She Heard Nothing

On the first day of orientation, Bella went around telling everyone that she could read my mind and hear my thoughts. When a classmate was chewed out for accidentally moving the wrong way during drills, she sternly pointed at me and said, "Why are you mocking her, thinking that she's uncoordinated and that she's dragging the whole team down? Everyone makes mistakes, so what gives you the right to ridicule her?" When the instructor was addressing the whole group, she stepped out of formation and confronted me again. "How could you think that the instructor is rigid and old-fashioned, and that all he does is torture students? Do you have any discipline or respect?" The instructor flew into a rage and punished me by making me do squats under the blazing sun for half an hour. After time and time of her pointed smear campaign, I was effectively ostracized by my classmates, the instructor, and our teachers. I cried, trying to explain that it wasn't true and that I never thought anything of the sort, but no one believed me. In the end, I took my own life. When I came to, I had returned to the very first day of orientation, when a classmate made a mistake and was being reprimanded. Bella had only just started to turn toward me, and had barely opened her mouth to slander me again, when I closed my eyes and let myself fall to the ground. Chapter 1 My head slammed against the scorching, unforgiving ground, the intense pain making me see stars, but I didn't dare move a single muscle. I lay there on the ground, forcing myself to remain in the same position, keeping up the appearance of looking unconscious. Through the narrow slits of my eyes, I could clearly see Bella Sue's expression, frozen awkwardly as she had to swallow the venom she'd been poised to spit only moments ago. The very next second, startled cries erupted all around me. "Someone fainted! Sir, someone fainted!" All their gazes, previously focused on the classmate who'd made a mistake, became focused on me. To her credit, Bella reacted quite quickly, forcing her expression into one of warmth and concern. Her voice light, she asked, "Are you alright, Lauren? Why'd you pass out? Are you feeling okay?" I squeezed my eyes shut and continued pretending to be unconscious, ignoring her. In my previous life, when a classmate made a mistake during orientation and was reprimanded by the instructor, Mr. Jones, she reprimanded me and lied that she could hear my inner thoughts. Step by step, she destroyed my campus life, ruined my future, and forced me to take my own life. This was where all my tragedies began, and this time, I had stopped her very first accusation before she could make it. However, I knew Bella wouldn't give up so easily. When I gave her no response, the worried voices around me grew louder, and sure enough, Bella's voice came from beside me, acting deliberately troubled. "Sir, I-I'm not sure if I should say this, but uhm…" She paused, then slowly continued, as if she needed to muster up the courage, "I think I heard her inner thoughts just now, and she said that she passed out on purpose… S-She seems to want to use this as an excuse to skip orientation…" The moment she said this, the murmurs around us exploded. "That was a ruse? No way, she fell really hard though!" "Is Bella being serious? It sounds too strange to be true…" "But she's always been such a kind person… Why start lying now?" "Is Lauren really faking it?!" With just a few carefully chosen words, she began quietly turning the crowd against me. Then she softly added, cementing her image. "I don't know what's going on, but I really do think I can hear her inner thoughts… She says that she's got two pieces of candy in her pocket, and she was planning to eat them while slacking off, I heard it loud and clear!" My heart clenched, an icy chill sweeping over my entire body in an instant. In my past life, this scene played out in exactly the same way, and she said the exact same words. Back then, I couldn't understand how she could have known so precisely about the candy in my pocket. I had no way to defend myself. All I could do was watch as that one eerily accurate prediction convinced my classmates, instructors, and teachers that she truly possessed the ability to read my mind. Since then, every single word she spoke was seen as the truth, while I became the sinister, malicious, hypocritical villain. But this time, I had been given a second chance. This time, I wouldn't give her another chance to hurt me. Chapter 2 A tall figure loomed over me, and Mr. Jones' stern voice came from above my head. "Let me check!" As his hands reached for my pockets, I continued acting like I was unconscious, but I scoffed in my mind. 'You're done for, Bella!' My pockets were completely empty. - No one knew that when I had thrown myself straight onto the ground just moments ago, I had taken advantage of the chaos caused by everyone’s startled cries. While no one was paying attention, I had quietly stuffed the two candies into my pants. From the very beginning, I wanted to nip her accusations in the bud. Above me came Mr. Jones' thunderous roar. "There, where's the evidence you spoke of? How dare you publicly speculate and slander your classmate? You've disrupted orientation, and made a mockery of everyone present! Is this some form of rebellion, Sue?" Bella trembled, her eyes instantly turning red. This was what she was the best at doing, using her pitiful, frail appearance to win everyone's sympathy. Her voice choked with emotion. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause any rumors, sir. I've always been very sensitive since I was a kid, and I truly did hear what she was thinking just now. Maybe I was too nervous about following the rules and had a lapse in perception, but I truly didn't mean to slander her…" That was a clever thing to say. She didn’t admit to spreading rumors, only blaming it on her own sensitivity and a mistaken perception. That way, no one's anger toward her would really take root. Seeing her like that, the surrounding students immediately softened and began making excuses for her. "Forgive her, sir. She didn't mean to do it." "Yeah, she's one of the best people you can find around! She's kind and gentle, and she's never bullied anyone before." "She probably just heard wrong or misunderstood what she perceived. There’s no need to punish her so harshly, right?" In the previous iteration, since Bella supposedly possessed the supernatural ability to hear people’s thoughts, everyone adored her and couldn’t bring themselves to blame her. But this time, after being publicly made a fool of, Mr. Jones wasn't just going to let her off the hook so easily, and I was already waiting for the show to begin. Sure enough, I heard him bark sharply. "There are no exceptions when it comes to discipline! An unintentional mistake can be forgiven, but making baseless accusations and disrupting the morale of the group will not be tolerated! "If anyone wants to make any more excuses for her, you'd better be prepared to run laps together with her!" The moment he finished speaking, the students who had been pleading for her fell silent, not daring to let another word slip past their lips. Then, he announced, "Now go and run one lap around the field, Sue! Reflect on what you did!" Then, the instructor called out to two girls. "You two, carry Anderson to the shade and wait for the school medic." My body was lifted and carried away from the scorching orientation field. The tension that had been coiled inside me the entire time finally began to ease. I let out a long breath of relief. This time, I won the first round. This time, I hadn't been slandered, Mr. Jones didn't single me out, and I hadn’t fallen into the bottomless pit of my past life. But I could clearly feel a heated gaze boring into my back from somewhere behind me on the field, like a venomous snake singling out its prey. 'This time, I'll make sure you pay me back for everything you owe me, every last bit.' - After an entire afternoon of rest, I had a complete recovery. The medic advised me to rest for another day, but I knew clearly that evasion wasn't the solution. Instead of waiting like a sitting duck, what I needed to do now was go on the offensive. The very next day, I returned to my formation right on time. Under the blazing morning sun, Mr. Jones sternly addressed all the freshmen, placing particular emphasis on the rules and discipline of orientation. Then, Bella's feminine voice rang out once more as she stepped half a pace forward, a frown on her face. "Mr. Jones, sorry to interrupt, but I heard Lauren's inner thoughts again." Mr. Jones frowned in irritation, while Bella's gaze remained low, her expression troubled. "She’s been secretly insulting you in her mind, saying that you’re rigid and old-fashioned and that you're deliberately trying to make things hard on us freshmen. "She… she also said that all these rules are too tedious for no good reason, and all I hear is resentment and bitterness…" Chapter 3 In my previous life, those were the very words that solidified Mr. Jones' grudge against me. From that day on, he deliberately made things difficult for me, and I became isolated and bullied. This time, before the instructor could even get angry, I immediately spoke up, "You keep on saying that you can hear my inner thoughts, but aren't you just pushing your own dark and narrow-minded thoughts onto me?" Someone nearby muttered, "Yeah, she didn't even get it right yesterday!" "Fine, then let's see who's lying right here, right now!" A smile tugged at the corner of Bella's lips. "Fine. Lauren, take out your phone and type in a random string of numbers without anyone seeing. If I can accurately guess what you've typed, it'll prove that I wasn't lying!" Her tone was confident, as if she'd had victory in her grasp. I glared at her, not believing that she could read my mind in the slightest. In my past life, she'd definitely seen me putting the candies in my pocket at some point. If she could truly read my mind, she would've known that I'd hidden the candies somewhere else. The people around us excitedly cleared a circle of space. I pulled out my phone, turned my back to everyone, and randomly tapped six digits onto the screen: 372815. Then, I locked my screen and turned back around, holding the phone face-down in my palm. "Go on." Bella furrowed her brow and pondered for three seconds, before her lips curled into a smirk. "372815." My entire body froze. A classmate stepped forward, took my phone, and held the screen up for everyone to see. There was a moment of silence, then the crowd erupted. "Holy sh*t, she got it all correct!" "She got every number right!" "Can you really read her mind, Bella?" I refused to accept it, I couldn't! "Well, what if you saw the movement of my fingers just now? That one doesn't count!" She spread her hands. "What would count, then?" I gripped my phone tightly, my mind racing. "Let’s try again tomorrow. For breakfast, I’ll eat whatever I choose, then secretly take a photo of my breakfast and save it on my phone. No one will be watching. "Then, when we assemble the next morning, you’ll have to guess what I ate for breakfast. If you get it right, you win. "But if you guess it wrong, you'll have to apologize to me publicly in front of all the other freshmen, and admit that you've been slandering me and making baseless accusations!" We weren't given a fixed breakfast and could choose what we liked, and any pictures I'd take would be done by myself. There was no way she'd get it correct this time! Bella nodded. "Deal." That night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. On the third day of orientation, I deliberately bought a huge variety of breakfast foods. Even if someone happened to see me, they wouldn’t know which ones I actually intended to eat. When I ate, I made sure to avoid everyone and secretly took a photo. As the whistle for assembly sounded, everyone quickly fell into formation. With all eyes on her, Bella calmly said, "You had two strips of bacon, one piece of toast, two sips of tea and a croquette!" The blood in my veins seemed to freeze over. Frowning, Mr. Jones took my phone and tapped on my album, carefully checking the photo I took that morning before exclaiming in surprise, "She's right!" My mind went completely blank. Impossible! Could she really read my mind? - Within moments, everyone's gaze upon me changed. "She got it correct!" "Can she really hear Lauren's thoughts? Doesn't that mean she was telling the truth?" "No way… was Lauren acting innocent this whole time?" "She looks all nice and innocent, but she's actually all twisted inside!" In the center of the formation, there was an unmistakable look of triumph in Bella's eyes. She lowered her gaze, sighed softly. "You know, I honestly never wanted to expose you. Even though I’ve heard all your complaints, schemes, and resentment every single time, I always kept it a secret for you. "But you never admitted to it, and instead insist on saying that I'm going around slandering your name. I hear how dark and twisted you really are, you know? I hear how much disdain you hold for orientation, and how much you grumble about it in your heart, but yet you insist on pretending you're oh so innocent!" Chapter 4 "Doesn't it ever get tiring?" I shouted, "That's not true!" Mr. Jones' face turned livid as he walked over to me. "You're coming with me, Anderson." He took me to the other side of the field and lectured me for a full ten minutes, arms folded across his chest. "You need to keep your head on straight and stop thinking all that nonsense, Anderson. This is a team effort, and being selfish is only going to bring everyone down." And so, I was punished with extra training, doing five sets of squats, three sets of push-ups, and two laps of frog jumps. For the next few days, Bella was completely trusted by everyone, not a single soul questioning her words. All she needed to do was say "I heard her complaining in her heart", and everyone would look upon me with disdain. She began slandering me without restraint. Mr. Jones' patience with me was completely exhausted, and he started assigning me all kinds of extra drills. Under the blazing sun, I stood on the scorching field again and again, my clothes soaked with sweat, my legs aching, yet I wasn’t even given the courtesy of standing up for myself. My peers completely ostracized me, deliberately keeping their distance from me, whispering and shooting pointed glares at me, their gazes filled with nothing but rejection and disdain. The rumors were like countless tiny needles, stabbing into me day after day, night after night. In the office, my teacher earnestly tried to counsel me. "Lauren, orientation is a group effort, and you need to be tolerant. No matter what you think inside, it's not good to always be so negative and resistant. "Bella wouldn't have said what she did without reason, so you should correct your attitude. Reflect upon yourself, and stop disappointing your coursemates, Mr. Jones, and your teachers." Each and every sentence came with the assumption that I was guilty. No one was willing to hear me out, and no one trusted my innocence. An overwhelming sense of helplessness washed over me. It was the exact same despair I had experienced in my previous life, suffocating me all over again. Wasn't this supposed to be a second chance? I'd made plans beforehand, kept my guard up, and hidden the candies before she could find them, hadn't I? But why was it, that with each and every step, I was forced into the same desperate straits as my past life? Curled up on my bed, a dull ache filled my chest as I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Then my phone vibrated. It was my grandmother from the countryside. I accepted the call, and my grandmother's familiar voice came from the receiver. "Is orientation going well, my dear? I've sent you some of your favorite cookies, and they should arrive by tomorrow…" I finally couldn’t hold back my tears. Forcing myself not to cry, I whispered, "I'm not tired, Grandma…" "When you were little, whenever you came home all sad and distraught, you'd always say that you weren't tired and end up crying the night away…" My grandmother spoke, her voice a calm lull. "Hearing your voice already tells me all I need to know. If you really are tired, come home, alright? I'll always be here for you!" My eyes reddened with tears, and I was just about to reply when an epiphany struck, like a bolt in the blue. A scene I had overlooked came rushing into my mind. I knew how Bella had been able to read my mind! On the eighth day of orientation, all the freshmen assembled, while the school leaders delivered a speech to rally everyone for orientation. Halfway through the first speech by the principal, Mr. Baxter, Bella's hand shot up once more. "Sir, I have something to say!" Then, she pointed at me. "Even while you were giving such a serious speech, Lauren's mocking it in her head, calling it nothing but useless formalities. She hasn't got a single iota of respect for you!" I looked up at this girl who was trying to crush me like a bug and scoffed. "Oh, what a coincidence. "Just now, I heard your inner thoughts as well! Everyone, let's hear what she's really thinking!" As everyone looked on in confusion, Bella's voice rang out across the entire field, "What a bunch of idiots, so easy to fool! I've been playing them for fools this whole time, and they still think that I'm a good person, what a joke!"