Chapter 3

I lay on the ground without moving, as if deliberately defying her.

She trembled with rage, her face flushed red. "Aria, you've really outdone yourself. To avoid this fitness test, you're actually playing dead with me?"

"You're disgusting. Just as disgusting as your father!"

My heart clenched painfully. I sobbed once in grief.

I raised my hand to wipe away tears, only to find my face was dry.

So dead people can't cry.

Mom raised me alone. From the time I could remember, Mom repeatedly told me that Dad had betrayed their relationship and betrayed our family.

Mom put all her energy into me.

She knew my heart wasn't good, so every morning she would get up early to run with me, doing adaptive training.

But when I started high school, everything changed.

Mom was a teacher at this school.

She said she wasn't just my mother, but also everyone else's teacher, and she had to treat all students equally.

To avoid suspicion, she gave the first-place chemistry competition award that should have been mine to second-place Victoria.

To avoid suspicion, she forced me—someone with a medical exemption—to stand on the starting line for the fifteen hundred meter run.

And now, she was saying I was like that man she'd hated her entire life.

But Mom, I really wasn't playing dead. I just couldn't hold on anymore.

Victoria bent down and grabbed my arm.

"Aria, get up first. You've already run one thousand meters. Just hold on a little longer and you'll be done."

She pulled hard on my arm.

Maybe I was too heavy. She couldn't pull me up and instead stumbled backward a few steps before falling on her butt.

My body, half-lifted, fell heavily back to the ground.

Another dull thud.

Victoria froze, her eyes suddenly reddening.

"Aria, there's no need to take your anger out on me. I didn't offend you. Why did you have to push me?"

"Besides, Ms. Carter is doing this for your own good! Why can't you appreciate her intentions?"

She sniffled, tears streaming down her face.

"You don't know how much I envy you for having a mom like this."

Mom walked over, pulled Victoria to her side, and comfortingly patted her back.

"It's okay now. Don't cry."

Then she turned to me, her gaze sweeping over my body.

"Aria, is this how determined you are to defy me?"

"Since you want to play dead, I'll beat you awake today and see how long you can keep this up!"

She reached down and grabbed my hair, slamming my head hard against the track.

Once, twice, three times...

Blood seeped out, spreading across the track.

I floated nearby, watching her grab my hair and slam my head down again and again. My heart ached so much I could barely breathe.

I remembered that Mom used to be so good to me.

When I was little and accidentally scraped my skin, Mom would frantically find iodine and carefully clean my wound.

Then she'd gently comfort me, "Aria, don't be scared. It'll get better soon."

But now, all the disgust and anger on her face poured out with each violent impact.

As if the person lying on the ground wasn't the daughter she'd carried for ten months, but an eyesore and a burden.

More and more students gathered around to watch.

"She's definitely faking it. If she really felt bad, would Ms. Carter be this angry?"

"She's taking advantage of having a teacher for a mom, trying to get special treatment. Now she's getting what she deserves."

"It's just fifteen hundred meters. Is playing dead really necessary? So dramatic."

More and more students crowded around. Mr. Parker, the head of discipline, also appeared.

Mr. Parker immediately told Mom to stop.

"Ms. Carter, how can you hit a student?"

Mom finally stopped and sighed lightly.

"Mr. Parker, this is my daughter. She's playing dead to avoid the fitness test."

"Spare the rod and spoil the child. Today I have to teach her a proper lesson!"