The Group Chat

David Anderson has spent twenty years in education. He knows the rules. Follow protocol. Cover yourself legally. Trust the system to work.

Tonight, he's about to break every single one.

A parent calls at 9:47 PM. Her daughter showed her a group chat. Forty-three middle schoolers ranking each other. Deciding who matters and who doesn't. Using two numbers to mark the forgettable ones: "6-7."

Jordan Hayes was marked 6-7.

Then he posted: "Thanks for clearing things up. I know where I stand now. Not anymore."

And left the chat.

David has Jordan's mother on the phone. She's at the hospital. Can't leave her shift. The spare key isn't where she said it was. Police are twenty minutes out. Jordan isn't answering his door. Isn't answering his phone.

David has a choice: wait for help to arrive, or crawl through a basement window and accept every consequence that comes with it.

A devastating psychological thriller about the cruelty hiding in our children's phones, the adults who fail to see it, and the moment when doing the right thing means breaking every rule.