Chapter 1

"All I did was give Austin the lunch you brought me. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?"

My girlfriend, Gloria Patterson, glared at me.

"He's been studying so hard for the SAT. He needs a good meal more than I do. And you're always talking about being fair, aren't you? Then let Austin hold on to everyone's admission tickets. You don't have to be in charge of everything!"

I stood there with the tickets clenched in my hand.

In my previous life, Gloria defended Austin Burke with those same words.

That time, we argued until I finally got our teacher involved. Only then did she back down and let me keep the tickets.

My classmates accused me of picking on Austin and said I had no business being class president. After that, they shut me out.

Even then, I went to each of them and begged them to work through the practice questions I prepared. Those questions helped them earn the scores they needed to get into universities that otherwise would've been out of their reach.

Yet when a student who couldn't get into college doused me in gasoline, my classmates deliberately brought my parents over to watch.

They laughed as I burned alive, keeping Austin safely behind them while my parents watched in horror.

My parents couldn't bear it. They ran into the flames after me.

"Victor, listen to me," Gloria went on. "Just…"

"Here."

I shoved the tickets into Austin's hands before Gloria could finish. After that, I grabbed my backpack and walked toward the door.

I couldn't stand to look at any of them, and I wasn't coming back to school until after the SAT.

Austin stared at the stack in his hands. He clearly expected more of a fight.

I was barely out of the classroom when Gloria caught my backpack strap and jerked me back.

"Wait. Where's your ticket?"

"I'm keeping it."

I pushed past her, but she kept arguing.

"No. We agreed Austin would hold on to everyone's tickets. Yours too."

"Since when do you get to decide that?"

I tightened my grip on my ticket and took a step back.

"If you want Austin to hold on to your tickets, fine. But I'm keeping mine. What's your problem with that?"

"Oh, come on, Victor. Could you stop being jealous for five minutes?"

Daniel Hart, the captain of the school basketball team, stepped forward and grabbed my arm. Several other student council members crowded around us.

"Austin is just trying to do something nice, and you can't even let him do that?"

"You're class president, Victor. How about showing a little trust? We said Austin would hold on to everyone's tickets. You don't get a special exception!"

Daniel ripped the ticket out of my hand and tossed it to Gloria. I reached for it, but she threw it to someone else.

Soon, they were tossing it back and forth over my head, laughing every time I tried to snatch it.

"What's wrong, Victor? Do you want it? Come get it!"

"Come on, Victor! Jump a little higher!"

"Maybe next time you'll think twice before ordering us around!"