Chapter 1

My roommate, Sophia Cash, is obsessed with getting the new iPhone. Her plan is to rent herself out as a fake girlfriend over the holidays, helping some sad, older single guy fool his family into thinking he is finally settling down.

I tell her it is a terrible idea because she is going to get scammed or worse. I beg her to be careful.

And she listens, giving up on the plan.

But after the holidays, she sees all these posts online, girls flexing the easy cash they've made from similar gigs. Suddenly, it is my fault she is broke. I am the one who has stood in the way of her payday. That's when she starts to hate me.

During a hiking trip with our college adventure club, she makes her move. She shoves me off a cliff. My body is never found.

And then, I open my eyes. I am right back in our dorm room, on the exact day it all began, with Sophia asking if I want in on her little scheme.

This time, I just give her a sweet smile. "You know," I reply, "I think you should totally go for it."

*****

"Picture this," Sophia Cash said, her eyes practically sparkling. "You just hang out at some guy's parents' place for a few days over the holidays.

"You don't have to do squat. Just be the fake girlfriend so his family finally gets off his back about being single. You can make a few thousand bucks. Easy.

"And some of these guys are super generous. They even let you keep the cash gifts their relatives give you.

"Add it all up, and you could pocket, like, five grand in three or four days. That's insane money, right?"

At that moment, Sophia was practically vibrating with excitement, her face glowing with a desperate kind of hope.

Then, the fog in my head finally cleared, and I realized where I was. I had been reborn, thrown right back to the very day Sophia asked me if I wanted to become a rent-a-girlfriend.

In my first life, it had all started when Sophia found a post on a forum.

The blogger claimed she had made a killing playing the part of a "holiday girlfriend" for three days.

On top of the three grand she had been promised, she got to keep all the cash and presents from the guy's family, clearing well over five grand.

Sophia was instantly hooked. She shoved her phone in my face, giddy with the possibility.

"Tons of guys are just not into getting married, but their families won't stop nagging them," she explained.

"So they need a temporary stand-in to get everyone off their case.

"I'm basically doing him a favor. He pays, I show up, and we're done after the holidays. It's a win-win.

"Plus, I could finally afford the new iPhone."

As her roommate and, I thought, her best friend, I was terrified for her.

I tried my best to talk her out of it, warning her not to fall for a potential scam.

"You've never even met this guy," I pleaded. "How can you trust him? For all you know, he could be some psycho who traffics girls."

In the end, I convinced her. She dropped the idea and never mentioned it again.

But when we came back to school after winter break, she stumbled across that same blogger's page.

The girl was now boasting about making another ten grand by doing the exact same thing.

That's when Sophia's jealousy festered into something ugly.

She started blaming me, convinced I had sabotaged her chance to get rich.

"The world isn't crawling with creeps, you know," she snapped at me one day. "You're just paranoid and suspicious of everyone."

Even after I bought her that exact phone she wanted for her birthday, the resentment lingered.

Then, during a hiking trip with the DreamChasers Club, she waited until I was lagging behind the group, near the edge of a steep drop-off. With a sudden, vicious shove, she sent me plunging over the side.

Her voice, cold and dripping with venom, was the last thing I ever heard.

"Why was it so easy for you? You were born with a silver spoon, with perfect parents who give you everything, while I have to consider selling myself just to get a new phone?

"Don't think I didn't know what you were doing. Giving me that phone was just your way of laughing at me, of calling me poor. You can't stand to see me have anything nice.

"Go to hell."

Thinking about it now, I smiled.

"If that's what you want," I said calmly, "suit yourself."

This time, because I didn't immediately try to talk her out of it, a flicker of doubt crossed Sophia's face.

She hesitated, murmuring, "But you don't think it's dangerous?

"What if it's a scam?"

I had to suppress a bitter laugh.

So, she did know it was risky.

But in my last life, when those words came from my mouth, she twisted them into an attack and blamed me for her own choices, a grudge she held all the way to my murder.

I searched my conscience and found nothing but kindness toward her. I had treated her like a sister.

When we first started college, Sophia told me how her family doted on her brother while treating her like an afterthought, giving her only half the allowance he got.

I was an only child, and my parents ran a small business, so we were better off than most families.

I couldn't really relate to her struggles, but I did feel for her because we were both just girls trying to get by.

Growing up in a family like hers and still making it to college was no small feat, so I did my best to help her out whenever I could.

And what did all that get me in the end? I ended up dead.

Now that I was back, there was no way in hell I was playing the fool again.

I looked up at her, saying with an eerily calm voice, "Come on, the world isn't crawling with creeps. You're just being paranoid."

I threw her own words from our past life right back in her face.

Sophia was stunned. I had always been her biggest supporter, and the coldness in my voice caught her completely off guard.

Her excited smile froze on her face.

But she recovered quickly, grabbing my arm and switching on the charm.

"Come on, we're best friends, right? Help me think this through.

"Tell me, should I do it or not?"

Best friends?

The words sounded so cheap and hollow coming from her lips. It felt like she was staining the very idea of what friendship meant.

I coolly pulled my arm away.

"Like I said, suit yourself."

She opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off.

"You're an adult, Sophia. Why are you so indecisive? Just figure out what you're getting into and own it."

It was laughable.