Feel-Good Story Campus-Kurzgeschichten & Face Slapping-Kurzromane

The side character, Derek Holloway, poured his heart and soul into every single year of high school. When the moment came to earn a place in the honors program, his childhood best friend, Vivian Sterling, handed the golden ticket straight to Blake Mercer, the male lead. Vivian's voice sounded flat, completely unbothered. "I've really thought this through. If we're in the same class, we'll just distract each other from studying. "Besides, Blake's family is struggling financially. He needs this opportunity way more than you do. Just step aside for him, okay?" I watched Derek step aside for Blake. One hundred and one times. I watched him go home and suffer a brutal beating from both his parents for losing that honors spot. One hundred and one times. I watched him lose his mind while the girl he'd loved since childhood paraded around town with another guy. One hundred and one times. I watched his grades plummet into the gutter, destroying any shot at admission to an Ivy League school. One hundred and one times. I watched him get framed for cheating on SAT, which drove him to jump from the thirty-sixth floor. One hundred and one times. Then I took complete control of his body. Vivian had no idea who she was dealing with. I came from an era torn apart by war and gunfire. I didn't give a damn about petty teenage romance. Anything worth taking, anything worth fighting for, I would fight for and claim every last one.

During study hall, everyone in the classroom was going through their homework. Meanwhile, I had my earphones plugged in, playing a mobile game. My teacher and classmates all noticed this, but no one stopped me. After all, I was the state's top scorer. The headmaster gave me privileges, and I could spend my time how I wanted. However, the new dean of students had no idea. He snatched my phone away and bellowed, "What's your name? What do you think you're doing? Everyone else is working hard, so why aren't you?" With a deadpan face, I answered, "My name's Finn Wood." "You're at the top of your year, right? Just because you have good grades doesn't mean you get to disrespect your teachers! Everyone else is putting in the effort, and sooner or later, they'll catch up to you! You'll write a 5000-word reflection, and you're not going to bed until it's done!" I wrote two copies of the reflection. One for the dean, and the other for the headmaster. The reflection only had one string of numbers written on repeat. "154-XXX-XXX." Only the headmaster realized what number that was. It belonged to the headmaster of another high school.

Everyone at school believes I'm Cody Ferrer's ultimate lapdog. When he goes for his morning run, I bring him breakfast. When he plays basketball, I hand him water and wipe the sweat off his face. When he texts me "I'm hungry" in the middle of the night, I brave the freezing wind and cross three city blocks just to buy him a fresh serving of fries. The way my classmates look at me shifts from disdain to pity. "She willingly does all that and still doesn't get a title? The girl has got the patience of a saint." Everything changes when the campus sweetheart, Amber Belknap, prepares to confess her feelings to Cody. And suddenly, I'm an eyesore that needs to be removed. Taking advantage of Cody's absence for an out-of-town academic competition, she brings a group of people to corner me and kicks over the breakfast I just bought for myself. Scalding milk splashes all over me. But she just covers her mouth, looking completely innocent. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought it was more trash you were trying to force on Cody." Moments later, she pulls out her phone and projects the name Cody has saved my contact under onto the screen in the classroom. "Pain in the butt." The entire classroom erupts into roaring laughter. Amber looks at me, thoroughly satisfied. "Do you see clearly now? He thinks you're a nuisance. Don't you think you're making yourself look cheap by following him around and bringing him stuff all day?" Behind her, her lackey, Matt Truitt, lets out a cold laugh. Amber slaps a written agreement right in my face. [From now on, I will voluntarily give up on Cody Ferrer. I will not bring him any more meals, hand him water, stalk him, or harass him any longer.] "You don't have to sign it," she says, flashing me an unnervingly sweet smile as she waves her phone. "I'll just post the photo of you stealing Cody's underwear on the campus forum." I stare at the men's underwear in the photo—the pair I had taken down from the drying rack on our balcony—and fall into deep thought. Wait… Since when does helping my own brother bring in the laundry count as stealing?

As a man, if I had one fatal flaw, it would be that I cared a lot about my pride. When I fell off my bike as a kid, I'd get right back up on my feet immediately, wincing through the pain while acting completely fine, terrified that someone might laugh at me. Whenever my mom hired a cleaner to clean the house, I'd spend two hours beforehand sweating bullets scrubbing the place down myself, terrified the maid would see a messy house and laugh at me. Once I started school, it got even worse. If someone else took one advanced tutoring class, I'd sign up for eight. During the day, I'd brag that I never opened a textbook, but at night, I'd secretly grind until dawn—and I was top in my grade every single time. There was no helping it; I was just terrified of getting bad grades and being laughed at. When high school graduation rolled around, I saw all my friends start dating. So, I bit the bullet, asked out the prettiest, smartest girl in our class, and managed to win her over. After all, if my partner turned out to be ugly or dumb, people would laugh at me. Later on, we both got accepted into the same university. However, not long after the semester started, she began getting closer and closer to the popular guy in our school. Whenever people teased them about being a couple, she would neither confirm nor deny it. She would merely smile. "Stop teasing us, guys. Jonas hasn't said anything about it yet." That very night, I broke up with her.

The year I was studying for the grad school entrance exam, the guy who sat across from me saved my seat and brought me hot water every single day. In my first life, I accepted his confession. The moment we made our relationship official, he dragged me into the mountains, where I wasted away and died. In my second life, I was so terrified that I didn't dare set foot in the study room for an entire week. But on the first day I finally went back, there he was again, sitting in his usual seat and smiling at me. I tried switching to a different study room, but he noticed. He caught me alone and dragged me away before anyone could see. When I opened my eyes again, I had entered my third life. I was still clutching my chest and gasping as the lingering terror washed over me when I saw him hold out the same thermos he brought me every day. I gritted my teeth, grabbed the guy sitting next to me, who had his headphones on and was playing a game, and blurted out, "Boyfriend! Let's go grab something to eat!"