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.

Finally some peace and quiet.I locked myself into a stall in the girl's bathroom, and sat down, pulling out my phone and unlocking it with a sigh.

A new message alert flashed into view, causing my sigh to unintentionally become louder and more annoyed.

"Here we go again." I clicked on the message.

**** NEW WORLD: A WONDERFUL LOVE ****

This unfinished reverse harem story features Rose, a lovely high school student pursued by three attractive, talented and wealthy young men, Matthew, Adam and Jake. Caught by her wavering feelings for each of them, she is carried along on a whirlwind of romance and adventure.

"I already have a headache." I groaned, rubbing my forehead and continuing to read.

This story was discontinued as the author found it increasingly difficult to maintain the heroine's relatability and likeableness as a character due to her inability to commit to one romantic partner, stringing all three along throughout the story. Unable to sustain itself without an ending, the world of the story will slowly collapse and be destroyed.

The author's main regret is the establishment of the reverse harem setting, which made the male characters jealous, petty and outright stupid at times. To complete their wish and stabilize this world, please break up the reverse harem, either by finding love for the other male leads or by allowing them to give up on the heroine through any other method.

**** DO YOU ACCEPT THIS MISSION?****

I laughed bitterly at the final question. "Why do they even bother asking? There's only ever one option." Glaring at the single button on the screen labeled "ACCEPT" I slowly reached over and tapped it with my finger.

A rush of memories and knowledge flooded my brain, causing me to lean back with a quiet moan of pain.

"Everything okay in there?" A girl's concerned voice from the other stall asked.

Trying to ignore the splitting headache, I forced out a few words. "Spicy tacos for dinner."

"... Good luck."

"Thanks." I closed my eyes, sorting through the new information with a familiar feeling of dread.

I hate this so much.

_____________________________

This was already the twelfth time I had woken up inside a story. Each time was the same. I would be dumped in an unfinished story, trapped until I completed the "mission" sent to me, fulfilling the author's wish and stabilizing the worlds that were set to collapse without an ending. I wasn't sure how I became trapped in this cycle of rebirth and world repair. I couldn't remember anything about my life from before the first story. Was this some sort of purgatory?

Given all the high school settings and crappy romances I've had to live through, maybe this is Hell.

Some things stayed the same. I was always a side character. Sometimes a companion of the hero, or a relative of one of the leads. Sometimes a minor villain or a lackey of the boss villain. But I was never the heroine.

Once I accepted the mission I would receive the memories and emotions of the character whose life I had taken over. The first few times this had happened; it had incapacitated me for days. But now, the crippling pain of taking on a whole life of memories, most of which were fairly tragic, had become commonplace.

This isn't going to be easy.I opened my eyes slowly, sighing again. Reverse harems were tricky. The male leads were always obsessed with the heroine, and any attempts to sway them towards other things would be seen as "attacking" their relationship. This was made that much harder by my identity.

In this story I was the heroine Rose's best friend, Blaire, the slightly boring side character who encouraged her on her path to romance at first. If that was all she was, it would be easy enough, but she also had connections to several of the reverse harem members. She was the younger sister of Adam, the oldest of the three males pursuing Rose. The friendly senior stereotype, he was fairly successful at wooing the heroine, although not as favored as Matthew, who was her current boyfriend.

And then of course there was Jake...

Gathering my thoughts, I stepped out of the stall, washing my hands and leaving the bathroom.

"Blaire, wait." A icy voice called out, stopping me in my tracks. Slowly, I turned to face the owner of that voice, the handsome young man who had watched me be bullied in the cafeteria.

Speak of the devil... Dangit.