"Please, Chloe."
I mean… Why the hell do I have to do this annoying thing?
"If this kid gets an F in geometry again, he won't get into college."
At Mr. Albert's desperate plea, I sighed inwardly. Why does the teacher look more desperate than the one who actually needs the help?
"If you help Aaron, you can add that to your résumé, and I'll ask the principal to write you a recommendation letter!"
That caught my attention a bit. I looked up, scowling, at the star of Hampshire High School, Aaron Eisenhower.
"…Please."
Seeing him reluctantly mutter that word made irritation rise in me.
"You have to do everything I tell you. Can you handle that?"
I decided to give him some attitude.
"If you can't, say it now. Don't waste my precious time for nothing."
He looked down at me, annoyed, and muttered, "Showing off just because you're good at some stupid math…"
Then Mr. Albert's elbow jabbed him in the side.
" Hey, you punk! You should be trying to make a good impression!"
Watching Mr. Albert scold Eisenhower, I shook my head. If Mr. Albert weren't the football coach, he probably wouldn't care whether this guy ended up in community college or got a job.
"Hey, sorry. Just help me out this semester."
Eisenhower said awkwardly, and Mr. Albert added from beside him, "Chloe. You said you're preparing for the Ivy League, didn't you? Then wouldn't it be great to write your essay about the amazing experience of helping a friend?"
He really was an earnest, well-meaning teacher who didn't know much about how things worked. Honestly, getting into an Ivy League school works better if you get hired as a high school intern at a university lab and get your name on a paper. Maybe because I wasn't reacting much, Mr. Albert let out a deep sigh, then threw this at me, "My distant cousin Jeannie is a professor of mechanical engineering at Caltech. If you can help this kid pass geometry, I'll write you a recommendation letter so you can intern at Jeannie's lab during the vacation!"
"Please take good care of me, sir!"
I heard Eisenhower scoff at my quick change of attitude, but I ignored him completely. Who cares about an idiot like that when the Ivy League is right in front of me?
"Eisenhower, follow me."
Even if he was the male lead in a teen movie, there's no way I'd get entangled with him just because of a tutoring gig. I'm just the extra nerd, and they'll have their happy ending in their own world. Since this movie has become my life, I've got to think about survival. And the Ivy League sounds pretty damn good!
I should have been beaten up for rationalizing like that. I really should have...
* * *
Let me introduce myself. I used to be an ordinary office worker in South Korea. The reason it's in the past tense is that I'm no longer a Korean citizen or an office worker.
"Wow!"
At the thunderous cheer that erupted, I instinctively turned my head as I left the school building. My eyes caught sight of Bri soaring gracefully through the air.
Brittany Anderson
The protagonist of the teen movie "Cheerleader Diary"—the very movie I had transmigrated into.
She really is gorgeous…
I stood there blankly, staring at Bri performing stunt cheerleading.
"V.I.C.T.O.R.Y!"
With the cheer, Bri was thrown high into the air again. With skills like that, it made sense she'd become the cheerleading captain even as a junior.
So cool…
While inwardly exclaiming in admiration repeatedly as I watched the cheerleading squad positioned on one side of the field, my head jerked forward with a thwack. The back of my head throbbed.
"Hey, why the hell are you standing in the way!"
Kyle Jensen grumbled as he picked up the rugby ball lying next to me.
"Talk about bad luck!"
I was the one who got randomly hit by the damn ball, yet he was the one complaining. Dumbfounded, I pointed at him and snapped, "Hey, what's that supposed to—"
But before my scolding could even reach him, Kyle Jensen was already walking far away.
"..."
I awkwardly lowered my poor finger that had ended up pointing at empty air. Then laughter burst out from behind me.
"Look at her pretending to have taste, spying on the football team's practice."
"Ha ha ha! Yeah, right. As if those guys would ever care about some nerd like her!"
I wanted to snap back and ask who in their right mind would ever like such brainless idiots, but the kids who mocked me were already gone.
It was frustrating and unfair, but this was my fate. The body I had transmigrated into belonged to the extra nerd character in "Cheerleader Diary."
Sigh, forget it.
I sighed and headed toward the school bus. The moment I stepped on, mocking voices greeted me.
"Hey, the nerd's here."
"Of course, the nerd's seat is right behind the driver's~"
Whether or not the kids sitting in the back row snickered and teased me, I sat down in the front seat.
"Aww~ Can't even talk back, huh~?"
It's not like I can't talk back. I've tried. But it only made their bullying worse, so I gave up. Since they didn't actually care about an extra nerd like me anyway, things went smoothly as long as I kept quiet. Once I realized that, I committed fully to my role as the nerd and went to school in peace.
See? Even now, the kids' conversation had already shifted to the school's most popular guy, Aaron Eisenhower.
"I heard Aaron got a new car."
"Yeah, I saw it. A red convertible."
"I'm jealous."
"I wish I could get a ride in that thing just once."
Hearing their chatter, I snorted quietly.
What's so great about that arrogant jerk anyway…
Aaron Eisenhower was the male lead of "Cheerleader Diary." As expected, even as a junior, he had outstanding skills and played as the team's star quarterback.
So what? He's still an asshole.
I really couldn't understand why people went crazy over guys who only lived for their own ego.
Go ahead and drool over him all you want. I'll just keep admiring my Bri and get into a good college.
While I was lost in thought, the school bus stopped in front of my street. I slowly gathered my things and got off. There was no one home anyway, so there was no reason to rush.
As I trudged along the road, I mentally went over my homework and problem sets for the day.
Junior year was the most important year for college admissions. At least, that's what Chloe's parents believed. They were completely devoted to education.
〈 You can have fun after you get into college, Chloe. 〉
〈 That's right. If you get distracted, forget the Ivy League, you won't even make it to a state university. 〉
Chloe was seventeen years old.
In the United States, minors needed a guardian's approval for everything. So, I decided to just be an obedient teenager.
Following their advice, I filled my schedule completely with AP classes, and it drained every bit of energy out of me.
Tonight, I'll just do AP Chemistry and call it a day.
Having set my plan for the afternoon, I pushed up my glasses and went into the house.
* * *
No matter how I look at it, Calculus I is just too much.
Thanks to Chloe's brilliant brain, even someone like me, a mere high school graduate, could ride the nerd buff and get good grades easily. But Calculus I, which was technically a college-level course, was pushing it.
But Dad said it's a rare experience, so I should definitely take it…
While I was packing up my things from my locker, debating whether to keep taking Calculus I or drop it, someone suddenly grabbed my shoulder.
"Ah!"
Startled, I let out a scream, making the blond boy in front of me flinch awkwardly.
"Chloe, it's me."
"Oh, Scott. You scared me."
I pressed a hand to my chest and shut my locker. Scott scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.
"Sorry."
The blond boy apologizing to me was Scott Tanner. My one and only friend.
We were comrades who understood each other's hardships as fellow nerds.
"What's up?"
I asked, and Scott frowned at me as if I had done something terribly wrong.
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