Right before the SAT, our scatterbrained airheaded group favourite, the school belle, Priscilla Ashford, volunteers herself to safeguard everyone's admission tickets.

My firm refusal of her offer earns me the displeasure of my childhood sweetheart, Justin Kylemark. "You're picking on her again," he says.

I ignore his rebuke.

On the exam day itself, I personally double-checked every single admission ticket to make sure nothing could go wrong. However, the moment Priscilla gets hers from me, she burst into tears, claiming that I lost her ticket.

Justin snatched my admission ticket and tore it to shreds.

I run until my legs give out, barely managing to get it reissued before the bus leaves. However, my classmates all kicked me off the bus together.

"You lost Priscilla's admission ticket. Do you think you deserve to sit for the exam?"

They carry with them the exam prediction I had prepared for them. Thanks to that, they each achieve excellent scores.

I have no choice but to repeat the year and become the top scorer.

By then, Justin and my other classmates, who are already in prestigious universities and colleges, all return together. They produce fake evidence, accusing me of cheating in the exam.

Unable to defend myself, a candidate who flunked the exam poured gasoline on me and set me on fire.

When I open my eyes once more, I see myself handing the admission tickets over to Priscilla… except for my own.

"I just gave the meal you brought me to Priscilla. Do you really have to go after her like this?"

Justin Kylemark, my childhood friend, spoke in an annoyed tone. "Priscilla's weak. She's about to take her SAT. She needs this more than I do. You always take pride in being fair, don't you? Then, just hand the admission tickets to her. Stop being so power-hungry!"

Right then, I was clutching the class' admission tickets with all my strength.

In my past life, Justin had backed Priscilla Ashford in the exact same way.

I fought with him bitterly and even dragged the homeroom teacher in to mediate before I finally stopped Priscilla from taking our admission tickets.

Afterward, the whole class whispered that I was targeting Priscilla. They said that I didn't deserve to be the class representative and started isolating me.

I had to beg each of them to practice the exam questions I'd predicted. Those very questions helped students who barely had a shot at a first-tier university to an almost guaranteed admission to the top-100 universities.

However, they were completely ungrateful for my help. Moreover, they even called my parents over to watch me burn alive when the failed students set me alight after drenching me in gasoline.

Even now, I was haunted by the image of my parents, frozen in shock as they watched me swallowed by fire. Meanwhile, everyone else shielded Priscilla and laughed out loud at the scene.

My parents, unable to bear the horrific sight, rushed into the flames after me…

A voice snapped me out of my daze. "Cassidy Ford, don't push your—"

"Here. Take it," I said. I shoved the admission tickets into Priscilla's hands, cutting Justin off mid-sentence. Then, I grabbed my bag and turned to leave.

I didn't want to look at any of them for even a second longer. Until the exams were over, I wasn't coming back to this school.

Priscilla froze, clearly shocked by the fact that I'd handed it over so obediently.

However, just as I stepped out of the classroom, Justin yanked me back by my bag strap. "Wait. Where's your admission ticket?"

"I'm keeping mine."

With that, I brushed him off in frustration.

However, he wouldn't let it go. "No. We all agreed that everyone's tickets go to Priscilla. Yours too."

"Why should I?"

I clutched my ticket tighter and pulled away from him.

"If you guys want her to keep yours, fine. I'm not stopping you. I want to keep my own, so what's wrong with holding onto my own ticket?"

The PE committee member, Gaston Hubbard, stepped forward and pinned me to the ground. "Unbelievable. Cassidy, can't you stop being so jealous?"

A few other class committee members chimed in.

"Exactly. Priscilla's our favorite. She's our group's favourite. She's finally trying to do something nice for us. Why do you have to make it hard on her?"

"As the class representative, you should trust your classmates. We agreed that everyone hand their tickets to Priscilla. There shouldn't be an exception!"

Gaston snatched my admission ticket straight out of my hand and tossed it to Justin.

I lunged for it, but the boys started passing it around like a game, tossing it back and forth and holding it up high.

"Come on, Cassidy! If you can grab it, it's yours again!"

"Hah! Look at her jumping around like a monkey!"

"Serves you right for bossing us around every day!"

With a heavy thud, I threw my bag to the floor and stormed out, slamming the door behind me.

Justin's smile froze on his face.

Someone whispered, "Did Cassidy… cry?"

Justin frowned, staring after me.

I splashed water on my face in the bathroom, wiping away the streaks of tears.

I told myself it was fine as I looked at myself in the mirror. So what if I gave the admission ticket away? Priscilla can keep it for all I care.

I could just apply for a replacement ticket. I still had time.

…

However, when I walked back into the classroom, the first thing I heard was the sound of cards shuffling.

I rushed in, only to find my classmates huddled in a circle. They were using the admission tickets as a replacement for playing cards.

The game was so intense that a few tickets slipped to the floor, and no one even cared.

"Priscilla's idea is brilliant. There are 54 of us. It's enough for a deck of cards!"

"The school banned playing cards, and Cassidy watches us like a hawk. Luckily for us, the admission tickets are with Priscilla for safekeeping. What is she gonna do now? Confiscate them? Hah!"

"I'm playing this one! Who's going for it?"

"I will! I've got Justin in my hand!"

"Then, I'll play Priscilla!"

Admission tickets were being smacked onto the desk one after another. Yet, the moment they saw me, the smiles on their faces were replaced by frowns.

"What are you staring at? Are you gonna tell us the admission tickets are banned too?"

"The exam's in two days, and you guys aren't even bothered to do your revisions?" I asked, slightly confused.

They just sneered at my question.

"What's there to be afraid of? Didn't you already say you'd give us exam predictions?"

I froze.

In my past life, I stayed up all night poring over years of exam questions. They didn't even care about my predictions. In fact, I had to beg them to study.

So, they did know how important this was, eh?

Priscilla's eyes sparkled with mischief as she threw my ticket onto the pile. "I play Cassidy. Who dares to beat her?"

"Cassidy?"

Everyone's attention snapped back to the game.

"I play Jonathan Hugh!"

"Even the underdog dares to challenge Cassidy? Please."

"Cassidy, huh?" Someone else clicked their tongue. "I guess anyone can just do her."

"Oooh… is that an innuendo I hear? Then, I'll play Ricky Lowe!"

"I choose Zachary Smith!"

One after another, everyone started slapping the admission tickets in their hands on the table. Meanwhile, the boys being "played" groaned in annoyance.

"Hey! I don't want to do her! That's gross!"

The whole class roared with laughter.

Hearing this, Priscilla covered her mouth dramatically and added, "Oh, stop, you guys. An eavesdropper might think you're talking about some prostitute."

A loud smack echoed in the classroom as my palm struck across her face.

At that moment, Justin just came back from looking for me, just in time to witness the scene. He grabbed my wrist hard. "Cassidy Ford! What the heck are you doing?"

Immediately, everyone shouted over each other, accusing me of being jealous of Priscilla holding the admission tickets.

I pointed to the pile of admission tickets scattered across the desk. "Justin Kylemark! They played my card like I was an easy woman who would do anyone! Am I supposed to smile and congratulate them for a game well-played?"

Even Justin, however clueless he may be, couldn't ignore the thick stack piled over my admission ticket.

"Justin, it was just a joke…" Priscilla's voice softened as she tugged gently at his sleeve.

However, when he looked at me—with my eyes burning red—his breath caught. For the first time, he didn't take Priscilla's side.

"Put them away," he ordered.

"Eh? But Justin—"

"I said put them away!" he roared, cutting her off.

Seeing his deep frown, everyone kept their mouths shut and gathered up the admission tickets.

He turned back to me as if wanting to explain something. However, I had already snatched my bag and walked out without looking back.

…

I didn't return to school, but Priscilla still made sure I saw what happened next.

In a private room, the whole class celebrated their so-called "freedom" from the class representative's supervision. They called it a pre-exam relaxation party.

Justin draped an arm over Priscilla's shoulder, grinning as the literature committee member, Marvin Hancock, teased.

"Come on, admit it. You told Priscilla to put the admission tickets away earlier because you were trying to support Cassidy, weren't you?"

The room erupted in cheers.

Under everyone's gaze, Justin tore my admission ticket in half. Then, with a smile, he turned to Priscilla and asked, "Do you believe me now, my princess?"

"Bold move, Justin!"

"Justin and Priscilla—perfect couple right here!"

The moment the beers were popped open, foam blasted out and splattered across the entire room. In the middle of all the cheering, Priscilla's voice message popped up.

"I'm so sorry. I was only joking, but somehow, to prove you're not the one in his heart, Justin actually agreed to tear up your admission ticket."

I forwarded that audio recording straight to Justin, asking him to explain this.

However, he didn't reply until the next day when he said, "Oh, I drank too much last night and forgot to tell you. You'd better hurry and reapply for a new ticket."

My grip on the phone tightened. "Justin Kylemark, if I hadn't reached out first, were you planning to wait until the day before the exam to tell me this?"

My words caught him off guard, and he grew impatient. "Can you stop being so jealous?"

With that, he hung up.

In the past, I wanted to take the SAT so I could apply to the same university as Justin.

But now? I no longer cared.

I dialed the number of the research institute. "Aunt Helena, I cracked the project's code. Also, I'll take up your offer to join your research institute."

"Oh my gosh! Cassidy, you finally came around! What about that childhood sweetheart of yours? Is he coming to Northwich too?"

I shook my head. "There's nothing between us anymore."

The research institute relied on me to solve coding problems in the past. And with memories from my past life, their "unsolvable" projects were child's play for me.

Freed from the pressure of the SAT exams, I focused on packing for Northwich.

On the day before the exam, my inbox exploded with notifications. Every single one of my classmates messaged me.

"Cassidy, didn't you say you'd give us exam predictions? Where are they?"

"Hurry up! The exam's tomorrow!"

"Can you send them already? I need to sleep by 10:00 pm!"

They were all frantic. Yet, when I asked them to study seriously before this, offering my predictions, they only sneered at me.

"You just can't stand that Priscilla is everyone's favorite and doing this to seek attention, aren't you?"

"What a joke! Nobody wants your stupid predictions!"

So, I tagged everyone in the group chat, simply writing, "There are no exam predictions. You're on your own."

The chat instantly blew up.

"What do you mean? You promised to give us exam predictions, and now you're bailing?"

"I didn't study at all! I was counting on you! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"Fine, you win. We were only standing up for Priscilla because you were targeting her. We'll apologize now, alright? Just hurry up and send those predictions!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Weren't you the ones who said that nobody would waste their time on my predictions? If you never trusted me, why slack off and wait on me? Pathetic losers who can't even take responsibility for themselves deserve to flunk their exam."

I had never been so blunt with them, causing them to explode in outrage.

Just as I was about to mute the chat, Priscilla shared a file in the group.

[I'm not as capable as Cassidy, but I've put together some exam predictions too. I worked hard on these. I hope you guys don't mind…]

I opened the file. Every single prediction neatly avoided the real exam topics.

However, my classmates were overjoyed.

"That's our Priscilla! She keeps our admission tickets safe, and now she's giving us exam predictions too! Honestly, what's Cassidy even good for?"

"That's so true. All she does is get jealous."

A notification popped up—I'd been kicked out of the group chat.

I didn't feel the slightest bit angry.

They probably hadn't noticed. Back when they were holding their celebration, a few admission tickets had already slipped out of Priscilla's bag and fallen into the trash.

…

On exam day, I still went to the school gates just to feel the atmosphere. From a distance, I saw Priscilla surrounded by panicked classmates.

"What's going on? Maybe you put them in a different bag? They can't just be gone!"

Priscilla's eyes were red as she rifled through her bag again and again. "No way… I checked last night. Every single one was there…"

I knew she was lying.

Those tickets had fallen into the trash during the drinking party. How could she have checked them last night?

Nervousness flickered across their faces. They kept glancing toward the exam hall, trying to stay calm.

"It's fine. Just keep looking. There's still half an hour left…"