She Plotted Against Me, I Won My Life

Chapter 2

The next morning, I waited until they had finished breakfast before getting up.

The girl smiled triumphantly.

"Linnea, did you not sleep well?" She placed a hand over her chest, feigning deep regret, her tone dripping with fake remorse. "It is all my fault. I should have waited until after the exam to come," she added, feigning guilt so thick it made my skin crawl.

My adoptive mother looked at me with concern. "I will drive Linnea to the exam hall. Would you mind going with your father, Liora?"

In my dream, Liora had begged my parents to take her instead, leaving me behind. I had been so unsettled by it that I had performed poorly in the exam. So, the dream was real after all.

Liora's face fell. "Oh... yes, of course."

My adoptive mother hurried upstairs to fetch my adoptive father.

As soon as they were gone, Liora pulled a box of cake from her bag, her eyes gleaming. "Linnea, you have not eaten breakfast, have you? I bought this just for you, have a little."

I stared at the cake in silence.

In the dream, this very cake had been stale and spoiled, triggering my stomach pain and ruining my exam.

My adoptive parents had always known about my weak stomach, left sensitive after years of neglect when I was small, and so, of course, Liora knew too.

I smiled back. "Thank you."

"We must go now," my adoptive father's voice called from outside.

They put us both into separate cars.

*****

On the way, my mother handed me a packed breakfast she had prepared early.

"Linnea, do not worry. Everything can wait until after the exam."

I set the unopened cake aside and took the breakfast, murmuring a quiet "thank you."

"I thought you did not like cream?" she asked, glancing at the cake.

I kept my tone neutral. "Liora gave it to me. I did not want to refuse her kindness."

She picked it up, sniffed it, and tossed it aside. "It has gone off. Do not eat it. Must have spoiled in her bag."

She did not think twice about it.

When we reached the exam hall, I waved and went inside.