Chapter 2

The last practice test before the real SAT was a statewide mock exam. When I came back to life, the mock exam had just finished.

I still scored 1580, ranking first in the state.

My homeroom teacher and the academic director were grinning from ear to ear. If the principal hadn't stopped them, they probably would have started celebrating having a potential SAT perfect scorer.

Meanwhile, my seatmate Lily White scored 1570, ranking 10th in the state.

While the school was happy to potentially have another Ivy League candidate, they still had major doubts.

That's because Lily had always been at the bottom of the class before, a true slacker. Her sudden leap in scores was very suspicious.

So when going over the mock exam in class, Ms. Thompson deliberately called on Lily to answer a question she got right.

"Lily, please come up and explain how you solved this problem. Walk us through your thought process."

Lily stood up looking very flustered. In my mind, I silently recited the correct solution and answer.

But Ms. Thompson's expression gradually darkened as Lily still couldn't explain it.

Seeing Lily's hands clenched nervously together, I felt relieved. It seemed her mind-reading ability only worked during actual exams.

In my previous life, I didn't know about her mind-reading system, so I never noticed these details.

This time, I had to figure out exactly how her mind-reading system worked in order to plan my revenge. After testing it multiple times, I finally confirmed that she couldn't hear my thoughts outside of exams.

Just as Ms. Thompson was about to lose her last bit of patience, Lily spoke up:

"Ms. Thompson, I got all these questions right. I need to review other topics now, can you stop bothering me?"

Her words were so rude that the whole class gasped. Many students gave Lily a thumbs up in admiration.

Ms. Thompson tapped the podium to quiet everyone down.

Lily grew even more confident under everyone's admiring gazes. She arrogantly raised her chin and stared straight at Ms. Thompson:

"I don't want to waste my time on these simple questions. It's a waste of my talents."

Ms. Thompson's gaze towards Lily was dark and unreadable, filled with extreme disappointment and disgust.

This incident made Lily infamous throughout the school.

Just like in my previous life, she put zero effort into studying.

She was an expert at makeup, gaming, partying - everything except academics. She even led the bullying of hardworking students who couldn't improve their grades.

The worst victim was Fiona.

Lily would kick Fiona's desk when walking by, scattering her things all over the floor. Then she'd cross her arms and mock: "Stupid pig brain, you'll never get into college no matter how long you study."

Her sycophantic followers would chime in: "That's right, Lily! Not everyone can be a genius like you and score over 1550 without even studying."

"Yeah, even that Ava girl only beat you by 10 points after studying so hard!"

"Hahaha, what a joke..."

Standing outside the classroom, I frowned as I listened to them freely mocking Fiona and me.

I remembered how Lily bullied Fiona in my past life too, locking her in bathroom stalls and cornering her in dead ends to force her to kneel.

I couldn't stand it and advised Lily to study seriously instead of bullying classmates. She said she was bullying Fiona because Fiona was jealous of my good grades and badmouthed me behind my back. Lily claimed she was just getting revenge for me.

Although I didn't care if Fiona badmouthed me or not, and told Lily many times not to seek revenge for me, I still believed her words. I stopped helping Fiona with her studies.

Being ostracized by both the top student and the richest, prettiest girl in class, Fiona's final days of high school were miserable. She couldn't perform to her true potential on the SAT either.

Guilt washed over me. I walked into the classroom and called Lily to study with me.

Lily seemed reluctant, so I smiled slightly and said:

"But I can't focus on studying without you by my side."

Hearing that, she immediately ditched her lackeys and returned to her seat with me.

She was waiting to cheat off my answers during the SAT, so of course she wanted me to study as much as possible. She couldn't let me slack off.

After that, I always used the excuse of needing her company to study seriously, leaving her no time to bully Fiona.

Seeing me study diligently, she felt at ease playing games under the desk.

As soon as school ended, she'd remind me to study hard before running off at lightning speed.

After she left, I would lend my study notes to Fiona and use my free time to tutor her, trying to make up for my mistakes in my past life.