But Leo had already figured out the truth. The site wasn’t unblocked because the firewall missed it. It was unblocked because someone inside the school wanted it that way. A teacher? The IT admin? He checked the page’s source code. One line, hidden in plain text:

He started typing. Want me to continue the story, or turn it into a script or a comic outline?

He typed: “Mom’s out of surgery at 4. Can you get me after school?” and hit send.

By lunch, Leo had told exactly one person: his best friend, Samira. Samira’s older brother was deployed overseas, and she hadn’t heard his voice in six weeks. The military base blocked all unsecured messaging. She begged Leo to let her try.

That afternoon, the principal made an announcement: “We’ve noticed a new unblocked messaging service on student devices. Do not use it. It is not secure.”