Chapter 1

My eyes snapped open.

The ceiling was familiar, too familiar. My old bedroom in Austin.

A dream? No.

The memories flooded back, sharp and cruel. My first life.

I was Emily, the girl who had it all, then nothing.

Olivia. My best friend. My destroyer.

Senior year. My screenplay, the one that won the local award, the one that made David, the young producer, notice me. He offered to fund it, a dream start.

Then the SATs. My scores were a disaster, inexplicable. USC, my dream film school, slammed its doors.

Olivia, who never studied, got a perfect score. She went to USC.

I ended up at Austin Community College, still clutching my screenplay.

A year later, Olivia "wrote" a screenplay. Almost identical to mine. Critically acclaimed. Student film awards. David' s production deal. My deal.

She said it was her original idea, that I must have copied her when we were kids.

People believed her charm.

Then Mark, the musician I fell for. So kind, so talented. Olivia swooped in, took him too. Effortlessly.

Failure after failure. Betrayal after betrayal.

I spiraled. Depression took hold. An accidental overdose. Dark, quiet, then nothing.

Until now.

But before the blackness completely took me, before this strange return, I saw it. A truth.

Olivia, holding a small, shimmering artifact. A "Script Switcher."

Three times, it glowed. Three times, she rewrote my fate, stole my life.

My SAT score. My screenplay. My future with David.

The musician was probably just her being cruel, no magic needed there.

The Switcher had limited uses. She'd used it.

I sat up in bed. My hands weren't shaking.

My heart was cold, steady.

I was back. On the day of my high school' s annual "Future Filmmaker" showcase. The day I first presented my award-winning script.

The day it all began to go wrong.

Not this time.

Olivia had her Switcher. She had her envy.

I had the truth. And I had a plan.

She took my successes. I would make her take my failures.

The knowledge of her deep-seated malice, her constant, hidden jealousy, it wasn't new. I saw it in glimpses before, but I was too trusting, too focused on my own work.

I remembered countless times she' d subtly put me down, disguised as concern.

"Em, are you sure that idea isn't too ambitious for you?"

"You work so hard, maybe you should relax more, like me."

And David, in that first life, his praise for my original script was so genuine.

"Emily, this is brilliant. Truly original. I want to make this."

Olivia had been there, smiling, congratulating me. But I saw the flicker in her eyes.

Now, that flicker was a raging fire in my memory.

She didn't just want what I had. She wanted me to have nothing.

This time, I would give her exactly what she deserved.