Chapter 2: No Longer Playing Her Game

After the class meeting ended, Holly and her posse of bimbos blocked my way. She stood in front of me, smiling sweetly, her eyes curved into crescents. "Dakota, you'd better study hard for the exam. I won't go easy on you!"

Her followers immediately chimed in.

"Dakota, Holly only didn't fight you for first place before because you're a scholarship student from a poor background. All your scholarships were basically given to you by Holly!"

"Holly's just too kind-hearted. That's why she's always let you have your way and paved the road for you! But this time, she's not holding back anymore. She's going to take back everything that belongs to her!"

Their so-called "letting me win" referred to the fact that I had ranked first in class every year, while Holly was the eternal second ranker. She was clearly no match for me. Yet, she'd twisted her inferiority into an act of generosity to spare her tattered pride.

As if worried I hadn't taken it to heart, Holly continued, "Dakota, I can let you have things at school, but my career is a different thing entirely. I won't give up my future for you. So you'd better study hard and give it your all. Let's compete fairly!"

After delivering her shameless lecture, she finally left with her entourage.

I watched her retreating figure and sneered inwardly. I knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted to provoke me into working myself to the bone this month so she could transfer everything from me at the last moment.

In my previous life, I had thrown myself into studying, thinking I would earn the forensic certification and secure an internship at the Criminal Investigation Department. In the end, I handed everything over to Holly on a goddamned silver platter.

I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming in pure rage at the thought of what had happened in my past life.

I inhaled deeply, giving myself a few seconds to collect my thoughts. I looked at the towering pile of study materials on my desk and made up my mind. I dug out every last book and note, tore them to pieces, and threw them into the trash.

Then, I deleted all the autopsy-related videos stored in my cloud drive.

When I was done, I walked straight to the bar at the school entrance instead of heading to the library like I always did.

I drank alone, swaying to the music, letting myself sink into the noise and lights. For the first time since forever, I emptied my brain of studying and immediately felt an odd sense of relief.

In my previous life, I had been wound up tighter than a spring. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that my entire existence had revolved around studying. Alas, all of that had still been for naught as I became a pariah and was expelled from the academy.

I partied until 10 p.m., when a message from Holly popped up, her tone puzzled. "Dakota, it's so late. Why aren't you back in the dorm studying?"

I didn't bother replying. Instead, I tossed my phone aside and went back to dancing.

When I didn't respond, she panicked and called me.

I meant to hang up, but accidentally ended up answering. The moment the call connected, her anxious voice burst through. "Dakota, where are you? I went to the library to look for you. Why aren't you there?"

After being forced to listen to her rapid-fire questions, I replied coolly, "What I do is none of your business. Just worry about yourself."

I hung up immediately.

After another hour, I finally returned to the dorm.

The moment she saw me, Holly rushed over, clearly wanting to question me. I didn't even look at her as I climbed onto my bed and fell asleep.

From then on, I slept through classes every day and went out to have fun the moment they ended. My mind was nowhere near studying. Naturally, Holly began to notice something was off.

That day, I was at the bar playing games with some girls I had just met when Holly showed up with people in tow.