Kris-Crossed

At Henri's Art Gallery, owner Jacques Henri hosts the unveiling of the winning entry in the annual Tri-County Art Contest. Cooper Calhoun, who has been learning about sculpting, bumps into Suzu Rydell, who is covering the event for the Odyssey Owl newspaper. Cooper is surprised to also spot Antony Cross, a former Odyssey High student who was once a popular class president and star athlete before moving away. Antony explains that he isn't there for the art: since his father died, he has had to grow up fast and take a job with a janitorial service, and the gallery is one of his clients. The winning artist turns out to be Rogers Carroll, taking the prize for the fourth year in a row with a sculpture of a giant egg sliced open to reveal a cheap Earth globe inside. The unveiling erupts into a scene when Barbra Haynes, the second-place finisher yet again, angrily declares that Carroll only wins because he is well-connected with the art commission, not because his work is any good. Henri threatens to call the police before she storms off.

Meanwhile, Emily Jones is called into Principal Vogler's office, where her father, Judge Simon Jones, is waiting. A girl named Kris Metcalf, a Connellsville Middle School student who uses a walker, has accused Emily of threats, harassment, bullying, and assault at the recent Model United Nations event. Emily is stunned; she barely remembers Kris at all. Because the school has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying, a meeting is arranged with Kris and her principal. Emily feels terrible about the timing, since her father is busy with his reelection campaign, but she is confident the whole thing is a misunderstanding.

At the driving range, Cooper gives Morrie Rydell a golf lesson as therapy for Morrie's hands. They run into Antony again, and also meet Barbra Haynes, who hits powerful, arrow-straight drives to work out her frustrations. She apologizes warmly for her outburst at the gallery, but Cooper can't shake the feeling that she seems like a completely different person from the one he saw that night.

At the meeting, Kris tells her side of the story: she claims that after she refused to vote for Emily's proposal, Emily cornered her in a hallway, grabbed her walker, shook it until she fell, and threatened her into promising her vote. As proof, Kris produces Emily's delegate badge, which she says tore off Emily's jacket during the attack, and Principal Lansing points out a small rip on the pocket of Emily's jacket. Emily insists she is innocent but can't explain how she lost the badge. Afterward, Suzu remembers the real explanation: Emily's jacket snagged on a bathroom stall latch during a break, which could account for both the tear and the missing badge. Principal Vogler warns that the story will only look like a cover-up now. The best deal he can arrange is disciplinary probation, and although her father is willing to fight the charges, Emily accepts it to spare him trouble during his campaign. Vogler advises Suzu to let the matter go, but she quietly resolves, "My friend needs help, and I'm going to help her."

Days later, Cooper arrives at the gallery to find police on the scene. Someone dressed head to toe in black broke in overnight and smashed the egg sculpture to pieces, and Antony, who discovered the wreckage, sums it up: "The egg is toast!" Carroll immediately accuses Barbra Haynes, arguing that she was jealous, that she caused the scene at the unveiling, and that as runner-up she would inherit his prize, while Cooper reluctantly admits her golf swing gives her the power to have done it.

Back at school, things get worse for Emily. The Connellsville school paper runs a story claiming Odyssey Middle School is covering up bullying, built partly on a letter Suzu wrote defending Emily. In the letter, Suzu claimed she was with Emily the whole time at the Model UN, but a photograph proves they were apart, catching Suzu in a lie and making Emily look even more guilty. With the story likely to spread to the town newspaper and Kris demanding harsher punishment, Principal Vogler says his hands are tied: Emily is removed as student body president, suspended, and may face expulsion. Emily, hurt that her friend's lie damaged both her credibility and her father's, asks Suzu for some space. Left alone, Suzu can only whisper, "I was just trying to help."