Chapter 2

This was my first time stepping into the Vaughn residence.

I also met the sister Aurora was always talking about, the one she said was better at everything than her.

"From now on, your name is Natalie Vaughn," she said.

My adoptive mother had a servant show me to my room. I nodded politely at Natalie, hoping to make a good impression, but she just scoffed and turned away to her own room.

From what Aurora had told me in my previous life, Natalie was pretty stuck-up and had a temper; she didn't like Aurora at all.

No matter how hard Aurora tried to win her over, it was useless.

But I wasn't like Aurora. She was obsessed with money, but all I wanted was to be myself.

So I went upstairs to my room. On the desk, I found my enrollment letter and some school supplies.

The Vaughn family was filthy rich, but some of their money came from shady sources. To make themselves look good, they donated to an orphanage and adopted a kid just to shut people up.

That was why they didn't send me to the same private school as their real daughter. Instead, they just dumped me into some random public high school.

I opened up the textbook and tried to study by myself. It had been ages since I'd looked at any high school material, and honestly, a lot of it was already slipping from my memory.

I couldn't help but think about how Aurora reacted to these books in my previous life.

She used to gripe all the time about how her school was dull and nothing like the glamorous, high-end academy her sister attended. The envy and longing in every word were clear.

Maybe she pulled every trick in the book to convince her adoptive parents to send her to that fancy school, but it never worked out for her.

The next day, the driver dropped me off at school. The moment I stepped out of the car, people started crowding around, fussing over me, and asking if I was alright.

I knew the principal and teachers were only putting on a show because of the Vaughn family, so I just kept my head down and hurried past them.

"Don't get too cocky. Everything you've got is gonna be gone before you know it," Aurora spat.

I glanced over and saw Aurora glaring at me from a few steps away, her eyes full of bitterness.

It was the same in my previous life, except back then, Aurora called out to me and gave me that same bitter look. "Wow, your dirt-poor folks can even manage to support you?

"Seriously, that's just sad. Just look at those shabby clothes, you totally smell like a poor kid."

She could be a little happier while she still could.

It wouldn't be long before she lost that smile.

Just like in my previous life, Aurora and I ended up in the same class again.

When it was time to pick our seats, the teacher pointed out two spots. One was next to a girl dressed just as simply, and the other was next to a clean-cut guy.

Aurora didn't hesitate and headed straight for the girl.

I was honestly surprised. In my previous life, she'd looked down on that girl for being just as poor as me and chose to sit with the guy instead.

Now that I thought about it, it wasn't just my parents she was copying. She was trying to replicate every decision I'd made in my previous life, down to the smallest detail.

I suddenly laughed, and a bunch of guys in the class just stared at me, stunned.

Aurora jealously kicked the leg of her desk, but no one even noticed.

I didn't bother arguing with her, since I knew better than anyone how foolish those decisions were.

She thought I got to live that kind of life just because I lived with the Wilde family.

She believed that as long as she copied my choices, she'd make it to the top.

But she forgot that I fought for the right to make those choices.

I hit the jackpot because I worked my ass off for it.

All she ever wanted was to take the easy way out.

I shot Aurora a meaningful look as she chatted with the girl beside her.

Back in my previous life, that girl and I looked like friends on the surface, but she was just another parasite like Aurora. Only she mooched off my grades instead of my money.

She was always copying my homework, and whenever the teacher pointed out even the tiniest mistake, she'd always make it sound like I was the one messing up.

After every exam, she'd shamelessly latch onto me, begging me to explain the test to her over and over.

She liked to say we were in the same boat, that since we were both broke, we ought to have each other's backs.

Aurora was never good at school, and now that she teamed up with that girl, well, they were doomed to drag each other down.

But for me, it was finally some peace and quiet. I turned to check out the guy sitting next to me.

He was the class monitor and used to be the top student in the whole grade, until I showed up and knocked him down to second place.

In my previous life, he was just as much of a study maniac as I was. The only thing we ever did together was battle it out on test days.

"Hello, I'm Liam Parker. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I'm the class monitor," he said.