Personally, I would not be at all surprised if telling the truth there got Marina shipped off to the Farm with Cat just to eliminate "problem students". The principal is sketchy as fuck.Yeah, she's a runner but that cuts both ways. The guy has her mom's number, so he's threat no matter what. If she backs up Cat's story now, it's not like she couldn't still run away later and there's a chance the threat from the asshole is neutralized. If she lies, she HAS to run away, and this threat is still active. Plus, you know, Cat is sent to the Farm for being raped; that minor issue.
The risk to Marina would be if she herself is detained by telling the truth and only by telling the truth, which seems unlikely. I appreciate that Marina's under a lot of stress here, but she's still making a deeply concerning decision and that's not something that will go away even if the MC manages to avert this. IMHO.
Wait, there's an ethical path??![]()