Chapter 5
“You didn’t even see the girl’s face. How do you know it was Ms. Lewis?” The police officer’s question snapped us back to the heart of the matter.
Harvey shifted, clearly uncomfortable, but continued, “I didn’t see her face, but I saw her clothes. Later, I saw the same outfit on the balcony of their dorm, and I asked Rose about it. She said it belonged to Yvette.”
That was enough to make my tears spill over.
“Officer, you heard that, right?” I sobbed. “That girl was me. You need to arrest the guy, now!”
At my insistence, the officer contacted my faculty advisor, Hugo Lynch.
Hugo was at college and got the call. 10 minutes later, he arrived, flanked by security guards. At his signal, the guards began to push back the students who had gathered.
But it didn’t matter. In no time, we were surrounded–not just by students from our college but by curious onlookers from the neighboring campus.
Even the security guard’s threats of deduction of credit points didn’t do much to dissuade them.
Hugo clearly knew the whole story by now. He shook the officer’s hand, then smiled reassuringly. “Officer, I’m their faculty advisor. I understand what happened here. This is just a misunderstanding. Let me handle it from here.”
After saying that, Hugo approached me and said in a low voice, “Yvette, what are you doing? Why didn’t you come to the college for help? Making such a scene your status as an exemplary student, your scholarship, they could all be revoked. You’re damaging the college’s reputation. You might even be expelled.”
It was the same spiel from last time.
–
In my past life, those exact words had terrified me into dropping the case when I had gone to the authorities. But I had been reborn, and I no longer cared about the college or my scholarship.
After going through what I did in my last life, I knew that the better behaved a person was, the more they were bullied.
This time, nothing—nothing at all–was going to stop me from clearing my name.
I wiped my tears away, my voice rising as I looked Hugo in the eye. “Mr. Lynch, what exactly do you mean by that? Not only did you assault me, but now you want to expel me too?”
Everyone turned their gaze to him. His face went red, and he stumbled over his words, “I–I didn’t mean it like that.
11
“Cut the act, Mr. Lynch,” I said as pitifully as I could. “You drugged me, then took me to that grove and assaulted me. You ruined my life. Tell me–How did you do it?”
“I didn’t drug you! Stop making accusations without proof.
“I have proof!” I pointed at Harvey. “He’s the witness. He even has the video of you hurting me.”
Hugo’s face darkened immediately, his eyes flashing with anger. He turned to Harvey. “What proof? If you’re making false accusations against a teacher, you could be expelled for slander.”
At this point, Harvey didn’t care about anything anymore. He pulled out his phone and played the video. Hugo froze for a moment, his mind racing. But then he scoffed and dismissed it.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 5
“It’s fake,” he retorted without hesitation.
He quickly pulled the officer aside, muttering that with so many people watching, it would be better to discuss things in a quieter place.
“This video is obviously doctored,” Hugo continued, his voice rising. “This student is framing me. We had a disagreement recently, and he’s angry because I didn’t give his girlfriend a scholarship.”
He raised his voice louder, hoping to drown out any doubts. “Don’t keep watching. You’ll lose credit points if your own faculty advisor sees you!”
But even with the threat, few students moved away. They all knew the truth: the law couldn’t hold everyone accountable when too many people were involved.
Harvey was furious. “What do you mean fake? There’s a security camera by the exit of the grove. It’s bound to have caught the faces of the people in this video. You want proof? Just check it.”
Hugo and Rose’s faces drained of color. They didn’t want to look at the footage because they knew it would expose the truth/So, they tried to convince me and Harvey to let it go.
But no matter what Hugo said, I just kept crying, insisting that he had hurt me and I needed justice.
Harvey wasn’t backing down either. “Rose, don’t let him intimidate you just because he’s a teacher. He can’t cover up the truth. Look at Yvette! She’s acting as if we’ve unjustly accused her. I already scouted out the grove, so I’m sure I’m right!”
With both of us standing our ground, the officers finally agreed to check the security footage. We all headed to the monitoring room, leaving the students behind. Melanie volunteered to stay with me, fearing that I might be bullied.
I agreed.
Right up until the surveillance footage was pulled, Harvey still tried to talk me down. “Yvette, we’ll see in the video if you were conscious that day. If you walked out of the grove on your own, I’ll sue you for emotional distress.”
He looked smug, convinced that I was just crying wolf.
The footage came up.
At first, it clearly showed Hugo walking out of the grove. We waited for another five minutes before the girl who was supposedly me stepped out.
When Harvey saw the face on the screen, his expression froze in shock.
