Chapter 2

2.

Brayden meant what he said.

The next day, he started a rumor around the class―he claimed I had stolen his watch.

“My luxury watch, worth over five thousand dollars, was in my backpack yesterday and now it’s gone,” Brayden stood at the front of the room, looking innocent, “Yesterday after school, only Riley was left in the classroom.”

Every pair of eyes in the room locked onto me.

“I didn’t steal it,” I stood up.

“You didn’t? Then where did it go?” Brayden sneered, “Riley, we all know your family’s situation. Can you even afford something like this?”

“Just because I can’t afford it doesn’t mean I’d steal it.”

“Then tell me, where is the watch?”

“How should I know where your watch went?”

“Because you stole it!” Brayden raised his voice, “Riley, you’re just a common thief!”

The class began whispering again.

“It does seem like she was the only one left...”

“Her family is so poor, it’s not surprising she’d steal...”

“So disgusting...”

I stood my ground, clenching my fists.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have a temper; I just refused to lose it in front of these people.

Because the moment I showed my real capabilities, the identity I’d hidden for two years would be exposed.

I didn’t want anyone to know who I really was.

“That’s enough,” our homeroom teacher, Mr. Chen, walked in, “Everyone, quiet! Brayden, do you have any proof?”

“I don’t have hard proof, but she was the only one with the opportunity,” Brayden argued confidently.

“If you don’t have proof, stop running your mouth,” Mr. Chen looked at me, “Riley, sit down.”

I sat down.

But the situation was far from over.

For the next week, Brayden stepped up his game.

He hid my textbooks so I couldn’t turn in my homework.

He used a bright red marker to write “THIEF” on my desk.

He teamed up with other wealthy kids to block my path in the cafeteria and dumped my food on the floor.

“Riley, this is what happens to thieves,” he stood over me, looking down with disdain, “Had enough yet?”

I crouched on the floor, staring at the spilled lunch, staying silent.

“Not enough?” Brayden sneered, “Then we’ll keep going.”

He walked away, leaving behind a mess of soup and broken plastic.

I crouched there all alone, slowly picking up the pieces.

“Are you alright?” the cafeteria lady walked over and helped me clean up.

“I’m fine,” I said, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“That boy is just evil,” she sighed, “Don’t be afraid of him, go report him to the teachers.”

Report him?

If that actually worked, I wouldn’t be down here picking up trash.

That night, I received a call from Old Joe.

“Riley, there’s a case tomorrow that needs you on the scene.”

“Okay,” I replied, “What time?”

“Eight in the morning, at the city library. Someone planted a bomb there.”

A bomb.

“Understood,” I said and hung up.

Early the next morning, I skipped first period and headed to the library.

Nobody knew that the bomb case which had baffled the entire police force had been defused by a seventeen-year-old student.

When I got back to school, Brayden was standing at my desk, using scissors to shred my backpack.

“Riley! You skipped class again!” he saw me and laughed happily, “I’ve already told Mr. Chen. You’re skipping, so you’re getting a formal write-up!”

I looked at the shredded pieces of my bag on the floor and said nothing.

That bag should have held the case files Old Joe had just given me.

Luckily, I kept them on me at all times.