Chapter 4 - THE OTHER GIRL
The recovered video was dated October 17.
A girl named Ava Reyes stood alone near the east stairwell carrying a violin case.
Sloane, Chloe, and Piper surrounded her.
There was no sound at first.
Then Ben restored the audio.
Sloane said, “Scholarship girls should learn gratitude.”
Ava tried to step around her.
Chloe kicked the violin case.
It hit the wall.
Ava screamed.
Piper laughed.
Then Vice Principal Crowe entered the frame.
I expected the girls to panic.
They didn’t.
Crowe looked at Ava’s broken case and said, “You need to be more careful with expensive things.”
My stomach turned.
Dad paused the video.
“Where is Ava now?”
Ben checked the student system.
“She transferred in November.”
“Why?”
The official record said family relocation.
It took me twenty seconds online to find Ava’s mother still working at a dental office three blocks from the school.
“They didn’t move,” I said.
Dad stared at the screen.
“No.”
The next morning, district investigator Helen Lang arrived before sunrise. She was small, gray-haired, and had the kind of calm voice that made people answer questions they had planned to avoid.
She interviewed me first.
“How long has the harassment been happening?”
“Since September.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
I looked through the office window at Dad standing in the hallway.
“Because I thought everyone would say exactly what they’re saying now. That my father would fix everything for me.”
“And did you want him to?”
“No.”
“What did you want?”
I thought about the bucket.
“I wanted them to stop because it was wrong, not because of who my dad is.”
Helen nodded once.
“That answer matters.”
At noon, Sloane’s father arrived with two attorneys.
Peter Mercer walked through the front office like he owned the building.
He demanded a meeting with Dad.
Helen joined them.
So did the district superintendent.
I wasn’t supposed to hear anything.
But the conference room walls were glass.
Peter slammed a folder onto the table.
“My daughter is being targeted because your daughter kept her identity secret.”
Dad didn’t move.
“Your daughter poured contaminated cleaning water over a student.”
“She was provoked.”
“By what?”
Peter smiled without humor.
“You might want to ask Mia what she stole.”
I froze outside the room.
Dad’s eyes shifted toward me.
Peter opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph of me holding a silver flash drive.
I had never seen it before.
May you like
Peter tapped the picture.
“That drive contains confidential school files,” he said. “And we have a witness who says Mia took it.”
