Chapter 1: Bullying With Test Papers

I Woke Up as the Villainess Side Character.

So here’s the deal: I’m supposed to torment the Whitmore family’s golden boy, Sebastian, and make sure I become the stuff of his lifelong nightmares.

Nightmare? Sure, why not. Because that’s totally normal. Just another day in the life of a side character, right?

After school, I rounded up a couple of my so-called tough girls and dragged Sebastian into the alley behind the football field. I whipped out a stack of practice SATs, grinned like a supervillain, and declared, “You’re not leaving until you finish every single one!” Honestly, who even does this? Bullying with standardized tests? That’s next-level psychological warfare.

The air behind the field was thick with the smell of fresh-cut grass and the distant blare of the marching band. My shadow stretched out long and jagged over the cracked pavement, and the girls with me looked way too excited to see what I’d do next. The cheers from the bleachers drifted over, but all I cared about was the look on Sebastian’s face when I dropped those test papers in front of him. Seriously—chef’s kiss.

Apparently, I’d gotten myself dropped into a romance novel called Pure-Hearted Heir and His Sweet Nanny. And yeah, my role? Autumn Carter, the villainess. (Of course.)

I landed in the story pretty early.

Sebastian Whitmore, the Whitmore family’s precious heir, was still a high school kid at this point.

He hadn’t even moved into the Whitmore mansion yet.

My job? Make his life hell, so when he finally meets the heroine, she gets to heal all his trauma. Classic setup.

The system told me, “If you fail, you’ll be erased.”

I’d only skimmed the book. “And after I finish the job, Sebastian kills Autumn Carter. Nice.”

System: “That’s later. You get a couple extra years out of it—good deal, right?”

“...”

You little scam artist.

So, after a round of arguing with the system, it was official: I had to become Sebastian Whitmore’s personal nightmare.

Not just a regular nightmare—a full-on, years-haunting, cold-sweat-at-midnight kind of nightmare. I’m talking horror-movie-level psychological scarring here.

System: “Got it?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I got it.”

The next time I blinked, I was Autumn Carter.

Sebastian and Autumn both went to Maple Heights High. Before his fancy family claimed him, he lived with his mom in a cramped apartment, scraping by.

He was stupidly good-looking and pretty popular at school.

Autumn Carter? Not so much. She was infamous for being a troublemaker, always rolling with a pack of tough girls.

She got it into her head that Sebastian should be her boyfriend. He said no, obviously, and Autumn lost her mind. Two years of relentless bullying followed.

Her tactics? Shoving him into lockers, roasting him in front of everyone, ripping up his books, locking him in the janitor’s closet, crashing his shift at the burger joint to embarrass him—you name it.

She went all out, leaving Sebastian with enough trauma to fill a therapist’s notebook.

When I showed up, I was slouched in the last row of the freshman classroom, boots propped up on the desk, cherry Blow Pop hanging out of my mouth, playing the part of high school rebel to the hilt.

The teacher at the front acted like I didn’t exist.

I glanced out at the orange sunset, smirked, and thought, Here we go.

A second shot at life—no parents wishing I’d been born a boy, no gambling-addict dad, no weak body, no endless jobs or mountain of debt. Honestly, not bad.

Autumn Carter was healthy, came from money, and didn’t owe a dime. Compared to my last life, this was practically a vacation.

Still, I didn’t get why she turned out like this.

If I’d had her setup, I’d kill for a fresh start. Seriously.

Anyone who’s crawled through hell would grab any chance they got.

The bell shrieked through the halls, bouncing off the cinderblock walls, and the hallway outside exploded with students shoving books into backpacks, already gossiping about TikTok trends and after-school plans. I tapped my boot against the desk leg, adrenaline humming. Showtime.

Two girls from my crew followed me out.

“Autumn, we gotta teach Sebastian a lesson today.”

“Can you believe he keeps turning you down? Who does he think he is?”

I just shrugged. “Let’s go.”

At the school gate, more girls from other classes joined in. We made a scene wherever we went—kids scattered like we were the plague.

We camped out along Sebastian’s usual path. As soon as he showed, the girls would grab him and we’d start our little routine.

About ten minutes later, Sebastian strolled up, backpack slung over one shoulder.

“There he is!” the girls cheered.

I jerked my chin, and the pack pounced, dragging him into the alley.

“Feeling tough, huh? Ever think about consequences?” I said, reciting my villain lines with a dash of bored sarcasm.

Sebastian struggled, glaring daggers at me. “Autumn Carter, I’ll never date you!”

I smirked, arms crossed. “You’re really stubborn, aren’t you? Let’s see how long you last. You dare turn me down? I’ll show you what pain really means!”

Sebastian sucked in a breath, eyes blazing. “Whatever. If you’re gonna hit me, just do it already!”

“Oh, you think you’re tough? Pretty soon you’ll be crying so hard you’ll forget your own name.”

I raised an eyebrow, pulled out a stack of practice tests, and, to everyone’s utter shock, shoved them at Sebastian with a wicked grin. “You’re not leaving till you finish these. All of them.”

Sebastian’s jaw dropped. “...Wait, what?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’? Get moving!” I barked, smacking the papers against his chest. “You’re not leaving until you’re done!”

Sebastian looked like he’d just seen a UFO.

Honestly, who expects their bully to whip out standardized tests? If this isn’t psychological warfare, I don’t know what is.

Because his family was struggling, he worked part-time and his grades sucked—barely scraping by in math, hopeless in history, allergic to English.

“Wait, I really have to do these? Or… you could just hit me instead?” he stammered.

“Nope.” I stayed in character, arms crossed, looking down my nose. “Hitting you’s too easy. I want you to feel it in your soul.”

Sebastian’s eyes went wide, and he actually backed up a step.

“If you don’t start, you’re gonna be late for work,” I reminded him.

Under all the pressure, Sebastian finally caved, squatting down and getting to work on the test.

I’d handed him a math test.

Pretty soon, he was scratching his head, frowning so hard it looked like it hurt. The kid was totally lost.

I peeked at his paper and couldn’t help myself: “Seriously? You can’t even do this? Pathetic.”

Sebastian’s face turned beet red.

He gritted his teeth and kept scribbling, finally finishing after almost an hour.

I shook my head, sighing dramatically, and went full psychological tormentor: “Wow. One test took you an hour. It’s almost dark out! You can’t even handle a basic worksheet. If you’re late for work, that’s on you, not me.”

I tucked the test under my arm, swaggered off with my crew, leaving Sebastian alone in the alley, looking like someone had run over his puppy.