Rebirth Rules: My Top Student Crush

After I confessed to my childhood crush, he smirked and said, "If you can get that loser to drink from the same bottle you did, I'll date you."

Seriously? Was I really reborn fifteen years ago?

I raced over to Noah—top of the class and hot as hell—and dropped the water bottle on his desk in front of everyone.

He clocked the lipstick stain, face turning crimson.

Future business mogul? Right now, he looked like some poor kid waiting to get crushed.

I nudged the bottle closer. "Using that genius brain to collect bottles for cash? Kinda tragic. Be my private tutor instead."

He might be broke, but lucky for him, I've got money to burn.

"Andrea, If you can get that loser to drink from the same bottle you did, I'll date you."

I blinked.

Henry Rummell stood there, one eyebrow raised, that smug smile already loading another hit.

The rich kids around us jumped in.

"Come on, Andrea! You've been after Henry forever—he's finally saying yes!"

"I'm so over that Noah guy. Straight A's don't make him better than us."

"Let him grind all he wants—he'll be fetching our coffee in ten years."

Their laughter felt like a vice around my lungs. Couldn't breathe.

Henry and I grew up in the same ritzy neighborhood. The rest of them? D.C. nepo brats with last names that opened doors.

Bullying was their group sport. I never joined, but I never stopped it either.

Pissing them off could tank my dad's business, and I used to think staying quiet was enough.

In my last life, I finally confessed to Henry. His response? If I got Noah Novak to drink from a bottle I'd already used, he'd date me.

It felt wrong. But I was sixteen. And stupid. And in love.

So yeah, I did it.

To quiet the guilt, I slipped Noah a thousand bucks.

He took the cash, drank the water, and from then on? Wouldn't even look at me. Just kept his head down like I didn't exist.

I didn't care. I was too wrapped up in Henry.

After college, everything crashed.

Dad's company tanked—he jumped off a building. Mom got cancer.

Henry? He cheated, made me get an abortion, then tossed me out.

A degree no one cared about and zero real skills. I ended up scrubbing floors at some club just to keep Mom's treatments going.

"Don't say I'm heartless," Henry would sneer. "My girl wants a laugh. Bark like a dog, Andrea. I'll toss you two hundred."

Every time he had a new girl, he pulled the same twisted stunt.

His crew came to watch. Even Peggy—my ex-best friend—joined in.

"Princess Andrea, shine my shoes. On your knees. Twenty bucks."

"I'm gonna puke. Catch it with your hands and I'll give you a hundred."

I used to wonder how people lived on fifty bucks a day.

Then I started living it. Swallowing my pride, blinking back tears, and smiling through gritted teeth.

"Thank you, sir. Thank