Please Fix the Story!

Reverse Harem 1

SLAP!

A palm struck my cheek, causing a small burst of pain that quickly spread across my face. Falling to the ground, I pressed a hand to the injured spot, trying to look around me and catch my bearings.

A school cafeteria?

"Stop bothering Jake!" A teenage girl glared at me, waving a perfectly manicured nail in my face. "It's so pathetic to watch you pant after him like a dog in heat, when he's made it clear he doesn't like you." Her two friends stood to either side of her, laughing at her words as if it was the funniest thing they had ever heard... and given the character types I suspected them to be, it probably was.

Let's see... high school setting, over the top female bullies, extremely handsome guy staring on coldly as a girl is attacked without any plan to help... great, another high school romance drama.

Rolling my eyes, I staggered to my feet, staring at the young woman who had slapped me with a tired gaze.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Because you're a stereotype villain character in a poorly written story.

"Because I admire you."

"..."

The cafeteria fell into silence, as all the students who had been pretending I didn't exist turned to stare at me. I glanced around, wishing I had time to accept the details of the story before being dumped here. I didn't know anyone's name or character setting yet. It was all too easy to screw the mission up right at the start.

Better play it safe.

"You what?" The lead bully finally overcame her shock at my out of place statement.

I shrugged off her aggressive stare. "I admire you. You're strong, attractive, already showing good leadership skills." I gestured to the two minions beside her. "You know what you want and aren't afraid to dirty your hands to go after it."

"..." The three looked even more confused.

"I know that this... Jake... is important to you... I'm sure he was very important to me at one point." Whoever he is."But I've learned that you can't sacrifice your future just because of a pretty boy with a superiority complex."

Now, I hadn't met Jake yet... although I guessed he was the attractive boy watching the fight without a care. But if he was a male lead in a high school drama, it was pretty easy to describe him even sight unseen.

"Don't insult him! Jake is perfect!" The girl's gaze wavered between me and the boy across the room. "You're just mad because he doesn't love you back."

I smiled. "You're right. He doesn't love me. " I'm not the heroine of the story, after all."But I'll grow past it, learn to put childhood crushes behind me, and then move on to better things, like becoming rich and powerful."

I stepped forward and patted her shoulder in a friendly manner, ignoring her flinch. "I really suggest you do some soul searching and then focus on your future. Like I said, you have a lot of positive traits, and you could go far in life without being shackled by useless feelings for an emotionally repressed adolescent."

In the stunned silence, I walked past the girl and her group, trying to find a quiet place to get the story's details before I got into any further trouble. I still had some pain from the earlier slap, but I didn't hold it against her. Having been forced to live the life of several one-note high school villains multiple times over, I felt nothing but sympathy for the girl.

After all, nothing ever good comes from falling for the male lead.

I felt a bitter taste in my throat, a dull pain in the back of my head as if my mind was desperate to remember something, but before I could grasp it, it faded away into nothingness.