I Took Over the Side Character

The side character, Derek Holloway, poured his heart and soul into every single year of high school. When the moment came to earn a place in the honors program, his childhood best friend, Vivian Sterling, handed the golden ticket straight to Blake Mercer, the male lead. Vivian's voice sounded flat, completely unbothered. "I've really thought this through. If we're in the same class, we'll just distract each other from studying. "Besides, Blake's family is struggling financially. He needs this opportunity way more than you do. Just step aside for him, okay?" I watched Derek step aside for Blake. One hundred and one times. I watched him go home and suffer a brutal beating from both his parents for losing that honors spot. One hundred and one times. I watched him lose his mind while the girl he'd loved since childhood paraded around town with another guy. One hundred and one times. I watched his grades plummet into the gutter, destroying any shot at admission to an Ivy League school. One hundred and one times. I watched him get framed for cheating on SAT, which drove him to jump from the thirty-sixth floor. One hundred and one times. Then I took complete control of his body. Vivian had no idea who she was dealing with. I came from an era torn apart by war and gunfire. I didn't give a damn about petty teenage romance. Anything worth taking, anything worth fighting for, I would fight for and claim every last one. Chapter 1 The moment consciousness flooded back into my brain, the first thing I saw was Vivian standing in front of me. She was shielding Blake, whose eyes were bloodshot and brimming with tears. Hadn't Blake already gotten the spot he wanted by turning on the waterworks? What was he crying about now? "Derek, the results are final. Stop acting like a child." Acting like a child? Right, before I fully took control of this body, the previous Derek had gotten into an argument with Vivian over the spot. The honors program at this high school had the absolute best resources in the entire city. It was also the only track whose students were eligible for the school's direct-admission program with elite universities. The original Derek had spent an entire year working toward that place, only to lose the peer vote by a single vote to Blake. That deciding vote came from his childhood best friend, Vivian. "Derek, listen to me..." "I get it. Fair is fair. I lost. I'll go to the regular track." I forced my voice back into working order, cutting off Vivian mid-sentence as I began packing up my stuff. Surprise flickered through Vivian's eyes, but it disappeared almost immediately, replaced by obvious relief. "I knew it. You're the sweetest guy. You always listen to me, right?" She reached out to ruffle my hair, but I jerked my head back to dodge her palm. Her hand hung awkwardly in the air for a few painful seconds. She smoothly pulled it back, awkwardly changing the subject. "Come on, let me help you move your stuff to the new classroom." "Vivian," Blake mumbled from behind her, tugging lightly at her sleeve with a pathetic pout, "I hurt my arm helping my mom with her food truck a few days ago, and it still hurts pretty badly. Could you...?" He trailed off, flicking his teary eyes toward me before ducking his head again instantly. He acted like I was about to swallow him whole. "Never mind, you should probably help Derek. He lost his spot in honors, so you should spend time comforting him." Vivian bit her lip and thought it over for a second. "Oh please, he's a grown guy. He doesn't need to be babied. It's fine, I'll help you." She rubbed the side of her nose and turned back to me. "Derek, wait for me, okay? "I'll help Blake first. You saw it yourself, he can't carry everything with his injured arm." Before I could say a word, Vivian aggressively ruffled my hair into a mess. "Be a good boy. I know you're always so obedient. Just wait for me." If this were ancient times, she'd be running a full-blown harem from the throne. She turned around, ready to walk into the classroom to carry Blake's heavy textbooks. A thought flashed through my mind, and I surged forward to grab her arm. Giving up the honors program was one thing, but I had zero intention of taking a severe beatdown from Derek's parents. Vivian thought I was trying to stop her, her brows pulling into a tight knot. "You..." "I can move my own books," I said, keeping my voice dead even, "But you're walking home with me after school. You're going to explain to my parents why I lost my place in the honors program." Chapter 2 "After all, you're the one who rigged the vote in his favor." I raised an eyebrow at Blake, who was cowering behind Vivian. Vivian didn't seem to care in the slightest. "It's no big deal, don't worry. I'll definitely explain everything to them." With that, she blew past me like a gust of wind. So, anything that mattered to Derek was "no big deal," but Blake's stuff was top priority, right? I shrugged, utterly exasperated. How could a guy let himself stay hung up on a girl like her? One hundred and one lives wasted, and he never snapped out of it. When I turned around, Blake was standing by the stairwell. The helpless pretty-boy act was completely gone, replaced by the smirk of a victor. "Derek, I won this round. Just wait. I'm going to win every round after this, too. "Playing weak drives girls crazy. All those nights you spent studying until dawn meant nothing to Vivian." I just smiled. "Is that so? She treats me like trash today. What makes you think she won't do the exact same thing to you tomorrow?" Blake's smirk slowly melted off his face, leaving behind a frozen, awkward grimace. Unbelievable. A century had passed since my time. Guys got the best education available, and they still relied on girls to get ahead. Yet women now treated men like disposable toys too. Except for one person. "Derek, study whenever you get the chance. "It's the only way to change your life. Do you get it?" I remembered playing with mud in my hands, looking up at the woman in front of me. "If I study, will the war stop?" She hesitated, her voice drifting off into the wind, but the light in her eyes never dimmed. "I don't know." … In the end, Vivian never walked me home. She just sent me a text: [Derek, it isn't safe for Blake to walk home alone after dark. I'm going to walk him back first and then come find you. Be good.] Be good. Listen to me. Be a good boy. I had heard those words way too many times throughout Derek's repeated lives, and every single time, they led straight to a dead end. I locked my phone screen, let out a long breath, and walked into the house with a heavy heart. Derek's parents were the textbook definition of toxic, high-pressure perfectionists. No guidance, no encouragement—just brutal beatings whenever he fell short of their insane standards. The next morning, I sat at my desk working through SAT practice questions, my body covered in welts from the beating. Suddenly, Vivian pulled up a chair in front of my desk, sliding a box of mango pies over. "Look what I brought you, Derek! Your absolute favorite, mango pies." I glanced at the box, kept my eyes locked on my SAT prep book, and dropped a line as cold as ice. "I'm allergic to mangoes." The person who actually loved mango pies was Blake. Besides, out of a box of twelve, there were only three left. Did she actually buy these for me, or was I just getting someone else's leftovers? Vivian froze for a second before letting out an awkward, forced laugh. "Oh, my bad! I must have misremembered. "I'll get your real favorite next time, promise. Don't be mad, okay? "Did your parents punish you last night? They love you so much, I'm sure they went easy on you." The welts on my back throbbed with a burning pain, blood slowly seeping through my white button-down. Yet Vivian didn't notice a single thing. She never cared about what Derek was actually going through. What kind of childhood best friend was she supposed to be? I looked at her coldly. "Is there anything else? If not, I need to study." I wasn't about to waste another second on this girl. Vivian slammed both hands on my desk and snatched the prep book right out from under my pencil. I glared at her, my patience running out fast. "Why are you doing practice problems? "Honestly, grinding these won't do you any good anyway. I'll just tutor you from now on." She just kept talking over me. She was always like this, completely blind to what Derek actually wanted. "Hey, can you do me a favor real quick?" Chapter 3 I looked at Vivian in confusion. "You know how much heavier the workload is in honors compared to the regular track," she said. "Blake just transferred in yesterday, so he didn't know the drill and showed up late this morning. The teacher hit him with a thousand-word essay as punishment. "You're a great writer, Derek, so can you just write it for him?" Vivian tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. It was incredible how such a pretty face could belong to someone with such a trash personality. From watching Derek go through one hundred and one loops as a ghost, I knew he'd taken the fall and written essays for Blake before. He had agreed to do it only because Vivian promised to walk home with him every afternoon in exchange. Except she never kept her promise. Not even once. Derek always ended up walking home alone, forced to face his suffocating, abusive parents by himself. "No way," I said, my voice flat and firm. The playful smile on Vivian's face instantly dropped. "Derek, you were never like this before. You never say no to me." "Well, now I do. Get out of my face." Without another word, I snatched my prep book right out of her hands. This girl had already wasted ten whole minutes of my study time! Earlier this morning, while I was limping into school from the sheer pain on my back, I saw Vivian and Blake sitting inside that overpriced café right by the main gate—the kind of place that charges ten bucks for a single pastry. Blake was slouched back with his legs crossed, showing off a pair of brand-new limited-edition Jordans. Shoes that his parents couldn't afford if they worked their food truck for the rest of their lives. He was swinging one foot conspicuously without a care in the world. They both knew the real reason why he was late. Before Vivian could open her mouth to lecture me again, I yanked back my long sleeve, exposing the dark, ugly welts running down my arm. "Vivian, since I didn't make honors, my parents demanded that I score among the top ten students on the next school-wide exam. As an elite student, you should know exactly how impossible that is," I said coldly. I held out my forearm, the vivid red welts burning in full view. "I'm not getting beaten again," I said, "So, if you care at all about Derek—no, about the friendship you and I grew up sharing, don't disturb me while I study." … Vivian's eyes locked onto my arm, her jaw dropping open. She tried to speak, but no sound came out. Just as I was about to pull my sleeve back down, her warm hand wrapped around my wrist. "Did... Did your parents do this to you?" Vivian whispered. She lightly brushed her fingers against the cuts and leaned in, almost as if she was about to kiss the raw skin, but I yanked my arm back and dodged her touch. Vivian didn't push it, though her voice shook. "How could they do this to you? It's all my fault. I should've gone home with you yesterday to explain everything." Tears welled up in her eyes as she reached out to stroke my hair with sudden tenderness. "It's just top ten, right? "Don't worry, I'm ranked first in our grade. I've got your back." I hadn't expected anything from Vivian, but over the next few days, she actually kept her head down. She stayed by my side, helping me study and highlighting the key points. As I had already been dragged through Derek's previous one hundred and one lives, most of the high school curriculum made complete sense to me. Half the literature passages were classic essays from my own era that had simply been recycled into textbooks. I had even learned basic English back then. The first English word and the first English sentence I ever learned, were taught to me by that woman. "Peace and love." Then there was History... Reading these textbooks taught me that just six years after I died, our country faced not only civil conflict but also a brutal foreign invasion. Yet against all odds, we won. It took countless bloody, heartbreaking battles to buy the peace these kids take for granted today. I wished so badly I could go back in time and tell "her" that people today didn't just get to read books—there were no more wars to fight, either. "Why didn't you choose a humanities-focused course load instead of STEM?" Vivian asked, pausing her calculations and spinning a pen idly between her fingers, "STEM is clearly way harder for you to catch up on." It was because technology was the ultimate source of power, I thought to myself. Back in my day, all we had were our bodies and blood to throw against foreign artillery and gunfire. It was horrific. Chapter 4 If education had the power to reshape destiny, then I wanted to learn more practical skills. Before I could even finish my thought, Vivian leaned in close. Our faces were millimeters apart as she let out an oblivious smile. "It's because of me, right?" I let out a heavy, tired sigh. There was zero point in trying to explain anything to someone like her. "No, it isn't." Vivian didn't bother to reply, but she kept smiling. I shifted my gaze to her pocket, where her phone had been vibrating non-stop since we sat down. "Your phone's been buzzing for quite a while. Aren't you going to pick it up?" "Oh, it's nothing," she said, though her hands were already eagerly reaching into her pocket. The second her eyes hit the screen, her expression shifted. It transformed from mild annoyance into pure, fond affection—a look that was painful to watch. I usually preferred to mind my own business, but I couldn't stop the question from slipping out. "Vivian... Do you give a damn about Derek at all?" If you knew that he had absolutely nothing else in this world, that he had given you his entire heart, and that your abandonment drove him to jump from that building—would you feel even a single second of regret? While following Derek through his previous lives, I had seen how sweet they were before Blake showed up. Derek was the one who bought her pads when she got her first period, and he was the one locked in a classroom with her after hours, sharing their very first nervous heartbeat. I had watched those two young lips press together, creating that pure, innocent high school romance. So why did everything break the moment another guy walked into the classroom? "Derek, you have no idea who Blake is! He is a grown man, but he cries whenever someone teases him. Isn't that funny?" Ever since that day, Blake was the only name that ever came out of her mouth. Hearing my question, Vivian just raised an eyebrow. "Derek, are you seriously throwing another petty tantrum? "Haven't I been staying by your side and tutoring you for days? What's wrong with you? Still not satisfied?" I shook my head. Whatever. My only goal in this life was to study as hard as possible and soak up as much knowledge as I could. When I went quiet, Vivian tucked her phone away and leaned across the desk. She instinctively rubbed the side of her nose, a nervous little habit she always did whenever she felt awkward and wanted a favor. A bad feeling came over me. Sure enough, a second later, she opened her mouth. "Derek, Blake lost three thousand dollars from the club account. Can you..." … "No way in hell." "I didn't even finish!" Vivian snapped, lunging forward to grab my wrist. This plotline was sickeningly familiar. Blake lost three thousand dollars of club funds. To families like mine or Vivian's, three grand wasn't going to ruin us. However, Vivian's parents kept her on a strict allowance, so she couldn't pull that kind of cash out of her own bank account. So, she came to beg Derek to steal the money from his parents' home. The original Derek actually went through with it one hundred and one times. Every single time, I tried to scream inside his consciousness, desperately trying to stop him. Every single time he stole that money, his parents beat him within an inch of his life. All he got from Vivian afterward was a single patronizing remark. "Derek, you're so sweet. Helping people in need is just the right thing to do." Then she would turn right around and take Blake to a high-end steakhouse to comfort him after his "scare." "Why are you being so selfish?" Vivian yelled, her voice full of disgust, "Last time I asked you to write his punishment essay, you said no. Now something this huge happens, and you won't even lend a hand? "People like us who have privileges are supposed to help out students who are struggling! "Derek, I've told you a million times, we're doing good deeds here! I'm doing this for your own good!" Vivian squeezed my wrist with an iron grip, digging her fingers straight into my open wounds. The white-hot pain made me flinch and recoil, but that only made her clamp down harder. "Why the hell should I risk getting beaten to death by my parents just to rescue some random loser who means nothing to me?" I snapped, my patience finally running out. "Vivian, if you care about him that much, go steal the money yourself. From this moment on, I want nothing more to do with you."