Chapter 2

Less than half an hour after I quit the group chat, James led all of our classmates to kick at my house door madly. When I opened the door, two high-scorers pushed me hard to the ground.

"Get off your high horse, Celeste."

"Mona won't be taking your spot in university. We're just doing our best to give Mona a chance to enrol in Northrind. Why are you showing off when your results are only in the city's top ten?"

"Are you trying to threaten us by quitting the chat group? Do you think our plan will fail just because you refuse to join us?"

James rushed into my room while I was stunned and edited my university application. "Stop acting out, Celeste. We're giving you a chance to be one of us by asking you to join the negotiations with Northrind."

I clenched my teeth as I remembered how they poisoned me without hesitation in my past lifetime. The memory chilled me to the bone. They were evil for refusing to let my parents and me go. I could not help but tremble with rage.

They mistook my reaction for fear, and the look on James' face changed. The other classmates who were taunting me looked stunned, and their tones softened in an attempt to smooth over the situation.

"Celeste was just worried that our futures would be compromised if we couldn't amend our applications in time. Maybe we crossed the line just now…"

"Yeah. She's been our class monitor all these years. She's always shown concern and taken care of us whenever she can."

Mona suddenly burst out crying, and she choked back a sob while saying, "It's fine, everyone. Please fill out your applications properly and stop giving Celeste trouble for my sake. I know she has always looked down on me, which is why she's scaring everyone with the excuse of your futures being possibly compromised."

It hurt James to see her that way, and he pulled her into his arms. He stroked her head tenderly and said arrogantly, "Northrind is nothing. I don't believe the university recruiters will ignore us when more than thirty of us classmates apply for community college. They will definitely make an exception for Mona after we talk to the dean. She might even get a scholarship after the negotiations, and then all of us can still be together.

"Everyone! We're all highly capable people, and not some brainless dope from a small town who thinks Northrind is the most important thing in the world. The dean will definitely be scared into giving in to us if we decide collectively to give up applying to Northrind!

"Northrind will change its admission policy overnight when they learn so many potential talents are boycotting them!"

It sounded ridiculous to me. All of them looked delighted with themselves as they comforted Mona and themselves at the same time. It was true that they were the state's top scorers, but the results spoke for themselves.

Mona had only scored a 1.8 GPA. What would top scorers all over the country think about them using such a method to force Northrind to make an exception? They might be potential talents, but there were plenty of other talents outside our city and all over the country.

I tidied my crinkled shirt. "I understand what you're all trying to do, so I won't stop you. You're all excellent students, and Northrind will be sure to give in to your demands, but I don't want to be part of it."

Mona frowned, while everyone else looked at one another.

"What are you up to?" James looked at me thoughtfully and scoffed. "Do whatever you want. With results like yours, it wouldn't make any difference even if you joined us. Do you really think you're so great?"

I listened stoically as they discussed their negotiation strategy with Northrind's dean the next day, but Mona suddenly grabbed me. "Come with us to Northrind, Celeste! This is just a sort of protest. You won't really end up in community college even if we fail. Besides, what if you snitch on us to the school and our parents after we leave? It'll ruin our plan."

My classmates immediately surrounded me, and I instinctively backed away. I stammered as I looked into their vicious eyes, "No… I won't…" Before I could finish, they grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out the door.

"Mona is right. You should come with us to Northrind for the negotiations, in case you stab us in the back!"

What they did chilled me to the bone, and I looked straight at James. "Do you really think I'd do something like that?"

"Don't you love snitching to our teachers all the time? When we skip class to hang out outside school, you always rat us out!"

James gave the others a look, and two boys came up right away to grab me by the arms and drag me to the train station. I broke out in cold sweat at the thought of what happened to me in my past lifetime.

While I was struggling to break free of their grip, several classmates behind us felt unsettled and spoke up hesitantly.