Acting for Survival- Playing the Innocent Heroine to Escape the Villain’s Trap Chapter 03

Acting for Survival- Playing the Innocent Heroine to Escape the Villain’s Trap Chapter 03

Richard Smith was the crown prince of the capital elite circle; Linda Moore was its undisputed queen.

Back in high school, the two big shots got into some huge trouble.

They got transferred down to our ordinary high school.

The second they arrived, they took first and second place in every exam. Daniel and I dropped straight to third and fourth—with an impossible gap we could never close.

And scholarships depended entirely on our rankings.

Once we found out they were an on-and-off couple, Daniel and I couldn’t stop laughing like classic villain sidekicks.

We even slapped each other’s faces mid-evil cackles to snap out of it.

Daniel held his cheek, finally coming to his senses.

I hugged myself awkwardly.

“What on earth came over us just now?”

Daniel agreed instantly. “Seriously, why did we both look that ridiculous?”

We brushed the weird moment off quickly after that.

We deliberately got close to Richard and Linda, becoming their close friends.

Our original plan was simple: secretly copy their study methods, and drag them into bad habits to tank their grades.

It was supposed to be flawless.

Daniel would take Richard out to pick fights with street gang kids after school.

While Richard was busy fighting in the alley, Daniel would sneak out exam papers and study like crazy on the sidelines.

I’d take Linda to fancy bars to hang out. She’d order a bunch of male host entertainers without a second thought.

While she played dice games, I’d pull out my English vocabulary notebook.

I turned to the handsome host beside me and said, “Quiz me.”

The guy looked awkward. “Girl, I’m gonna laugh mid-lesson, sorry.”

I covered my ears shyly, acting like I’d heard something inappropriate.

“I mean quiz me on my French vocabulary words!”

“Oh… got it.”

Every night Daniel and I reviewed our plan thoroughly, making sure no mistakes slipped through.

But when exam results came out?

They still ranked first and second without fail.

Our whole world crashed down.

Daniel and I blamed each other nonstop.

“You said you’d get Richard drinking, smoking and fighting all the time!”

Daniel shot back angrily, “Richard didn’t need me to lead him into anything! He’s the one who taught me how to smoke! I was terrified every time I snuck practice exams behind his back—I almost got caught dozens of times! What about you? What happened with Linda?”

I froze. “I tried my hardest too! She even took me to watch pro boxing matches with all those muscular guys everywhere! I still memorized vocab on the sly—and that host who quizzed me? He already got his DELF-DALF full score and is applying for overseas work visas now!”

Forget it all.

The harder we tried, the worse things got.

Daniel and I slouched tiredly against the sofa.

Daniel sighed deeply. “I guess I’ll just pick up another part-time job then.”

We knew the scholarship was completely out of reach now.

“Same here. I’ll apply for an overnight shift at the convenience store later.”

Daniel and I both grew up in an orphanage.

We’d always kept up good grades—scholarships and grants barely covered our tuition and living costs.

Before the orphanage director passed away, she left a small house just for the two of us.

We abandoned our scheming plan eventually.

We only wanted to learn their study skills quietly from then on.

But Richard and Linda turned us into little pawns in their romantic games.

Every time they broke up fighting—if Richard decided to apologize first—he’d send me a hundred thousand dollars to message Linda and beg her to reconcile for him.

The chat history was always the same:

Me: 【$100,000 transferred】

Me: Take this money, please get back together with Richard.

Linda: ???

Linda: Do I look broke enough to care about his petty cash? Don’t insult me.

Linda: 【$200,000 transferred】

Linda: Tell him to take his money and disappear. Men only slow down my study progress.

I’d give the money back to Richard afterward.

He’d block me immediately for failing the task.

I’d send the money back to Linda next—and she’d always let it expire and refund automatically.

Daniel went through the exact same thing with Linda’s side.

This happened over and over again.

They acted like money meant absolutely nothing to them.

Meanwhile Daniel and I lived comfortably all through high school just skimming the middleman profit gaps from their drama fights. We even saved up for tutoring classes, slowly narrowing the grade gap between us and the two top students.

Right now we were going through all the old chat records side by side.

The bullet comments were blowing up all over the screen.

【I’m so jealous of rich people I could cry.】

【Give me that money instead—I’ll show you how to be super cooperative.】

【This hurts me personally, a random innocent viewer just minding my own business.】

Daniel and I kept sorting through old messages.

Thankfully most of the time we’d just watched them from afar quietly.

Daniel mumbled sadly: [Nancy, I still like her… it hurts so bad seeing her ignore me all the time.]

I texted back instantly: [Please stop messaging me seriously.]

I added: [I thought it was Richard texting back just now.]

[Turns out it’s you again, for the hundredth time.]

Daniel and I both exhaled in relief at the same moment.

This stupid scheme today was the only reckless thing we’d ever done—and we’d come to our senses just in time.

We locked eyes with each other.

We made the same decision together.

Stay far away from the main couple, and live our own peaceful happy lives from now on.