Chapter 3

3

After we left, Sarah asked me, carefully, if I had been possessed.

I wasn't surprised she asked me that.

Because in high school, I had been so clearly and passionately in love with Jake.

I waited for him after school every day so we could go home together.

I baked him cookies, even though I always ended up with burns on my hands, and I would give them to him with a smile.

It was so obvious that everyone knew.

But things were different now.

The Lexie who had just started her senior year was dead.

Now I was someone who had died once and come back, a whole new person!

Lily didn't show up again all day.

I knew that her face was the most important thing to her.

And she wouldn't act unless she could use it to her advantage.

I waited patiently.

Soon it was Saturday, my eighteenth birthday.

My parents told me earlier that they would be throwing a big party to celebrate my birthday.

But then something came up at work, so they had to be late.

The chandeliers shone brightly.

Wearing a custom-made cocktail dress, I walked down the spiral staircase to the living room.

I saw my brother, Ben, in the distance.

He was wearing a suit and his expression was indifferent. "Lexie, come here."

I walked over.

Pretending not to see Jake, who was standing behind him with a dark look in his eyes, and Lily, who was trying to cry.

I said with a sweet smile, "What did you want to tell me, Brother? Did you get me a present?"

Ben looked at me coldly for a moment, then said,

"Bullying classmates, insulting friends, Lexie, is that how the Lu family raised you?"

He didn't lower his voice at all.

Everyone in the room looked at me.

"What is Brother talking about? I don't know what he means."

I looked at Lily and tilted my head.

"Who did I insult, and when did I bully a classmate? I don't even know her."

"It's too late to lie now. You have to pay for what you did."

"Mom and Dad aren't here today, so I'll discipline you for them."

As he spoke, Ben took a ruler from the shelf next to him.

Looking at me, he said sternly, one word at a time,

"Kneel."