Reborn Before the SATs I Let Them Destroy Themselves

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.

Sebastian Chavez, our class president, had just come back from the restroom and walked straight into the scene.

Loretta flinched. The pen slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor.

Her eyes turned red in an instant, those wide doe eyes brimming with tears as she looked to Henry:

"Wahhh... someone caught me..."

Henry stormed in immediately, pulling Loretta behind him and glaring at Sebastian:

"What are you yelling for? Can you handle the consequences if you scare Loretta?!"

Sebastian went white with anger:

"She... she swapped everyone's test pens! This is the SATs!"

"So what if she did?"

Henry said it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world. He even picked up the pink pen from the floor and waved it in Sebastian's face:

"Loretta wanted to surprise everyone and share her good luck! Do you even know what team spirit means?"

I lifted my head slowly, and my gaze locked with Loretta's.

She peeked out from behind Henry, sniffling and hiccupping:

"Baby... Baby just thought black was too depressing. Pink brings good luck for everyone... Monica, you understand me best, right? You don't think Baby did anything wrong, do you?"

She aimed the question squarely at me.

In an instant, every pair of eyes in the room turned my way. The few remaining classmates, Henry, Sebastian. All of them, staring.

The suffocating weight of my previous life pressed down on me again, the same crushing force that had driven me to that rooftop.

My fingers tightened around the spare black pen hidden in my uniform pocket.

Meeting their stares, I picked up my own pencil case from the desk and unzipped it. Sure enough, a brand-new pink pen sat inside.