Reborn Before the SATs I Let Them Destroy ThemselvesChapter 1
The prettiest girl in our class had a severe case of baby syndrome.
She ate from toddler bowls and wrote with cartoon pens.
The day before the SATs, she decided that standard black pens were too boring and secretly swapped everyone's test pens for pink ones.
In my previous life, I caught her and put a stop to it immediately, spending my own money to buy a whole box of black pens and hand them out to the class.
Every answer sheet scanned perfectly, and everyone got into the colleges they wanted.
But Loretta Fox collapsed in tears against her childhood sweetheart's chest:
"Wahhh... big brother, Monica Pruitt was so mean to me. Baby just wanted to share something special, and she ruined it all. Baby is sooo sad..."
Her sweetheart was so heartbroken for her that he cornered me on the school rooftop and shoved me off:
"Loretta is a fragile little baby with no sense of security! Would it have killed you to play along? Worst case, everyone retakes the SATs next year. You owe her your LIFE for crushing her innocence!"
Even the classmates I'd saved mocked me to my face:
"Seriously, who can't afford one extra year of retaking the SATs these days? You just had to be a show-off and upset poor Loretta!"
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Loretta Fox was slipping pink pens into our classmates' pencil cases, one by one.
...
The day before the SATs, the classroom was quiet. Most students had gone home for last-minute prep. Only a handful remained, hunched over practice problems.
I lay slumped across my desk with my eyes half-shut, tracking the figure creeping through the classroom with the edge of my vision. Loretta Fox.
She moved in a low crouch, tiptoeing between the rows of desks.
At each seat, she unzipped the pencil case, slid out the black pen, and tucked a pink one printed with a strawberry bear in its place.
Henry Delgado, her childhood sweetheart, stood lookout at the door, watching her with an indulgent grin.
This was her idea of a surprise.
In my previous life, the moment I noticed, I stopped her and went out to buy a whole box of black pens for the class.
And what did I get for it?
Not a single thank-you. Instead, every last one of them pinned the blame on me, accusing me of ruining Loretta's generous gesture.
"Loretta Fox, what are you doing?!"
A sharp voice shattered the silence.