My Sweet SAT Revenge

Just before the SAT, Austin Burke, our school's popular but scatterbrained heartthrob, offered to hold on to everyone's admission tickets. As class president, I told him no. My girlfriend, Gloria Patterson, immediately jumped to his defense. "Why are you always picking on him?" I ignored her. On test day, I checked everyone's admission ticket and photo ID to make sure they were ready to go. When I finished handing back the tickets, Austin accused me of losing his. Before I could respond, Gloria snatched my ticket out of my hand and tore it to pieces. Our testing center required printed admission tickets, so I rushed to print another copy. By the time I reached the bus, it was about to leave. My classmates blocked the aisle, then shoved me off the bus. "You lost Austin's ticket, and now you think you can just get on the bus like nothing happened?" They all went on to earn excellent scores with the help of the practice questions I had put together for them. I missed the last test date before my college application deadlines and ended up putting my plans on hold for a year. When I finally took the SAT, I had one of the highest scores in the state. By then, Gloria and my former classmates were off at prestigious universities, enjoying their new lives. Still, they came back to our old school together with fabricated evidence that I cheated on the test. No one believed me, no matter what I said. One student who didn't get into college poured gasoline over me and set me on fire. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the days before the SAT. This time, I handed Austin everyone's admission tickets. Everyone's except mine. Chapter 1 "All I did was give Austin the lunch you brought me. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?" My girlfriend, Gloria Patterson, glared at me. "He's been studying so hard for the SAT. He needs a good meal more than I do. And you're always talking about being fair, aren't you? Then let Austin hold on to everyone's admission tickets. You don't have to be in charge of everything!" I stood there with the tickets clenched in my hand. In my previous life, Gloria defended Austin Burke with those same words. That time, we argued until I finally got our teacher involved. Only then did she back down and let me keep the tickets. My classmates accused me of picking on Austin and said I had no business being class president. After that, they shut me out. Even then, I went to each of them and begged them to work through the practice questions I prepared. Those questions helped them earn the scores they needed to get into universities that otherwise would've been out of their reach. Yet when a student who couldn't get into college doused me in gasoline, my classmates deliberately brought my parents over to watch. They laughed as I burned alive, keeping Austin safely behind them while my parents watched in horror. My parents couldn't bear it. They ran into the flames after me. "Victor, listen to me," Gloria went on. "Just…" "Here." I shoved the tickets into Austin's hands before Gloria could finish. After that, I grabbed my backpack and walked toward the door. I couldn't stand to look at any of them, and I wasn't coming back to school until after the SAT. Austin stared at the stack in his hands. He clearly expected more of a fight. I was barely out of the classroom when Gloria caught my backpack strap and jerked me back. "Wait. Where's your ticket?" "I'm keeping it." I pushed past her, but she kept arguing. "No. We agreed Austin would hold on to everyone's tickets. Yours too." "Since when do you get to decide that?" I tightened my grip on my ticket and took a step back. "If you want Austin to hold on to your tickets, fine. But I'm keeping mine. What's your problem with that?" "Oh, come on, Victor. Could you stop being jealous for five minutes?" Daniel Hart, the captain of the school basketball team, stepped forward and grabbed my arm. Several other student council members crowded around us. "Austin is just trying to do something nice, and you can't even let him do that?" "You're class president, Victor. How about showing a little trust? We said Austin would hold on to everyone's tickets. You don't get a special exception!" Daniel ripped the ticket out of my hand and tossed it to Gloria. I reached for it, but she threw it to someone else. Soon, they were tossing it back and forth over my head, laughing every time I tried to snatch it. "What's wrong, Victor? Do you want it? Come get it!" "Come on, Victor! Jump a little higher!" "Maybe next time you'll think twice before ordering us around!" Chapter 2 I threw my backpack to the floor and stormed out, slamming the door behind me. Gloria's smile faded. "Think Victor's mad?" someone muttered. She frowned as I walked away. In the bathroom, I splashed cold water on my face and tried to calm down, but I couldn't shake the anger. I stared at myself in the mirror. They could keep the ticket. I could still print another copy, and there was plenty of time. As I approached the classroom, I heard laughter and shouts coming from inside. My classmates crowded around a table, playing a card game with their admission tickets. A few lay on the floor beneath their chairs, but no one bothered to pick them up. "Austin, you're a genius! Fifty-four tickets. That's a full deck with two jokers!" "We can't bring cards to school, and Victor's always looking for a reason to get on our case. But these are our admission tickets. What's he gonna do, take them away?" "Alright, beat that!" "Easy. I've got Gloria!" "Then I'll play Austin!" They slapped the tickets down on the table, one after another. When they finally noticed me, their smiles turned to scowls. "What? You're gonna tell us what we can do with our own tickets now?" I ignored the comments. "The SAT's in two days. Shouldn't you be studying?" It was an honest question, but they just scoffed. "What are you worried about? You said you'd put together practice questions to help us study, didn't you?" I froze. In my previous life, I spent night after night poring over released SAT tests to put those questions together. My classmates dismissed them, and I practically begged them to give the exercises a chance. Apparently, they understood their value perfectly well when it meant they could leave all the work to me. Austin glanced at me, grinned, and slapped my admission ticket onto the table. "I'll play Victor! Who can beat that?" "Victor?" Everyone turned back to the game. "I've got Chloe!" "Seriously? She's at the bottom of the class, and you think she can come out on top?" "Oh, I bet she could get on top of Victor." A few people snickered. "Well, if that's how we're playing, I've got Hailey!" "And I've got Megan!" More tickets landed on the table. The girls they named immediately objected. "Ew! I'm not getting on top of him!" Everyone burst out laughing. Austin laughed so hard that he slapped his thigh. "Wow, Victor. Even in a card game, nobody wants you." My fist caught him in the face before he could say another word. Gloria, who went looking for me but couldn't find me, walked back in just in time to see the punch. "Victor!" She caught my wrist. "What is wrong with you?" My classmates all started talking at once. According to them, I attacked Austin because I couldn't stand that he was in charge of the tickets. "See for yourself." I pointed at the tickets scattered across the table. "They're making dirty jokes about me with my admission ticket. What do you expect me to do, stand here and laugh along?" Gloria looked at my ticket, buried beneath the others. Even she couldn't pretend she didn't understand. "Come on, Gloria. We were just kidding." Austin gave her an easy smile. But she noticed my bloodshot eyes and hesitated. For once, she didn't defend him. "Put them away." "Aw, come on…" "I said put them away!" Everyone fell silent and started gathering up the tickets. Gloria turned to me, her lips parting, but I grabbed my backpack and left before she could say anything. - I stayed home after that, but Austin made sure I knew what I was missing. He sent me a video of the whole class partying in a private event room. With the SAT coming up, they were celebrating being free of my rules. Gloria leaned against Austin's chest, smiling as Daniel called her out. "Hey, Gloria! You made Austin put those tickets away earlier. Since when are you on Victor's side?" Everyone joined in, demanding an answer. Gloria held up my admission ticket and tore it to pieces in front of them. Then she smiled at Austin. "Still think I'm on his side, babe?" "You're the best, Gloria!" "Gloria and Austin forever!" Someone shook up a beer and opened it, spraying foam across the room as everyone cheered. Then Austin sent me a voice message. Chapter 3 "Sorry, man," Austin said in the voice message. "I was just joking around. I didn't think Gloria would actually rip up your ticket to prove she doesn't love you." I forwarded the video to Gloria. She didn't respond until the next day, once she sobered up. [I had too much to drink last night and forgot to tell you. You should print another ticket.] My grip tightened around my phone. I called her. "Gloria, if I hadn't sent you that video, when were you going to tell me? Right before the test?" For a moment, she said nothing. Then she snapped, "Would you stop turning everything into some jealous argument?" She hung up before I could answer. Getting into a college near Gloria was the main reason I cared so much about the SAT. Now, I no longer wanted to follow her anywhere. I called my aunt, Michelle Reyes, at the research institute. "Aunt Michelle, the code's working. I'd like to take you up on your offer to join the institute through special admission." "Victor, that's wonderful! I'm so glad you finally changed your mind. What about your girlfriend? Is she moving here, too?" I sighed. "Gloria and I are done." I was already helping Aunt Michelle's institute tackle some of its toughest problems by writing code for their research. With what I remembered from my previous life, I could handle even their most complicated projects with ease. With no SAT to worry about, I focused on packing for the move. The day before the test, messages from my classmates flooded my phone. [Victor, where are those SAT practice questions you promised us?] [The test's tomorrow! Hurry up!] [Are you sending them or not? I need to be in bed by ten!] Now, they were all desperate to get their hands on the questions. When I had offered to put them together and urged everyone to take studying seriously, they laughed in my face. "You're just jealous because everyone likes Austin. Is this how you get people to pay attention to you?" "Please. Nobody wants your stupid practice questions!" I sent one message to the class group chat. [There are no practice questions. You're on your own.] Replies poured in immediately. [What's that supposed to mean? You promised you'd send them. You can't just back out now!] [I haven't even studied because I was waiting for your questions! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?] [Alright, we get it. You're mad because we called you out for picking on Austin. We're sorry, okay? Now send the questions!] I scoffed and typed my reply. [Didn't you say nobody wanted my stupid practice questions? If they're so worthless, why did you skip studying and count on me to do the work for you? [Your future is your responsibility. If you can't be bothered to study, you deserve to fail.] I had never spoken to them like that before. They didn't take it well, and angry messages flooded the chat. I was about to put my phone away when Austin shared a ZIP file. [I'm not as smart as Victor, but I've spent a lot of time going through old SAT practice tests and putting together some questions. Hopefully these help!] I opened the file. Not one question was relevant to the SAT. My classmates loved it. [Austin, you're the best! First you take care of our tickets, and now you're helping us study. Why isn't someone like you class president instead of Victor?] [All Victor does is get jealous and make everything about himself.] A notification appeared on my screen. They had kicked me out of the group. It didn't bother me. There was something they apparently hadn't noticed yet. During their party, several admission tickets slipped out of Austin's backpack and landed in the trash. - On the morning of the SAT, I stopped by the school to watch everyone head off to the test. Even from a distance, I could see a crowd gathered around Austin. "Are you sure they're not in another bag? They have to be somewhere." Austin rummaged through his backpack, his eyes red. "I don't understand. I checked last night. Everyone's ticket was in here. I swear." He was lying. I saw those tickets fall into the trash in the video. If he checked them last night, he would've noticed they were missing. My classmates kept glancing toward the waiting bus, but they were still trying to stay calm. "It's alright. Check again. We've still got half an hour." Ten minutes later, they emptied every pocket of Austin's backpack. The missing tickets were nowhere to be found. Without a printed admission ticket, none of them would be allowed into the testing room. Chapter 4 "Wait. Did you actually lose them?" Daniel finally lost patience. He snatched Austin's backpack and dug through every pocket. "Are you kidding me? They're gone!" "No way!" Everyone crowded around Austin. A few kept searching his bag while others patted down his pockets. "You said you'd keep them safe! Where are they? How could you lose our tickets?" "I... I..." Austin backed away, holding up his hands, but no one stepped in to defend him this time. "You'd better find them, or you can explain this to the police!" Several girls crouched on the ground, crying. "We should've left them with Victor. He actually takes this stuff seriously. He wouldn't have lost them!" Gloria stepped forward, looking torn. "Think, Austin. Could they be at your house? We still have time to get them." Someone had already called his parents. They searched the house and found nothing. "You idiot!" Daniel yanked at Austin's backpack so hard that a seam split. "I spent all night working through your practice questions, and now I can't even take the test?" The parents who came to see their kids off crowded around, demanding to know what happened. "How could you be so careless? You're the class president, aren't you? I thought we could count on you!" When they found out Austin took over at the last minute, they turned on their own children. "Why would you give them to someone else? Victor's always been responsible! You should've left the tickets with him!" Angry students and parents closed in around Austin. Just as the crowd surged toward him, he spotted me and pointed. "Hold on. Victor took them yesterday. Said he didn't trust me to keep them safe and demanded I hand them over." Everyone turned to me. I looked at the parents. "You know me. Do you really think I'd do something like this?" They exchanged uneasy glances. They knew how seriously I took my responsibilities. When no one moved, Austin turned to Gloria. "You were there, Gloria. Tell them. Victor took the tickets..." She went rigid, then looked at me. "Gloria." My voice sounded rough. For a moment, she hesitated. Then her expression hardened. "It's true. I saw Victor take them last night." The parents stared at her, then rushed at me. They grabbed my clothes and shoved their hands into my pockets. Someone slapped me across the face. "Where's my son's ticket?" "What did you do with my daughter's?" My cheek stung, but I pulled out my phone. "I never took them. Austin lost them, and now he's blaming me!" Austin stared at me, his jaw tight. "Seriously, Victor? You think I'd risk everyone's futures? You're the one who promised us practice questions and then backed out. Now you're trying to pin this on me?" One of the student council members knocked my phone out of my hand. "It has to be him! He promised to help us study, then told us we were on our own. Austin actually sent us practice questions!" "Yeah, why would Austin help us study if he wanted us to miss the test? Victor's the one doing this!" Students and parents crowded around me, demanding answers. Someone grabbed my arm as I tried to pick up my phone. "Where are the tickets? We don't have time for this. Hand them over!" "My son misses his test, you'll pay for it!" I tried to explain, but they kept shouting over me. I looked at Gloria. She moved in front of Austin, shielding him from the crowd, and scowled at me. "Enough, Victor. Just give them back!" Blood filled my mouth. I struggled to reach my phone on the ground, then held it up. "You wanna know what happened to your tickets? Watch this." Austin went pale.