Jimmy came out of the coaches’ office with a serious look. Behind him came Patrick, an eighteen-year-old who’d joined the club two years earlier after dropping out of school.

Kimberly, a quiet preschool teacher taking my classes because a man kept harassing her on the bus, stepped out into the hall.

Without me asking, my students formed a line behind my back.

Camryn marched forward until she was a meter from my face.

“Look at her, so brave with her little street gang.” She gestured at them. “At my house she played the innocent victim. In reality she beat up my son.”

I took out my phone and opened the voice recorder.