Plot Twists Campus の短編小説 & Bias 小説

With just seven days left until the college entrance exam, the high school's PA system suddenly crackled to life during the morning break. “My name is Lily Smith. I’m a senior. Before I graduate, I’d like to confess my feelings to my crush.” Inside the classroom, every eye instantly locked onto Jack. The room exploded into rowdy cheers and teasing. Jack felt his face burn as his heart hammered against his ribs. After all, he had spent three whole years cracking jokes to help his childhood friend, Lily, overcome the deep dark pit of her depression. On her eighteenth birthday, she had even initiated their first kiss. “You were the light that pulled me out of the darkness. I hope that once finals are over, I’ll finally get your answer,” Lily’s tender voice continued over the speaker. “I love you, Matthew Fox.” Jack froze. His hand trembled as he crumpled the textbook in his grip. Lily had not confessed to him. It was Matthew Fox, the bad-boy transfer student who had arrived that semester, made Jack's life a living hell, and spread malicious rumors that he had multiple older sugar mommies.

Ayanna Cambor, the crush of my childhood friend, Dorian Harmon, makes fun of me for being a mute. She purposefully pours melted dark chocolate into my thermos. Then, she howls at the top of her lungs. "As a mute, you can't complain even when you swallow something bitter." Later on, Ayanna takes advantage of the situation by forcing me to stick my tongue out. She insists on making me show everyone whether or not a mute's tongue is different from a regular person's tongue. I look at Dorian instinctively. After all, he has promised me that as long as he's around, he won't let anyone bully me. But he merely shoots me a cold glance. "Just stick your tongue out and show it to Ayanna. It's not anything major to cry over." I can only hold my tears back as I quietly conceal the school transfer application that I've just received. It's true that transferring schools is no big deal. In that case, there's no need for Dorian to know about it.

When I touch someone else's personal belongings—things they have had direct contact with before—I can hear the items voicing their owner's thoughts. The day of my grandma's funeral, I clutch the emerald bracelet she wore for over 30 years and hear it shout, "The house mustn't go to Michael! He hit me!" Michael? That's my uncle's name, and right now, he's bawling his eyes out in front of Grandma's casket, seemingly grieving even harder than everyone else.

After carrying my girlfriend, Vera Lane, to bed, she suddenly snuggles into my arms. "Your roommate seems pretty wild. Give me his number." I freeze and glance at her. She casually pulls the blanket over herself. "We're getting married sooner or later, but don't you think it's pretty boring to be with only one person forever? I don't want to sacrifice my freedom for you." I watch her for a long moment. Then, I push her hand away and nod. On the day I move out, she stands in the doorway, frowning in annoyance. "Yves, didn't we agree we could see other people? Why are you mad?" I pick up my suitcase. "Nope, that's not who I am." Soon, she gets tired of that lifestyle and comes running back to me. I glance at the wedding band on my hand and smile. "Sorry, I've already moved on." The world is full of choices. If I don't want her anymore, I'll choose someone else. I deserve nothing less than the best.

On the day the college entrance exam results are released, I clutch my phone and wait anxiously for 40 minutes. When I see that I've scored 1580, I'm just about to shout in excitement when my sister, Rose Ward, screams and throws herself into my boyfriend, Shane Hudson's arms. "I got 1400! And you got 1450! Shane, we can both apply to Johnsburg Medical University!" I try to tell them that I can also join them, but Shane has already grabbed Rose and ran out the door with her. It isn't until the celebration party that Shane finally remembers me. "Oh, Lily. Johnsburg Vocational School is right next to the medical university. Why don't you apply for nursing there? Then the three of us can still get together," Rose says. She smiles and lightly taps me on the head. "Shane and I will be doctors, and you can be our nurse and help us out. We'd make the perfect team!" They are a perfect match, a couple made for each other. They are two jigsaw pieces that fit perfectly together, leaving no room for a third. I have spent so long chasing after them that all I ever see is them disappearing into the distance. But this time, I decide not to do so anymore.

Half an hour before I receive my degree certificate, Lionel Simmons, my boyfriend as well as the class president, tells me that my graduation will be getting delayed because I need to retake my exam on a major course. Meanwhile, Vivian Crosby, the campus belle who often ranks last in exams, is eligible to receive certifications on her courses. Lionel quickly shields Vivian from me while looking very unapologetic. "In this course, every class requires a certain quota when it comes to the retakes. Since Vivian has bad grades, there's no way she's passing the retake. That's why I submitted your name instead. "Unlike you, Vivian doesn't have excellent grades and a boyfriend who actually gives a damn about you. Even if your graduation gets delayed, it won't affect our future plans at all. Amelia, you should make some sacrifices for your fellow classmate's sake." After I strongly object against that decision, my classmates mock me for being petty and uncaring toward Vivian. Fine. Since they obviously lack empathy for me, I don't hesitate to call my uncle, who's a member of the university board as well as one of the invigilators of the final exams. "I got into the top three ranks of the final exams, and yet I can't graduate on time because I have to retake my final exam instead. Does this mean the remaining hundreds of students bribed you to not fail their exams instead? "I want everyone's graduations to get delayed alongside mine in half an hour, no matter what!"

After returning to school following a few days of absence, I can clearly sense a shift in how my classmates look at me. Even my former best friend, Jake Turner, has grown cold and distant. During a mock exam, when I ask to borrow a pen from him, he raises his hand and declares, "Ms. Stafford! I want to report Darrell Goodwin for cheating!" I'm given a major disciplinary demerit as a result. When I demand to know why he did it, he shoots me a look of utter contempt and says, "The SATs are just around the corner, and here you are, taking time off to sell your body for favors. My father is the vice principal of this school, and even I wouldn't stoop as low as you." Completely bewildered, I watch as he tosses a photograph at me. It's a picture of me getting into a luxury car on the day I took leave. Suddenly, everyone begins mocking me, claiming that I'm resorting to any means necessary just to take a shortcut and even become someone's kept man while my parents work themselves to the bone, running a farm to support my education. I try to explain that the person in the car is my own mother, but no one believes me. "You mean your sugar mommy? Do your parents even know you're being kept by a woman?" The rumors spiral out of control, and the principal, Mr. Matthew Snyder, even demands that my parents come to withdraw me from school. But the moment my entire family arrives, Mr. Snyder panics.

At the university awards ceremony, the campus belle, Vanessa Byer, puts the bank transfers I've received from the four Sterling brothers on full display, totaling eight million dollars in just one year. The entire auditorium erupts. She hangs a sign reading "Campus Gold Digger of the Year" around my neck, then has her friends scatter fake money across the floor and throw a dog leash at me. "You love money so much, don't you? Get on your knees and crawl like a dog. Whatever you manage to pick up, I'll have the Sterlings pay you that much." I don't budge. Vanessa clips the leash to the collar around my neck and kicks me in the back of the knee. "Who are you trying to fool with that innocent act? I bet you spend plenty of time on your knees when you're earning money in the Sterling brothers' beds." She grinds her heel into my hand and waves her phone in my face with a smug smile. "I've already sent Mr. Sterling a list of every dollar you've taken. Once he gets here, we'll see if a leech like you can even walk out of this place on your own two feet." I stare at the total on the big screen and rub my forehead. Hold on. Those four brats have only given me eight million dollars between them all year. If Gary Sterling finds out, I have a feeling they'll be the ones getting an earful.

Fifteen years ago, I was bullied at school for coming from a poor family. They gave me nicknames, tore my textbooks, and dragged me into the washroom to beat me up. With blood still on the corner of my lip, I went to see my class teacher, Tina Fletcher. But she did not even look up at me when she told me, "You shouldn't be blaming others for your predicament. The fault might be yours, and you should reflect on that first." When I returned to the classroom, she was standing on the lectern and telling the entire class, "Some students just don't know how to reflect on their wrongdoing. There must be a reason that you're targeted by your classmates. Why would they choose to bully you rather than someone else?" I suffered from depression after that and attempted suicide. I had to take a leave of absence from school and even missed the chance to go to college that year. But I eventually dug myself out of the dark abyss, inch by inch. I worked relentlessly and made it all the way to the country’s leading psychologist. That was until one day, Chief of Medicine handed me an appointment form. I stared at the familiar name on the paper and laughed. "I'd like to apply to recuse myself from this case. I can't take this patient."

I break up with my childhood sweetheart, Daphne Hogan, right outside my dorm. She doesn't even look up from her phone. "Just because I ditched you for him at dinner the other night?" "Yes." Daphne figures I'm just throwing a tantrum. Her fingers fly across her screen as she replies to a freshman's texts. Whatever message he sends makes her rush off. Before leaving, she gives me a fond, exasperated sigh. "Don't be silly. Get some sleep tonight. You have a hiking drill tomorrow. I'll be there." Daphne walks away without looking back, completely missing the finality in my eyes. It's time to put an end to this childhood romance.

Marie Hail had been groomed since childhood to be the perfect good girl. Every aspect of her life was tightly controlled. Her parents approved the colors she wore, forbade her from wearing skirts above the knee, and insisted she take small bites and chew each mouthful thoroughly. She was little more than a marionette, with her parents pulling the strings and dictating her every move. However, everything began to change when she turned eighteen and met Rylan Stafford, a boy who burst into her carefully controlled world like a blazing sun. Rylan had striking features, bright, lively eyes, and a wild, uninhibited laugh. More importantly, he was everything Marie had never dared to be. He took her on reckless motorcycle rides to the beach and drove her across the mountains to watch meteor showers. He even gave her a tattoo, a symbol of freedom inked onto her back. Through him, Marie discovered a world beyond the suffocating rules that had governed her life. As he encouraged her to challenge every restriction holding her back, she gradually found the courage to break free and embrace a passion she'd never known. Rylan was a living flame, and Marie willingly let herself be consumed by him. One day, he asked, "Princess, how about we turn in blank exam papers together during finals?"

On the first day of classes, my boyfriend's childhood friend, Wendy, used my supplementary credit card to pay for everyone's tuition fee, successfully playing the role of a kind and beautiful heiress. During the creative writing competition, his childhood friend's submission was the same as mine. All my classmates pointed their fingers at me and confirmed that I had plagiarized her work. As the competition was livestreamed, the entire internet turned on me immediately and harassed me. People were condemning me as a thief everywhere I went. Meanwhile, Wendy managed to secure a graduate recommendation to Kingsbridge University, and she then blew up online as the rich and talented heroine of a power fantasy story. As I was on my way back home to try and figure things out after I was thrown out, one of Wendy's fans waiting outside the venue ran me down and crushed me to death. When I opened my eyes again, I had regressed to the time when Wendy wanted to pay everyone's tuition fee…

The college entrance exam was finally over, and our class gathered for a celebratory dinner when our homeroom teacher, Mr. Daniel Sanford, received an unexpected phone call. After hanging up, his expression turned grave. "A student in our class submitted blank answer sheets for every single subject." The room erupted in speculation as everyone tried to figure out who it could be. Then, to everyone's shock, the class president, Jayla West, approached me with tears in her eyes, apologizing over and over. She explained that one of the pencils she'd purchased for the class had been defective. Three hours after use, every mark it made would disappear—and by sheer bad luck, that pencil had ended up in my hands. In other words, I was the student who'd supposedly turned in a blank exam paper. Before I could say a word, my childhood friend and the school's top student, Samuel Ashley, stepped protectively in front of Jayla. "Ellie, Jayla didn't do it on purpose. It was an honest mistake. You're smart enough that even if you have to take the exam again, you'll still get into college. Stop blaming her." As I stared at the unquestioning way he defended another girl, a pang of sadness and bitterness shot through me. What Samuel had forgotten was that just before the exam began, we had swapped pencils.

During the mandatory freshman orientation camp, my skin had flared up with a severe allergic reaction, so I didn't use the plastic washbasin the school handed out. Instead, I opened my suitcase and took out the custom silver basin I had brought from home. My roommate, Louisa Carter, immediately made a snide remark, drawling, "You're really something, huh? Kids from broke families like us are lucky to have any basin at all." I didn't bother responding. I simply pulled out my facial essence to do a cold compress, but she immediately rushed over, slapped the bottle out of my hand, and jabbed a finger at my face. "Bet you get tens of thousands a month for living expenses. You have a sugar daddy, don't you? Don't you feel guilty making your folks work their fingers to the bone back on the farm? People like you don't deserve to be at our school. I'm reporting you to the student counselor." I laughed in disbelief and slapped her. … The next morning, the family photo I'd left on my desk had been slashed to ribbons. Across the back, carved in ink, were the words: 'Daughter of a homewrecker. Go to hell.' I went straight to the police. While officers pulled the dorm security footage, our student counselor and the university president rushed in. The moment the president saw the man whose face had been cut apart in my photo, his legs nearly buckled. He almost dropped to his knees.

During college, Cindy Crammer brought over two sets of breakfasts every day. One was for me, and the other was for my roommate and best friend, Mark Jefferson. The breakfast she brought me never changed. It was always just sandwiches and oatmeal. Mark's breakfast, on the other hand, always had a perfect balance of meat and vegetables, and she never repeated the same meal twice. Even for my birthday, the gifts she prepared came in two sets. My birthday gift was always four simple greeting cards. Mark got concert tickets, a handmade rhinestone photo mosaic, a custom-made suit, and a pinky ring. When it came time for our graduation trip, the three of us arrived at the train station together. Mark and Cindy scanned their documents and passed through without any trouble, but I was stopped outside. Cindy slapped her forehead in frustration and smiled at me apologetically. "I only remembered to book Mark's ticket. I forgot yours. "We've already made it through. I don't want to waste the money. I'll take you on a trip for two next time." Mark patted his chest and made a promise to me. "Don't worry, Jason. I'll take good care of Cindy for you." I watched their backs as they walked away side by side, laughing and chatting. I let out a bitter chuckle. I didn't want to keep lying to myself anymore. I turned around and bought a ticket home. "Dad, you said I had to get married right after graduation. I agree! "Remember the referral I made for an intern named Cindy? Cancel it!"

On the day we take our graduation photos before finals, I automatically move to stand next to Callum Rook, my childhood friend. A classmate starts teasing us. "Hey, hey, move over! Let the loving couple stand together!" I've heard jokes like that a million times, but I still blush because of the secret feelings I'm hiding. Callum doesn't say anything. However, when the photographer clicks the shutter, and everyone shouts "cheese", I hear a low, irritated voice ring out. "God, you're so annoying. Can't you just stay away from me?" My smile freezes. That's Callum's voice. My hearing is extra sharp, maybe because I was born with poor eyesight. There is no way I misheard. As soon as the photo is done, Callum turns around and heads straight back to the classroom. I stand there for a long time before finally heading inside. On my way past the wishing wall outside our classroom, I reach up and peel off the note I'd written—the one saying I want to go to the same university as Callum.

When my boyfriend told me he had failed the college entrance exams, he begged me to apply to a vocational college with him. I was about to say yes when a barrage of floating comments suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. [The male lead deserves an Oscar. Since when is 680 considered a bad score? He was literally touring Kingston University with the real heiress just moments ago.] [Don't fall for it! You're the top scorer in the entire state! He only wants to drag you down so the real heiress can shine.] [There's no point warning her. She's completely blinded by love. A provincial champion wasting her future at a vocational college... she'll end up abandoned by her family, framed into debt by the real heiress, forced to drop out, and stuck running a roadside stall for the rest of her life.] My hand froze midair. In an instant, all the blood drained from my body.

On the day of the SAT exam, my girlfriend, Heidi Moore, makes the entire class stay with her and wait for her childhood friend, Jeffrey Price, who's running late. But it's less than an hour before the exam starts. If they keep waiting for Jeffrey, they will definitely miss the exam. In my previous lifetime, I played my part as the class president by advising everyone to take the exam first. But all I received was their scolding. "You're just jealous that Jeffrey and Heidi are extremely close friends! That's why you want to ditch Jeffrey so that he can miss the exam, huh?" I could only stand in the pouring rain while begging my classmates relentlessly. Only then did everyone leave for the exam venue reluctantly. In the end, we were able to arrive at the exam venue one minute before the exam started. But after the exam was over, I was pushed off a building by Jeffrey, which caused my death. However, Heidi and the rest of my classmates gave the police their fake testimonies. "Finley caused Jeffrey to miss the exam. That's why he killed himself out of guilt!" Jeffrey even used the opportunity to sell his sob story and become a popular influencer. Mom tried to seek justice for me, only to get cyberbullied by the Internet users, who were blind to the truth. Dazed and disoriented, she drove off a cliff, and her body was nowhere to be found since then. Only after I died did I realize that this was just a part of Jeffrey's scheme. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Heidi tells the entire class to wait for Jeffrey before departing to the exam venue together. In this lifetime, I won't stop my ungrateful classmates from ruining their own lives.

Every student and teacher at my school called me the dumb blonde. I touched up my makeup at morning assembly, refused to wear a wrinkled skirt, and never carried a textbook in my bag. I even brought a compact to the Academic Champions Invitational. Minerva Blake, the captain of our academic team, couldn't stand me. She called me a blonde with a great body and nothing upstairs. "Out of everyone in this school, why did it have to be you?" I shrugged off the laughter from Minerva and the competitors from the elite private school, Rockford Academy. I watched myself in the mirror as I tied up my long curls. I already had a plan. If our high school lost to Rockford again, we'd lose the foundation's funding. The school would go bankrupt and shut down, leaving us all without a school. In the final round, Rockford answered the first four questions before we could. My three teammates were getting crushed. Even Minerva, our supposed genius, couldn't keep up with the other team. With 50 seconds left, our principal was on his feet pacing, and the teachers were praying for a miracle. Rockford's headmaster laughed out loud. "They picked someone who's just a pretty face. Is she going to do a cheer routine for us when this is over?" I ignored the laughter, picked up the response pad, and started answering. Six questions in 20 seconds. Six chimes rang out, one for each correct answer, and the scoreboard went wild. I had answered every remaining question. Six green lights. I didn't leave a single one for anyone else.

Timothy Holt was someone my family sponsored. He was extraordinarily gifted in mathematics, winning an international gold medal at just 17. Yet for the prom queen's sake, he was willing to give up his chance to further his studies abroad I couldn't bear to watch someone with such a brilliant future ruin his own prospects, so I handed the girl a check and sent her overseas. Later, Timothy achieved both fame and fortune. However, when my family fell into hardship, he kicked us while we were down. An accident followed, and we both died. Before his death, he said to me: if he could start over, he hoped I would show mercy and stop interfering in his life. Thus, just as he wished, in this lifetime, I chose to stay out of his business.