Poor Student Awakening Short Stories & Novels

I was like the pure and innocent Cinderella of a school romance novel. Unlike the aristocratic students around me, I didn't come from wealth or privilege. I earned my place at this elite academy through merit alone, my high scores opening the gates to a world far beyond my means. Cinderella is supposed to be stubborn, proud, and righteous—standing tall despite her humble origins. But I have none of those qualities. All I have is poverty.

In my past life, my best friend and I married twins at the same time. We shared secrets, complained about our husbands, and teamed up to outsmart our overbearing mother-in-law—it was truly enjoyable. Until the day I nearly died giving birth to twins. As I lay on the brink of death, my best friend cradled my newborns and revealed the cruel truth. “Thank you, Bianca, for giving me such adorable twins. You had no idea, did you? The twins only ever loved me. If I had the ability to give birth, we wouldn't have used you as a tool to have kids. "You’re poor and have never been loved, so it was far too easy to manipulate you. Even the way your husband loved you? It was all my idea—I planned every move he made. “Oh, and every time you two were intimate, I was watching through the cameras—every single time!" When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day I met my best friend.

At the public announcement for the university's graduate-school recommendations, my mother, the dean, was preparing to announce the only slot to a top university. Everyone at the university assumed it would go to me, her biological daughter. I'd ranked first in GPA for three consecutive years and had two SCI-indexed papers published. When she announced the name "Quinn Hammond," the entire auditorium fell silent. Quinn was a student on financial aid my mother had supported for years. Her GPA ranking had barely made the cutoff. I stared at my mother, gritting my teeth as I demanded, "I worked countless all-nighters in the lab for that graduate-school recommendation. Why should I just hand it over to someone else?" My mother spoke as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Quinn's family is struggling financially. The fact that she’s managed the GPA cutoff proves she's far more resilient than you. "You've had access to the best education since you were little. Even if you had to apply for the programme on your own, you'd still make it into graduate school. "I'm the dean. I have to avoid any appearance of favoritism. I absolutely cannot give people an excuse to say I used my position to favor my own daughter!" My heart went completely cold. She simply wanted the reputation of a selfless, magnanimous educator while also having me add another achievement to her record. If she wanted to use all the blood, sweat, and tears I'd poured into my studies to pave someone else's path, then I wasn't going to graduate school anymore. I turned around, tore up my graduate recommendation application, and accepted an offer from a classified national research institute in the northwest. I'd be able to participate directly in core national strategic projects, a position far beyond that of an ordinary master's or doctoral student at a top university. The two achievements my mother wanted to claim? She could forget about getting either of them in this lifetime.