The autumn breeze slipped through the open windows of Haicheng No. 1 High School — Senior year, Class Four. A single plane tree leaf skated along the tiles and stuck to Lin Yuwei's shoe.
Outside at the back of the classroom, Lin Yuwei found herself pinning a girl against the wall, one hand braced by the girls shoulder, the classic wall–dong angle that always looked cool in dramas and absolutely insane in real life.
The girl's uniform was neat, her ponytail crisp, her eyes bright and angry like a cornered fawn. She glared up.
"Let go of me!"
Her voice was soft and bell-clear. But the words hit like a slap.
Lin Yuwei blinked.
...What am I doing?
A heartbeat ago, she had been in her class room, falling asleep during exam prep with a snack still open under her desk and a trashy campus novel open on her phone. Now, she stood behind a classroom, holding a stranger hostage with one hand.
Her brain lagged.
Almost like she was being controlled, her lips moved: "Stay away from Ji Han."
The words came out low and cold, the exact line a jealous school bully would say before starting a plot-driven cat fight. The students outside collectively sucked in a deep breath. Someone whispered, "here she goes again..."
Again? Lin Yuwei's thoughts scrambled. She wasn't a bully. She didn't threaten people over boys. She didn't even like the name "Ji Han" enough to say it twice, it left such a bitter feeling in her heart—wait.
The name hit a switch.
Ji Han. School top grass. Top grades, killer looks, top of every ridiculous ranking in that novel she had binged all night till in class.
Su Xinyi, the white flower heroine from a humble background.
Bai Lian, the antagonist.
Lin Yuwei...the cannon fodder who dies in Chapter two.
The world snapped into cruel focus.
She wasn't dreaming. She was really standing inside that campus novel. In the body of the infamous "school bully Lin Yuwei" who picked fights, chased the male lead, and fell down a stairwell in a "tragic accident" before the real story even began.
Her hand still pressed the girl back, and her mouth like a remote controlled robot spat the next line: "If you talk to him again, you'll regret..."
"..I'm sorry," Lin Yuwei said, cutting herself off.
Silence.
"I mean.." Yuwei exhaled, forced her arm down, and stepped back. "I shouldn't have grabbed you. That was wrong of me."
The force inside her, more like pressure inside her like puppet strings yanking her jaw fought back, pushing words at her tongue, ugly lines she recognised from the novel. She clenched her teeth. For a second the world wavered, the fluorescent lights flickered, and a line of text she shouldn't be able to see scrolled across her eyes like a projector glitch:
[SCIPT ERROR: line 12 not delivered.]
[Deviation detected.]
Her scalp prickled. So there is a script and it wants me dead!!
"Are you okay?" The girl asked, anger draining into confusion.
"I'm fine," Yuwei said quickly. She stepped aside and raised her hands. "I'm not going to touch you again. So sorry for... everything."
The classroom back door slid open at that exact moment.
Ji Han walked in, sunlight at his back, school jacket hanging from two fingers. He was tall, with clean lines; the kind of face teachers used for school advertisement posters. His gaze skimmed across the students and landed of course, on the little drama.
Bai Lian slipped in behind him, carrying a stack of maths worksheets as if she'd stayed late to help the teacher. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Yuwei, then softened with concern that looked good from every angle.