Chapter 1

I stood in the classroom doorway and looked at all those familiar faces.

My stomach turned.

I remembered every one of them from my last life.

When my family's hotel was buried under online lies and eventually forced to shut down, not one person in this room had spoken up for us.

It had started with Natalie Reed, my best friend, our class president.

Natalie had posted online that the Hayes Grand had been doing construction in the middle of the night during the statewide college entrance exams. According to her, the drilling and pounding had kept her awake and ruined her score.

The post exploded.

Tens of thousands of likes. Tens of thousands of shares. Two full days trending across social media.

My parents had never cheated anyone in their lives. They were ordinary business owners who had spent years building one good hotel.

But once the accusation went viral, the phones never stopped ringing.

Cancellations. Complaints. Abuse.

City licensing officers came to investigate. Building inspectors came to check for noise violations. People even showed up outside the hotel with signs.

My father's hair seemed to turn gray overnight.

My mother cried until her eyes were swollen nearly shut.

In the end, the hotel was ordered to suspend operations while the investigation dragged on. Refunds, penalties, canceled contracts, and lost business wiped out our savings.

I pulled myself out of the memory and stepped inside.

The classroom buzzed with pre-exam chaos. Students were comparing notes, flipping through review books, and making plans for after graduation.

I walked to my desk and hung my backpack on the back of my chair.

Chloe Martin, who sat in front of me, turned around with a smile.

"Julia, did you finish the homework?"

In my last life, Chloe had stayed in the most expensive suite in our hotel.

My mother had upgraded her because, as she put it, "A girl should be comfortable before a big exam."

Chloe had also eaten three days of complimentary breakfast.

Later, when strangers were tearing me apart online, she never said a word.

I looked at her and said nothing.

Chloe didn't seem bothered. She simply turned back around and continued talking to the person beside her.

Then Natalie walked over.

"Julia, you're here."

I looked up.

Natalie Reed. My best friend.

We had sat next to each other since freshman year.

On weekends, I used to bring her home with me. My mother cooked for her. My father drove her home.

Her family didn't have much money, so whenever we went anywhere, I made sure I paid.

When she told me she'd never been inside a five-star hotel, I took her swimming at ours, brought her to the buffet, and never let her spend a cent.

I thought we were friends.

She was the first person who destroyed my family.

"What's wrong?" Natalie tilted her head. "You look awful. Didn't sleep?"

"I'm fine."

My voice came out flat.

She sat beside me, put down her bag, and leaned closer as naturally as ever.

"Julia, where are you staying during the entrance exams?"

There it was. The same question, the same beginning.

"At my family's hotel."

Natalie's eyes lit up.

"That's so lucky. The Hayes Grand is five minutes from the testing center. You won't even have to wake up early.

"And you don't have to pay."

"The school already arranged dorm housing for everyone," I said. "You can stay there."

Natalie blinked.

Apparently, that wasn't the answer she expected.

"The dorms are all the way across town."

She frowned.

"We'd have to leave almost an hour earlier every morning.

"An hour matters, Julia. This is the biggest exam of our lives. You can't tell me losing an hour of sleep won't affect us."

"Then go to bed an hour earlier."

Natalie went quiet.

For a moment, something unreadable passed through her eyes.

"But..."

She bit her lip.

"If there's a better option, why choose the worse one?

"Your hotel is five minutes from the testing center. Wouldn't it be great if everyone could stay there?"

Then came the sentence I remembered better than anything.

"We're classmates. We should help each other out."