But as she looked closely at the shattered frame, a subtle realization washed over her.
The reinforced backplate had popped loose upon impact. Beneath the plastic lining, mostly hidden by the jagged glass, a tiny, silver micro-SD card was half-exposed.
The backup drive.
Her father had modified the case himself. The school didn't know about it. Chloe didn't know about it.
Before Principal Davis could grab her arm, Maya shifted her grip. With a swift, practiced motion that the angry administrator didn't even notice, she pressed her thumb against the broken seam, sliding the tiny micro-SD card out of its slot and palming it in her left hand.
She let the broken plastic casing snap back into place.
“I’ll go to the office,” Maya said smoothly, slipping her left hand into her blazer pocket and dropping the tiny chip inside.
Ten minutes later, Maya sat in the cold, leather chair of the principal's office. Across the desk, Chloe and Harper sat on a comfortable sofa, wrapped in school-branded blankets that the nurse had provided. Chloe was dabbing at her dry eyes with a tissue.
“My father is already on his way,” Chloe sniffled, looking at Davis. “He’s going to be so upset, Mr. Davis. He just wrote a check for the new science wing.”
“I know, Chloe, I know,” Davis said soothingly. He turned to Maya, his expression hardening into stone. “Assault is an expellable offense, Maya. Given your... financial background, we took a massive risk bringing you into this institution. This is how you repay our generosity? By brutally attacking our top students?”
“They aren't top students,” Maya said flatly. “Chloe failed her last three midterms. And she smashed my tablet.”
“Because you tripped me!” Chloe lied effortlessly. “I stumbled and dropped it! And then you went psycho!”
Maya didn't yell. She didn't cry. Her grandfather, Arthur, had taught her better than that. A warrior only speaks when the words change the outcome, he always said in the dojo. Right now, defending herself against Chloe's lies in front of a bought-and-paid-for principal was a waste of breath.
She needed to know why Chloe had targeted the tablet.