Rewriting the Tragedy by Breaking the Heroines Halo

My parents took me to the group home to pick out a sister. I scanned the swarm of girls our age. I was about to walk toward the quiet girl from my homeroom class, the one I knew—Autumn. Then, a sudden barrage of text—like subtitles or a bad movie scroll—slashed across my vision. [Ugh, the side character is so annoying. Our FL Baby is poor but has integrity. Who wants to sell their freedom for cash?] [He uses his wealth to adopt the FL, then tries to emotionally blackmail her, causing all the drama with the ML.] [Who cares about his dirty money? His family deserves to be ruined by the ML later on.] [Poor FL Baby, always stuck under someone else’s roof.] I froze, horrified by the invasive, toxic commentary. I yanked my hand back from where it was reaching for Autumn and quickly grabbed the hand of a different girl, huddled in the far corner. Emotional blackmail? Ruined by the ML? No way was I going to be that guy. No way was my family, the Montgomerys, going to go bankrupt because of some idiotic web novel plot. She needed her freedom—the freedom to eat gruel and live miserably, apparently. I wasn’t going to stand in the way of her noble poverty.

1 “Tris, you said you wanted a little sister, right?” My mother, Eleanor, patted my shoulder and gestured toward the room full of kids. “Go on, pick the one who catches your eye. ” I was just scanning the sea of girls. My eyes landed on Autumn, the girl I already knew. She was solitary but seemed polite. I had said I wanted a sister, but I hadn’t expected them to take me seriously. Still, since my parents had brought me here, picking a quiet, likable one seemed easy enough. Our family certainly wasn’t struggling. With that thought, I headed straight for Autumn. But just as I was about to reach out my hand, that wall of text exploded across my vision again. [Is the side character seriously going to keep hounding our FL Baby even here? Isn’t it enough that he follows her around school?] [Seriously! The side character is the worst! Our FL Baby doesn’t want to go with you!] Side character? Female Lead? I stopped, confused. Were they talking about Autumn and me? [Can the smelly side character please back off? Our FL Baby is poor but has integrity. Who wants to sell their freedom for cash?] [I’m a first-time reader. Why are they saying that? What happened later?] [Oh, you don’t know. The side character, a rich kid, adopts the FL, then tries to emotionally blackmail her, causing all the drama with the ML.] [Who cares about his dirty money? His family deserves to be ruined by the ML later on.] [Poor FL Baby, always stuck under someone else’s roof. She hates the side character but never dares to say it. So tragic.] [It’s okay! He won’t be a nuisance for long. The Male Lead will make sure he and his whole family pay!] Bankrupt? Male Lead? He’ll make sure my whole family pays? I jumped back, my move toward Autumn stopping dead. “Son? What’s wrong? Are you shy?” My mother misinterpreted my sudden halt, immediately stepping forward to take Autumn’s hand herself. I reacted instantly, grabbing Mom’s arm. The move was too sharp, too obvious. She looked surprised. The bullet screen commentary went nuts. [What’s going on? Why isn’t the side character grabbing our little Autumn?] That one line sealed it. I was the doomed ““side character”” who would blackmail the ““Female Lead,”” be utterly despised by her, and finally get bankrupted by the ““Male Lead. “” Bankruptcy? No! Absolutely not! “I don’t want her!” I shouted, the volume surprising even me. Autumn looked stunned. My mother was completely taken aback. “I want her to be my sister!” I quickly scanned the room, my eyes landing on the girl I’d seen earlier, huddled in the quietest corner, looking completely isolated. It didn’t matter who the new sister was. It just couldn’t be Autumn. Mom hadn’t expected me to choose that particular girl. She was pretty, yes, but radiated an almost palpable ‘stay away’ vibe. However, since they had given me the choice, they wouldn’t argue with my selection. We quickly handled the adoption paperwork. As I led my new sister out of the group home, the familiar text reappeared. [What is this? Didn’t the story say the side character would adopt the FL?] [Who cares why he didn’t! This is a good thing for our FL Baby!] [Exactly! The FL didn’t end up in a gilded cage! She’s finally free to wait for the ML to find her and love her!] Yeah, I’m truly evil, aren’t I? I thought cynically. I would have forced her to leave a life of misery for a big house, pressured her to spend our money, and forced her to have a good life. A villain like me definitely shouldn’t inflict such harm on the ““FL Baby. “” Let her enjoy her freedom and eat her metaphorical gruel at the group home. I tightened my grip on my new sister’s hand and strode out the front door. 2 My new sister was exactly as she appeared—solitary and shy. But she was undeniably cute, which made her reserved nature easy to overlook. “What’s your name?” I asked her, once we were home. “She’s called Watery,” Mom answered for her, using the name from the paperwork. “I’m not Watery,” she said. It was her first time speaking since arriving. Her voice was soft and sweet, and her demeanor was incredibly endearing. “I don’t have a name. Whatever Papa, Mama, and Brother say I’m called, that’s what I’ll be. ” Hearing that, Mom and Dad were immediately heartbroken, and they handed the naming rights back to me. “Then you’ll be Marina,” I decided. ““It’s Latin for ‘of the sea’ or ‘star of the sea,’ but even in Chinese, the character for Miao is triple water symbols. It suits you. “” She nodded fiercely, clutching my hand tightly, her eyes shining with joy. Her happiness was infectious, and I felt a genuine warmth. Watching her, I couldn’t help but think of Autumn. If Autumn had been the one to come home with us, she would never have been this sweet. She probably would have complained that the food wasn’t organic, or the house wasn’t ““free”” enough, spending our money while whining about being restricted. Then, she’d run off with the ““Male Lead”” and ruin my family. A complete user! No. I wouldn’t allow that kind of person into my life. Now that Marina was adopted, the next step was school. She was only a few months younger than me, but her previous school was miles away. I convinced Dad to arrange a transfer to Northwood Prep, the school I attended. “I want her to go to school with me,” I insisted. “I want to go to school with Brother, too,” Marina murmured softly, standing beside me. She’d just been dressed in a new designer dress by Mom, her hair pulled into two neat little braids. She looked like a delicate porcelain doll. The transfer was simple enough for my father, Robert Montgomery, to arrange. The next morning, Marina took my hand, and we walked into my homeroom. The class went silent, seeing me walk in with an unfamiliar girl. “Tris, what’s up? Since when do you hang out with anyone besides Autumn? Who is this?” A guy named Joel asked. “This is my sister, Marina Montgomery,” I announced. Marina was a little shy, but she didn’t hide. She just gripped the edge of my blazer, her wide eyes taking in the room. The teacher assigned her a desk two rows away from mine. Marina’s brow instantly furrowed, and her eyes welled up. “Can’t I sit next to Brother?” she asked, pulling on my sleeve, her voice thick with hurt. “Of course, you can,” I said without hesitation. But another voice cut in at the exact same time. “No, I don’t agree!” It was Autumn. She stood by her desk, her expression dark. I glanced at her, and the bullet screen commentary flared up again. [I almost forgot—the side character and our FL Baby are still seatmates.] [Why doesn’t Baby want to switch? If he moves, no one will bother her!] “What business is it of yours?” The sight of her, coupled with the toxic plot summary I’d read, instantly made her unlikable. “You’re my current seatmate,” Autumn frowned. “Even if you don’t like me, you can’t just force me to give up my spot to someone else. ” [Exactly! Baby is so brave! She won’t submit to the villain!] [The side character is too much. Why does he think he can just demand the FL’s seat? Does he think being rich means he can get whatever he wants?] What were these people talking about? Did they have any common sense? I looked at Autumn as if she were insane, then addressed the bullet screen. “When did I ever say I wanted you to move?” I then turned to the kid who sat next to Marina: “Hey, why don’t we switch? You can take my spot. ” My desk was perfectly situated—prime real estate in the classroom. The student agreed immediately. And Autumn? The one who had just righteously stood up for her right to her seat? Though no one had touched her spot, her eyes suddenly went red. She began to sniffle and cry softly, but the loud, dramatic inhalation meant everyone knew she was upset. It was completely ridiculous. No one had even looked at her crossly. Why was she crying? The commentary instantly erupted. [See? The side character made the FL cry again.] [He’s a total scumbag. If he didn’t want to switch, fine, but why be so cruel?] [Thank God the FL Baby wasn’t adopted by him. Who knows how much she’d have been bullied. ] The comments were as nonsensical as Autumn’s tears. 3 I had assumed the weirdness was confined to the bullet screen and Autumn, but it turned out some of my classmates were just as delusional. They had been right there. They had seen what happened. Yet, knowing I hadn’t bullied Autumn, they still treated her like she had suffered a terrible trauma. They seemed to instinctively protect her, their ““own kind,”” the first girl in the class, against me—and by extension, against Marina. The strange thing was, they blamed Marina for my actions. The malice on their faces was palpable whenever I left the room. The worst incident happened on Marina’s birthday. I gave her a delicate silver locket. It was expensive—a small fortune for my allowance, saved up over three months. But when she opened it, her eyes lit up like scattered starlight, and her smile was so genuine that I decided the money was worth it. I told Marina to wear the locket to school, and it immediately attracted everyone’s attention. “My brother gave it to me,” Marina whispered to the kids who gathered around her desk, showing it off modestly. The kids ““oohed”” and ““aahed. “” “It must be great to be Tris Montgomery’s sister,” someone sighed. “It must be great to be his seatmate, too,” someone else chimed in. “Autumn used to get tons of nice gifts from him. ” “That’s different,” I snapped, not wanting to be associated with Autumn. “The gift I gave Marina was carefully chosen, perfect for her. Autumn’s were just random trinkets I bought on impulse. ” Another soft, annoying cry immediately echoed through the classroom. I glared at Autumn, annoyed, then crouched down to ruffle Marina’s hair. “I’ll buy you fried chicken tonight. ” “Okay!” Marina answered sweetly. My Marina is so much better. My favoritism was completely obvious. I thought this blatant partiality would make others understand her importance to me and prevent them from bothering her. I was wrong. Because of Autumn’s presence—and the narrative inertia that still favored her—my preference for Marina became the ridiculous, unwritten reason they started to bully her. The next day, I had a slight fever, so Mom and Dad kept me home. Marina went to school alone. She was perfectly sweet and told me, “Goodbye, Brother,” before she left. I watched her go, but she never came home. Thirty minutes after the bell should have rung, I grew frantic. Ignoring my stomach ache, I rushed to the school to find her. The classroom was empty. Except for Marina. She was curled up, alone, sobbing quietly in the corner. My heart shattered. I rushed to hug her, and that’s when I saw it—the silver locket, now lying in pieces near her feet. “Who did this? Who hurt you?” I demanded. “They… they broke my necklace,” Marina choked out. 4 The next morning, I stood on the dais with Marina next to me, my face grim as students filed into the room. The shattered pieces of the locket lay on the teacher’s desk. As the kids arrived, those who were close to Autumn couldn’t meet my eyes. They fiddled with their backpacks or stared at their shoes. Their guilt was perfectly obvious to me. I scoffed. “Yesterday, when I wasn’t here, someone destroyed a locket I gave Marina, worth nearly twenty thousand dollars. ” “I’ve already notified the principal, and she’ll be here soon to pull the security footage. Whoever touched my sister needs to give me an explanation today. ” I spoke with a deep, menacing tone, focusing my gaze pointedly on Autumn. Autumn’s face instantly went pale. The bullet screen reappeared. [What is the side character doing? He’s trying to intimidate our Baby!] [That look is so cruel. It’s not like our FL Baby did it.] [The FL Baby deserves the best things in the world!] [Anyone who loves Autumn knows that locket should have been hers! Good job, kids! If our Female Lead can’t have the best, no one else should!] If the earlier comments were just nonsensical, these last ones genuinely enraged me. I didn’t care where these invisible idiots came from, but they were, in effect, accomplices. Female Lead? Side Character? This was my life. I was the only real protagonist here. Before Autumn could start her inevitable, preemptive tears, the principal arrived. Her expression was severe. She played the security footage from the previous afternoon for the entire class. My face darkened with every passing second. Four or five small boys had surrounded Marina just as she was packing up. She hadn’t worn the locket during the day; she’d kept it safely tucked away, only putting it on to wear home for me. As she put it on and turned to leave, one of the boys blocked her way. Then, he reached out, snatching at the chain around her neck. Marina was terrified and confused. She immediately covered the locket with her hands, asking fearfully, “What are you doing?” At that time, the only other student in the room was Autumn. Autumn was watching them the entire time. Yet, she allowed her friends to continue. She watched as they shoved Marina, screaming insults, trying to snatch the locket. Marina was tiny and slight—she was no match for a group of boys. She was quickly pushed to the floor, and the locket was ripped off her neck. The boy who grabbed it held it up to Autumn like a trophy. “Autumn! Look! We got it! Don’t worry, we’ll give it to you right away! This pretty locket should have been yours!” “No, it’s not!” Marina cried out from the floor. “My brother gave it to me!” “Why are you crying? The best things in the world belong to Autumn. If she likes it, it belongs to her,” the boy scoffed. “Your brother likes Autumn, too. He won’t even blame her! Even if he came here, that locket would still be Autumn’s!” “It is not!” Marina wailed, suddenly finding the strength to jump up and shove the boy holding the locket. The locket went flying, smashing instantly into a dozen glittering pieces on the hard floor. I finished watching the footage, my gaze settling on the frightened, wide-eyed Autumn. Autumn. Again. It all stemmed from her, and yet here she was, playing the innocent victim. “Who said that locket was Autumn’s to begin with?”