The Monster in the Mud: My Second Chance Chapter 1

I once went out of my way to help a severely bullied boy who sat next to me in class.

When others tormented him, I stood up for him.

Because his family was poor, I brought him breakfast every single day.

It lasted until the day he shyly confessed his feelings to me, cheered on by a crowd of our classmates.

I rejected him.

As a result, sometime later, I overheard him smoking in the school bathroom, boasting to his friends:

"Chloe? Please, I played her a long time ago. She acts all pure and innocent, but she practically threw herself at me."

Because of those rumors, I fell from grace, transforming from the school's golden girl into a total pariah.

When my dad went to his house to demand an explanation, he was brutally hacked to death by the boy's schizophrenic father.

My mom couldn't handle the sheer devastation. Not long after, she took her own life to follow him.

Meanwhile, that boy reached his hand out to me from the mud.

He smiled, a cruel, twisted expression on his face, and said:

"Chloe, you used to be so high up in the clouds where I couldn't reach you. Now look at you. You're rotting down here in the mud with me."

I opened my eyes.

I was back to the very first day that boy transferred to our high school.

* * *

First period, junior year.

My homeroom teacher, Mr. Davis, led a boy with his head bowed low into the classroom.

"Class, we have a special transfer student joining us today. I expect everyone to get along with him. There will be absolutely no discrimination in my classroom."

Everyone stared at the new kid with burning curiosity.

But as he lifted his head, a collective gasp swept through the room.

The entire right half of his face was severely burned. He had no eyebrow on that side, and his eye looked like a harsh slit violently carved into the melted skin.

Instantly, whispers erupted from the desks around me:

"Holy crap! That guy is hideous. There is literally not a single normal feature on that face."

"Just our luck. Out of all the junior homerooms, we get the absolute freak."

"Looking at his face just made me lose my appetite for lunch."

"So gross. How does he even have the nerve to walk outside looking like that?"

As the whispers grew louder, the boy's head sank lower and lower.

His hands gripped his faded, worn-out jeans in a death grip.

My desk-mate nudged me, whispering frantically:

"How do you think he got those scars? You think his parents were tweaking and burned him by accident?"

My mind violently snapped back to reality.

Caleb!

I had actually traveled back in time to Caleb's very first day at our school.

The exact place where my nightmare began.

In my past life, Caleb had faced intense discrimination the moment he transferred.

He was the oldest in the class—already 19—but he was shorter than most of the girls. Combined with his terrifying appearance, his personality became incredibly isolated and dark. Almost no one dared to speak to him.

But my sense of justice had flared up. I stepped forward, actively inviting Caleb to be my desk-mate.

I had even chewed out the students who mocked him.

Right now, facing my friend's question, I coldly blurted out:

"Who knows? Maybe it's karma."

Up front, Mr. Davis was already trying to find Caleb a seat.

He told Caleb to pick an empty desk. But wherever Caleb walked, students physically recoiled as if he carried the plague, shrinking away like he was a monster.

Finally, Caleb slowly shuffled to a stop right next to me.

"C-Can I... can I sit next to you?"

This time, I didn't stand up and warmly invite him like I did in my past life.

Instead, I stood up, looked directly at Mr. Davis, and said:

"Mr. Davis, I don't want to sit next to him. If he insists on this spot, I'm requesting to move my desk right next to the whiteboard at the front."

Mr. Davis looked incredibly embarrassed.

Caleb stared at me, his eyes flashing with a strange, unreadable emotion.

"Chloe, I just emphasized that there will be no discrimination against our new student. This kind of attitude damages our classroom environment."

I tuned it completely out.

Since God gave me a second chance at life, I absolutely refused to show Caleb a single ounce of kindness.

Suddenly, a girl sitting a few rows away sneered:

"Some people act so high and mighty because they're the Class President and get straight A's, but they're completely fake. The new kid just wants a seat. Do you really have to look at him with such obvious disgust?"

I looked at the girl who spoke up.

Harper.

In my past life, she had competed against me for the Class President role, but I won the vote. She held a massive grudge ever since, always looking for a reason to drag me down.

Later, when Caleb spread those vile rumors about me, she was the one who broadcasted them to the entire grade and gleefully reported me to the principal.

She made sure everyone knew.

Staring at her now, I scoffed:

"Since you're overflowing with so much sympathy, why don't you let the new kid sit next to you?"

Harper's smug face froze. She immediately shut her mouth.

I kept pushing: "What's wrong? You were just acting like Mother Teresa defending him a second ago. Why are you backing down now? Or could it be that, deep down, you actually think he's too hideous to look at?"

I intentionally emphasized the word "hideous."

I could clearly feel Caleb trembling beside me. His head sank even further toward his chest.

Agitated by my taunt, Harper snapped:

"Chloe, do you have to be such a bitch? Mr. Davis, the new kid can sit with me. I'm not a shallow snob."

In the end, Caleb became Harper's desk-mate.

I watched as Harper visibly swallowed her revulsion while forcing a fake, careless smile to help Caleb clear his new desk.

A long sigh of relief escaped my lips.

I couldn't stop Caleb from transferring into our class.

But I could absolutely prevent any interaction with him.

I would never let the tragedies of my past life happen again.

Except, in this life, Caleb's desk-mate was Harper.

The person who stepped up to "save" him was Harper.

Does that mean the horrors I endured in my past life would now fall onto her?