Meanwhile, my classmates went on to college like nothing happened, enjoying their lives.
The memory of how my last life ended left cold sweat prickling down my back.
Maybe Molly noticed the color draining from my face,
because she turned to me, lip trembling, voice dripping with hurt.
"Miriam, what's that face supposed to mean? You don't want to buy the cheating devices with the rest of us? You wouldn't go tell a teacher about this, would you?"
Every pair of eyes in the classroom swung toward me.
These same faces—last life, they'd watched me slip from the rooftop edge, and their twisted laughter was still ringing in my ears.
I switched to a smile instantly,
pulled a fistful of hundred-dollar bills from my pocket, and slapped them down in front of Molly.
"Something this good? Of course I'm buying in. I'll cover the biggest share!"
Molly looked at me like I'd grown a second head.
But the doubt in her eyes was swept away by the eruption of cheers around us.
"Molls, this is amazing! With eight hundred from our class president, we've got enough!"
"This is it! I'm getting into Westbridge this year! All those years my parents spent grinding at the morning market, finally worth something!"
"Miriam, I didn't expect you to support Molly's plan like this."
Ethan stepped forward and slung his arm around my shoulders.
"Miriam, keep being like this from now on. You know how much I like it when you're good and do as you're told."
Ethan and I grew up together. We'd been side by side since we were kids.
We'd promised we'd go to the same university, do graduate school together, head toward the same future.
But in my last life, when I was hanging off the edge of that rooftop begging for my life, he was the one laughing the hardest.
Three years I'd spent tutoring him, giving everything I had without a thought for myself.
The bitterness started spreading through me.
"Hey, Miriam! Don't tell me you're already having second thoughts?!"
Ethan's sharp accusation yanked me back to the present.
I swallowed it all down and forced another smile.
"No, it's just—everyone's about to go their separate ways. Makes me a little sad, that's all."
"What's there to be sad about!"
Molly was stuffing the collected cash into her pocket, grinning the whole time.
"Two months from now, we'll all see each other again at Westbridge!"
The whole class erupted again.
"Yeah! Westbridge, here we come!"
"Two months, and we'll be together again at Westbridge!"
Looking at these excited, two-faced monsters, a chill of revulsion crawled through me.
I needed to get away from them. Every second less in this room was a second safer.
I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.
To keep them from getting suspicious, I made a point of patting Molly on the shoulder before I left.
"Be careful when you buy the devices. And tomorrow morning, when you're showing everyone how to use them before the exam, don't forget about me."
"Don't worry!"
Molly caught my hand. Not a trace of suspicion in her eyes.
"No way we'd forget our star class president!"
Once I was out of the classroom, I stopped at the corner and waited.
Sure enough, the moment I was gone, worried voices drifted out from inside.
"Molls, I heard they're cracking down hard at the exam center this year. What if we actually get caught?"
Molly glanced out the window toward the hallway.
I pressed myself flat behind the corner wall.
She didn't spot me. After scanning the corridor and seeing no one, her brazen laughter rang out from the classroom.
"So what if we get caught!"
Molly nestled right up against Ethan,
and the two of them said it at the exact same time:
