My deskmate, Miranda Krause, has made a pact with the grade-swapping system. Because of that, she's able to swap her empty exam papers with my stellar ones.

That's how Miranda ends up becoming the top scorer on the SATs. I, on the other hand, have flunked the exam, making me the laughingstock of the city.

Unable to endure the suffering any longer, I choose to take my life by jumping off the school building. Little do I know that I'll return to the timeframe before the SATs take place.

This time, I secretly slip an envelope between the folds of Miranda's backpack. It contains 700 dollars in cash as well as a talisman.

The scribbles on the talisman may seem like chicken scratch, but one can vaguely make out the words "score-swapping" there.

"Sierra Phillips, what's the answer for this question? Stand up and answer me!"

Ms. Fran Dickson, my homeroom teacher, suddenly called out to me, her voice echoing through the classroom. When she didn't hear me respond, she turned around and threw half a piece of chalk squarely at my forehead.

"You again! Dozing off again in class! Do you even want to go to college after this? You might as well just go straight home now if all you're going to do is sleep! If I see anyone else sleeping in class again…"

Her loud roar suddenly jolted me awake. However, she still continued nagging next to me after that.

I blinked sleepily in confusion, realizing that everyone's attention was on me now.

A sudden thought crept into my head. Had I been born again?

My deskmate, Miranda Krause, gently nudged me from the side, signaling for me to stop provoking Ms. Dickson.

Miranda's grades had always been horrible. She was almost always at the bottom of the class. And yet, Ms. Dickson insisted on putting both of us together as deskmates because she wanted to foster a learning atmosphere by putting the top student with the worst student in class.

That was the reason why I had been deskmates with Miranda for all three years of high school. And yet, her grades remained consistently dismal.

The moment I saw her face again, I was very sure I wasn't dreaming anymore.

It was exactly that face that ruined me in my past life!

I suddenly felt my fury boiling in my chest.

In my past life, for some reason, my SAT papers had turned completely blank, as if I had never written down a single word in any of my answer sheets. Meanwhile, Miranda turned out to be the top scorer in school, enjoying the honor and recognition that should have been mine.

The truth was that she had somehow managed to bind with a system that allowed her to switch the exam papers, and thus her grades, with anyone she wanted.

After I jumped to my death in my past life, my soul had continued wandering around on earth, and I finally learned the truth about Miranda's grades at her home.

At the time, she was lying in bed, seemingly talking to herself while staring at a fixed point like she was talking to someone invisible.

"What else can you do for me other than swapping grades, System?"

"If that's the case, then I'm going to rely on you for all my exams next time."

Then, for some reason, the topic somehow changed to me. Yet, the next words that spilled from her mouth were the most shameless ones I'd ever heard.

"Why should I even feel sorry for Sierra? She deserved it! What right does she have to be so popular and well-liked in school just because she has good grades?

"And it's not like I killed her or anything. I just swapped her grades with mine. It's her own fault for jumping off the building because she couldn't handle the pressure. You can't possibly pin the blame on me.

"And what really is the big deal anyway? She could have just repeated the year and retaken the exam again if she were really that hardworking. Who told her to jump to her death? It's her own fault for being so emotional about it."

Over the past three years, I tirelessly helped Miranda revise right before the exams, patiently explaining every answer she got wrong. Even when I was down with a fever, I still compiled a list of her mistakes and explained each one meticulously.

But instead of being grateful, she just decided to swap out her grades for mine and drive me to suicide.

While I was still lost in my memories, Ms. Dickson's roar pulled me back to reality once again.

"Sierra Phillips! Get up and leave the class now!"

Miranda hurriedly stood up, trying to ease the tense atmosphere as she explained, "Ms. Dickson, Sierra told me that she'd been studying too hard till very late at night these days, and she's very exhausted. She's been very hardworking, Ms. Dickson. Please don't get mad at her anymore."

She then glanced at me cautiously, before lowering her head and pretending to sob.

Ms. Dickson thought that Miranda was shocked by her reprimands and hurriedly began comforting her. However, Miranda changed her story just then.

"I'm sorry for lying, Ms. Dickson. Sierra forced me to lie on her behalf. She was actually playing computer games all night… S-She even threatened to slap me if I told the truth…"

At that, I just laughed coldly and said nothing. Then, I slowly got to my feet, raised my hand without hesitation, and delivered a tight, forceful slap across her face.

The sound reverberated across the classroom. Miranda was frozen to the spot, staring at me like she didn't know what to do next.

A long while later, she finally snapped back to her senses and thrust a finger in my face, yelling, "What the hell was that for, Sierra Phillips?"

Ms. Dickson hurried over to stop me from slapping Miranda again. I just grinned slyly as I glared at her coldly, looking her dead in the eye.

"I just slapped you so people would believe what you said earlier. I mean, if I didn't do it, the whole class would only think that you were lying, wouldn't they? You wouldn't want that, would you?"

If she insisted on acting like a bitch, then I was going to make sure to give her exactly what she wanted.

…

As night fell, I went back home with my parents, Miguel Phillips and Andrea Moore. Ms. Dickson had called them to the teacher's office that afternoon because she was mad at me for slapping a classmate in class.

Yet, Mom and Dad never blamed me for anything. They just gently reminded me not to get too stressed while studying for the SATs. They also told me to get enough rest if I was tired or exhausted.

They were like that in my past life too. When I realized that my grades were so bad that I wouldn't even manage to get into a vocational college, my world literally came crashing down on me.

However, after the initial shock, Mom and Dad still pulled me into their arms and comforted me, telling me not to be so upset.

Everyone around us, including our relatives who'd always had their eyes on me, began looking at me in contempt and poking fun at me. Mom and Dad were also ashamed and ostracized because of my grades.

I wasn't going to let any of that happen again in this life.

The next day, I went to school early in the morning as usual.

It was obvious that Miranda was still holding a grudge against me for what happened the day before. She glared at me fiercely and then ignored me for the rest of the day.

However, during the break between classes, she suddenly pulled me out to a corner in the hallway, asking me to explain something from class to her.

"Why can't we do this in the classroom?" I asked.

"Oh, it's too noisy in there. I can't focus."

Her motive became clear soon enough, though. I wasn't even done explaining the first question when she suddenly shook me off and ran into the teacher's office to complain.

She sobbed and said, "Ms. Dickson! Ms. Dickson! Sierra just tried to attack me again as revenge because she got called into the office yesterday!"

She continued wiping the tears from her face, pretending to look as pitiful as possible while silently observing me. When she realized that I wasn't responding to her accusations, she sobbed even more loudly and aggressively.

"She pulled me into a corner in the hallway and threatened to push me off the seventh floor if I dared to tattle on her again!"

Miranda was just too adept at showing different sides of her to people—one in public and one behind their backs.

And if things didn't go her way, she would immediately complain to someone of higher authority, put on a pitiful act, and play the poor victim card so she wouldn't be held responsible for anything.

In the past, I never bothered refuting any of her accusations against me. I'd just weakly defend myself, telling Ms. Dickson that I had never done such a thing.

After all, every time I tried to explain my side of the story, Ms. Dickson would always take Miranda's side and reprimand me no matter what happened.

"Miranda wouldn't be complaining about you if you never did such a thing to her. What's the point of slandering you if you were innocent in the first place?"

Ms. Dickson would always assume that I was making up excuses. In fact, she would even tell me that there must be something wrong with my attitude and character if I simply couldn't get along with my classmates.

"Where's the proof?"

I didn't hold back this time and simply questioned Miranda on the spot. "Did anyone actually see me bullying or attacking you in school?"

She'd purposely chosen a secluded corner with no surveillance cameras, a spot where no one else would have walked by. Of course, she wouldn't be able to produce any witnesses to back her up.

"Miranda wouldn't be complaining about you—"

Ms. Dickson started lecturing me again even though Miranda was beginning to stammer and stutter without being able to provide any evidence.

I retorted, "If you continue slandering me like that, I will not hesitate to expose how you gaslit us before the SATs online and force the government education bureau to investigate."

My words left her completely speechless. Given her personality, she would want to immediately nip any negative scandals that might cost her a promotion in the bud. I knew that she would never want me to get the bureau involved and affect her evaluation.

Since Miranda couldn't produce any evidence against me and she'd always had a consistently poor reputation, the other teachers in the office began giving her strange, disapproving looks.

"What is the meaning of this, Miranda? Coming up with a lie like that right before the SATs? Have you ever stopped to think whether you'd be able to face the consequences?" Ms. Dickson chided, suddenly flying into a rage and slamming her hand on the table.

Miranda flinched and lowered her head, grabbing at the hem of her uniform.

"If you continue doing this and it affects Sierra's performance on the SATs, I'm never going to let you off the hook, not even if your parents beg me to! Kindly focus the rest of your energy into actually studying during these last few days before the exam and learn properly from Sierra when she tutors you."

As she walked out of the office, Miranda seemed to have realized that Ms. Dickson wasn't going to take her side anymore, so she just left quickly without giving me another glance.

A short while later, a familiar figure appeared before me. As expected, it was my boyfriend, Trevor Coffey.

"Sierra, I've been hearing some rumors lately…"

His voice sounded a little shaky and uncertain, like he was still struggling to form a sentence. His hesitant attitude made me want to laugh out loud.

He had already been seeing Miranda behind my back and begun conspiring with her a long time ago. And yet, he was still trying to act affectionate with me.

If I hadn't actually seen the two of them being all lovey-dovey with each other on the news after the SATs in my past life, I probably would've been touched by his "concern" and "affection" toward me now.

However, since I knew exactly where he heard the "rumors" from, I just replied emotionlessly, "That's right. I've been acting like a class bully."

Trevor was very shocked when he heard that. He gripped my shoulders tightly and asked urgently, "Sierra! What did Miranda ever do to you? Why did you do such a thing to her?"

I scoffed. He'd just fallen right into my trap.

I frowned and began twirling my hair in my fingers, looking frustrated. His stupidity was making me want to roll my eyes.

Instead, I asked in a mocking tone, "I only said that I was a class bully. Did I specifically mention who my target was?"

Trevor's expression immediately grew flustered. He began avoiding my eyes, not daring to look at me.

"Sierra… I… Did you hear about some other rumor? I just… I just saw Mimi walking past in a huff… I thought that you might have had a misunderstanding with her… I promise that there's absolutely nothing going on between me and her!"

Mimi?

I scoffed at how affectionately he referred to her, not feeling the least bit amused. Then, without waiting for him to explain any further, I splashed the water in the bottle in my hand all over his face and said, "Let's break up."