Chapter 2

I met Ethan at school.

Because I was one of the strongest students in our grade, I often helped him study. Over time, we grew close.

We had once agreed that even if we could not get into the same college, we would at least try to attend schools in the same city.

But after Lisa transferred into our class senior year, everything changed.

Her arrival was impossible to miss. From the first week, she made sure everyone knew she had money. Designer bags. Limited-edition sneakers. A new luxury watch almost every few days.

She never said outright that she was the billionaire’s daughter, but she hinted at it constantly.

She said school was only a formality for her. Her future had already been arranged. Her family knew people on admissions boards. If she wanted something, all it took was one phone call.

Not only that, she handed out expensive gifts to our classmates as if they meant nothing.

After a while, most of the class started orbiting around her.

Ethan was one of them.

Lisa gave him the newest game console on the market. From then on, he spent every spare minute gaming. His grades slipped, his practice test scores dropped, and he stopped caring about his college applications.

I saw it happening and worried about him.

I told him to put the console away for now and focus on school. Once applications were submitted and exams were over, he could play as much as he wanted.

But he would not listen.

Instead, he snapped at me for interrupting his game.

“Do you know how much this costs? It’s worth more than anything you own. Get lost.”

In my last life, I could not stand watching him ruin himself, so I went to a teacher.

Looking back now, I really had been pathetic.

Someone like him deserved the consequences he chose.

“Hahahaha, Olivia, you’re killing me.”

Ethan laughed as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

“You really are naive. Do you have any idea how people at that level live? Getting us into schools like Harvard or Yale would take one call from Lisa’s family.”

The other students laughed along with him.

“Exactly. Her family has been rich for three generations. That beats all your perfect grades and hard work.”

“What’s the point of being good at school? After graduation, you’ll still end up working for people like her.”

“People like you will never understand. The thing you spend your whole life fighting for might be something Lisa can get with one sentence.”

I smiled.

Some of what they said was not wrong.

But only if Lisa really was who she claimed to be.

“Then I hope you all get exactly what you’re counting on,” I said.

After that, I walked out of school without looking back.

One block away, I got into a Rolls-Royce parked by the curb.

The car drove me all the way to a gated estate.

When I got home, my parents were waiting for me.

“Sweetheart, I knew you could do it,” my mother said, pulling me into a hug. “Come see the gift I prepared for you.”

She placed a box in front of me.

When she opened it, a diamond necklace lay inside, brilliant under the light.

Then my father placed a set of documents beside it, his face full of pride.

“And this is for you too. It’s an apartment near campus. Once you decide where you’re going, you can live somewhere comfortable instead of squeezing into a dorm if you don’t want to.”

Looking at my parents, alive and well, tears suddenly spilled from my eyes.

Thank God.

There was still time.