Maya screamed and slapped me hard across the face.
“Wayne’s telling the truth! How could you hit him? I’m so disappointed in you!”
Some of the younger onlookers about our age immediately stepped in and started shoving me.
“Wow, look at this kid acting tough,” one of them spat. “All these people around and you still think you can bully someone?”
I clenched my teeth and let them push me to the floor without saying a word. Just then, a few police officers walked in, and the crowd quickly opened a path for them.
“Who called the police?”
I pushed myself up and dusted off my jeans.
“I did,” I said. “I saw Maya Summers steal that man’s wallet.”
The moment I spoke, Wayne rushed toward the officers, practically shoving his bleeding lip at them.
“Officers, I’d like to report him! He’s framing Maya on purpose!” he cried. “I spoke up for her, and he punched me! Everyone here saw it! Arrest him!”
I didn’t acknowledge a word he said. Instead, I held out my shattered phone to the police.
“He grabbed my phone and smashed it. Everyone here saw that, too.”
The same young guys who shoved me earlier immediately started yelling.
“You framed the girl first! Smashing your phone was nothing. If it were me, I’d have punched you straight in the face!”
“Exactly. Kids these days are messed up in the head. He can’t get the girl, so he destroys her life. Officers, take him in and teach him a lesson.”
I looked around coldly at every face there before finally letting my gaze settle on the actual victim—the middle-aged man with the gold chain. He had been watching the whole thing with amusement, not saying a single word.
When he noticed me staring, he stood up and motioned to one of his guys, who handed his phone to the police.
“I had the bar manager pull the security footage,” he said. “This girl spilled her drink on me on purpose and then took advantage of the distraction to steal my wallet.”
The moment he said that, the noisy crowd went dead silent.
That was exactly how it happened in my previous life, too. At first, I refused to believe Maya would ever steal anything and argued with everything I had. However, the guy then pulled out that same surveillance clip. It was HD footage, so there was no room for excuses.
The police turned to Maya. “Miss, you’ll need to come with us.”
Wayne tried to protest again, but the officers cut him off. “You’re coming too.”
In the end, the man with the gold chain and I followed them out and got into the patrol car as well.
Not long after we arrived at the station, our college tutor, Maya’s mother, and Wayne’s father all rushed in. The moment Wayne’s father heard he’d need to compensate me a few thousand dollars for my phone, he slapped Wayne hard across the face.
