I widened my eyes in disbelief as I asked, "What the hell are you saying?"

Brandon rushed out and kicked me to the ground right after I finished speaking. He held Vivian tightly in his arms, asking anxiously, "Are you alright, Vivian?"

Vivian wiped away her tears and choked out, "I gave Mabel my glamor shot out of the goodness of my heart, only for her to rip it to pieces."

She gave a bow to apologize to me after saying that. "I'm so sorry, Mabel! I know my relationship with Brandon has upset you! I'm really sorry for that!"

She blinked her eyes innocently a couple of times, then gently pushed Brandon's arm away. "I swear I'll stay away from Brandon from now on, so please don't be mad at me anymore, Mabel."

"You're such a bitch, Mabel!"

I had barely stumbled back to my feet when Brandon shoved me hard onto the ground again, causing my lower back to land right on some sharp gravel. I winced in pain.

Yet, that minor physical reaction was interpreted by the other classmates as a sign of defiance.

"I honestly didn't think you would stoop this low, Mabel. I mean, Vivian actually went out of her way to give you one of her photos. You could have just refused it if you didn't want it. Why did you have to rip it to pieces?"

"What other reason could there be? She's just downright jealous of Vivian! Vivian is beautiful, while she looks like a complete country bumpkin standing right next to her!"

"It's a good thing we caught her in the act of destroying Vivian's photo. I mean, who knows how Mabel has been using her role as class monitor to bully Vivian when no one else was looking?"

Those around completely pushed Brandon over the edge. He strode over and loomed above me, asking, "Which hand did you use to tear it?"

I was just about to speak, but Brandon brought his foot down hard on my right hand; the pain overwhelmed me immediately, causing tears to surge out from the sheer agony.

"Is this the hand?" Brandon lifted his foot slightly, then brought it down again with all his might, stomping so hard that I clearly heard the sound of a bone snapping.

It was a few seconds later when Brandon moved to my left hand and stepped on it once more. "You're truly disgusting, Mabel!"

Seeing that the beating had gone far enough, Vivian finally reached out calmly and grabbed Brandon's arm. She shook her head slightly and said, "You should stop now, Brandon; I'm scared. Mabel isn't to blame for this. It was just my own wishful thinking, so it has nothing to do with her!

"If anyone's at fault, it's me for showing up and messing up your relationship! Mabel was right a moment ago. You two are the actual couple, whereas I'm just the third wheel…"

Brandon's resolve dissolved entirely after hearing that, prompting him to immediately break up with me.

Those around us couldn't help but look down on me with disgust. "Haven't you heard? Those who aren't loved are the third wheels! You're the one who came between them, Mabel!"

"You really think you're all that with that ugly face of yours, huh? It's good to have confidence, Mabel, but being overly confident is crossing the line."

I struggled to push myself up from the ground. Brandon had been ruthless, and the back of my hand was already covered in dark bruises.

It hurt terribly, but the pain brought a sudden, sharp clarity to my mind.

In my past life, I had been completely blinded by love, unable to see Vivian's manipulative nature or Brandon's unwavering devotion to her, which ultimately led to my tragic death.

In this life, I could only wait impatiently for my admission letter to arrive. I licked my lips and started a countdown for the disasters heading their way as I watched everyone leave.

It wasn't long before the admission letters arrived, and I successfully received my own admission notice.

Just then, Mr. Lister showed up holding a pile of printed transcripts. "Please come with me for home visits in a bit, Mabel. There are a few students in our class who failed their exams, so we need to offer them guidance and support."

I nodded and looked over the names on it. Vivian's name stood out clearly in front of me.

It appeared that Vivian's failure to secure a spot at a university was predestined. I only lamented my own fate, having been forced to take the blame in my past life.

It was entirely expected that she wouldn't get into any university, though. She was always taking leaves of absence during senior year, with each one lasting half a month or longer. She said she was going to audition for acting roles, but in truth, she was simply spending freely and living it up.

It wasn't long before Mr. Lister and I arrived at Vivian's house.

Just before entering, a man's furious voice rang out from inside. "How could you tell me that you didn't get into any university when I've already told everyone that you made it, Vivian? Didn't you say you were guaranteed a spot at Caldoria Film Academy? What happened to that, Vivian?"

In the next instant, a crisp slap rang out from inside the house.

Mr. Lister, worried that things might get out of hand, rushed inside. I wasn't about to miss out on the show, so I naturally went in too.

I immediately noticed that the living room was in complete disarray, with Vivian's makeup scattered across the floor.

Mr. Lister asked, "How did this happen, Vivian? Your academic results are usually fine! You ranked in the top ten of your entire class for all three mock exams! You should have easily gotten into a prestigious university with such a result!"

Vivian kept her head down, while Peter Nash, her father, sighed heavily. "It seems like we completely misjudged the situation this time, Mr. Lister. We didn't realize the film academy's cutoff would be so high. Vivian got over 1344 for her SAT and still didn't make it."

I acted surprised. "Didn't you score 560 for your SAT, Vivian?"

In that instant, everyone in the room fell silent.

I unhurriedly took out the printed transcript and handed it over to Peter. "Did you perhaps misread her score, Mr. Nash? Vivian's actual score is written right here."

Mr. Lister shook his head in resignation. "Why couldn't Vivian pull it off when it mattered, especially when she did so well in her previous exams?"

I said, sneering, "It's probably because she depended on technology during her usual exams."

That single remark alone caused the expressions of all three present to shift.

Vivian flew into a rage and lunged at me, as if she wanted to tear me apart on the spot. Peter, however, yanked her back before she could even touch me. He then slapped her hard across the face, sending her rolling onto the floor. "How dare you lie to me!"

Mr. Lister stood there awkwardly, trapped between wanting to leave out of embarrassment and wanting to stay without a good excuse to do so.

I felt an overwhelming sense of gratification after looking at Vivian's miserable state.

It was only just the beginning, though.

It wasn't long before Brandon heard Vivian's agonized cries and quickly ran over, grabbing Peter's arm. "What are you doing, Mr. Nash?"

Brandon grew increasingly anxious when he saw his beloved's swollen, bruised face.

Mr. Lister was even more frantic than he was. "You're here at just the right time, Brandon! Do you know why you weren't accepted into any university?"

Brandon, who had been fully intent on intervening, froze where he stood, his anxious expression instantly paralyzing. "What are you talking about, Mr. Lister?"

Mr. Lister shot him an irritated look. "Why didn't you get into the university even though your SAT scores were high enough, Brandon? Do you have any idea what happened?"

Brandon's breathing turned shallow and rapid. He let out a nervous chuckle as he shook his head rapidly. "You've got to be kidding me, right? You ought to know that my SAT scores were more than enough to guarantee a spot at Caldoria University's School of Foreign Service!"

He then held out his hands and continued, "You'd better stop messing with me, Mr. Lister! I'd like to take a look at my admission letter now!"

Mr. Lister looked completely bewildered. "What admission letter? How could you have an admission letter when you weren't even accepted into any university?"

He quickly took out the list and pointed at it. "You can take a look at it yourself! Here's the school's official list of those who didn't get admitted into any university—and your name is on it!"

Brandon swayed and took a few steps back. "T-That's impossible!"

He frantically took out his phone, and once he confirmed the lack of any admission update, he completely broke down and screamed. "How can this be? Why did I fail to get admitted?"

He rushed forward and grabbed Mr. Lister's sleeve. "You know what my scores were, Mr. Lister! You know that I met the requirements!

"I saw the acceptance announcements for Caldoria University's School of Foreign Service online this morning, and people with lower scores than I got in! Why was I left out? Did the university make a mistake? How could this happen to me, Mr. Lister?"

Mr. Lister was equally surprised. "You should have been admitted to the university by all accounts."

I couldn't help but smirk when I looked at Brandon, who had completely broken down right in front of me. He had decent grades and plenty of confidence, which was why he had only applied to Caldoria University's School of Foreign Service and nowhere else.

He had listed several prestigious universities among his remaining options, but his scores fell far short of their requirements. In the end, he wasn't admitted to any university.

Peter couldn't help but ask, "You didn't get admitted into any university as well, Brandon?"

He seemed worried outwardly, but I could still hear a hint of suppressed joy in his voice.

Brandon went completely pale, utterly lost for words.

In the meantime, as the situation grew increasingly tense, Mr. Lister's phone rang a few times. In about ten minutes or so, every single classmate who hadn't been accepted into a university showed up at Vivian's house.

They all had scores high enough to get admitted to a university. There were others with the same or even lower marks who had already received acceptance letters, yet they had somehow been rejected.

They were frantic, but their parents were even more panicked, constantly pestering Mr. Lister to find out what exactly went wrong.

"Why didn't my daughter get accepted into a single university even though she has decent scores for her SAT? Did your system glitch or something?"

"You're well aware of my son's capabilities, Mr. Lister! He should have easily qualified for a standard university placement. How is it possible that he's completely unplaced?"

Mr. Lister was even more baffled. He then stated firmly, "I'm certain that there is a glitch in the system somewhere."

I cleared my throat and said softly, "I know why it happened."

In that instant, everyone turned to look at me. Brandon finally took notice of my presence and asked with a scoff, "Didn't we break up already, Mabel? Why are you still shamelessly following me around?"

Those surrounding classmates joined in the snickering. "Isn't it obvious? I mean, all of us failed to secure admission, so her presence here is undoubtedly because she was also left without a placement!"

"Did you come here because you still can't let go of Brandon, Mabel?"

I ignored their taunts, merely asking, "Aren't any of you curious about why you actually got rejected?"

I pointed directly at Vivian as I met their bewildered stares. "You ought to know that the reason you are all without a university placement is entirely due to Vivian, our class belle!"

"You'd better stop making things up, Mabel!"

"What does Vivian have to do with any of this?"

I swallowed hard, then solemnly explained to them the absolute importance of the official records envelope.

Mr. Lister got a massive headache just listening to this. He exclaimed, "Did you guys actually tear open the official records envelope?"

He looked at everyone with frustration and asked, "Do you have any idea how important the official records envelope is?"