Queensya Alifa Xendar, or Lifa for short, was a cheerful, energetic girl. One thing she was never without was a novel tucked inside her bag. Whenever she managed to get her hands on a rare, hard-to-find novel, she never hesitated to proudly show it off to her friends.
Of course, she had her Dad, Kevin Xendar, to thank for her entire collection. Her Mom had passed away from an illness when Lifa was only two years old. Since then, Kevin had become a single parent raising his only child.
As an only child with a Dad who was always busy working, Lifa often felt lonely in her enormous home. Her days were spent with nothing but the housekeeper who had cared for her since she was little. To drive away the loneliness, Lifa kept herself busy by reading. She grew into quite the novel maniac. She loved the classic story trope of a protagonist mistreated by the antagonist before being rescued by the hero. To Lifa, stories like that felt incredibly romantic and never failed to send her into a daydream.
A bright morning had arrived, but Lifa was still fast asleep. Her face was buried in the novel she'd been reading the night before. Lifa had stayed up late to finish the new novel her Dad had given her because the plot was so exciting. The alarm blaring for quite some time hadn't disturbed her peaceful sleep in the slightest.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Miss Lifa, wake up, Miss... It's morning already. Aren't you going to school?" called Auntie Sum, her devoted housekeeper, from behind the door.
Hearing the knocking, Lifa stirred a little and scratched her messy hair. "Huh... What time is it, Auntie? Why are you waking me up when it's still so early?" she mumbled, her eyes still tightly shut.
"Miss, it's almost seven!" Auntie Sum called out.
Still only half-awake, Lifa nodded slowly. "Oh, it's only seven..." A few seconds later, her senses fully returned. "WHAAAAAT?! SEVEN?!" Her eyes flew open in a panic.
"Auntie! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?! We have the most brutal teacher today. I could get punished!" she yelled from inside her room.
Lifa immediately leaped out of bed and ran around. She rushed into the bathroom, threw on her uniform haphazardly, put on her shoes, slung her bag over her shoulder, and, of course, grabbed her novel. The room, which had been neat just moments ago, instantly became a complete mess, as if it had been hit by a storm.
Lifa drove fairly fast, but unfortunately, she ended up stuck in terrible traffic.
"Damn it! If I'd known traffic would be this bad, I should've taken my motorcycle. The gate closes in five minutes, and the school is still pretty far away... Ugh, staying up late reading last night made me oversleep!" she grumbled irritably.
Without thinking twice, Lifa grabbed her bag and novel. She immediately called the family driver to come after her and take the car. Yep, Lifa chose to run rather than be even later.
Ten minutes later, Lifa arrived in front of the school. Sure enough, the main gate was already locked tight. Undeterred, she went around to the back route and climbed over. After successfully getting inside, she walked slowly down the hallway and peeked toward her classroom. The strict teacher was already teaching inside.
"Damn, I'm already late. Rather than go in and get punished, I might as well head to the rooftop," she whispered.
Once she reached the rooftop, Lifa sent a quick message to her best friends, telling them to come up once class was over. After that, she leaned back and reopened the novel she'd read the night before.
"Ah, it's better to keep reading here than get punished," she muttered. Lifa lost herself in the story again and, without realizing it, fell into a deep sleep until the break bell rang.
BANGGGG!
"FUUUUCK!" Lifa screamed as she jolted in surprise. Her heart pounded wildly, while the two people who had startled her burst into laughter and high-fived each other.
"Hahaha! Look at Lifa's face! That's hilarious!" "Seriously! I can't stop laughing!"
The culprits were none other than Lifa's two beloved best friends: Aundri and Levita.
"You jerks! You scared the hell out of me. Good thing I don't have a heart condition!" Lifa snapped irritably, glaring at her friends, who were still laughing their heads off.
"Hehe, sorry... Besides, you're the one who skipped class without inviting us," Aundri said, pointing at herself and Levita.
"Exactly! How could you leave the two of us to suffer through Mr. Sugeng's class? He kept chewing me out the entire time!" Levita chimed in.
"Aww, my besties... Poor you guys, hehe. Sorry, I woke up late. Rather than get punished in class, I figured I'd skip up here and read this. I swear, it's so good!" Lifa said, holding out her novel.
Aundri took the book and read the title on the cover. "QUEEN." "That's it? The title is just Queen? What's so interesting about that?" Aundri commented before handing the novel back to Lifa.
"Hey! Even though the title is only one word, the story is amazing! It's about a mafia girl who dies and then transmigrates into the main character of a novel, where tons of characters fall for her. It's insanely good!" Lifa explained enthusiastically.
"Ugh, we've read stories like that tons of times," Levita replied.
"You guys are no fun! It's different once you read it yourself. It actually got me thinking... What if I entered this novel? That would be so much fun!"
"You daydream too much, Lifa. Nothing like that exists in the real world. It's all fiction. Right, Vit?" Aundri said, and Levita immediately nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I guess... but I still hope a miracle happens, hehe," Lifa replied with a giggle.
"All right, enough. Let's go to the cafeteria. I'm starving," Aundri suggested.
"Okay, let's go! But I want to use the bathroom first. You guys go ahead to the cafeteria, and don't forget to order me meatball soup and iced tea!"
"Want us to hold your hand? Need someone to come with you?" Levita teased.
"No need. What am I, a little kid? Bye! Don't forget my order!" Lifa called as she walked away.
Lifa walked down the hallway toward the bathroom. Strangely, the hallway leading to the restroom felt completely deserted. Normally, the halls were always crowded with students during break. But Lifa didn't think much of it and kept going because she couldn't hold it anymore.
After she finished and was about to leave the bathroom, bad luck struck. Lifa slipped!
CRASH!
Her head slammed hard against the edge of the sink. Fresh blood immediately poured from her forehead. "Aaaaa!" Lifa screamed in pain. Her body sprawled across the cold floor. Lifa grimaced as she clutched her head, which felt unbearably heavy. "It hurts so bad... Why can't I stand up? Am I really going to die here? In the bathroom? That's so not classy..." "Help... Somebody, please help me..." she moaned weakly.
Sadly, not a single person heard her. The deserted hallway caused Lifa's cries to vanish into thin air. Her consciousness slowly faded. The pain overwhelming her left Lifa unable to hold on any longer. "Ugh, damn it... I can't take it anymore. I guess it's time for me to join Mom... I'm sorry, Dad," she thought in resignation. After that, Lifa's vision went completely black.