Chapter 4

"Doesn't it ever get tiring?"

I shouted, "That's not true!"

Mr. Jones' face turned livid as he walked over to me.

"You're coming with me, Anderson."

He took me to the other side of the field and lectured me for a full ten minutes, arms folded across his chest.

"You need to keep your head on straight and stop thinking all that nonsense, Anderson. This is a team effort, and being selfish is only going to bring everyone down."

And so, I was punished with extra training, doing five sets of squats, three sets of push-ups, and two laps of frog jumps.

For the next few days, Bella was completely trusted by everyone, not a single soul questioning her words.

All she needed to do was say "I heard her complaining in her heart", and everyone would look upon me with disdain.

She began slandering me without restraint.

Mr. Jones' patience with me was completely exhausted, and he started assigning me all kinds of extra drills.

Under the blazing sun, I stood on the scorching field again and again, my clothes soaked with sweat, my legs aching, yet I wasn’t even given the courtesy of standing up for myself.

My peers completely ostracized me, deliberately keeping their distance from me, whispering and shooting pointed glares at me, their gazes filled with nothing but rejection and disdain.

The rumors were like countless tiny needles, stabbing into me day after day, night after night.

In the office, my teacher earnestly tried to counsel me.

"Lauren, orientation is a group effort, and you need to be tolerant. No matter what you think inside, it's not good to always be so negative and resistant.

"Bella wouldn't have said what she did without reason, so you should correct your attitude. Reflect upon yourself, and stop disappointing your coursemates, Mr. Jones, and your teachers."

Each and every sentence came with the assumption that I was guilty. No one was willing to hear me out, and no one trusted my innocence.

An overwhelming sense of helplessness washed over me.

It was the exact same despair I had experienced in my previous life, suffocating me all over again.

Wasn't this supposed to be a second chance?

I'd made plans beforehand, kept my guard up, and hidden the candies before she could find them, hadn't I?

But why was it, that with each and every step, I was forced into the same desperate straits as my past life?

Curled up on my bed, a dull ache filled my chest as I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

Then my phone vibrated. It was my grandmother from the countryside.

I accepted the call, and my grandmother's familiar voice came from the receiver. "Is orientation going well, my dear? I've sent you some of your favorite cookies, and they should arrive by tomorrow…"

I finally couldn’t hold back my tears. Forcing myself not to cry, I whispered, "I'm not tired, Grandma…"

"When you were little, whenever you came home all sad and distraught, you'd always say that you weren't tired and end up crying the night away…" My grandmother spoke, her voice a calm lull. "Hearing your voice already tells me all I need to know. If you really are tired, come home, alright? I'll always be here for you!"

My eyes reddened with tears, and I was just about to reply when an epiphany struck, like a bolt in the blue.

A scene I had overlooked came rushing into my mind.

I knew how Bella had been able to read my mind!

On the eighth day of orientation, all the freshmen assembled, while the school leaders delivered a speech to rally everyone for orientation.

Halfway through the first speech by the principal, Mr. Baxter, Bella's hand shot up once more. "Sir, I have something to say!"

Then, she pointed at me. "Even while you were giving such a serious speech, Lauren's mocking it in her head, calling it nothing but useless formalities. She hasn't got a single iota of respect for you!"

I looked up at this girl who was trying to crush me like a bug and scoffed. "Oh, what a coincidence.

"Just now, I heard your inner thoughts as well! Everyone, let's hear what she's really thinking!"

As everyone looked on in confusion, Bella's voice rang out across the entire field, "What a bunch of idiots, so easy to fool! I've been playing them for fools this whole time, and they still think that I'm a good person, what a joke!"