Chapter 1

At Michael Summers' graduation party, a government official his dad invited opened his college acceptance letter in front of everyone.

What nobody knew? When Michael filled out his college application, Emily Warren—the group's favorite troublemaker—had secretly changed his choice to a third-rate school.

In my previous life, after we got our exam results, I went to the internet café with Michael and two other friends to submit our college applications online.

But they all huddled around Emily.

While they were in the restroom, Emily switched their choices.

When I caught her, I tore into her. Their scores were good enough for Vanderly University—college applications weren't a joke.

When the guys came back, Emily played innocent, saying the deadline hadn't passed yet, so everything was still editable. She claimed she was just messing around.

But because I came down so hard on her, she got upset. She ran out and got hit by a car—her leg was shattered.

While she was abroad for treatment, the plane crashed. She died at 20.

Michael and the others blamed me. When we reached the top together years later, they pushed me off a building.

Their voices were ice-cold. "You're the reason Emily's dead. You should pay with your life!"

"Emily was just messing around. Even if she really did change our choices to some random school, we'd still go!"

"If we could do it all over again, we'd never go to the same college as you! We don't care about the success or honors—we just want her back!"

Michael's smile turned vicious. "Remember that car accident when your parents came to visit you? That was me!"

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day we were submitting our college applications.

*****

Watching them head to the restroom, I gripped the mouse tighter.

I'd actually been reborn—right at the exact moment Emily Warren was about to change their college choices.

I remembered how, in my last life, we all got into Vanderly University together, built cutting-edge robots, made serious money, and became top researchers for the country.

But in the end, they hated me for everything that happened with Emily.

No wonder they always iced me out as a group.

Whenever I pitched a new idea, they'd shoot it down. I thought it was because I wasn't good enough, but really, they just couldn't get over Emily.

Michael even murdered my parents to avenge Emily.

I clenched my fists, the memory of that gut-wrenching pain and helplessness as I fell from the building searing through my mind. Hatred burned in my chest.

In this life, I was done sticking my nose in their mess.

If I ever got the chance, I'd make them pay for what they did to my parents—and to me.

I had my headphones on, sitting a good ten feet away from them.

There were four seats in a row. We were supposed to sit together, but Emily wedged herself between the guys, pressed right up against Michael.

So they grinned and kicked me out.

One of them said, "Olivia, you're just here to fill out your form, right? Once you're done, you'll go back to your match-three game. We're gonna squad up in PUBG, so it's easier if we sit together."

Michael nodded. "You're not playing the same game as us anyway, so whatever."

Emily hooked her arm around Michael's shoulder. "Relax, genius. We're friends—it's normal for us to game together. Don't be so petty."

The guys looked annoyed. "Why are you always hanging around us? It's getting old."

Michael frowned at me. "Olivia, we already agreed to go to the same college as you. Stop being so dramatic!"

Emily shot me a smug grin, so I just ended up stuck here.

Now that I'd been given a second chance, I wasn't stupid enough to walk down the same path again.

I checked the deadline—eight hours left.

You could change your college choices up until the deadline. After that, your selections were locked in.

I carefully picked the school and major I'd loved in my previous life, double-checked everything, and hit submit.

Even though I still had eight hours and three more chances to change my mind, this wasn't something to mess around with.

I didn't look Emily's way. She changed all their picks to colleges in her hometown, just to keep them away from mine.

I had no idea if she was joking or serious. Either way, it wasn't my business anymore.

Now that I'd come back to life, gaming was the last thing on my mind. I just zoned out, staring at the monitor.

In my last life, I was completely into Michael. We were childhood friends, practically inseparable.

He was smart, athletic, and with a dad in government, he had it all.

Our families used to joke about us getting married when we were kids.

But it was just talk—what actually happened was up to us.

In my last life, once he met Emily, he completely iced me out. He stopped going to the library with me and just teamed up with Brian Carter and Ethan Brooks to play games with Emily.

Because of that, their grades dropped significantly.

After the teacher talked to them, they finally buckled down for the big exam.

But as soon as the exam was over, they went right back to goofing off with Emily every day.

They kept putting off their college applications till the last minute.

I thought that if we all got into Vanderly University, we'd be together again, chasing those childhood dreams.

Turns out, I was the only one who remembered.

This wasn't just some phase. By the time they killed me, we were already thirty.

My family kept trying to set me up with Michael, but he always refused—and he wouldn't let me date anyone else either.

Before I died, I finally learned the truth. He said, "Emily didn't even get to live to 30 or get any happiness. You, the murderer, don't deserve it!"

Whenever we worked on projects together, they'd ignore everything I contributed—sometimes they even deleted my name from the credits.

I had no idea it was Emily's death that made them all turn against me.

Every year on Emily's memorial day, they'd drink themselves into oblivion, crying over their precious Emily.

I propped my head up, listening to "Enough Is Enough" through my headphones, and couldn't help but laugh quietly.

When they came back from the restroom, the three of them were laughing and joking around. As soon as they spotted Emily, they rushed over.

Brian grinned. "Emily, why'd you close our application pages?"

Emily launched PUBG, her voice excited. "I already filled everything out for you guys. Come on—let's jump in!"

Michael looked at her dotingly. "How'd you know which college we wanted?"