Chapter 2

The memory of it was still so clear, a permanent scar on my psyche. The sign-in sheet for Professor Miller's "Introduction to Sociology" class. Attendance was a huge part of the grade, and Miller was a stickler for it. Three unexcused absences and you automatically failed the course.

In my past life, Madison had called me one morning, her voice thick with fake panic.

"Chloe, I'm so sorry! My alarm didn't go off, and I'm stuck in traffic. There's no way I'll make it. Can you please, please sign me in? I can't afford to miss another class."

I was a good person. A helpful person. So, of course, I said yes. I hesitated for a moment at the sign-in sheet, my pen hovering over the box next to her name. It felt wrong, but I remembered her desperate plea. I scribbled her name and thought nothing more of it.

Until the next class.

Professor Miller stopped his lecture midway through. "I need to address something. It has come to my attention that some students think it's acceptable to commit academic fraud by signing in for their friends."

A nervous quiet fell over the lecture hall.

"Madison," he said, his voice sharp. "Could you please stand up?"

Madison stood, her head bowed, looking like a martyr.

"Did you attend last Tuesday's lecture?" he asked.

"No, Professor," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I wasn't here."

"Then can you explain why your name is on the sign-in sheet?"

Her eyes filled with tears. She looked up, her gaze sweeping the room before landing on me. She didn't have to say my name. Everyone followed her eyes.

"I asked my roommate, Chloe, to sign for me," she said, her voice breaking. "I know it was wrong, but I was so scared of failing. And she... she did it for me. It's my fault. Please don't punish her. I'll take the blame."

It was a masterful performance. She took the blame in a way that made me look like the corrupting influence, the one who actually broke the rule. She was just the scared, honest girl who couldn't live with her own lie.

The result was swift and brutal. Professor Miller made an example of us. We both received a zero for participation, automatically failing the course. For Madison, it was a class she was already failing anyway. For me, it was a stain on my perfect transcript, a black mark that cost me my academic scholarship eligibility that year.

The stress from that incident sent me into a spiral. My grades in other classes slipped. I started having panic attacks before every exam. I felt the weight of every student's stare, the whispers that followed me down the hallway. "That's the girl who cheats."

Madison, of course, thrived. She played the victim to perfection, gaining sympathy from everyone who didn't know better. "I just had to be honest," she'd tell people. "My conscience wouldn't let me lie."

Lying in my dorm bed, back in the present, the memory made my blood run cold. I clenched my fists under the blanket. Not again. That would not be my future. This time, when Madison's "crisis" happened, the outcome would be entirely different. This time, the only person going down would be her.

"Hey, you up for getting some pizza?"

The voice broke through my dark thoughts. It was Olivia, our third roommate, poking her head into the room. She was the polar opposite of Madison-sharp, sarcastic, and with a built-in detector for nonsense that was second to none. In my first life, she had been a distant but observant presence, only becoming a true friend after Madison's manipulations had already done most of their damage. This time, I would make her my ally from the start.

"Yeah, definitely," I said, swinging my legs out of bed. "Let's go."

"What about you, Maddy?" Olivia asked, her eyes flicking over to Madison, who was still pouting at her desk. "Wanna come?"

Madison sniffled. "No, thank you. I'm not really feeling up to it. Chloe was mean to me earlier."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. She looked from Madison's teary face to my completely neutral one. "Uh-huh. Well, the offer stands if you change your mind."

As soon as we were out in the hallway, Olivia nudged me. "What was that about? Did you finally tell her to stop leaving her wet towels on the floor?"

"Something like that," I said with a small smile.

"Good for you," Olivia said, a grin spreading across her face. "Someone had to. That girl's 'innocence' is so loud it gives me a headache."

At that moment, I knew. Olivia saw it too. She saw right through Madison's act.

Later that night, after Olivia and I got back, Madison was at it again. She was on a video call with her parents, her voice pitched high and whiny.

"No, everything's fine... well, mostly. My roommate Chloe has been acting really strange today. She's being so cold. I think maybe she's mad at me, but I don't know what I did wrong."

She was performing, making sure I could hear every word. In the past, this would have filled me with anxiety. I would have wondered what I did to upset her, how I could fix it.

Olivia caught my eye from her desk. She rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck. She then put on her large headphones, blasting music loud enough for me to hear the faint beat, and completely ignored the drama.

I took my cue from her. I grabbed my own headphones, put on a podcast, and started my homework. We left Madison talking to an empty, silent audience. For the first time, her words had no power. They were just noise in a room where no one was listening. And that, I realized, was a weapon of its own.