Victoria's breath caught in her throat as she stared at Charlotte's face, young, unmarked by the weight of years, her eyes bright with concern instead of the hollow emptiness that had haunted them in those final months before she...
"Charlotte?" The name came out as a whisper, disbelief colouring every syllable from Victoria's mouth.
"Yes, it's me! You just collapsed during Mrs. Henderson's chemistry class. Are you okay? You've been out for like a minute," Charlotte said, her brow furrowed with worry.
"Should I call the nurse?"
Victoria's mind reeled. Chemistry class. Mrs. Henderson. She remembered this—the periodic table poster on the wall, the smell of sulfur from the lab, the way the sunlight streamed through those tall windows on the east side of Westfield High.
But this was impossible. Charlotte had been dead for fifteen years.
Victoria tried to sit up, her body feeling strange and unfamiliar.
Staring at her hands, they were different. Where were her perfectly manicured nails? Instead, she saw short, bitten fingernails and callused fingertips from countless hours of typing and note-taking.
Her clothes felt loose and cheap, nothing like the designer suits that had become her armour in the business world.
"I..." Victoria's voice cracked. Even her voice sounded different, younger, unsure. "What year is it?"
Charlotte's concern deepened. "It's 2010, Vic. Are you sure you're okay? You're acting really weird. If you are playing those pranks...you should stop messing around."
Victoria's heart hammered against her ribs. She was seventeen again. Seventeen and stupid and so desperately in love with a boy who saw her as nothing more than a convenience.
"Where's Marcus?" The question tumbled out before she could stop it.
Charlotte's expression shifted, a mix of confusion and something else, worry?
"Marcus Reynolds? He's should be in his optional class right now. Why are you asking about him? You know he barely notices you exist, you should leave him, Victoria...He isn't good."
The words hit like a physical blow, even though Victoria knew they were true. In this timeline, she was still the quiet, bookish girl who did everyone's homework and harboured a hopeless crush on the most popular boy in school.
"Victoria, seriously, you're scaring me," Charlotte said, reaching for her friend's hand. "Your eyes look... different. Like you've seen something terrible."
If only she knew.
Victoria stared at Charlotte's face, memorising every detail. The small scar above her left eyebrow from when she'd fallen off her bike in middle school.
In her previous life, she'd been too busy chasing after Marcus to notice that Charlotte had been struggling. Too blind to see the signs. Too self-absorbed to realise that her best friend had been drowning in silence.
"Charlotte," Victoria said, her voice stronger now. "Are you... Are you happy?"
The question seemed to catch Charlotte off guard. "Happy? I mean, I guess. Why?"
"No, really. Are you happy? At home, I mean. With everything."
Charlotte's smile faltered slightly. "That's a weird question, Vic. Of course, I'm happy. Everything's fine."
But Victoria could see the lie now, could read the micro-expressions she'd learned to recognise in countless business negotiations. The slight tightening around Charlotte's eyes, the way her shoulders tensed, the forced brightness in her voice.
How had she missed it before?
"Victoria Sterling, are you paying attention?" Mrs. Henderson's sharp voice cut through the moment. "If you're quite finished with your dramatic episode, perhaps you could solve this equation?"
Mrs. Henderson was a teacher who never truly liked Victoria. Unlike the expectations of teachers liking the ones who worked hard in class, Mrs. Henderson never liked Victoria. The reason? She was unremarkable, despite having a strong ethic for studying, Victoria was never the smartest in the class.
Victoria looked up at the whiteboard, at the complex chemical formula that had once seemed impossibly difficult. Now, with decades of experience running a business empire, it looked like child's play.
"The answer is C₆H₁₂O₆," she said without hesitation. "It's glucose. The molecular formula for glucose."
Mrs. Henderson blinked in surprise.
"That's... correct," Mrs. Henderson said slowly. "Very good."
Charlotte stared at her friend in amazement. "Since when do you know chemistry? That's your worst subject. You've always hated it."
Victoria let out a bitter smile.
Since I spent fifteen years building a biotech division for my company, Victoria thought. Since I've sat through countless meetings with pharmaceutical executives and research scientists.
"I've been studying," she said instead.
As the bell rang and students began filing out, Victoria stood up from her seat, her mind racing.
She was back. Somehow, impossibly, she was back.
But this time, she wouldn't waste her second chance.
This time, she would save Charlotte.
This time, she would see Marcus Reynolds for exactly what he was before he could sink his claws into her heart.