Reborn: I'll Ruin My Fraudster Family

Alisha Hudson wore a simple white tee and jeans, with her hair pulled back into a high ponytail. When she smiled, she still looked like the bright, top student I'd always known.

But all I could see was her swinging that bat, smashing it hard against my forehead.

Even when my parents dragged me back down into the basement, she just stood by and looked at me with pure disgust.

We grew up together. How could she not tell my twin brother, Tristan Doyle, and me apart?

"You look terrible, Ryan. Are you worried about Tristan? Don't overthink things. Right now, your only focus should be studying."

She handed me a thick stack of papers and whispered, "These are practice questions written by the teachers at our prep class. The hit rate is incredibly high. Take them home and go through them a few times."

As I stared down at the booklet, a wave of bitterness washed over me.

In my last life, for the sake of my family and to live up to Alisha's expectations, I studied nonstop and ground through practice questions.

In the end, it only paved the way for Tristan's success.

"Thanks, Alisha," I said.

Her face lit up with a brilliant smile, and I forced a smile of my own before heading home.

But the second I stepped into my room, I shoved the practice booklet deep into a drawer and fired up a video game.

Predictably, barely five minutes into my play, comments started flooding my vision.

"The college entrance exam is next week, Ryan! Why aren't you studying?

"Your brother is already a lost cause. If you don't step up, your family's entire future is going down the drain!"

I kept playing without a word, but I couldn't help smirking to myself.

To force me into taking the college entrance exam for him, Tristan was willing to weaponize our family's future to guilt-trip me.

Before I could even finish the match, hurried footsteps echoed outside my room.

Alisha burst in and snatched the phone straight out of my hands without a word.

"Ryan, this is the most critical moment of your life. How can you be wasting time on games?"

Without giving me a chance to speak, she dragged me over to my desk. She pulled the booklet out of the drawer and grabbed my favorite black pen from the holder.

She was so efficient, like she knew exactly where everything was kept.

Pinned to the desk, I was forced to grind through the questions under her watchful eye.

With the house usually so lively, now dead quiet around us, my palms began to sweat.

Tristan, Alisha, and I had grown up together, but she had always preferred my company. Once we hit high school, she even confessed her feelings to me, promising we'd go to the same university.