Betrayed Before the Exam, Saved by My Future Self

The night before the national college entrance exam. I had my head down, grinding through practice problems.

Then a woman appeared in the mirror—my face, but wrecked. Skin mottled with disease, hair matted and filthy, close enough to death that I could see it in her hollowed-out eyes.

She stared at me like I was her last hope.

"Stella. I'm you, from the future."

"Don't help Boris cheat. Please—I'm begging you. If you do, you'll lose everything. Your name, your score, all of it. And after you fail the exam, he'll lure you to the worst place you can imagine, and they will break you until you're dead."

I let out a scornful laugh, certain it was some kind of prank.

Everyone knew Boris Gilbert was the boy I'd grown up with, my childhood friend since before I could remember.

No one had ever been better to me.

But the next second, his text came through.

"Stella, I've arranged for Karen to sit right behind you at the exam tomorrow. You've got the grades. Just help her out a little, and the three of us can go to college together."

Ice shot through my hands and feet.

I whipped around. The woman in the mirror was already gone.

……

I stared at the glass, numb.

Nothing there. No woman. Just an empty mirror.

But my phone screen was still lit, the message still glowing, reminding me that none of this had been a dream.

It couldn't be real.

I let out a long breath, forced my shoulders to drop.

Just nerves. Pre-exam stress. A hallucination, nothing more.

Boris had always been principled. Firm in his convictions.

Asking me to cheat? He wouldn't.

He couldn't even tell a white lie without blushing for half the day.

Let alone gamble with my future.

Whoever sent that text from his phone had to be working with whoever pulled that mirror stunt.

But before I could turn back to the next problem,

my phone buzzed again.

Not a text this time. A video call.

Boris's face filled the screen, tense and urgent.

"Stella, did you see the message I just sent? Why didn't you reply?"

Gone was every trace of his usual composure.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out—my throat had closed like a fist, and inside my skull something detonated.

"Stella?"

When I still hadn't spoken after a long moment, Boris frowned with visible impatience.

"Stella, are you even hearing me right now?"

"It doesn't matter what you think. You're helping Karen tomorrow—end of discussion. She's not like us, okay? She never had anyone. No parents who gave a damn. This exam is all she's got."

It took me a long time to find my voice again.

When I did, it came out tight.

"Boris, you're asking me to help her cheat."

"What happens to me if we get caught?"

He scoffed.

"We won't. My dad's already taken care of everything on the exam site. Just do it."

I stared at him, motionless.

Boris looked like a different person.

Someone I had never known.

The Boris I remembered was gentle, courteous, warm with everyone.

Not like this. Not with contempt written across his brow.

As if no one around him mattered at all.

When had it started?

The day Karen Summers transferred in, probably.

She'd stood at the front of the classroom like a sad little white flower, telling everyone her life story.

But thinking about it now—who lays out that much misery on the very first day?

Father a drunk, mother remarried and gone, nobody who cared.

Surviving off the kindness of a neighbor who lived by a junkyard.

And Boris had believed every word.

I took a deep breath. The tremor in my voice steadied.

"Boris, what if I say no?"

He froze. The air between us went dead silent.

Karen stepped out from behind him.

She lifted her face, and something flashed in her eyes, quick and triumphant, before it melted into the most perfectly timed look of guilt.

"Big Sis Stella is right. It's my fault—I'm just too stupid. If I don't pass, well… that's what I deserve, isn't it? I can't blame anyone but myself."

Her eyes reddened, and she bit down on her lower lip, voice going small and wavering.

"Boris, thank you. Really. Just the fact that you tried means everything to me. But please—don't fight with Big Sis Stella because of someone like me."