Chapter 3

In my previous life, those were the very words that solidified Mr. Jones' grudge against me. From that day on, he deliberately made things difficult for me, and I became isolated and bullied.

This time, before the instructor could even get angry, I immediately spoke up, "You keep on saying that you can hear my inner thoughts, but aren't you just pushing your own dark and narrow-minded thoughts onto me?"

Someone nearby muttered, "Yeah, she didn't even get it right yesterday!"

"Fine, then let's see who's lying right here, right now!"

A smile tugged at the corner of Bella's lips. "Fine. Lauren, take out your phone and type in a random string of numbers without anyone seeing. If I can accurately guess what you've typed, it'll prove that I wasn't lying!"

Her tone was confident, as if she'd had victory in her grasp.

I glared at her, not believing that she could read my mind in the slightest. In my past life, she'd definitely seen me putting the candies in my pocket at some point.

If she could truly read my mind, she would've known that I'd hidden the candies somewhere else.

The people around us excitedly cleared a circle of space.

I pulled out my phone, turned my back to everyone, and randomly tapped six digits onto the screen: 372815.

Then, I locked my screen and turned back around, holding the phone face-down in my palm.

"Go on."

Bella furrowed her brow and pondered for three seconds, before her lips curled into a smirk. "372815."

My entire body froze.

A classmate stepped forward, took my phone, and held the screen up for everyone to see.

There was a moment of silence, then the crowd erupted.

"Holy sh*t, she got it all correct!"

"She got every number right!"

"Can you really read her mind, Bella?"

I refused to accept it, I couldn't!

"Well, what if you saw the movement of my fingers just now? That one doesn't count!"

She spread her hands. "What would count, then?"

I gripped my phone tightly, my mind racing.

"Let’s try again tomorrow. For breakfast, I’ll eat whatever I choose, then secretly take a photo of my breakfast and save it on my phone. No one will be watching.

"Then, when we assemble the next morning, you’ll have to guess what I ate for breakfast. If you get it right, you win.

"But if you guess it wrong, you'll have to apologize to me publicly in front of all the other freshmen, and admit that you've been slandering me and making baseless accusations!"

We weren't given a fixed breakfast and could choose what we liked, and any pictures I'd take would be done by myself. There was no way she'd get it correct this time!

Bella nodded. "Deal."

That night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

On the third day of orientation, I deliberately bought a huge variety of breakfast foods. Even if someone happened to see me, they wouldn’t know which ones I actually intended to eat.

When I ate, I made sure to avoid everyone and secretly took a photo.

As the whistle for assembly sounded, everyone quickly fell into formation.

With all eyes on her, Bella calmly said, "You had two strips of bacon, one piece of toast, two sips of tea and a croquette!"

The blood in my veins seemed to freeze over.

Frowning, Mr. Jones took my phone and tapped on my album, carefully checking the photo I took that morning before exclaiming in surprise, "She's right!"

My mind went completely blank.

Impossible!

Could she really read my mind?

-

Within moments, everyone's gaze upon me changed.

"She got it correct!"

"Can she really hear Lauren's thoughts? Doesn't that mean she was telling the truth?"

"No way… was Lauren acting innocent this whole time?"

"She looks all nice and innocent, but she's actually all twisted inside!"

In the center of the formation, there was an unmistakable look of triumph in Bella's eyes.

She lowered her gaze, sighed softly. "You know, I honestly never wanted to expose you. Even though I’ve heard all your complaints, schemes, and resentment every single time, I always kept it a secret for you.

"But you never admitted to it, and instead insist on saying that I'm going around slandering your name. I hear how dark and twisted you really are, you know? I hear how much disdain you hold for orientation, and how much you grumble about it in your heart, but yet you insist on pretending you're oh so innocent!"