Chapter 1

At the school assembly, Brayden pointed at me and screamed that I was a total fraud.

“Riley isn’t some police consultant. She’s nothing but a hopeless loser who can’t even pass a basic test!”

The entire auditorium erupted in mocking laughter.

That was until the Chief of Police pushed open the double doors.

He walked straight toward me in front of two thousand students and teachers, bowing deeply.

“Consultant X, I am so sorry for the disrespect you’ve been subjected to.”

The laughter died instantly.

Brayden’s face drained of all color.

1.

At Oak Creek High, I was famous for being a failure.

I was dead last in every class, barely scraping together a score, and whenever the teachers called my name, the whole room would break into giggles.

“Riley, what is the answer to this problem?”

“...C?”

“Hahahahaha―”

The sound of their laughter hit me like a tidal wave from every direction, drowning me.

I kept my head down, huddled in the back corner like a bug that everyone was eager to crush.

“What a loser.”

“Total trash.”

“She can’t even copy the answers correctly.”

I had been hearing these words for three years.

From freshman year to now, it never stopped.

But I didn't care.

Because I knew my true identity wasn’t what they thought.

My name is Riley, I’m seventeen, and I’m a special investigative consultant for the City Police Department, codenamed X.

Over the past two years, I’ve helped the police crack eleven major cases, including a high-profile string of burglaries and a terrifying school poisoning plot.

Nobody knows about this.

The police kept the identity of their consultant strictly confidential.

And I enjoyed keeping up this “academic disaster” act―it kept me low-key and invisible, which made my school life much easier to manage.

But some people just wouldn’t let me be.

“Riley, stand up.”

Brayden’s voice came from above, dripping with the arrogance of a rich kid who owned the world.

He was the wealthiest student in our class; his father was a local real estate developer, and he drove luxury cars and lived in a mansion, acting like he owned the hallway.

I looked up at him.

He stood in front of my desk holding a paper―my test paper, with a big, red “47” circled on it. It was blindingly bright.

“Riley, take a look at your grades,” Brayden held the paper high, making sure everyone could see, “Forty-seven percent. Do you even have the dignity to keep coming to school?”

The whole class erupted in laughter.

“Don’t you have any shame? You’re always dragging our class average down!”

“With a brain like hers, she should just drop out and find a farm to work on!”

“Hahaha―”

The laughter felt like daggers, slicing into me one by one.

But I didn’t cry, and I didn’t get angry.

I just stared at Brayden, observing his smug face, and started counting in my head―

This was the seven-hundred-and-thirty-second day I’d had to endure this.

“Brayden, that’s enough,” a voice came from the side.

Caleb.

He sat by the window in the third row, the sunlight hitting his profile, making him look like a piece of art.

“What’s it to you?” Brayden glared at him.

“She’s my seatmate,” Caleb said, his tone flat, “If you bully her, you’re bullying me.”

Brayden snorted, tossed the test paper back onto my desk, and walked away.

Before leaving, he shot me a look filled with pure, cold-blooded threats.

“Riley, you’re done for.”

I looked down at the forty-seven-percent test, the corner of my mouth twitching slightly.

The open notebook next to me wasn’t filled with math formulas―it was covered in a behavioral profile for the suspect of last night’s case.

Done for?

I was the one waiting for you, Brayden.