Chapter 1

"Look, everyone. I printed your exam admission tickets on pink paper. Isn't it cute?"

Our homeroom teacher, Pauline Ashby, stood at the podium, proudly holding up a stack of pink sheets with both hands. Gasps rippled through the classroom.

"That's so adorable, Ms. Ashby!"

"Pink is so soothing. It already puts me in a better mood."

A few girls in the front row were the first to say something, their eyes sparkling with excitement. The boys didn't say much, but none of them objected either.

Ever since Ms. Ashby got pregnant, she had gone full-on "baby mode", and there was no turning back. The classroom was decorated in pink, the class T-shirts were printed with cartoon characters, and she herself showed up every day looking like she was heading to a preschool recital.

At this point, everyone had gotten used to it.

I looked at the stack of pink admission tickets and felt a wave of nausea churn in my stomach. In my past life, it was this exact pink admission ticket that nearly kept our entire class out of the exam hall.

Even after I tracked down the head teacher to sort things out, we were still delayed by almost 20 minutes before we could get in. Anyone who had ever sat for exams knew exactly what those 20 minutes were worth.

Some people completely fell apart, while others ran out of time before they could finish. The class average ended up nearly 20 points lower than our mock exams.

My childhood best friend and I still got into top universities because we were strong enough students to absorb the hit, but I still remembered that gut-wrenching panic like it was yesterday. Too bad none of them ever thanked me for it. Instead, they all played a part in getting me killed.

I pulled myself out of the memory and made up my mind that in this life, I wasn't going to stick my neck out for anyone. But Ms. Ashby had already set her sights on me.

"Sienna Ellsworth!" she called my name. "Why so quiet? Don't you think the pink looks nice?"

Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward me. My childhood best friend, Caelum Thornley, was staring at me with a particularly unfriendly look.

"It's nice," I said, forcing a lazy smile. "Very cute, Ms. Ashby."

Ms. Ashby nodded, pleased with herself. "See, I knew Sienna had the best taste!"

"Ms. Ashby, I have a question," a hesitant voice called out from the back of the room. It was the academic rep. "Aren't admission tickets supposed to be printed in black and white? Will pink ones even be accepted?"

The classroom went dead silent. Ms. Ashby's face fell. Her lip trembled, and her eyes turned red almost instantly.