by making Oliver's worse.
Tyler's faint smile returned.
"Okay."
Chris stared at him.
"Okay?"
Tyler nodded.
"That's your answer."
"You asked whether we should expose Oliver."
"No." Tyler shook his head. "I asked why you haven't."
Noah paused.
Chris exchanged a look with Kai.
For the first time, they seemed to understand what Tyler had been doing.
He hadn't been telling them what to do.
He had simply put the choice in front of them and waited to see what they would choose.
Tyler picked up his pen again.
"Good."
Chris narrowed his eyes.
"You keep saying that."
"Because I mean it."
Chris leaned back.
"I still don't know what we're supposed to do."
Tyler gave him an almost sympathetic look.
"I know."
Noah stared at him.
"That doesn't help."
"I haven't given you the advice yet."
Chris turned toward Eris.
"Does he always do this?"
Eris considered it.
Then nodded.
"Yes."
Tyler looked at her.
"Whose side are you on?"
"Mine."
Chris pointed toward her.
"Good answer."
"Thank you."
Tyler shook his head and turned back to the three boys.
"You've answered the first two."
Chris slowly sank farther into his chair.
"Don't tell me."
Tyler raised three fingers.
"One more."
Chris covered his face.
"Oh, come on."
He lowered his hands and looked at Tyler.
"One more?"
Tyler nodded.
"One more."
Chris dropped his hands.
"You know, when you said three questions, I thought you meant three questions."
"I did."
"No. You asked entire problems."
Noah laughed quietly.
Chris turned toward him.
"Whose side are you on?"
"Yours."
Kai looked between them.
"You were complaining too."
Tyler waited until they settled.
"Third question."
Chris leaned back.
"Go ahead. Finish me."
Eris gave him a strange look.
Chris paused.
"Not like that."
Noah immediately looked away, trying not to laugh.
Kai lowered his head.
Tyler stared at Chris for a second, then continued as though nothing had happened.
"Why are you wasting your time arguing with the wrong people?"
The amusement disappeared from Chris's face.
"What?"
Tyler rested his chin against his hands again.
"You heard me."
Chris frowned.
"No, I heard you. I just don't understand."
"Then think about it."
"That sounds familiar."
"Good. You're learning."
Chris looked at Noah.
"Can we leave?"
"No."
"I wasn't asking you."
"You weren't going to leave anyway."
Chris sighed and turned back to Tyler.
"Danny is responsible for this."
Tyler nodded.
"I'll ask again. Why are you arguing with the wrong people?"
Chris frowned.
"Wrong people?"
Kai answered before Tyler could.
"Because we know we didn't do anything, and they're the ones spreading the lies."
Tyler tilted his head.
"What if Danny and the others already know you didn't do anything?"
Chris paused.
Noah's expression shifted.
Tyler continued.
"They know you didn't hurt Oliver."
Kai looked at him.
"Then why keep saying we did?"
"Because it works."
The answer was so simple that none of them responded.
Tyler leaned forward slightly.
"Danny knows the truth, Lucas and Evans knows, Miles knows. Maybe they're the ones who did it."
He tapped one finger against the desk.
"And now Miles is spreading the rumor, Lucas and Evans are helping it grow, Danny is still using Oliver's secret to keep him quiet."
Chris folded his arms.
Tyler looked at him.
"So what exactly are you expecting to happen?"
Chris frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"You keep confronting them. You keep arguing with them. You keep demanding that they tell the truth."
"Because they're lying."
"Right."
Tyler nodded.
"And they know they're lying."
Noah looked down.
Tyler continued.
"Why would they suddenly admit it?"
Chris opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
"You're asking the people who created the problem to solve it for you."
Kai looked toward Chris and Noah.
"And they're not going to?"
"No," Tyler said. "They have no reason to."
Chris's expression tightened.
"But if we just leave them alone..."
"I didn't say leave the situation alone."
Tyler's interruption was calm.
"I said you're wasting your time arguing with the wrong people."
The three boys fell silent.
Noah looked at him more carefully.
"Then who should we be talking to?"
Tyler didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he asked, "Who actually knows what happened?"
Kai answered first.
"Oliver."
Tyler nodded.
"Exactly."
Chris sat up slightly.
"But Oliver isn't saying anything."
"I know."
"He didn't say anything when Danny was bothering him either."
"I know."
"And if we ask him now, he might not even talk to us."
Tyler nodded.
"I know."
Chris stared at him.
"That is incredibly unhelpful."
A small laugh escaped Eris.
Tyler glanced toward her.
Chris looked at her.
"You're both terrible."
"Thank you," Tyler said.
"I wasn't talking to you."
Tyler turned back to Chris.
"Oliver is scared of Danny."
The amusement had disappeared from his voice.
"Or at least, Danny has enough control over him that Oliver believes he can't speak."
Noah's expression tightened.
Tyler continued.
"Danny knows his secret. That gives him something to use against Oliver. Whether Oliver wants to tell everyone or not doesn't change the fact that Danny can keep threatening him with it."
Kai slowly nodded.
"So even if Oliver clears our names..."
"His problem is still there."
The words settled heavily.
They had spent the entire morning focused on the rumor.
Chris and Noah were being accused.
Evans and Lucas were helping spread it.
Miles was keeping the story moving.
Danny was somewhere behind all of it.
And Oliver was still sitting at his desk, saying nothing.
Tyler leaned back.
"Let me ask you something."
Chris looked up.
"What?"
"What are you actually trying to accomplish?"
Chris answered immediately.
"Clear our names."
Tyler nodded.
"Okay."
Chris waited.
Tyler looked at him.
"And then?"
Chris frowned.
"And then what?"
"What happens after that?"
Chris looked confused.
"We're cleared."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
Tyler turned the pen slowly between his fingers.
"Let's say Oliver stands up tomorrow."
The three boys listened.
"He tells everyone that you and Noah never touched him."
Noah nodded.
"The rumor disappears."
Tyler continued.
"Everyone knows you had nothing to do with it and your names are cleared."
Chris nodded slowly.
"Right."
Tyler stopped turning the pen.
"What happens to Oliver?"
Nobody answered.
He placed the pen on the desk.
"Danny still knows his secret."
Chris's expression changed.
"Miles can stop spreading the rumor. Lucas and Evans can stop helping. Maybe everyone forgets about you."
Tyler looked between them.
"But Danny still has the same thing over Oliver."
Noah lowered his gaze.
Kai leaned back.
Chris said nothing.
"You solve your problem," Tyler said.
He paused.
"But not his."
The words hit harder than the previous question.
Chris stared at the desk.
Noah's fingers tightened slightly around his lunch box.
Kai looked toward Oliver.
Tyler continued.
"And that doesn't match the answer you gave me to my first question."
Nobody spoke.
The classroom around them carried on as usual. Students laughed, traded food, and complained about the upcoming exams.
At their table, the three boys had gone quiet.
Chris looked down at his hands.
Noah remembered what he'd said earlier.
We weren't going to stand there and watch.
Kai had said much the same thing.
They had stepped in because they wanted to help Oliver.
Somewhere along the way, their focus had shifted.
The rumor had become the problem.
Their names had become the problem.
Being blamed had become the problem.
And in trying to fix that, they'd almost forgotten the person they'd originally wanted to help.
Chris slowly lifted his head.
"We're trying to fix our own problem."
Tyler said nothing.
Chris swallowed.
"And Oliver's problem is still there."
Noah looked at him.
Kai nodded once.
Tyler leaned forward.
"Exactly."
Chris rubbed the side of his face.
"That sounds really bad when you put it that way."
"I didn't say you're wrong for wanting to clear your names."
Chris looked at him.
"I know."
"You're being blamed for something you didn't do. Of course you want that to stop."
Chris nodded.
"But that's not the only problem."
Kai finished the thought.
"Oliver's problem is still there."
Tyler looked at him.
"Yes."
For a moment, the three boys sat quietly.
Then Noah looked up.
"What if Oliver doesn't want our help?"
Chris turned toward him.
Noah continued.
"What if we talk to him and he refuses again?"
Tyler answered immediately.
"Then leave."
All three stared at him.
Chris blinked.
"Leave?"
Tyler nodded.
"Yes."
Noah frowned.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Chris leaned forward.
"Wait. You're telling us all of this, and if Oliver says no, we just walk away?"
"Yes."
Chris stared at him.
"But then what's the point?"
Tyler's expression softened.
"The point is that you can't force someone to accept help."
Nobody answered.
Tyler looked toward Noah.
"If Oliver says no, he says no."
"But Danny is still..."
"I know."
Noah stopped.
Tyler continued.
"Helping someone doesn't mean deciding what kind of help they need."
Chris looked down.
Tyler's voice remained steady.
"Oliver is already being controlled by Danny and the others. Danny has something over him. He controls what Oliver says by threatening to expose it."
Tyler leaned back.
"The last thing Oliver needs is three more people surrounding him and telling him what he should do."
Kai was silent.
Chris rubbed his thumb along the edge of the desk.
"You can't walk up to Oliver and say, 'Tell everyone we didn't do it.' And you can't tell him to expose his secret because it would make your lives easier."
Chris nodded slowly.
"If you actually want to help him," Tyler continued, "talk to him."
Noah looked up.
"Privately."
Tyler nodded.
"Privately."
Kai asked, "And then?"
"Ask him what he wants."
Chris frowned.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
Noah hesitated.
"What if he doesn't know?"
"Then listen."
"And if he doesn't want to tell us anything?"
"Then don't force him."
Chris looked at the floor.
After everything they'd argued about, the answer seemed almost painfully simple.
Talk to Oliver.
Not demand that he clear their names.
Not pressure him to expose his secret.
Not decide what was best for him.
Just listen.
Tyler looked at the three of them.
"If you want to help Oliver, you need to know what he wants first."
Kai nodded slowly.
"And if what he wants doesn't help us?"
Tyler met his eyes.
"Then at least you'll know you're helping him."
The three boys fell silent.
Tyler didn't add anything else.
Neither did Eris.
For now, there was nothing more to say.