"If we get caught, Miriam takes the fall!"
A wave of cheering erupted, and then someone asked in a small voice,
"What if Miriam won't admit to it…"
"She doesn't get to say no!"
Ethan stepped forward and clapped the student on the shoulder.
"She's got the best grades in our class—who else would they suspect first?"
"And there are fifty-six of us. Fifty-six people all pointing at her. Who's anyone gonna believe?"
"One more thing!"
Molly picked up right where Ethan left off, grinning as she spoke.
"Tomorrow morning, when I show everyone how to use the devices—nobody calls Miriam. Not a word."
"Why? We're not telling her?"
"Of course not. Her grades are so good, she can manage on her own!"
"But she already paid…"
"So? She lorded over us for three years. Think of it as payback for putting up with her."
Their laughter hit me through the wall, ugly and wide open, and I dug my nails into my palms until it hurt.
Of course. They let me walk out that easily—there was never a chance it ended there.
But I wasn't the Miriam Winfield of my last life anymore, the lamb led quietly to slaughter.
I gripped my bag and went straight to the homeroom teacher's office.
"Ms. Simmons, this year's early admission to Westbridge University—I want it."
Then I set my exam admission ticket on the desk in front of her.
"I'm not sitting for the national college entrance exam."
I wouldn't set foot in a single exam room. Let them try to pin something on me then.
My decision came so suddenly
that Ms. Simmons didn't even have time to announce it in the class group chat.
The next morning, I picked up my phone. Not a single message. My mouth curved.
My mom was president of the Parent-Teacher Association,
so she'd been up since dawn getting things ready to help out at the exam center.
"Mom, I'll go with you and Dad."
I stuffed a steamed bun into my mouth and grabbed my things.
"Sweetheart, you're not even taking the exam. Why bother? You've worked hard for three years. Stay home and rest…"
"I want to go."
I took a handful of small fans from her and tucked them into my bag.
"We were classmates for three years. Least I can do is see them off."
Of course I was going. I wasn't about to miss the fallout I'd been waiting for.
Lucky for me, there wasn't a single classmate assigned to the same exam room as me this time around,
so none of them had any idea I'd withdrawn.
Outside the school, I spotted Molly and Ethan walking side by side.
They spotted me too.
The second they did, both of them turned their heads in unison and walked the other way, avoiding me.
Once they'd put some distance between us, snickering drifted back toward me,
as if they could already see the ruin they'd lined up for me this time around.
My mom looked baffled.
"Miriam, what's going on with Ethan? And that girl next to him, she's in your class too, right? Why are they both avoiding you like that? They don't know you're not taking the exam! They didn't even say hello!"
"Oh, they probably just didn't see me."
I pulled Mom and Dad over to a quiet corner and sat them down.
"You've been busy all morning and most of the students are already inside. Take a break."
I was sitting by the school gates with my parents, chatting about life after college,
when a commotion broke out near the campus security office.
More than a dozen security guards and over a dozen teachers hurried past us, heading straight for the exam rooms.
Minutes later, they came back—hauling students out by the arms.
