Chapter 3

The next day at school felt surreal.

Every smile, every casual greeting, felt like a potential threat.

During a practice SAT session in the library, a folded note landed on my desk.

I unfolded it.

"Watch your back. Don't trust anyone before the SATs."

The same message.

The handwriting was neat, precise.

Ethan Cole' s handwriting.

The quiet genius. My main academic rival.

I looked up. He caught my eye from across the room.

His expression was somber, knowing.

A flash of memory from my first life.

Ethan, mysteriously absent from the actual SATs. His academic career, gone.

Years later, in my deepest despair, I' d seen him. Broken, physically and emotionally.

He' d mumbled a cryptic warning about the people around me.

With me and Ethan out of the picture, Tiffany had become valedictorian.

Could Ethan know? Could he also be... reborn?

The thought was staggering.

I needed to act.

That evening, I created an anonymous post.

A popular local high school gossip blog, and a Reddit sub, r/AmItheAsshole.

Framed as a "what would you do" scenario.

"My stepsister and my boyfriend are trying to sabotage my college admissions," I wrote.

I detailed their motives – the Yale spot, the family status, the inheritance.

I used details only I could know.

The post went viral overnight.

The comments exploded with outrage.

"This is insane!"

"Name and shame them!"

"SATs are next week, this is pure evil!"

I felt a grim satisfaction.

This was just the beginning.