Part 1A Love Rewritten

The night of our graduation dinner, I took the drunk campus belle to the campus bad boy’s room.

But my childhood friend mistook me for her.

One night of chaos.

Everyone said I did it on purpose to break them up. For years after we were married, I tried everything to win his heart, but it remained cold.

Until one day, I overheard him on the phone.

“As long as Beth is happy, I’m willing to waste my whole life keeping Thea tied down.”

“Who would want to marry a bookworm like her, anyway?”

“She wants a baby? Fine. I’ll give her one.”

The harsh blare of a car horn cut him off. He spun around instinctively and saw me standing at the corner. His face paled, and he lunged toward me, trying to push me out of the way.

The next second, we were both sent flying.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the graduation dinner.

This time, I decided to let them have each other.

* * *

Only my childhood friend, Liam, knew that I had a crush on the campus bad boy, Jaxon.

The night of our university graduation dinner, Beth asked me to help her to a room to rest. I didn’t know it was Jaxon’s room. And Beth was a master actress. The moment we were out of sight, she was instantly sober, a mocking glint in her eyes as she looked at me.

In my past life, I was too naive to see it. I was, as everyone called me, the scheming, venomous bookworm. It wasn’t until I heard Liam’s phone call right before I died that I finally understood.

He was willing to sacrifice his entire life for Beth. And I had been foolish enough to believe him when he’d proposed, when he’d told me he loved me.

Before I died, Liam and I lay together in a pool of blood. When the speeding car hit, he had thrown himself in front of me, taking the brunt of the impact with his back. But it was useless. The force of the collision sent me flying.

As my consciousness faded, I could just make out Liam, covered in blood, stubbornly crawling toward me despite the agony that wracked his body. The wounds on his fingers were deep enough to show bone, and his voice was a broken tremor.

“Thea, don’t scare me.”

“Wake up, let me explain!”

“I was wrong, Thea. I was so wrong.”

His heartbroken cries made me want to vomit. A torrent of blood gushed from my lips. In the final moments of my life, I found one last ounce of strength. I moved my fingers, just enough to pull away from the hand he was desperately trying to link with mine.

Too late for apologies now.