No More Tragic First Love

Synopsis

Holly Barlow opened her eyes and realized she was sitting in the Dean of Students' office. On the desk in front of her lay a handwritten self-reflection letter. It was about a student's secret relationship at school. Before she could even process what was happening, a flood of memories from the original novel slammed into her mind. [A seventeen-year-old school bully named Warwick Kirk fell for Tasha Presley, the top student in her grade, the moment he saw her. [He told her she was different and asked her to be his girlfriend. [Tasha fell for him, and they crossed a line they should not have. [She got pregnant, had an abortion, and spiraled into depression. [Warwick went abroad. Ten years later, he came back and chased her like a man possessed. [In the end, they got together and had a pair of twins.] Holly stared ahead, speechless. Then she let out a quiet scoff. She thought the author had to be an idiot. No wonder the reviews were so bad. Right then, a mechanical voice rang out in her head. [Congratulations. You are now Holly Barlow, the Dean of Students in this book. Your mission is to protect the female lead and rewrite her ending.] Holly's vision flickered. In the original story, Holly was the kind of dean that everyone hated. When Tasha got into a secret relationship, Holly called her shameless. When Tasha got bullied, Holly asked her why she was the one being targeted instead of someone else. When Tasha read extracurricular books, Holly snatched them away and tore them in half. She said those books were useless and told Tasha to focus on practice exams if she wanted to get into a good university. She was not evil, not really. But she was cold, rigid, and impossible to like. Students talked about her behind her back. They said she was already forty and still single, so something had to be wrong with her. Holly leaned back in her chair and asked calmly, [Quick question. Can we rename this book "How I Entered a Terrible Novel and Drove the Male Lead Into Depression"?] The system said nothing. Holly stood up, walked to the mirror, and smoothed down her clothes. [Fine. Let's get started. Step one. Cut this toxic relationship off before it even begins.]