Chapter 1

As the almost-valedictorian, the girl most likely to succeed, I woke up on the morning of the SATs… blind.

They rushed me to St. Jude’s, but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong.

Since I couldn’t see, college was out. I had to figure out how to make a living, and I ended up tuning pianos.

One day, I was at some McMansion in Greenwich, tuning a Steinway, when I overheard a bunch of guests talking.

“Remember that overachiever, Ashley Warren? It’s almost like she went blind on purpose. She lorded her straight A’s over us for years, and now look at her – she probably can’t even get into community college.”

“That scholarship girl thought she was better than us. She got exactly what she deserved.”

“She probably still doesn’t know that the person who blinded her was right there in the auditorium.”

I tried to act cool, but my hands were shaking. After a couple of minutes, something slammed into the back of my head.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the school auditorium, ten years in the past, ready to take the SATs.

“Attention, students: You have fifteen minutes until the start of the SATs. Please take your seats.”

I snapped awake and stared at my ID and admission ticket sitting neatly on the desk in front of me.

For a split second, I was totally disoriented. Then, it hit me: I’d been given a second chance.

I scanned the room, trying to figure out who it was who’d ruined my life.

There were about thirty of us in the auditorium, and everyone looked like they were about to throw up from nerves.

I couldn’t pick anyone out.

Thinking about the terror of being blind, I shivered and bolted for the exit.

The proctor at the door stopped me. “Hey! The test is about to start. Where do you think you’re going?”

“Someone in there is going to blind me! I can’t stay!” I shouted without even turning around.

But then Mrs. Davison, my guidance counselor, blocked my path.

“Ashley, honey, you’re just stressed. It’s the SATs. No one is going to hurt you.”

“Get back in there. The test is about to start.”

“Mrs. Davison, I’m serious! If I go back in there, I’ll lose my sight!”

Last time, I’d only gotten through the reading comprehension section before everything went dark.

The school sent me to the ER, but the tests showed nothing. My eyes were fine. My optic nerves were fine.

The doctor said it was probably just a stress-induced hysterical reaction.

I couldn’t see. College was a pipe dream. Even day-to-day life was a struggle.

I ended up tuning pianos just to survive.

For ten years, I’d been asking myself why?

Why me?

Was it really just stress?

Then I heard those bitches in Greenwich, and I knew. Someone had done this to me.

But I died before I could find out who.

This time, I wasn’t making the same mistake.

Mrs. Davison looked like she wanted to cry. “You’re on track to be valedictorian. You can’t throw that away now. All those years of hard work…”

I didn’t budge. “I’d rather scrub toilets than go blind. Believe me, someone in that auditorium wants to hurt me.”

Mrs. Davison’s brow furrowed. She clearly didn’t believe me.

She pleaded with me a few more times. But after she realized that I wasn’t going back in there, she let me wait in her office. Anywhere was better than that auditorium.

Time ticked by, and my vision was perfectly fine.

I finally started to breathe again.

But then, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the school.

The door to the office flew open, and Mrs. Davison came in with a couple of cops.

Detective Miller looked grim. “Ashley Warren, you said someone in the auditorium was going to blind you, is that correct?”

I nodded, a knot forming in my stomach.

“Just now, another student in your auditorium lost his sight.”

His name was Kyle Harrison, and he went to our school, but he was in a different homeroom.

Since freshman year, it had always been a battle for the top spot between us.

I was always first, and Kyle was always second.

Detective Miller looked serious. “Miss Warren, what did you mean when you said someone was going to hurt you? How did you know about this?”

I didn’t say anything.

If I told them I was from the future, they’d think I was nuts.

After a minute, I lied. “I overheard someone saying that I didn’t deserve to be valedictorian because I was poor. They said it would be better if something happened to me at the SATs.”

Detective Miller stared at me. “And that’s why you think someone wanted to hurt you?”

I shrugged. “I was just guessing. But now it looks like I was right. Someone did want to hurt me.”

Detective Miller didn’t push it. He took me down to the nurse’s office.

Kyle was there, fresh from his exam. Just like me last time, the doctors said his eyes were fine. They had no idea why he couldn’t see, and they chalked it up to stress.

Kyle looked like he couldn’t believe it. He dropped to his knees, sobbing.

“Please, help me! I’ve worked my whole life to get into college!”

“I can’t be blind. I want to take the SATs!”

Detective Miller looked at me with a pained expression.

“Miss Warren, can you really watch him lose everything? If you know who did this, you need to tell us. They’ve ruined someone’s life. We can’t let them get away with this!”

Kyle looked up, hope shining in his wet eyes. “Ashley, I know it was you who said that. Please, tell me who did this to me!”

I shook my head. “I don’t know who it was.”

If I knew, I would have already told them.

All I knew was that the person who did this was in that auditorium.

But I couldn’t figure out why Kyle had gone blind instead of me.

Kyle’s face fell. He stopped crying.

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of the SATs.

A bunch of kids came out of the auditorium, talking and laughing.

“That was so hard! Do you think you passed, Brittany?”

“Whatever. We’re going to Europe anyway. It’s not like those scholarship kids who only have one shot.”

“Yeah, and we’ll be at UCLA next year!”

I froze, my eyes wide.

I’d heard those voices before.

Those were the voices I heard before I died!

I pointed. “They know who did it.”

Detective Miller looked grim. He pulled the two girls aside.

They claimed they didn’t know what was going on.

“I said Ashley didn’t deserve to be valedictorian. But I don’t know anything about someone being hurt.” That was Brittany.

Standing next to her was Jennifer, the other voice.

Detective Miller questioned them for a long time, but Brittany and Jennifer insisted that they knew nothing.

I spoke up. “I’m not wrong. You know who wanted to hurt me.”

For ten years, I had been training my ears, and I remembered those voices!

Brittany rolled her eyes. “Oh, please! You think we’re going to believe you? You just want to blame us!”

I felt a lump in my throat. Maybe… maybe they didn’t know.

Just then, their mothers showed up.

They started yelling at Detective Miller as soon as they saw him.

“My daughter is stressed enough! If you ruin her chances, I’ll sue the police!”

Jennifer’s mom grabbed her hand. “Let’s go, honey.”

Detective Miller had to let them go. He didn’t want to mess up anyone’s chances.

As Brittany and Jennifer left, they gave me smug little smiles.

I looked away, and Kyle shoved me.

“Ashley Warren, I heard you! You said someone wanted to hurt you! I got hurt for you!”

“You made me blind! You ruined my life!”

Detective Miller grabbed Kyle before he could hit me again.

“Calm down, buddy. We’re going to figure this out.”

Kyle was sobbing. “But it’s too late! I can’t see! You took my eyes, Ashley Warren!”

I glared at him. “I didn’t do anything to you! And even if I had taken the test, you still would have gone blind.”

I thought Kyle was a substitute, but then I remembered something.

The day after I went blind, I heard someone jumped off the roof of the school.

I only knew his last name was Harrison.

Kyle was the one who jumped.

If my life was anything to go by, he knew he was never going to see again, so he gave up.

Detective Miller looked like he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

He’d asked his superiors if he could pull all the students in the auditorium in for questioning, but they said no way.

The SATs were too important. They couldn’t risk messing with anyone’s chances.

In the end, they decided to wait until the SATs were over.

There was nothing more I could do there, so I left.

As soon as I got outside, I saw Brittany and Jennifer talking to someone.

It was my classmate, Hunter Zeigler. He was one of the people I overheard in Greenwich.

I followed them.

I listened to everything they said.

“Ashley Warren is such a chicken! She ran away without even taking the test! I thought we were going to see something cool.”

“I hate Kyle as much as Ashley. He’s such a show-off. He deserved it.”

“Ashley probably doesn’t even know who did it.”

I tried to hear who they were talking about.

But Brittany, Jennifer, and Hunter got into a car and drove away.

I followed them to a huge mansion.

For some reason, the house seemed familiar.

Then I remembered: This was the house where I tuned the Steinway! This was where I died!

A few people came out of the house.

One of them was my classmate, and the rest were from other homerooms.

They were all in the auditorium!

Could one of them be the one who had hurt me?

After they went inside, I called Detective Miller and told him what I’d heard.

He said that he would question them tomorrow and that I should come in.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Tomorrow, I would know who wanted me dead.

Just then, Kyle called me. He wanted to see me.

After hesitating, I went to the hospital.

Kyle looked at me with lifeless eyes and apologized.

“Ashley, I’m sorry. I was upset today. I should not have done that.”

“You’re right. It’s not your fault. It was that person!”

When he said the word “person,” he spat it out.

I knew how he felt. When I found out someone had blinded me, I wanted to tear them apart.

“I understand. Don’t worry.”

Kyle was grateful. “You have to find them! They hurt us! Why should they get away with this?”

I agreed.

Even if Kyle hadn’t said anything, I would have found them.

The worst things about the last time were being blind and not going to college.

I’d decided that after I found the person responsible, I was going to go to college.

I comforted him for a bit, and then I left.

My family didn’t have much money, so I rented a room near the school.

Being back there made me nervous. I tossed and turned for hours before I finally fell asleep.

The next day, Detective Miller called me. He wanted me to come in.

I put on my shoes and stood up, but my head started spinning. Everything went dark.

I thought my blood sugar was just low, so I sat back down and waited.

After a few minutes, I got up and opened my eyes. But everything was black.

I couldn’t see anything.

I waved my hand in front of my face. Nothing.

My heart sank.

I was blind.