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The Script Wants Me Dead (Too Bad)

Chapter 1: The Script Says I Die in Scene Two

Haicheng No. 1 High School -

The autumn breeze slipped through the open windows of Class 4. A single plain tree leaf skated along the tiles and stuck to Lin Yuwei's shoe.

Outside of the classroom, Lin Yuwei found herself pinning a girl against the wall, one hand braced by the girls shoulder, the classic wall–dong angle that always looked cool in dramas and absolutely insane in real life.

The girl's uniform was neat, her ponytail crisp, her eyes bright and angry like a cornered fawn. She glared up.

"Let go of me!"

Her voice was soft and bell-clear. But the words hit like a slap.

Lin Yuwei blinked.

...What am I doing?

A heartbeat ago, she had been in her class room, drifting off to sleep with a snack open on her lap. Reading a trashy campus SCRIPT her manager had sent on her phone.

She was a child actress who was juggling studies and acting, all at the same time because of her greedy parents.

The last thing she remembered before everything went dark, was a sharp pain in her chest as she stood up and then, students screaming.

Now, she stood outside a classroom, holding a stranger hostage with one hand.

Her brain lagged.

Almost like she was being controlled, her lips moved: "Stay away from Ji Han."

The words came out low and cold, the exact line a jealous school bully would say before starting a plot-driven cat fight. The students outside collectively sucked in a deep breath. Someone whispered, "here she goes again..."

Again? Lin Yuwei's thoughts scrambled. She wasn't a bully. She didn't threaten people over boys. She didn't even like the name "Ji Han" enough to say it twice, it left such a bitter feeling in her heart—wait.

The name hit a switch.

Ji Han. School top grass. Top grades, killer looks, top of every ridiculous ranking in that SCRIPT her manager had sent her.

Su Xinyi, the white flower heroine from a humble background.

Bai Lian, the antagonist.

Lin Yuwei...the cannon fodder who dies in Scene two.

The world snapped into cruel focus.

She wasn't dreaming. She was really standing inside that campus SCRIPT. In the body of the infamous "school bully Lin Yuwei" who picked fights, chased the male lead, and fell down a stairwell in a "tragic accident" before the real drama even began.

Her hand still pressed the girl back, and her mouth like a remote controlled robot spat the next line: "If you talk to him again, you'll regret..."

"..I'm sorry," Lin Yuwei said, cutting herself off.

Silence.

"I mean.." Yuwei exhaled, forced her arm down, and stepped back. "I shouldn't have grabbed you. That was wrong of me."

The force inside her, more like pressure inside her like puppet strings yanking her jaw fought back, pushing words at her tongue, ugly lines she recognised from the script. She clenched her teeth. For a second the world wavered, the fluorescent lights flickered, and a line of text she shouldn't be able to see scrolled across her eyes like a projector glitch:

[SCIPT ERROR: line 12 not delivered.]

[Deviation detected.]

Her scalp prickled. The SCRIPT!!

"Are you okay?" The girl asked, anger draining into confusion.

"I'm fine," Yuwei said quickly. She stepped aside and raised her hands. "I'm not going to touch you again. So sorry for... everything."

The classroom back door slid open at that exact moment.

Ji Han walked out, sunlight at his back, school jacket hanging from two fingers. He was tall, with clean lines; the kind of face teachers used for school advertisement posters. His gaze skimmed across the students and landed of course, on the little drama.

"What are you doing?!" Sure enough, Ji Han's cold voice came through as he made his way outside.

While talking, he quickly walked towards Lin Yuwei and the others.

His footsteps were rapid, nothing like his cool air.

Every step seemed to step on Lin Yuwei's heart.

She knew that she was about to be given a wash down soon, becoming a catalyst to promote the relationship between the male lead and female lead.

She really didn't want to die!

At the same time, Ji Han's hand was already on her hand that had held Su Xinyi back.

He had a pair of beautiful hands.

Lin Yuwei turned her head and glanced at the hand pressing on her hand. His fingers were thin and slender. At first glance she knew that fist would be extremely painful if he decided to use violence.

Bai Lian slipped in behind him, carrying a stack of maths worksheets as if she'd stayed late to help the teacher. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Yuwei, then softened with concern that looked good from every angle, looking straight at Su Xinyi.

"Are you okay?" Bai Lian asked Su Xinyi, voice perfectly warm.

Ji Han let go of her hand and stepped back like nothing happened.

"I'm fine," Xinyi said cautiously, eyes flicking between them.

Homeroom teacher Mr. Chen called out for the students to get back inside. His gaze lingered on Yuwei for half a second. "Coming inside, Miss Lin?"

"I'm coming," she said.

"Hurry up."

The students settled in. Everyone busy opening their lockers to find their books. Attendance began. Yuwei sank into her seat, heart still hammering.

The girl she'd pinned–Su Xinyi had retreated to her desk, glancing back once as if unsure whether to be afraid or confused.

Yunwei took in her surroundings. Her school uniform, the handwriting in her supposed now notebook. Desk, drawer. She pulled the drawer open, it contained pens, two crumpled candy wrappers, and a slim black notebook that didn't belong to a high schooler or in particular didn't look like it belonged to the original owner of the body she occupied.

It had no brand, no lines and no owner name.

On the cover, there was a faint line of silver that read: SCRIPT.

She shut the drawer.

Between the teachers announcements and the start of a lesson class bell, she slid the notebook into her lap and opened it under the desk, hiding it like contraband. The first page was blank. The second was not.

Scene 1.2 –Classroom Confrontation

(Rest Area)

Lin Yuwei corners Su Xinyi. Threaten:

"Stay away from Ji Han."

Outcome: class witnesses. Yuwei escalates.

Xinyi cries. Ji Han frowns at the behaviour, hating her even more.

Consequences: rumour spreads. Yuwei receives demerit. Stairwell incident probability +38%.

Her stomach dropped.

So she was not hallucinating, the SCRIPT she was reading before her death really had to do with her transmigration.

She had not lived half her life yet, she was only a high-schoolar.

She flipped the script to the next page.

Scene 1.4 – Lunch, Stairwell B

Bai Lan passes by: Are you okay?

Lin Yuwei: "None of your business."

Scuffle with unknown student. Fall risk: High.

If fall succeeds —> hospitalization, crippled and sent abroad. Scene ends.

She turned pages faster. The handwriting was mechanical, almost like a printer. Each scene had lines, reactions, and probabilities. At the bottom of Scene 2.0, a neat box:

Event Flag: Lin Yuwei's Exit.

Status: Scheduled

She stopped breathing for a second. She remembered clearly that the fall would leave her crippled and needing to use a wheelchair, something someone proud as herself wont accept and commit suicide. End of her character.

She shivered. She stopped breathing for a second. Then she closed the notebook and pushed it deep onto the desk as if it could bite.

No. She could not die. She was still so young...hu hu hu!

The classroom had settled and Mr. Chen was handing out a quiz test.

Question one blurred.

Damn it!

The script should have atleast let her take over a body in the same class as she was in her real world, not a leap of three classes. She still had three years to be a senior high-schoolar!

Yuwei coaxed her hand to answer on muscle memory; thankfully, whoever Lin Yuwei had been, it seem she wasn't stupid.

But fear still clung onto her like a wet cloth. Two scenes. That's all the writer of the stupid SCRIPT gave her.

Okay. Work the problem.

Rule one: Don't say the script's lines.

Rule two: Avoid the flagged locations and people at flagged times.

Rule three: Flip a reputation before the rumor Mill locks in.

She didn't need the whole year. She needed to survive fourty-eight hours.

Mid-quiz, paper rustled near the window. Ji Han had already finished, of course and was staring out at the autumn sky, profile sharp. Su Xinyi passed him an eraser he didn't need. Her smile dipped towards shy perfection.

Lin Yuwei rolled her eyes.

So bias!

How obvious of the script!

Lin Yuwei bent over the quiz and wrote faster.

By lunch, her plan had a spine: no stairwells, no confrontations, no solo detours.

If the script threw her a line, it best believe she would jam a stick in its gears.

The corridor was packed with students walking in groups, as they made their way outside for lunch break, heading towards the cafeteria. As Yuwei reached the junction by Stairwell B, a familiar tug caught her body.

Bump a shoulder, the tug insisted.

She stopped dead a meter away from the stairwell door and pivoted hard toward the compound instead.

A flicker at the edge of vision:

〔SCRIPT ERROR: Missed location trigger.〕

She almost laughed.

She missed it...maybe almost led me to my death...you wish!

Outside, the plane trees shed leaves by the handful. The old stone benches were sun-warmed. A group from another class argued over a math proof with same passion other students saved for football. The outside canteen line bent around the corner.

She headed for the line.

"Lin Yuwei."

She froze. His voice sounded like funeral rhymes to her.

Ji Han stood a step behind her, hands in his pockets, expression unreadable.

Of all the triggers to trip!

This man was really after her life! She cursed him and his entire ancestral lineage a thousand times over.

"Ehm.." She said carefully. "If you're about to say something cooly judgemental, can it wait until after carbs?"

A corner of his mouth twitched, threatening to break his cool and cold persona.

He looked at her, staring long enough until he broke it off saying, "You were...different in the morning," he said. "Then you weren't."

This man was dangerous!

Alarm bells kept going off in her head. He was not safe! Not safe being near him at all, she could not be in close proximity to him.

New rule: Stay away from Ji Han. As far as possible.

Bai Lan appeared just in time like a well-timed breeze, tray in hand, worry soft as cotton. "Yuwei, you really should stop antagonising people. If you are upset just talk to me."

The script at that moment offered her a line: None of your business.

She swallowed it whole. Now she was sure the script really wanted her dead the soonest.

This Bai Lan was known the whole story to be the wickedest of them all. She was a multi-billionaire heiress, while she was only a Millionaire heiress ain't no way she was putting herself in harms way.

"I was wrong," she said instead. "I've apologized."

Bai Lan blinked. Her lashes looking every bit commercial. "That's...Good."

A cluster of juniors passing by did not get the memo. "Is that Lin Yuwei? The school bully?"

"I had she pulled someone's hair on the track last week and it came out with blood."

"She also beat up a sponsored student this morning."

Yuwei stared at her feet, cheeks hot. It didn't matter if this body had done those things or the narrative had decided she had. Either way it stuck on her reputation.

Ji Han shifted, as if to say something, thought better of it, and moved ahead in the line.

Lunch was edible. It was no different from the food she had at the cafeteria back in her school in her real world. Yuwei sat with two girls who didn't run when they saw her.They had been friends since their diaper days. Tang Qiqi (who was the childish shy one) and Wen Xiaoyu (chair of the schools newspaper club, gossip antennae always fully extended.) If she couldn't outrun rumours, she could seed better ones.

"I want to join a club," Yuwei announced around her bun.

Wen Xiaoyu's eyes sparkled. "Which one? Don't say Taekwondo."

"Nop, I want to leave bad habits," Yuwei said. "No fights and definitely no kicks. How about...newspaper? I can carry stacks."

"Can you write?" Wen Xiaoyu asked.

"I can learn, " Yuwei said. "Fast."

Tang Qiqi always quiet studied her, picked up her courage and spoke. "Why the sudden change?"

'Because I have a death timer in my desk' she couldn't possibly tell them that.

"Because I realised I was awful," Yuwei said simply. "I don't want to be anymore."

After lunch, on her way back to class (carefully avoiding Stairwell B like it had teeth), Yuwei ducked into an empty club room and pulled out the SCRIPT notebook again.

New text had written itself across the inside cover, neat as a teacher's red pen.