Chapter 1

Before the SATs, Lily Ryan secretly swapped the exam admission ticket of my childhood friend, Andrew Shaw, for a love letter.

She grinned mischievously. "What's the point of another boring confession? Only by doing this will Andrew never get me out of his head.

"When Andrew opens his pencil case in the exam hall and finds my love letter, his heart's totally going to race. This is what being young is all about. Sitting there and taking the test by the rules is so dull."

In my previous life, I stopped her right away and told her the SATs were not a game.

Lily ran out into the rain, crying, and caught a fever from being soaked, missing SATs as a result.

Andrew and I both performed well and got into Kambridge University.

When Andrew found out about the love letter he'd missed, he flew into a rage and shoved me into the fresh concrete at a construction site.

He snapped, "Lily only wanted me to see the love letter and then come back with the admission ticket to surprise me. You ruined everything for her.

"April, what makes you think you deserve to go to Kambridge University with me? You deserve to die."

I struggled in despair, suffocating as I died.

Now, I got a second chance.

After watching Lily casually tear up Andrew's exam admission ticket and use it as a coaster for her desk, I took a different route and went straight home.

*****

The day before the SATs, Lily showed up at Andrew's desk with a big smile and a few of her friends in tow.

Her friends started gushing.

"Lily, this idea is so cool. Andrew's totally going to be head over heels for you when he sees it."

"Yeah. The ice-cold top student and the sunny underachiever are the perfect match."

"Childhood sweethearts can't compete with a sudden crush. April? Please. All she does is study. She's so boring."

Lily flashed a shy smile, but the pride in her eyes was impossible to hide.

She pulled out Andrew's exam admission ticket and tucked it into a pink love letter.

Afraid Andrew might spot it before the SATs, she slipped the love letter into a plain white envelope for extra cover.

No one would notice unless they really paid attention.

Their laughter and giggling echoed through the classroom.

I paused at the classroom door, quietly withdrawing my hand from the doorknob.

The feeling of concrete filling my nose and mouth as I suffocated in my previous life still haunted me.

I meant well, trying to save Andrew's future, but somehow ended up as the biggest villain in their love story.

Now that I had a second chance, I chose to stay out of it and let everyone live their own life.

As I was about to leave, Lily suddenly covered her mouth and gasped. "Hey, looks like April's exam admission ticket is in that drawer."

Andrew and I sat next to each other. My admission ticket was inside the pencil case in the drawer beside him.

Lily's eyes lit up with excitement as she snatched my exam admission ticket and waved it around. "April's always so distant. Do you think she'll freak out and cry if she can't find her exam admission ticket?"

She winked. "Andrew says she never cries. I bet 30 dollars she'll totally cry tomorrow."

My heart clenched. In my previous life, I showed up in time, so Lily never got to carry out her next scheme.

It turned out that she'd been holding a grudge against me for ages, waiting for a chance to take revenge.

Her friends applauded and egged her on.

"That's how you deal with someone like her. I'm bringing my phone tomorrow to get a shot of her reaction."

"I'm going to make it into a meme and blast it in the group chat. Let's see if she can keep acting all high and mighty after that."

Her friends left, leaving Lily all alone in the classroom.

I caught her flashing a wicked grin as she casually ripped up my exam admission ticket and slipped it under her desk to prop it up.

Lily was so full of herself that she didn't notice she'd ripped up more than mine. Andrew's ticket got shredded, too.

Andrew always doted on Lily, calling her a beautiful airhead. Honestly, she really was kind of dumb.

I slipped out quietly and went to get a new exam admission ticket by myself.

A few days before the SATs, the school let us decide whether we would stay on campus to study.

This time, I chose to go home and review without hesitation.

I asked Mom to give the teacher a heads-up and grab all my stuff from the classroom to bring it home.

Andrew texted me: [April, weren't we supposed to stay at school and study together? How come you went home on your own?]

I didn't reply.

After a while, Andrew sent another message. [I'm not going to spoil you like some princess. Lily's friend left, and she's nervous about studying alone, so I'm going to stay with her.]

I glanced at the message and went right back to reviewing my notes.

Andrew and I grew up together, and everyone always joked that we were childhood sweethearts destined to end up together. But honestly, I saw him as a friend.

He, on the other hand, was convinced I had a secret crush on him and assumed I should be hanging around him all the time.

Every time I turned down his invites because I was busy, he'd get a little too cozy with some other girl on purpose. Honestly, it really killed the vibe.

While I was lost in thought, Lily suddenly dropped a photo in the class group chat.

In the pic, Andrew and Lily were all cozied up, going over some questions together, with her leg boldly sprawled across his.

Anyone could see the chemistry between them.

And the photo was actually taken at a bar.

Lily sent a cheeky meme: [Studying in the classroom is so boring, so I dragged my personal tutor out for a study session with drinks.]

Plenty of people started teasing: [So sweet.]

Some drama lovers tagged me. [April, your childhood sweetheart's about to get snatched away.]

Andrew replied instantly: [Don't make stuff up. April and I are only neighbors.]

I replied fast: [Yeah, we're only neighbors. Congrats to the old flames.]