# THOMPSON-HAYES: THE INSIDE OUT
## Chapter Three — Richard Ashby
She taught period two on Friday morning.
She wrote on the board: *What does it mean when someone you trust surprises you?* Not about the case. For them — always for them. But also, right now, for herself.
The class discussed it for forty-five minutes and she listened more than she spoke, which was not her usual method but sometimes the room had more to offer than the teacher did and a good teacher knew when to step back and let it.
A girl named Priya said: "I think the surprise is never really about the other person. The surprise is about the gap between who you thought they were and who they actually are. And that gap — that's yours. You made that gap."
Mia looked at her.
She wrote it on the board and looked at it fo
