She Framed Me Before College,So I Rewrote My Future and Marriage

The day before the college entrance exam, I watched the school heartthrob slip an elopement letter into my childhood friend's desk.

She went on to become valedictorian. He threw himself into the river.

Years later, she and I graduated from Harborbridge University together. Our families pushed us toward marriage, and we went along with it.

On our wedding day, she straightened my tie with her own hands.

Then she shoved me into a private room with a dozen hired thugs.

She ignored my screams for help. Just stood outside the door, staring at his photograph.

"His parents died right before the exam. He was falling apart."

"If you hadn't taken that letter, I could have saved him."

"If you hadn't meddled, he wouldn't have died alone in that river."

Ten hours later, every finger broken, limbs twisted at wrong angles, I dragged myself to the tenth-floor window and jumped.

When I opened my eyes again, I was watching Myron Mason slide that elopement letter into Christina Sullivan's desk.

I picked up my backpack and walked away.

This time, I was running my own race.

Christina came bursting into the classroom, out of breath.

The moment she saw me, she grabbed my wrist and searched me from head to toe.

Finding nothing, she paused to think, then rushed to her own desk.

The letter was still there, exactly where Myron had left it.

She didn't even glance at me. Just shoved past and ran out.

Myron hadn't gotten far. Christina was tall with long legsshe caught up in seconds.

I stood at the top of the stairs, watching them embrace on the floor below.

Myron struggled briefly, but after Christina said something to him, he pulled her into his arms.

I turned to leave, but I still caught the key parts:

"I promise. I promise I'll never leave you in this life."

"I can retake the exam. You're the only test that matters."

So Christina had been reborn too.

Myron sighed softly. "Aren't you afraid I'll hold you back?"

"As long as I'm with you, what does college matter..."

I almost laughed.

In her last life, Christina had sailed through everything. She had no idea what it felt like to fall.

She couldn't see how her degrees had opened doors, brought her wealth and connections. All she remembered was that I'd cost her the love of her life.

Fine. I hoped she wouldn't regret it.

I was home reviewing when Christina texted me:

[Don't say anything you shouldn't.]

I replied with a single word: [Okay.]

She didn't need to tell me. This time around, I had no intention of getting involved in her life.

Our families were neighbors.

I'd just finished a practice test and stepped outside to take out the trash when I saw Christina being hauled out of a car by her parents.

Yolanda Sullivan smacked Christina on the back of the head.

"Look at you! Eloping right before the exam! Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

Christina struggled against them. "Mom! Dad! Myron and I are in love!"

"Disgraceful!"

Hubert Sullivan slapped her across the face.

When they spotted me, they immediately pulled me over.

"Thank god you're here, Alvin Fox! Now we can relax. This idiot girl's fallen for some boy at your schoolwants to run off with him. Talk some sense into her!"

Growing up, Christina had always been the wild one. I was the good kid every parent approved of.

Whenever she stepped out of line, I was always the one reining her in.

Now she turned to glare at me, hatred flashing in her eyes.

"It was you! I knew ityou ratted me out to my parents again! Why can't you just mind your own business? Why do you always have to interfere with my life?"

A memory flashed through my mindmy past life, pinned down by over a dozen men, my fingers snapped one by one while she stood outside the door, staring longingly at photos of Myron Mason.

A chill ran down my spine. I stumbled backward.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan, I really need to get back to studying. I'll stay out of Christina's business!"

Christina froze.

After all, in situations like this, I'd always been the first to rush in and look after her.

But now I was already turning to leave. She opened her mouth to say something, but I was gone.

Over the next few days, I heard from my parents that Christina had been grounded by her family. They'd confiscated her phone and forbidden any contact with Myron.

I smiled to myself.

So even without my interference, her parents would set her straight.

But it didn't matter. I just needed to focus on myself.

If the exam questions stayed the same as before, then this time, the top score in the province would be mine.

Still, I didn't dare slack off. Ten practice tests a day, English vocabulary drilled on every walk home.

But one evening, while I was walking and memorizing, lost in concentration, a group of men dragged me into an alley.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!"

They tore my backpack and clothes to shreds, forced my right hand flat against the ground, and brought a hammer down on my fingers.

"AHHH!"

The agony merged with memories of my past lifethose excruciating ten hours before my death.

Just as despair consumed me, seven or eight cameras flashed in my face.

A familiar figure pushed through the crowd.

Christina stood over me, dangling a photograph.

"Here's a lesson for you: not everyone needs to take the college entrance exam. Breaking one hand today should teach you something."

She tilted her head. "Say another word about any of this, and you'll lose the other hand too. These photos? A little editing, and they'll be all over the city."

"Christina... this is illegal!"

I was shaking from the pain.

She looked bored.

"So what? What's the point of living by the rules all the time? Myron says if you're young, you should do something crazy."

A proud little smile crossed her face. "You've never truly loved someone, Alvin. You wouldn't understand."

Haven't I?

I sucked in a breath through my teeth.

How could I not understand?

I loved her...

"Miss Sullivan, since there's no one else around, and his other hand's still good, maybe we should"

The men cracked their knuckles, looking me up and down with obvious intent.

CRACK.

Christina's foot slammed into the man's knee, dropping him instantly.

"Say another word, and you'll lose that leg."

The man caught the look in her eyes and started slapping himself.

"I was out of line! I'm sorry! I deserve it!"

Christina glanced down at me.

"I'm going to Lake Evermist with Myron for a week. I expect you won't say anything you shouldn't to my parents."

A week?

That would take us right up to the exam.

A stack of photos landed at my feet. One of the men leered down at me.

"Here. Keep a copy for yourself. Damn, you're pretty photogenic."

Rain began to fall. Soon I was alone in the alley.

With trembling hands, I picked up the photos. Every instinct screamed at me to tear them apart.

But I stopped myself.

No... I couldn't destroy them.

This was evidence.

No matter how much I wanted to pretend this never happened, I had to keep them.

Gritting my teeth, I staggered to my feet, clutching the photos as I stumbled out of the alley.

Once I became the top scorer in the province, these would be my evidence for the police.

For the next week, I did practice tests with my left hand, pushing myself to the limit.

Finally, exam day arrived.

The car had barely stopped when I spotted Hubert and Yolanda pacing by the front gate, phones pressed to their ears, calling someone over and over.

Moments later, another car pulled up. Christina was hauled out by two bodyguards, thrashing wildly between them.

"It was my idea!" she screamed.

Behind her, Myron was being dragged out too.

Hubert stormed over and slapped Myron hard across the face.

"You're the bastard who seduced my daughter?"

"Dad! If you're angry, take it out on me!"

Christina's eyes were bloodshot, her clothes half-torn from struggling.

"Listen to me, Christina," Hubert said through gritted teeth. "This family will never accept trash like him. We're getting rid of him today, and you're going to take that exam like you're supposed to."

Hubert and Yolanda grabbed Myron and started dragging him away, ordering the bodyguards to escort Christina to the exam site.

"No! Myron!" Christina clawed at the air. "Dad! Mom! I'll take the exam! Just don't send him away!"

Myron kept looking back, reaching toward her desperately.

"Christina! Save me! I can't leave you!"

Watching her parents drag away the man she loved, Christina could barely breathe through the pain.

Her eyes, rimmed red, landed on me as I walked past.

"You!"

She grabbed my collar and yanked me toward her.

"What are you talking about?"

Her grip knocked against my right hand. I sucked in a sharp breath from the pain. She bared her teeth.

"You just love running to my parents, don't you? Love being jealous? Do you have any idea that Myron's parents just died? He needs someone by his side right now! If I hadn't been there for him, he would've thrown himself in the river! You'd let someone die just because you're jealous?"

She shoved me to the ground. Her chest heaved as she made a gesture toward someone in the crowd.

"Do it!"

The man from the alleythe one who'd tried to assault meflickered through the sea of faces.

On the big screen nearby, the "Good Luck on Your Exam!" message vanished. In its place were the photos taken of me in that alley.

The originals had clearly shown me as the victim, beaten and cornered.

But these weren't the originals.

These had been edited. Photoshopped. AI-enhanced. The footage of me getting jumped had been transformed into something else entirelyme partying with a group of heavily made-up older women.

Students heading into the exam hall froze in their tracks.

"Oh my god, is thatthat's disgusting! Taking photos like that? Those women look old enough to be his mom!"

"Kids these days have no shame. And right by the school, too!"

"Wait, I know him! That's Alvin from Class Eight!"

"Tsk, tsk. Looks so proper on the outside. Who knew he was into this kind of thing?"

"Getting freaky with sugar mamas in back alleys? Interesting."

"Christina!"

I grabbed her collar.

"Take it down! Take it down now!"

But she just shoved me away, laughing as she pointed at the screen.

"What's wrong? Isn't that you? You love snitching so muchwell, now everyone knows your little secret. Why so shy all of a sudden?"

"That's not me!"

My voice cracked.

She just laughed harder as the bodyguards escorted her toward the exam hall. At the entrance, she turned back.

"Alvin, Myron is my everything. You've targeted him again and again. So now I'm giving you a taste of your own medicine."

The parents waiting outside fixed me with looks sharp enough to draw blood.

The police restored the screen quickly enough, but the damage was done. No one could look away.

Every step toward the exam hall felt like wading through concrete.

When I finally walked into the classroom and took my seat, the students who were already there looked up. Their expressions ranged from complicated to openly disgusted.

The security officer did a double-take when she saw me, then proceeded to pat me down roughly.

I spoke up carefully. "Ma'am, I don't have anything hidden in my clothes. Could you be a little gentler?"

She didn't care. "You had the nerve to take photos like that. How do I know you're not hiding some cheating device somewhere creative?"

Every pair of eyes in the room landed on me. Snickers rippled through the crowd.

Christina sat in a chair nearby, a cold smirk on her face as she watched me squirm.

I don't know how I made it through the exam. It took everything I had not to let that whole mess get to me.

The test questions hadn't changed from before.

I let out a small breath of relief.

In my last life, I'd beaten Christina by two points.

This time, I was going to do even better.

Christina seemed to notice this too. Throughout the entire exam, her pen flew across the paper. She looked every bit the academic star she used to be.

When the test ended, her parents were waiting outside the gates.

Christina didn't even glance at them. She just turned and walked off.

The two of them weren't angry. After all, the fact that their daughter had shown up to take the exam at all was a blessing.

So they grabbed my hands instead.

"Alvin, did she actually try to answer the questions?"

I nodded.

They both let out relieved sighs.

After the exam, Christina disappeared to who knows where.

Her parents didn't bother keeping tabs on her anymore. If their daughter wanted to run around with Myron, let her have her fun.

After all, with Christina's grades, as long as she took the exam, the only question was whether she'd pick Redwood or Kingsford.

On the day results came out, both families gathered together to check scores.

When they saw my score, everyone froze

Zero.

My parents burst into tears of joy

After all, only top scorers got that treatment. The system always hid our actual results.

Then it was Christina's turn.

A glaring zero stung the Sullivans' eyes.

Her parents embraced her excitedly. I turned to look at her too

So in this life, she'd still managed a perfect score.

"What's everyone so excited about?"

Christina let out a cold laugh. "Aren't you worried I actually got a zero?"

"What are you talking about!"

Her parents lightly smacked the back of her head.

"How could you possibly get a zero? Besides, Alvin told us you were writing the whole time. You didn't put your pen down until the last second!"

Christina shot me a cold look and raised an eyebrow with disdain.

"I knew you'd never shake that little tattletale habit of yours."

She pulled out her phone, opened Myron's social media feed, and tossed it to her parents.

The moment they saw Myron's post, both of them clutched their chests.

Christina watched her parents' faces twist in fury, a victorious smile curling her lips.

"Did you really think dragging me to the exam would fix everything?"