She brought her heel down on my phone. Once. Twice. She didn't stop until the screen went black and stayed that way.

"Don't be so jealous," she said soothingly, like she was calming a child. "Just wait here like a good boy."

"I'm the class president. I'm just helping a classmate celebrate his birthday. If it were your birthday, I'd do the same thing."

"Stay put. I'll come back for you, and we'll walk home together."

The door slammed shut.

The heavy iron door slammed shut, plunging everything into darkness.

I lay sprawled on the ground, my voice raw and shredded as I screamed for help.

I lost track of time. Then—footsteps outside.

I practically threw myself at the door. "Help me—"

The door swung open.

It was Dad.

His face was tight with panic. He rushed in and pulled me into his arms.

"Son? What happened? I kept calling but couldn't get through. When I called Samantha, she said you were at some party."

"You'd never go out partying right before the college entrance exam—I knew something was wrong! I came looking for you immediately. I never imagined you'd be locked inside the school!"

"Was it Samantha? What's gotten into that girl?"

Two lifetimes apart, and here he was—alive, breathing, real.

I collapsed into his chest and sobbed.

Dad froze, completely at a loss. "Don't be scared. Tell me what happened."

"I'm fine." I wiped my tears and forced myself to stay calm.

Crashing their little party now would be letting them off too easy.

I wanted them to regret this for the rest of their lives.

When Mom arrived and saw the cuts and bruises covering my body, her expression shifted instantly.

But I just whispered, "I'm okay, Mom. I don't want to go to college here anymore. I want to study abroad—settle overseas with you and Dad."

In my past life, I'd given up an acceptance letter from a prestigious foreign university, all because Samantha had said, "Let's go to college together."

I'd taken the national exam instead.

And look where that got me.

This time, I wasn't going to gamble on her actually keeping my exam admission ticket safe.

This exam? I was done with it.

Back home, I passed out and slept fitfully until the early hours, my dreams filled with flashes of my previous life.

When I woke again, my pillow was soaked with tears.

I dried my eyes, swapped my SIM card into an old phone, and powered it on.

My feed was flooded with updates from classmates—and from Samantha and Roger.