Pauline Ashby, my senior homeroom teacher, is extremely childish. She tends to decorate everything she owns in a childish style.

Even the exam admission tickets she has prepared for our SATs are printed on pink paper. On top of that, she even pastes many cartoon stickers on them.

"Pink is a great color! This color represents cute little girls like me! Just use these admission tickets when you're about to enter the exam venue! I'm very sure you'll definitely score top marks in the exam!"

Upon realizing that Pauline is about to screw everyone over, I quickly call the head teacher. He rushes over and gives Pauline a good scolding before giving us the actual tickets, allowing us entry to the exam venue.

Everyone in class completes their SATs at their own pace. In fact, my childhood friend, Caelum Thornley, and I even get into prestigious colleges thanks to our scores.

But on the day our scores are announced, Pauline ascends to the rooftop while bawling like a baby.

"I just wanted everyone to attend the entrance exam with cute pink admission tickets because the color can boost their mood! Why must Sienna tattle on me?

"I did so much research just to pick out the prettiest shade of pink for everyone! I gave it my all to help everyone in the SATs!"

As Pauline wipes her tears away with her sleeve, she accidentally steps on the hem of her long skirt, causing her to fall down the building.

The next day, Caelum leads the entire class in tying me up and kidnapping me to the summit of a mountain, where they push me off the cliff. As such, all of my bones are shattered, and I die a painful death.

"This is your fault for targeting Ms. Ashby! So what if we love using the pink admission tickets?"

When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the moment Pauline digs out the pink admission tickets. This time, I choose to keep my mouth shut.

"Look, everyone. I printed your exam admission tickets on pink paper. Isn't it cute?"

Our homeroom teacher, Pauline Ashby, stood at the podium, proudly holding up a stack of pink sheets with both hands. Gasps rippled through the classroom.

"That's so adorable, Ms. Ashby!"

"Pink is so soothing. It already puts me in a better mood."

A few girls in the front row were the first to say something, their eyes sparkling with excitement. The boys didn't say much, but none of them objected either.

Ever since Ms. Ashby got pregnant, she had gone full-on "baby mode", and there was no turning back. The classroom was decorated in pink, the class T-shirts were printed with cartoon characters, and she herself showed up every day looking like she was heading to a preschool recital.

At this point, everyone had gotten used to it.

I looked at the stack of pink admission tickets and felt a wave of nausea churn in my stomach. In my past life, it was this exact pink admission ticket that nearly kept our entire class out of the exam hall.

Even after I tracked down the head teacher to sort things out, we were still delayed by almost 20 minutes before we could get in. Anyone who had ever sat for exams knew exactly what those 20 minutes were worth.

Some people completely fell apart, while others ran out of time before they could finish. The class average ended up nearly 20 points lower than our mock exams.

My childhood best friend and I still got into top universities because we were strong enough students to absorb the hit, but I still remembered that gut-wrenching panic like it was yesterday. Too bad none of them ever thanked me for it. Instead, they all played a part in getting me killed.

I pulled myself out of the memory and made up my mind that in this life, I wasn't going to stick my neck out for anyone. But Ms. Ashby had already set her sights on me.

"Sienna Ellsworth!" she called my name. "Why so quiet? Don't you think the pink looks nice?"

Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward me. My childhood best friend, Caelum Thornley, was staring at me with a particularly unfriendly look.

"It's nice," I said, forcing a lazy smile. "Very cute, Ms. Ashby."

Ms. Ashby nodded, pleased with herself. "See, I knew Sienna had the best taste!"

"Ms. Ashby, I have a question," a hesitant voice called out from the back of the room. It was the academic rep. "Aren't admission tickets supposed to be printed in black and white? Will pink ones even be accepted?"

The classroom went dead silent. Ms. Ashby's face fell. Her lip trembled, and her eyes turned red almost instantly.

"Are you questioning my abilities? I spent ages picking out the prettiest shade of pink. How could it possibly not work?"

"That's not what I meant."

"If it's printed on it, it's an admission ticket. Who cares what color it is?" Caelum shot a glare at the student who had spoken up.

"Ms. Ashby went out of her way to prepare these for us, and instead of saying thank you, you're nitpicking?"

"Exactly. She put so much thought into it."

"Pink is great. It's a lucky color. We're definitely going to ace this."

I watched the whole thing play out and tapped my desk twice with a quiet laugh. The departure bell rang, and Ms. Ashby dabbed at the corners of her eyes.

"Alright, alright, it's time to head to the exam hall. I'll take you all there myself, but no roughhousing on the bus, okay? I need everyone to be on their best behavior."

The whole class stood up in a clatter of chairs and grabbed their bags. Students passed their admission tickets around to compare, some snapping photos for social media, others holding their tickets up to the sunlight to admire the watermark pattern.

"These are seriously gorgeous."

"Our teacher is the best. Every other class got plain black and white, and we're the only ones with color."

"Having a homeroom teacher like her is honestly a blessing."

I followed the crowd onto the bus, closed my eyes, and let the corner of my mouth curl upward.

Pink, huh? I wondered what the exam proctors outside the hall would have to say about this "lovingly selected" pink admission ticket.

Once everyone was on the bus, Ms. Ashby suddenly walked over to me. "Sienna, let me take a quick look at your admission ticket, okay?"

Her voice was syrupy and sweet, but her hand was already reaching out before I could respond. She snatched the ticket right out of my grip.

A sharp ripping sound followed half a second later. My admission ticket was now missing a corner.

"Oh no, I didn't mean to do that!"

She clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and innocent. I stared at the little scrap of paper on the floor and let out a dry laugh. Out of every admission ticket on this bus, she had zeroed in on mine and managed to tear off a piece.

Two lifetimes' worth of resentment crystallized in that moment, and I looked at her coldly. "Did you do that on purpose?"

The bus went silent.

Ms. Ashby's tears spilled over instantly. "How could you say something like that? You're accusing me for no reason… "I was only trying to help you check it…"

Before I could respond, Caelum was already on his feet beside me. "Sienna, that's enough. She already said it was an accident. Do you really have to make a scene and embarrass her in front of everyone like this? When did you become so heartless?"

"Heartless?" I let out a cold laugh. "Caelum, are you really this blind, or are you just pretending? There are 39 admission tickets on this bus. She didn't ask to check anyone else's. She came straight for mine, and she tore it."

I didn't wait for him to argue back before I kept going.

"These past three years, did all of you honestly think this class just ran itself? The pretty decorations, the fun events, how every other class was jealous of ours? None of you ever realized that I was the one doing all of it.

"Sophomore year, during the school sports festival, she insisted on some fairy tale theme for our marching formation. She didn't tell me until the night before that I needed to find costumes.

"I ran to every costume rental shop in the city and couldn't find 39 sets anywhere. In the end, a friend of mine outside of school had to pull stock from a shop in the next town over and drive them here overnight."

"Last semester, during midterms, the proctor was already at the door when she realized she forgot to pick up the test packets. I was the one who sprinted to the administrative office to grab them and hand them out myself."

With every word I said, the atmosphere on the bus grew heavier.

"Every time you praised this class for being so great, I was the one holding everything together behind the scenes. Every time you thought Ms. Ashby was being so 'thoughtful,' I was the one cleaning up her messes."

I stared at Ms. Ashby. The tears were still on her face, but her eyes had started darting around in panic.

"She started resenting me because of all of it. If finals weren't two months away, she would've stripped me of my class rep title a long time ago."

The bus fell completely silent. Caelum said nothing for a few seconds, then suddenly let out a laugh. "Are you done?"

He walked over, took my admission ticket, and looked up at me. "Dragging up all this old stuff is honestly pathetic. You're the class rep. Helping the teacher is literally your job.

"And what about all the other ways she goes above and beyond? How come you never mention any of that?"

He pulled his own admission ticket out of his pocket and tore off a small corner without a moment's hesitation.

"So what if it's torn? It's not a big deal." He held it up. "There. Now we're even."

The bus was quiet for about three seconds. Then, one by one, other students started moving.

"Yeah, seriously, it's not that deep."

"It's just a little tear. It's not like it won't work."

A male student sitting in front of me followed Caelum's lead and tore the corner off his own ticket. Then a second person did it, and a third.

The sound of ripping paper echoed through the bus one after another. I leaned back in my seat, stunned by how absurd it all was.

Pink paper and torn corners. They could all enjoy getting turned away at the exam hall doors for all I cared.

Right at that moment, Principal Elliot Jones boarded the bus for his routine inspection. He had barely stepped on before his eyes went wide.

"What on earth happened to your admission tickets?" He stormed up the aisle, his face livid. "Why are these admission tickets pink? And the edges are torn?"

He turned on Ms. Ashby. "Pauline!"

Ms. Ashby flinched and tucked her chin, but quickly straightened back up. "Principal Jones, don't be so harsh. I just wanted to help the students feel a little more relaxed."

"Relaxed?" Principal Jones was furious. "There are strict regulations for admission tickets. White background, black text, no modifications of any kind.

"Their tickets are the wrong color, and the security watermarks have been torn off. How exactly are they supposed to get into the exam hall?"

Ms. Ashby burst into tears on the spot, crouching down in the aisle and sobbing until she could barely breathe. "You're being mean to me again. Everything I do is for the students. I spent so long picking out the prettiest shade of pink…"

Then she suddenly looked up, her tear-filled eyes locking onto me. "She's the one who told on me, isn't she? You sent her to spy on me!"

Every pair of eyes on the bus snapped toward me at once. I sat back in my seat, expression blank, and said nothing.

Caelum was the first to stand, stepping in front of Ms. Ashby to shield her. "Principal Jones, you're going too far. Do you have any idea how much effort our teacher puts in? So what if they're pink? So what if there's a torn corner? We don't mind!"

The other students followed his lead.

"Yeah, we don't mind!"

"Who says admission tickets can't be pink?"

"We're the top class in the entire district. Who's going to stop us from taking the exam?"