I was being framed for shoplifting by the campus convenience store owner. Just as he reached out to "search" me—a thin excuse to rip my clothes off—I raised a wooden stick in rage, ready to smash this dump to pieces. But suddenly, a barrage of crystal-clear comments floated right in front of my eyes, stopping me cold. (Nora! Stop! Don’t smash anything! He’s trying to provoke you on purpose!) (Trust us, we’re here to help. This creep took money from the principal to humiliate you. If you trash the store, they’ll call the cops, you’ll get a record, and you’ll be expelled...) (That disgusting pig is trying to strip-search you! Get your phone out and record his ugly face instead! Let the internet see what he really is!) Thank god they stopped me. Otherwise, I would have been totally screwed. Chapter 1 I held the stick frozen in mid-air. The owner, a greasy man named Mr. Zhu, grew impatient and lunged to grab my shirt. I dropped the stick and started screaming like a banshee. "Back off! Back off! Eeeeek! Help!" While I channeled my inner screaming marmot, I frantically texted my roommates under the counter. Just as Mr. Zhu’s filthy hands were about to touch me, my five roommates burst in like the Avengers. "Let her go!" My roommate, captain of the cheer squad, Sam, launched a flying kick at Mr. Zhu. It looked cool as hell, but Mr. Zhu barely budged. He was built like a brick outhouse; I couldn't blame her. Mr. Zhu swatted Sam’s leg away, knocking both of us to the ground. He spat, "Birds of a feather! Thief's friends are probably thieves too. Probably stole half my inventory already." "Little delinquents. I'll teach you a lesson today..." I ignored his filth and scrambled up. Following the floating comments’ advice, I started my counterattack. My roommates and I had telepathic chemistry. One look, and they knew the plan. I acted terrified and begged for mercy, while they backed out of the store. Another roommate, Hannah—a beauty influencer with a decent following—had already quietly raised her phone to record. Mr. Zhu, chin up and lips curled in a smug sneer, pressed his advantage. "Hurry up! You stole from my store and won't admit it? If you don't strip to prove your innocence right now, I won't let you leave." I wailed loudly, clutching my clothes tightly. "Sir, I only bought three packs of ramen! I swear I didn't steal anything!" Mr. Zhu stroked his chin, eyes leering. "I saw you sneaking stuff into your clothes. Who knows if it’s in your pockets or down your pants?" I feigned a mental breakdown. I frantically shook my pants and turned my pockets inside out. "See? Can you see now? I didn't steal anything!" Mr. Zhu wouldn't let up. He insisted on a full strip search. I screamed, "I'd rather die!" and threw myself toward the wall. The video cut there as my roommates rushed in to "stop" me. Mr. Zhu, seeing I hadn't actually cracked my skull, continued to harass me. "Tsk tsk tsk. Thought you were gonna end it all? Why stop? Guilty conscience, huh? The stolen goods are in your pants, aren't they? Take them off." My five roommates were seeing red. They pointed at him and unleashed hell: "You look like a pig and think with your dick! Do the world a favor and drop dead!" "Look at that perverted face! Everyone knows what you're trying to do! Disgusting!" "Karma's gonna get you, old man. Watch your back." "Everyone knows you're scum. Charging twenty bucks for a ten-dollar item. Black-hearted greed!" "What? Can't make money ripping people off anymore, so now you're framing students? If you can't afford to run a business, close it! Stop being gross!" Mr. Zhu flew into a rage. He grabbed a baton from behind the counter and swung it at us. I didn't dodge. The baton cracked right against my forehead. Blood sprayed instantly. On my signal, Hannah uploaded the video to our class group chat. Students eating in the cafeteria saw it and exploded. They swarmed over like a tidal wave. They arrived just in time to see me get hit, blood pouring down my face. The rage was instantaneous. They roared for vengeance. Mr. Zhu, seeing thirty angry students, quickly hid the baton behind his back, pretending nothing happened. The basketball captain, Tyler, dumped his lunch tray right on Mr. Zhu's head. "You dare touch my classmate? You must have a death wish! Get him, boys!" Chili oil dripped into Mr. Zhu's eyes. He squealed like a stuck pig. Before he could wipe it off, the guys grabbed every bottle of Coke and Sprite from the shelves, shook them violently, and sprayed him down. He looked like a drowned rat. Meanwhile, I lay on the floor playing dead, waiting for the ambulance. Chapter 2 The video of Mr. Zhu humiliating me spread from the class chat to the whole school. One to ten, ten to a hundred. Within minutes, almost every student knew. Mr. Zhu was the only game in town, and he abused his monopoly. Ten bucks for a soda, fifty for a pack of pads. He had made plenty of enemies. Now, seeing him pull this crap? The students snapped. Impulse took over. Hundreds of students stormed the store. Seeing Tyler and the boys already engaging, the mob lost all restraint. They rushed in. Smash! Crash! "Eighty! Eighty!" In minutes, the convenience store looked worse than a landfill. The siren of the ambulance finally halted the chaos. Everyone watched as the paramedics loaded me onto a stretcher. The moment the ambulance doors closed, the students scattered like roaches in the light. Mr. Zhu, covered in footprints and sticky soda, couldn't catch a single one. He pried open his swollen, chili-burned eyes to see his ruined store and let out another pig-like wail. Before he could finish screaming, the cops handcuffed him. That hit gave me a concussion. I was going to sue him for every penny. Sitting in the interrogation room, Mr. Zhu finally realized he had screwed up. He hadn't provoked me into smashing the store; instead, he had assaulted a student. How would he explain this to the Principal? Desperate, he lied to the cops. He claimed I was "loose," that I stole from him, and then called a gang to beat him up. He said he only grabbed the baton for self-defense, and accidentally hit me while protecting himself. He claimed my injury was just bad luck and had nothing to do with him. The cops laughed in his face. He didn't know that the video of him harassing me was already trending on local news. Netizens were ripping Mr. Zhu and his ancestors to shreds. Principal Higgins was fuming in his office, cursing Mr. Zhu for being useless. I was in the hospital, so Higgins couldn't touch me yet. In his rage, he took it out on Tyler and the boys. He called them to his office and screamed: "Nora Vance stole things! She had a conflict with Mr. Zhu! What does that have to do with you? You smashed his store! You're all paying for it!" Tyler was smart. His retort nearly gave Higgins a stroke. "First: Nora didn't steal anything. She's the victim." "Second: We didn't smash anything. Don't slander us without evidence. My aunt is a top lawyer. I'll have my parents sue you for defamation if you're not careful." Tyler's family was full of legal sharks. He wasn't scared of a high school principal. The other boys chimed in: "Yeah, we saw Mr. Zhu had chili in his eyes. We just opened some sodas to help him wash it out! We were being good Samaritans!" "When we left, the store was fine. We don't know anything..." Mr. Zhu had to eat the loss. He had turned off the surveillance cameras to frame me, so there was no footage of who smashed what. He literally played himself. Principal Higgins didn't get to vent; he just swallowed more anger. Chapter 3 Lying in my hospital bed, I scrolled through the floating comments. From them, I learned this world was a novel. And I was just a stepping stone for the male and female leads' romance. In the original plot, Mr. Zhu framing me and trying to strip me was all orchestrated by Principal Higgins. The reason? The school had two guaranteed spots for a prestigious study abroad program. They belonged to me and the male lead, David Chen. Principal Higgins' daughter, Jessica Higgins—the female lead—wanted to go abroad with David. So she begged her daddy to get rid of me and give her my spot. But as long as I didn't drop out, Higgins couldn't touch that spot. So he resorted to this dirty trick to force me out. In the book, I fell for the trap. I was humiliated, smashed the store in rage, and got expelled. Jessica took my spot, went abroad to get "gold-plated," and returned as a celebrated success story. Meanwhile, with an expulsion on my record, I hit wall after wall in society. I worked like a dog. Finally, I got into a decent company and was about to be promoted... When Jessica returned, parachuted in as my boss, and stole my position. She didn't feel an ounce of guilt. Instead, she sabotaged me at every turn until I was forced out. If these comments hadn't saved me, I would have lived through that hell. Just thinking about it made my chest ache with rage. Damn Higgins. Damn Zhu. And that trash female lead. I wasn't letting any of them off. Chapter 4 After the injury assessment, I was discharged. Nothing serious. Mr. Zhu was still in lockup. I hired a lawyer for compensation. I definitely wasn't settling. The moment I returned to school, Higgins called me to his office. Before I could enter, he had a female teacher frisk me to ensure I had no recording devices. Only then did he close the door and start his high-and-mighty lecture. "Why didn't you report this to a teacher? Why did you have to be so barbaric?" "I know all about what happened with Mr. Zhu. It was a small misunderstanding that you blew up into a scandal." "It takes two to tango. Why would Mr. Zhu accuse you for no reason?" "Reflect on yourself. Was it because you were dressed inappropriately?" He glared at me with his dead fish eyes, spouting victim-blaming nonsense. I cut him off calmly. "Principal, didn't you see the video of him verbally sexually assaulting me?" Higgins scoffed. "He just used some improper language. You were the one who overreacted." "Now Mr. Zhu is in jail because of you. Don't you feel guilty? You're stubborn." "You need to sign a settlement and get him out. Otherwise, don't blame me if this goes on your permanent record." I sneered. "Are you threatening me, Principal?" Higgins bared his yellow teeth, thinking he had me cornered. "Threatening? I'm educating you! Sometimes you have to forgive and forget. Don't be ungrateful." I was disgusted. I fired back. "Since you're so generous, why don't you send your daughter, Jessica, over to Mr. Zhu for a 'chat'?" "I have dignity. I can't handle that kind of humiliation. Since you can, I hope your daughter meets a man like Mr. Zhu every day. My ancestors were shamans; my curses stick. Good luck to her!" Higgins slammed his desk. "You little bitch! Dare curse my daughter? I'll make sure you never graduate!" "Get out! You're done here!" I laughed loudly. "Why so mad? Weren't you just preaching forgiveness? Now that it's your daughter, it hurts?" "You hypocritical tyrant! You stab others but scream when you get pricked!" "Forgive and forget? You're unreasonable, yet you argue. I'm right, so why should I forgive?" I didn't hold back. I aired all his dirty laundry. Higgins took over three years ago. The previous principal, Mr. Shen, was an honest man who clashed with Higgins. Mr. Shen had a disabled son. With approval from the board and the education bureau, Mr. Shen hired his son to work in the print room. Minimum wage. Not taking a teacher's headcount. The son cherished the job. In five years, he never missed a day. The moment Mr. Shen retired, Higgins fired the son, citing his disability. No severance. Mr. Shen had to sue to get the pension. Everyone knew Higgins was a scumbag for that. I threw that in his face. He nearly passed out from anger. Beep... beep... beep... ... After thirty minutes of verbal combat, he couldn't take it anymore. Panting like a cow, he kicked me out. The comments helped. For every sentence he said, they gave me ten comebacks. Chapter 5 Because I refused to settle, Mr. Zhu stayed in jail. His store was trashed and uncompensated. His family took a huge hit. Soon, they hired shady bot accounts to smear me online. They said I was an attention whore trying to become an influencer. That Mr. Zhu was innocent. Since the video only showed verbal abuse, they spun a story. They claimed students stole so much that Mr. Zhu was going broke. That he had an 80-year-old mother and a toddler to feed. That he snapped under pressure. Some business owners bought it. They started cyberbullying me. Higgins saw the tide turning and started dreaming again. He thought he could kick me out and send his daughter abroad. He was grinning ear to ear. I didn't panic. I had the ace up my sleeve. A student filming from a distance had captured the entire incident and sent it to me. Before my roommates arrived, Mr. Zhu had said some truly vile things and physically groped me. I waited for the rumors to peak, then sent the full video to a local news reporter. The video dropped in the morning. The internet exploded by noon. The people who defended Mr. Zhu felt like idiots. Their shame turned to rage. They doxxed Mr. Zhu's family. His wife got fired. His son, Zhu Jr., was stripped and humiliated on his way home from school. Don't feel bad for the kid. He was a bully too. He once blinded a classmate in one eye with a ruler. Because he was ten, his parents just paid a fine. The blinded kid's parents set off fireworks for a week when they heard the news.
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