They Framed Me for Cheating,Then Learned I Never Took the Exam

The day before the national college entrance exam, Molly Mason—prettiest girl in the class—stood up and pitched the whole room on pooling money for electronic cheating devices to smuggle into the exam room.

Fifty-six students who'd ground through three years of study agreed without blinking.

The moment I found out, I stepped in to stop them.

"Bringing cheating devices into the exam room is illegal! If you're caught, you're permanently banned from taking the exam again! The exam rooms have detection equipment this year. They'll catch every single one of you. You've all worked for ten years to get here. Don't throw it away!"

Because I stopped them, everyone dropped the plan

and sat the exam like they were supposed to.

But at the class farewell dinner after the exam,

every one of those fifty-six classmates kept my glass full until my head hit the table, then dragged me up to the school rooftop.

My childhood friend seized me by the throat and drove his fist into my face.

"This is all your fault! If you hadn't stopped us from going in on Molls' electronic cheating devices, we never would've bombed like this! Molls said over a dozen kids in the class next door used them and got into Westbridge University!"

"You ruined the futures of fifty-six people! You deserve to die!"

Fists and kicks rained down on me, too many to count.

I fell from the rooftop. Died on impact.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day before the exam.

I watched Molly Mason cheerfully rallying the whole class to buy her cheating devices, and a cold smile pulled at my lips.

This time around, let's see how many of you actually make it into Westbridge...

……

"Trust me, everyone, these devices are totally reliable! We bring them in, the miniature camera captures our test papers, and someone outside the exam room feeds us the answers in real time!"

Molly's familiar voice snapped me back to the present.

I looked at her—planted in the center of the classroom, talking a mile a minute—

then at the countdown to the national college entrance exam scrawled across the blackboard.

I had really been reborn.

In my last life, this was the exact moment I'd talked everyone out of buying the devices.

My father worked for one of the agencies that oversaw the exam.

Three months ago, I'd overheard him talking to my mother:

to guarantee fairness in this year's national college entrance exam,

the exam centers had upgraded all their detection equipment,

zeroing in on the electronic cheating devices that had been running rampant in recent years. Every single one would be flagged.

And the penalties had jumped, too. Before, getting caught just meant your scores were wiped. This year, anyone caught would be permanently banned from taking the exam again.

Last time, I'd talked myself hoarse before I finally convinced them to drop their stupid plan.

But at the class dinner after the exam,

they kept filling my glass until I couldn't stand, then hauled me up to the school rooftop.

Ethan Henson, my childhood friend, clamped his hands around my throat. Nothing but hatred in his eyes.

"Miriam Winfield, this is all your fault!"

"You said we'd get caught if we brought the devices in, but Molls said the class next door used them, and over a dozen of those students got into Westbridge!"

"You destroyed the futures of fifty-six people! You deserve to die!"

The classmates I'd spent three years helping, tutoring, sacrificing my own time for—they turned on me in an instant.

Fists and feet from every direction, and when I tried to break free I went over the edge of the rooftop. My fingers caught the lip of the building and I hung there, screaming for them to pull me up.

Fifty-six classmates. Not a single hand reached for mine.

Every one of them stood a few steps back, watching me dangle, laughing like it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen.

My grip gave out. I dropped from the school rooftop and died on impact.

When the authorities questioned them, they swore in unison that I'd jumped.

My parents lost their only daughter in middle age. After that, they stopped eating, stopped sleeping, drifted through their days like ghosts until there was nothing left of them. They killed themselves at home.