“But what you said before…”
“Reverse psychology. Couldn’t you tell I was
being sarcastic? I just didn’t want to see
Olivia’s smug face anymore.”
Olivia fell for it. She chose science.
Besides choosing science, Olivia wasted a lot
of time and energy on another thing.
Chasing Ethan.
We’d met Ethan in high school in my past life.
During the school talent show in tenth grade,
Ethan and I played a duet. After that, rumors
started flying about us. It made me realize
how early “shipping” started among our
generation.
But Ethan and I weren’t even close then. The
duet was just the beginning. We didn’t
become friends until college.
Olivia didn’t know that.
She believed the rumors.
Even when Ethan and I both denied it, she
thought we were lying, afraid she’d report us
for dating.
It was… a lot.
What was even more “a lot” was that Olivia
started pursuing Ethan while she thought we
were together
L
Did she like him? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think
it was real love. It was more like she wanted
to prove she was better than me by “stealing” him.
Just like this time around.
When Olivia was chosen to play a duet with
Ethan, she immediately looked at me with a
triumphant smirk.
But Ethan refused. He didn’t want to do the
performance.
Olivia was livid. She confronted me again,
completely losing it. “It was you, wasn’t it?!”
she screamed. “You told Ethan not to play
with me!”
I was older now. I didn’t hit her. I just rolled
my eyes. “Are you crazy?” I said. “What does
that have to do with me? And I don’t even
know who this ‘Ethan‘ is.”
Olivia finally realized she was making a scene.
Everyone was staring at her like she was nuts.
She stormed off, making her already–bad
reputation even worse.
In my past life, she was just kind of a loner.
She was so focused on beating me that she
put all her energy into studying and piano. It
must have been incredibly stressful. Not only
would that make studying and practicing
harder, it would also divide her attention,
making her less effective. That’s why, despite
all her effort, she didn’t achieve much.
But this time, Olivia’s knowledge of the future
<
made her look down on everyone else.
Honestly, that was even worse than being a
loner.
So this time around, Olivia was even less
popular.
It wasn’t so bad in middle school. She still
had her grades to brag about. But high school
was different. Kids our age were just as
aware, if not more aware, of what mattered
academically as adults.
And Olivia’s advantage, her knowledge from
her past life, was running out, both for school
and piano.
Her arrogance had nowhere to go.
Unless she buckled down and focused on
improving herself, instead of using me as a
benchmark. She pretended to be studious,
but her attention was always on me.
Of course, there was another way she could
turn things around: if she’d memorized the
answers to our SATS.
But that was still far off. Right now, she was
only focused on beating me in the short term.
So with a little nudging, Olivia would walk
right into my trap.
At the talent show, Olivia played the first
piece of music that had made me famous in
my past life.
It went over great.
<
She was an instant internet sensation.
When she finished playing, she glanced at me
nervously, but when she saw my neutral
expression, she relaxed.
The praise poured in, and she got cocky
again.
Especially after Ethan, intrigued by the music,
actually talked to her.
The way she looked at me then… it was like
she wanted to dance on my grave.
I rolled my eyes and ignored her.
The “Fifteen–Year–Old Piano Prodigy” story
was huge online for a while, but by eleventh
grade, it had died down.
A lot of the naive kids at school still treated
her with a kind of awe, but I started planting
seeds of doubt. “Big deal, she wrote one
song,” I’d say. “Anyone who’s really talented
can do more than that.”
And every time Olivia contacted Ethan, I’d use
his account to nudge her: “Got any new
inspiration?”
Ethan was in college by then. The only way
Olivia could contact him was through QQ, and
I had his login.
Olivia couldn’t resist the pressure. She posted
a second piece of my music.
She’d posted her own compositions, too, but
they’d gotten no attention. If she could
actually write music people liked, she
L
wouldn’t have resorted to murder in my past
life.
As expected, Olivia went viral again.
This time, I pretended to be a little jealous.
She loved it.
But her happiness didn’t last.
She wanted to be recognized for her own
work. No matter how famous she got with my
music, she’d still have lost to past–me.
With that driving her, she didn’t need any
prompting. Using Ethan’s account, I asked her
if she wanted to pursue music seriously, and
she immediately dropped her other classes to
focus on it.
Having Ethan back with me made everything
so much easier.
Olivia kept posting her own music, but it
never took off.
I’d use Ethan’s account to ask her what was
wrong.
She’d get flustered, then post another piece
of my music, which would go viral.
By senior year, Olivia had over a million
followers online.
