"He said the school has a responsibility to ensure students aren't unfairly disadvantaged by inconsistent marking. She said: 'Are you asking me to falsify assessment records?' Very calm. Very direct." Dev looked at her. "And he said — and this is exactly what he said, I've gone over it a hundred times — he said: 'I'm asking you to be reasonable, Ms. Rao. Some of these families have been very generous to this school and they have reasonable expectations of support for their children's academic outcomes.'"
The tea shop was quiet around them. From outside, traffic on the main road, a bicycle bell, someone's phone playing music.
"Six students," Naina said. "Do you know who they were?"
"Yes. I saw the list — he was holding it and I saw it. I can tell you the names if you need them."
"Not right now. Keep going."
"Ms. Rao stood up. She was very controlled — but this was a different kind. Like she had gone very still inside. She said: 'I will not adjust any assessment that doesn't reflect actual student performance. If there are families with concerns about their children's marks, they're welcome to request a formal review through the board's standard process.' Very flat. And then she said: 'I'm going to need this conversation in writing.'"
"What did Iyer do?"
"He got angry. He was trying to stay controlled too, but he got angry. He said she was misunderstanding the situation. She said she wasn't. He said this kind of inflexibility made everyone's job harder. She said her job was to accurately assess students and she intended to keep doing it." Dev paused. "Then he left. Ms. Rao sat back down and she looked at us and she was shaking a little. Just her hands. She put them flat on the desk and they stopped. She said: 'I'm sorry you saw that. That shouldn't have happened in front of you.'"
"What did you say?"
