As my classmates eyed me expectantly, I gathered my things, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and walked out of the exam hall.

They started looking anxious, but all they could do now was lower their heads and answer the questions under Ms. Clarke's watchful gaze.

I finally let out a quiet breath of relief. Now that they could no longer hear the wrong answers from my tampered "thoughts", they couldn't possibly blame me for their results, right?

…

At noon, my boyfriend, Justin Wilde, came to the nurse's office, his expression rather unpleasant.

The moment he came in, he questioned me suspiciously, "Did you really defer the exam because your period made you feel unwell?"

Confused, I nodded in response. Thankfully, my period came yesterday.

However, Justin's expression didn't improve.

"You never get period cramps. Why did it suddenly hurt this time? Is what they're saying true? Were you really…"

I saw a mix of disbelief and anger in his eyes, making me frown.

"Who's been saying what about me?"

Justin threw his phone at me.

"Look at this post. No names were mentioned, but the person it describes sounds a lot like you!"

After reading the post, I felt a wave of anger wash over me.

The title read, "Female College Student Takes Exam With Vibrator Stuck Inside Her. Stop Embarrassing Us Students!"

According to the poster, she'd been nervously doing her midterms when, all of a sudden, she heard a strange vibrating sound. When she looked up, she saw a female student with a flushed face, and the sounds were coming from her seat.

The female student proceeded to ignore the rules and leave the exam hall early, claiming that she wanted a deferment.

I recalled seeing Yvonne whisper something to Ms. Clarke earlier. Since she couldn't use the exam results to turn the class against me, she'd resorted to a different trick, huh?

Expression frosty, I returned the phone to Justin and took mine out. I sent the post to my father, asking him to help me find out who'd made that post.

Meanwhile, Justin's expression remained ugly. "Aren't you going to explain yourself to me?"

I looked at him in disappointment. "Why do I need to explain myself? I applied for a deferment because of my period cramps. Who heard any so-called sounds from a vibrator coming from me, huh? And you saw what was in my backpack this morning. What else was there, besides my books and stationery?"

Justin had no response.

My phone buzzed, and I clicked on Dad's reply. As expected, the account that made that post belonged to Yvonne. Once I read the rest of Dad's message and saw that the account had been banned, I put my phone away again.

After seeing how dark my expression was, Justin finally took my hand and said, "Oh, alright. I'm sorry, Calista. I only got upset and doubted you because I care a lot about you. I was wrong, okay? Don't be mad anymore. It's your birthday tomorrow. Let's have a proper celebration and not fight, okay?"

At the mention of my birthday, I abruptly recalled something.

In my previous life, I'd felt blindsided and hurt that I'd been removed from my position as class representative. To cheer me up, Justin planned out an elaborate birthday party for me.

Everything went well during the day. However, when we were strolling by the lake in the evening, I thought about how touched I was by the effort he'd put in.

Then, out of nowhere, he went pale with fury and told me he wanted to break up with me.

Had that also been due to Yvonne's tampering?

…

The next evening, Justin and I went for a stroll by the lake. I scanned the surroundings and, true enough, I spotted Yvonne sitting nearby.

I deliberately allowed a thought to pass through my head. [Justin treats me so well.]

At the very next second, an entirely different sentence rang out in my head. [This dumb fool has no idea I'm keeping eight other guys on the hook as my backups.]

Justin's expression stiffened at once.

I tried again. [He put in so much effort to celebrate my birthday for me.]

[I only chose to make him my official boyfriend because he's the most spineless and submissive out of all the guys I've seduced. I bet he has no clue I also have a sugar daddy who's in his 50s. With all the money my sugar daddy gives me, I can easily get at least ten more guys to be at my beck and call.]

By now, Justin looked like he might murder someone. He flung my hand away, his eyes blazing with fury.

When I saw the look of pure rage and hurt on his face, I spoke up before he could say anything.

"Thank you for putting in all that effort to celebrate my birthday for me, Justin. But I don't think we're right for each other. Let's break up."

Justin's words got stuck in his throat. He looked like he'd just swallowed a fly. Immediately, he flew into a rage.

"You want to break up with me? How dare you say you want to break up with me when I haven't even said it yet, you shameless, two-timing bitch!"

His words made me frown. In my previous life, he didn't even bother getting the facts straight before breaking up with me. He'd even watched indifferently as I drowned. Unsurprisingly, now that I was the one who asked for a breakup first, he had no qualms about hurling these insults at me.

I pulled out my phone, which was already in recording mode.

"Justin, I advise you to watch what you say. This counts as verbal abuse."

He scoffed. "What's the matter? You've got the nerve to do it, but you can't stand getting exposed? You're a shameless cheater!"

I raised my hand and slapped him across the face.

"Watch your mouth! I'm going to make it clear to you now—throughout my entire relationship with you, I never flirted or had anything going on with any other guy. I was completely devoted to you."

After saying that, I whipped around and went straight back to my dorm.

…

Over the next few days, every time I walked into the classroom, I could feel my classmates' eyes flickering toward me. The rumors about me grew more and more outrageous, and everyone kept their distance.

Soon, it was time for our swimming class.

In my previous life, I had drowned during this very class. This time, I asked the swimming instructor, Mr. Lane, for permission to skip it. However, he told me it was the last class of the semester, and if I didn't get in the water, I would get a failing grade.

I had no choice but to message my childhood friend, Shane Jamison. I beseeched him to come over and accompany me until the end of the swimming class.

Before class, I repeatedly reminded Shane that if he saw me stay underwater for more than 30 seconds, he had to jump in and save me immediately.

He nodded with resigned helplessness. As we waited on the side for class to start, I even made him swear that he would save me.

Just then, Yvonne and Justin came over, seemingly engaged in a cheerful conversation. But when they saw me, they immediately shot me looks of disgust.

I snorted inwardly.

Finally, it was time for class, and Mr. Lane summoned all of us to gather by the pool. After leading us in a round of warm-ups, he told everyone to swim five laps each before he stepped out to take a phone call.

Some of my classmates immediately moved far away from me.

"Justin, can you get Calista Norton to use a separate pool instead? I don't want to enter the pool after she dirties it!"

Justin nodded as if it made perfect sense. "You're right. Who knows what kind of diseases she has? Mr. Lane will be back soon, so here's my idea. We'll all go first, and she can swim by herself at the very end."

One by one, the others got into the water. Once they'd done their laps, I was about to get into the water when I saw someone dumping a copious amount of chlorine into the pool.

Yvonne watched on the side with a gloating expression. "We don't have to worry about her dirtying the water anymore!"

Someone else chimed in to agree with her. "That's right. We need to use as much chlorine as we can to disinfect someone with a mind and body as filthy as hers!"

Ignoring them, I quickly headed toward the far end of the pool—only to find that someone was also dumping chlorine into the water on that side.

In my agitation, my calf started cramping, just like it had in my previous life.

"Shane, save me!" I immediately shouted in alarm.

[Hahaha! I'll just pretend to drown and see who jumps in to save me. After all, I'm even good enough to join the synchronized swimming team. Only an idiot would think I need saving! This is also my chance to see if Justin still loves me and whether he'll try to save me.]

All of my classmates, who were standing on the side of the pool, heard the thoughts that were never mine to begin with and began scowling in disdain.

Justin turned purple in the face and glared daggers at me as well. "What the hell? She's still trying to mess with us!"

I couldn't see Shane anywhere. The harsh smell of chlorine made me dizzy and nauseous. With my body running out of oxygen, my consciousness slowly started to fade.

Right before I blacked out, I finally heard the sound of someone jumping into the water.

…

When I woke up, I saw Shane's anxious face hovering above mine.

"What on earth is going on? All I did was turn away for a minute to take a phone call! Why did you nearly end up drowning in the pool? Have your classmates been bullying you?" he cried out.

I coughed violently, my chest heaving.

Mr. Lane finally hurried over as well. "Are you alright there?"

My eyes fell on my classmates. None of them looked even the least bit guilty.

"What happened?" Mr. Lane hastily questioned me. "Your classmates said you secretly got into the water without anyone seeing you, so that's why they poured in the chlorine. Is that true?"

I snorted. "They said they didn't see me? How did all of them fail to spot a fully grown adult in the pool? Are they blind?"

Mr. Lane's expression darkened, and so did everyone else's behind him.

Yvonne, who was standing beside Justin, looked hurt and indignant as she spoke up.

"Mr. Lane, Calista… fools around a lot with other guys. That's why none of us dared to enter the water with her. Not only did she take her midterms with a vibrator inside her, but she's been hooking up with multiple guys at the same time."

Justin also chimed in, "That's right, Mr. Lane. The guy next to Calista isn't even from our class. He's probably some new guy she hooked up with."

He looked at Shane with a pitying expression. "Hey, bro. Don't you know you're one of her many lapdogs?"

The rest of my classmates called out in agreement.

"She's disgusting! Someone like her should be expelled!"

"She's a disgrace to the university!"

Shane looked at me, completely baffled. "You've got a bunch of lapdogs?"

Scoffing in derision, Justin added, "Not only that, but she also has some old man in his 50s as her sugar daddy!"

Mr. Lane, who'd been crouching beside me with concern, stood up in disgust the moment he heard that. "I'm afraid I've got nothing to teach a female student like you with loose morals and such a sordid private life. I'll be talking to your faculty advisor about this."

Shane had no idea what was going on, but he could tell that the entire class was ganging up to slander me. Infuriated, he leaned in and asked, "Just what the hell is going on?"

Shaking my head, I replied, "I can't explain everything right now. Text my dad and tell him to come to the pool."

My faculty advisor, Mr. Abbott, showed up in less than ten minutes. Yvonne immediately rushed forward and repeated everything she had just told Mr. Lane.

The more Mr. Abbott heard, the deeper his frown became. I could see the disgust in his eyes when he looked at me.

He glanced at Shane before asking me, "Calista, is what your classmates are saying true?"

I immediately denied it. "I never did anything they're accusing me of, Mr. Abbott. Shane is just my friend."

Justin let out a mocking laugh. "Just a friend? Who'd believe that? Why would someone like you from an ordinary family have a male friend who clearly looks like he's rich? You said it yourself, Calista. You said you keep plenty of guys on the hook as your backups."

I marched right up to him and retorted, "And when did I say that? What day was it? Give me the date, the time, and the location."

Justin froze for a moment before quickly recalling that what he had heard were only my thoughts. Just then, his phone buzzed. After he checked it, a smile spread across his face.

"I've got evidence to prove it. Here's a photo of Calista and her sugar daddy!"

He turned his phone around, and the others craned their necks to see the screen, their faces instantly filling with contempt.

"Oh, my God! It really is some old dude!"

"He's old enough to be her dad! Doesn't she have any standards at all?"

"What do you know? He's probably loaded!"

Mr. Abbott wagged his finger at me and snapped, "Now that there's concrete evidence to back up their claims, what do you have to say for yourself?

"Your actions and behavior have severely damaged the university's image and reputation. I'll be submitting a report to the administration to have you expelled!"

Chuckling, I remarked, "He's my dad, Mr. Abbott. What's wrong with my dad picking me up from campus?"

Yvonne chortled. "Now I see why you even stuck a vibrator inside you during your midterms. So you really call him daddy, huh? You sure know how to play."

The guys cackled gleefully, while the other female students looked at me in disgust.

Shane stood protectively in front of me and declared, "I can testify on Calista's behalf that the man in the photo really is her father."

"Whoa! You're incredible, Calista!" Yvonne exclaimed. "I can't believe that even the guys you flirt with are willing to testify on your behalf."

"Stop trying to get out of it, Calista," Mr. Abbott declared coldly. "I'm going to report this to the administration right away. Go pack your things and get the hell off the campus at once!"

Just then, a stern voice rang out from the entrance. "Who are you telling to get the hell off the campus?"