On the day of the SAT exam, my girlfriend, Heidi Moore, makes the entire class stay with her and wait for her childhood friend, Jeffrey Price, who's running late.

But it's less than an hour before the exam starts. If they keep waiting for Jeffrey, they will definitely miss the exam.

In my previous lifetime, I played my part as the class president by advising everyone to take the exam first. But all I received was their scolding.

"You're just jealous that Jeffrey and Heidi are extremely close friends! That's why you want to ditch Jeffrey so that he can miss the exam, huh?"

I could only stand in the pouring rain while begging my classmates relentlessly. Only then did everyone leave for the exam venue reluctantly. In the end, we were able to arrive at the exam venue one minute before the exam started.

But after the exam was over, I was pushed off a building by Jeffrey, which caused my death.

However, Heidi and the rest of my classmates gave the police their fake testimonies.

"Finley caused Jeffrey to miss the exam. That's why he killed himself out of guilt!"

Jeffrey even used the opportunity to sell his sob story and become a popular influencer.

Mom tried to seek justice for me, only to get cyberbullied by the Internet users, who were blind to the truth. Dazed and disoriented, she drove off a cliff, and her body was nowhere to be found since then.

Only after I died did I realize that this was just a part of Jeffrey's scheme.

When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Heidi tells the entire class to wait for Jeffrey before departing to the exam venue together.

In this lifetime, I won't stop my ungrateful classmates from ruining their own lives.

When I was shoved off a high-rise building, Jeffrey Price's smug voice rang in my ears. "Finley, I knew I wasn't getting into a good college, so I was late on purpose. If you end up 'killing yourself' out of guilt, I can play the victim and gain even more followers."

Suddenly, cold rain slapped against my skin and snapped me out of the blur.

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing on the school sports ground.

I looked at my girlfriend, Heidi Moore, who was arguing with the driver assigned to take us to the exam venue, and a surge of emotion hit me.

The next second, Heidi turned on me in anger. "Finley Lowell, you're so selfish! Jeff isn't here yet. What's wrong with waiting two more minutes?"

All the students around us glared at me too.

"Yeah, Jeff's our classmate. How can we just leave him behind?"

"We're not getting on that bus until he shows up!"

Their hostile stares made something ache in my chest.

In my last life, I was afraid we'd miss the exam if we kept waiting, so I tried to get the driver to leave without him.

I did it for their future, yet they treated me like the enemy for it.

Heidi pushed through the crowd and stopped in front of me. Her gaze was full of disgust. "Finley, I know you're my boyfriend, but I have to say it. That was way out of line. This is the SAT. Making him miss it is basically ruining his life."

Looking at her like she wanted me gone, I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms.

I bit my lip until I tasted blood, then forced myself to relax before saying, "Fine. If you're all willing to risk your futures for Jeffrey, then wait. It's pouring anyway. I'll be on the bus."

I ignored their furious looks and got on the school bus.

The driver glanced at me, worried. "With my experience, waiting any longer in this kind of rain is asking for trouble."

But Heidi let out a sneer. "Stop trying to scare people. I take that route all the time. Nothing's going to happen."

The driver said nothing more and quietly returned to his seat.

Meanwhile, the students acted as if they'd just won something big and cheered in the rain.

But they didn't know something. I'd already secured a guaranteed admission to Bastion University before this exam. Whether I took the SAT or not didn't matter to me at all.

I only came along to experience it for myself.

I just wondered how many of them, who didn't have any backup plan, would still be laughing an hour from now.

My eyes turned red as I trembled and called Mom.

Thinking back to how I was pushed off that building in my last life, and how Mom's car had gone off a cliff, leaving nothing behind but wreckage, I couldn't stop the tears.

This time, I was going to make those ungrateful people pay for their choices.

I was going to make them understand just how stupid they really were.

Time passed slowly. 15 minutes later, Jeffrey finally showed up, panting with a backpack in his arms.

The sports ground was only a five-minute run from the dorm, but he still made a show of being completely out of breath.

Although he was surprised that his classmates were still there, the shock only flickered across his face before he put on a smile and said, "I knew you guys wouldn't leave me behind."

Under everyone's excited gazes, he shot me a vicious glance.

Heidi looked at Jeffrey with a tender gaze. "Don't worry, Jeff. We'll always wait for you, no matter what."

Just then, my phone buzzed with a breaking news alert.

I smiled seeing the headline.

Heavy overnight rain had flooded the road leading to the exam venue, making it impassable.

In my last life, I was the one who noticed the road ahead was already flooding badly, and I begged everyone to leave on time.

Even then, we still came dangerously close to missing the exam.

Now, without my warning, they left a full five minutes late.

If they still wanted to make it to the exam on time, it would take nothing short of a miracle.

On the bus, Jeffrey looked at me with an apologetic smile and handed me a lollipop. "Finley, I'm really sorry. It's all my fault. I just thought everyone would be nervous before the exam, so I went ahead and bought these for everyone."

Before I could respond, Heidi snatched the lollipop away. She wrapped her arms around Jeffrey and comforted him. "Jeff, you didn't do anything wrong. Why are you apologizing? Someone as selfish as him doesn't even deserve this."

The others quickly chimed in as well.

"Yeah, Jeff. Don't blame yourself. We chose to stay and wait for you."

"It's just a few minutes. It's no big deal. You always think about us. We'll always remember that. We're not like some people who are just cold-hearted."

Their mocking voices made me smirk faintly.

Good.

I just wondered if they'd still be able to say something like that so casually 30 minutes from now.

That lollipop of Jeffrey's had just cost them the most precious 15 minutes of their lives.

At that moment, the sweetness in their mouths was already starting to brew into something far more bitter.

They sat there eating candy and singing, treating the SAT like some carefree spring outing.

But soon, someone started to notice something was wrong.

Traffic around them grew heavier, and the bus slowed to a crawl.

"Latest update. The road ahead is flooded. It's completely blocked. We'll have to detour. We might be late," the driver said with a heavy expression.

The cheerful mood inside the bus instantly froze.

Heidi looked at him in disbelief. "That's impossible… There's no way this road would be blocked."

In an instant, panic spread through everyone.

"What do we do? If I miss the exam, my whole life is over!"

"You're the driver. Think of something! I can't be late!"

The driver could only shake his head helplessly. "If we want the fastest route, the only option is to switch vehicles and cross the flooded section directly."

I watched everything unfold in silence.

In my last life, once Mom heard we were stuck in traffic, she immediately arranged over a dozen heavy-duty excavators from nearby construction sites to clear the way and get everyone to the exam on time.

And yet, instead of gratitude, they later went online and spread rumors about her, claiming she demanded 100 dollars from each student as "fuel money" for the rescue.

Knowing that they were just a bunch of ingrates, I wasn't going to be naive enough to ask Mom for help again.

Then, Jeffrey suddenly spoke up confidently. "Don't worry. I know a shortcut. It'll definitely get us all to the exam venue in time."

The moment he said it, everyone visibly relaxed, as if his words carried some kind of magic.

They trusted him completely.

In their eyes, I was just a petty, jealous troublemaker. But Jeffrey was the good student they admired.

I was the one who forced them to memorize essays late into the night, not Jeffrey.

I was the one who had Mom buy expensive mock exam papers. Jeffrey only had to hand out a few lollipops.

Even assigning Jeffrey to the cleaning duty was seen as my targeting him.

"Jeff, you really are the best—unlike some people who never say a word when things go wrong. He has no sense of responsibility at all," Heidi said excitedly while looping her arm through Jeffrey's.

She always remembered to jab at me.

I lowered my gaze and let out a sneer, tightening my grip on my phone.

Did they really think Jeffrey would be kind enough to lead them through a shortcut?

As expected, Jeffrey's so-called shortcut didn't help at all.

Inside the bus, the earlier noise was gone, replaced by unease on every face.

With every tick of the digital clock, their expressions turned a shade paler.

"Are we really going to miss it?" the class secretary, Kole Steele, asked the driver in despair.

He only got a mocking laugh in return.

If they hadn't wasted 15 minutes insisting on waiting, none of this would have happened.

By the time the bus reached the exam venue, the entrance had already been locked down. No more candidates were allowed in.

Heidi stepped off the bus, her face drained of color. She stared at the barricade in disbelief. "How is this happening?"

Kole tried to rush past the line, but the police stopped him. "The SAT has already started. No one is allowed in."

More students got off the bus, their legs barely holding them up.

Just like Heidi had said, this exam could change everything with a single point difference. And they had just missed it entirely.

I looked at them coldly, a trace of satisfaction flashing through my eyes.

Weren't they all so willing to gamble their futures with Jeffrey? So why were they crying now?

Then Heidi suddenly spoke. "Everyone, calm down. We were late for a reason. We can explain it to the teachers and ask for a retake."

A spark of hope lit up everyone's faces. Like drowning people grabbing a lifeline, they quickly shouted that they needed to see a teacher.

But before they could move, our school principal, Hayden Wright, arrived with a group of teachers, his face dark with anger.

For some reason, seeing his expression made Heidi's stomach drop.

"You delayed departure by 15 minutes on purpose. What exactly were you thinking? Don't even think about a retake. You're lucky we're not marking this as deliberate refusal. A three-year ban from the SAT would have been the minimum."

After Mr. Wright finished, the parents waiting in the rain outside the venue began pointing at them and whispering.

"You can be late for something this important? You're not taking your future seriously at all."

"If my son did this, I'd drag him home and beat him senseless."

The parents' words pushed everyone deeper into despair.

Kole grabbed Heidi by the collar and shouted, "Heidi Moore, didn't you say Finley was just jealous and lying and told us to trust Jeffrey and wait? So why can't we even enter the exam venue now?"

The others turned on Heidi too, their faces full of rage.

Heidi stood there, completely drained. Her head was lowered in regret.

Jeffrey choked up, his voice trembling. "How could a road that's never usually jammed just happen to be blocked on the one day I was late?"

It sounded like self-blame, but it was clearly steering the blame elsewhere.

Suddenly, Heidi raised her head and locked her bloodshot eyes on me. "Finley, was it you? You're jealous of Jeff and want him to miss the exam! When it didn't work at school, you had your mom send people to block the road!

"How could you be so vicious? You gambled with the futures of the entire class just because of petty jealousy!"