Chapter 2

My eyes snapped open.

The familiar floral pattern of my bedroom wallpaper swam into view.

Disorientation. Confusion.

My hands. They were free. Not cuffed.

I was in my own bed.

The clock on my nightstand read 7:00 PM.

The eve of the scholarship exam. Again.

A voice drifted from downstairs. Ethan's voice.

"...so clingy lately, Mom. It's like she can't breathe unless I'm around."

My heart lurched.

It wasn't a dream. It wasn't a nightmare.

This was real. I was back.

The memories, so vivid, so horrifying, seared my mind.

Jessi's cruel laughter. The cold steel of handcuffs. My parents' faces, etched with a pain I could never erase. Ethan's final, chilling words.

A new resolve, cold and hard, settled in my chest.

This time, things would be different.

This time, Ethan Hayes could make his own damn choices.

This time, I would protect myself. And I would protect my family.

Above all else.

I got out of bed, my legs shaky but firm.

I looked in the mirror. Younger, yes, but my eyes held a shadow, a knowledge no eighteen-year-old should possess.

The faint scar on my palm from a childhood accident was there. My heart condition, a dull ache I was used to, was also present. It was real.

I went downstairs.

Ethan was in the living room with my mom, looking impatient.

He was complaining about me, just as I'd heard.

"There you are," my mom said, smiling. "Ethan was just saying he's heading off to a study group."

A study group. The lie was so blatant now, knowing what I knew.

"Actually," Ethan said, a cocky grin spreading across his face, "Jessi's throwing this epic eighteenth birthday party for me. It's gonna be legendary. Totally inspire me for the exam tomorrow."

He looked at me, expecting... what? Jealousy? A plea for him to stay?

That' s what First Life Sarah would have done. Begged him, warned him.

This Sarah, Second Life Sarah, just nodded.

"Sounds fun, Ethan."

My voice was carefully neutral.

"Hope you have a great time. And good luck on the exam."

He blinked, surprised by my easy compliance.

"Oh. Uh, thanks, Sarah. You too."

He seemed deflated, his grand announcement falling flat.

Good.

My mom looked from me to Ethan, a slight frown on her face.

"Are you sure you don't want to do a final review, sweetie?" she asked me.

"I'm sure, Mom. I'm feeling pretty confident."

Another lie, but a necessary one.

My confidence wasn't in the exam anymore, it was in my new plan.

Ethan left, still looking a bit puzzled.

My mom watched him go. "He seems... different lately."

"He's growing up, Mom," I said, the words tasting like ash.

Or rather, he was being molded into something else by Jessi and his own emerging darkness.

Later that evening, my old phone, the one from this timeline, buzzed.

A text from a mutual acquaintance, Lisa Chen.

"Sarah, you will NOT believe this. Jessi just called me, totally wasted, bragging about how Ethan is already passed out at her place and he's definitely going to miss the exam tomorrow. She was laughing about it. I recorded some of it, it' s messed up. You guys were supposed to take it together, right? Thought you should know."

Attached was an audio file.

I pressed play. Jessi's slurred, triumphant voice filled my ears.

"...so hammered... won't know what day it is... stupid Caltech nerds... he's mine..."

The exact same plan. The exact same words I'd overheard in my first life.

My hand tightened around the phone.

This time, Jessi, your plan will work. And it will be your undoing, not mine.

But I wouldn't be the one to tell Ethan's parents. I wouldn't be the one to intervene.

Let the chips fall where they may.