Chapter 2

Ten minutes later, all that remained was the wreckage.

I silently picked up my chair.

My phone buzzed.

Mr. Whitaker, our homeroom teacher, had sent the class a message.

"Good luck on your entrance exams, everyone! Once they're over, you can have all the fun you want!"

My eyes narrowed.

All the fun I wanted?

Fair enough.

What could be more entertaining than attending fifty classmates' funerals?

Their souls would be gone for three days. Surely a few frantic parents would have them buried by then.

I studied for another three hours before leaving the classroom.

On the way home, I came across Lily's latest post.

"Real legends party right before the most important exams of their lives. Some of us are even brave enough to hand in blank papers!"

Loud music and clinking glasses blared from the video.

Everyone had been drinking. Their faces were flushed.

Looks like she'd already spent a fair chunk of those sign-up fees.

Interesting.

Turning back time wasn't cheap. The cost rose exponentially with every extra person you brought.

And if someone paid but got left behind...

I smiled to myself and went back to reviewing vocabulary.

Morning came quickly.

For once, the school gates were crowded with parents, dressed like it was graduation day and clustered around Mr. Whitaker.

Too bad their children had already settled on a plan the night before.

Walk in. Put their heads down. Nap.

They'd even agreed to check that everyone handed in a blank paper, so there would be nothing to erase when they went back.

The bell rang.

The college entrance exams had begun.

I'd barely finished the multiple-choice section when snores started rising around me.

Tyler had been assigned the seat next to mine in the exam hall, and he was drooling everywhere.

God, he was loud.

I raised my hand.

"Their snoring is distracting me."

The proctor roused my classmates. They woke reluctantly, and Lily turned scarlet with anger.

She didn't care that the proctor was right there.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Nora?

"Just because you take forever to answer a few questions doesn't mean you get to ruin everyone else's sleep!"

I ignored her and kept writing.

During the later exam sessions, the seats around me were empty.

Someone had left a message on my desk, though.

LOSER.

I wiped it off without letting it bother me.

At last, the three tense days were over.

When the final bell rang and I came outside, the waiting parents crowded around to ask how it had gone.

One woman stepped directly into my path.

"Were the exams easy this year, sweetheart?

"Everyone else in your class keeps coming out early. You're always the last..."

I recognized her immediately. Denise Parker, Lily's mom.

I raised an eyebrow.

"They were hard.

"Your daughter couldn't answer the questions. She talked the others into giving up, too.

"They handed in blank papers."