Chapter1

The agonizing pain of my shattered bones still seemed to echo through every inch of my nerves.

The phantom weightlessness of plummeting from a thirty-six-story rooftop made me gasp sharply. My heart hammered wildly against my ribs, as if trying to burst through my chest.

My eyes snapped open. The harsh fluorescent lights of my prep school’s library slowly faded into focus. The scent of freshly brewed coffee and aged paper hung in the air.

Yet, the memories of my past life's final moments coiled around my brain like a venomous snake.

On that unfinished rooftop, my official boyfriend, Carter, had pinned my shoulders down, shoving me toward the edge. Beside him stood Harper, the underprivileged girl my parents had been sponsoring. Their fingers were tightly interlaced, looking like a picture-perfect couple.

Carter’s eyes were ice-cold, his voice stripped of any warmth. "Sydney, even after playing the devoted boyfriend for two years, every time I touch you, it makes me sick. I only love Harper. Did you really think you were good enough for me? You’re just a stepping stone and an ATM to get me to her."

Harper smugly waved her phone, which displayed a video of Carter smoking weed. She laughed, a sickly sweet sound, like a viper flicking its tongue. "At first, I only used this to blackmail him, but who knew it would turn into true love? Sydney, we're just going to borrow your life for a bit. Once the only heir to a massive fortune commits 'suicide out of depression,' your grieving parents will definitely adopt me—the sweet, obedient scholarship girl—to cope with their loss. I'll gladly take over your family's billion-dollar empire and the estate."

Standing guard by the rooftop stairwell was Julian, my childhood friend who I grew up with. That brainwashed idiot genuinely believed Harper loved him. He even convinced himself that helping them murder me was somehow "saving" Harper from my elite bullying.

As I plummeted to my death, I caught sight of Julian by the stairs. His face actually wore an expression of profound relief, as if he had finally cleared an obstacle for his true love. That look chilled and disgusted me even more than Carter's betrayal.

"Harper is right. Better to be a big fish in a small pond. I’ve made up my mind. I'm declining my Yale acceptance and going to that vocational college with her."

Carter’s familiar voice snapped me back to reality in an instant.

"With our GPAs and perfect SAT scores, we'll practically rule a place like Apex Tech. I'm going too!" Julian chimed in right after, his eyes burning with the fervent light of a martyr.

Right now, they were staring at Harper with absolute infatuation. Harper turned her innocent doe eyes toward me, her voice dripping with a nauseating, sugary sweetness. "Sydney, you should come with us too. Today is National Decision Day. If we just commit to Apex in the portal, the four of us will never have to be apart."

Now completely lucid, I realized the undeniable truth—I had been reborn.

In this lifetime, there was no way in hell they were going to climb to the top over my dead body.

"Choosing a college is a major turning point in life."

I coldly snapped my MacBook shut, fighting the urge to throw my iced Americano right in Carter’s face. My tone was terrifyingly steady. "I’m going home to talk to my parents about confirming my Harvard acceptance. I'll pass on your little plan."

Harper’s lower lip immediately began to tremble. Her eyes welled up with tears in seconds, as if she had been terribly wronged. "Sydney... do you look down on me because I can only get into a community college? Do you not care about our friendship at all? I thought we promised to stay together!"

Carter instantly slipped on his "perfect, devoted boyfriend" mask. He used his tall frame to block my path. "Babe, don't be so stubborn. Harper is just making a nice suggestion so our group doesn't fall apart. Why do you have to act like such an elitist snob?"

Julian scoffed, glaring at me with utter contempt. "And you call yourself Carter's girlfriend. You don't have a single ounce of empathy in you. So what if you go to an Ivy League? I don't know where you get this superiority complex! Do you think graduating from Harvard makes you special? You still have to face the real world like the rest of us!"

Looking at these three vile schemers who had literally devoured me alive, I let out a sharply mocking sneer. "Since you guys are so desperate to attend an unaccredited diploma mill, feel free to rot in there yourselves. Leave me out of it."

"Sydney, apologize to Harper right now!" Carter snapped, his fragile masculinity clearly challenged. He roughly grabbed my wrist, a flash of malice echoing in his eyes. "Or we're done!"

"Gladly. We're done." I violently yanked my hand back from his grip and grabbed a tissue to wipe my wrist in sheer disgust. "From now on, stay out of my sight. I couldn't care less whether you live or die."