She looked at him over her glasses. Whatever she saw in his face made her set down her stack of papers.
"Ah," she said quietly. "Sometimes they tell you more than you asked."
"Yeah."
She nodded slowly. "You don't have to write the paper," she said. "I'll give you the credit for the effort. Or you can write it later. Next semester. Next year. There's no deadline on this kind of thing."
"What would I even write?"
"The assignment hasn't changed," she said. "What it can tell you, and what it can't. Write about the difference. That was always the point." She picked up her papers again. "But only when you're ready. And Tyler, the counselor's office is open until four."
He did not go to the counselor's office. He went home and sat on his bed and opened the app and looked at Sofia Reyes and her soccer trophy for the hundredth time. Then he tapped the button that said Send a Message.