This Time, I'm the Fool

Spilled and Turned

Just before the drink reached my lips, I reached out and grabbed Chloe, who had just come out of the shower. "Chloe, I'm really sorry about what happened last time. Since Maisie treated me to this drink, I'll pass it on to you instead—consider it my apology, okay?”

Faced with my pitiful look, Chloe took the cup with clear impatience. Maisie panicked instantly and tried to stop it. "No, you can't—”

"Why not?" I cut her off, blinking innocently. "It's fine, I'm on a diet anyway.”

Maisie was left speechless, stammering helplessly as she could only watch Chloe take a big gulp of the drink.

Ten minutes later, Chloe clutched her stomach and rushed into the bathroom, her face twisted in pain.

'I knew it—it was spiked.' I laughed to myself, but on the surface, I put on a worried expression. "What's going on? Should we go see the school nurse?”

Maisie was both furious and anxious, clearly wanting to say something but not daring to. Suddenly, her eyes darted, and she poked a straw into her own cup again, stubbornly thrusting it toward me. "Here—drink mine! I haven't touched it!”

"What?” I waved my hands in refusal. "But how could I…”

"It's fine. Just drink it. If you don't, you're disrespecting me!”

"But—oh no!”

During the scuffle, Maisie's grip slipped, and the drink spilled across the table, soaking the stack of exam admission slips perfectly.

"Shit!”

I didn't bother arguing with her. I hurriedly shook off the liquid and wiped at the slips—but it was no use.

In my previous life, she had used this exact trick to ruin the entire class' admission slips, then turned around and accused me of doing it. The result was that everyone blamed me, the class monitor, for poor management and nearly ruined the next day's exam.

Staring at the slips now, blurred and soaked, I fell silent. Maisie, meanwhile, clutched her head as if she had a headache and immediately flipped the blame. "How could you not catch it properly?! Look at this—now they're all ruined!”

Between a few grumbling complaints, Maisie had already impatiently embellished the story and sent it to the class chat. The group instantly exploded.

'What? You've got to be kidding me?!'

'Tomorrow's the exam, and she pulls this now?!'

Maisie shot me a smug glance and deliberately fanned the flames. 'It's true. But everyone, don't blame Naomi too much. She is just a bimbo, after all.'

Just like in my previous life, the verbal attacks came flooding in.

'I said it from the start—Naomi should never have been made class monitor! Look what happened!'

'If Maisie hadn't strongly recommended her, I wouldn't have voted for her at all!'

'This is ridiculous. I'm reporting this to the counselor!'

'Naomi, stop hiding and come explain yourself! How are you going to fix this?!'

'Fix it how? It's already eleven at night. The exam printing portal's closed, and the counselor's off work!'

'If we can't sit for the exam tomorrow, you'd better be ready for a demerit! I'll be the first to report this to the dean!'

Seeing the outrage reach a boiling point, Maisie could barely hide the glee at the corners of her mouth. I kept my head down, typing quietly. 'I'm so sorry… this is all my fault. I deserve the blame.'

No one bought it. The attacks only grew harsher, some outright hurling insults.

'Quit whining and fishing for sympathy!'

'Exactly. Trash.'

Maisie added coolly, 'Yeah. Apologizing now won't help. Naomi, what do you think we should do?'

'You're right, Maisie. It's already too late, no matter what I tell you now,' I replied meekly.

Maisie froze and snapped her head up. "What do you mean?”

I looked up as well, meeting her suddenly widened eyes, my expression harmless as I answered, "Maisie, I forgot to tell you—only the top sheet that got wet was an exam admission slip. The rest underneath is just scrap paper. And unfortunately… the one that got soaked… was yours.”