"Stop staring at me. Watch your step-Ms. Austin looks like she's about to pass out from the heat again."

She shot a wink at Isabella Austin. "Isn't that right, Ms. Austin?"

Isabella's face went from green to purple and back again—a truly remarkable sight.

On the way home, Emily Blair received the documents Arianna George had promised. She filled them out quickly and sent them right back.

Elizabeth Wilson, sitting beside her, glanced over with curiosity. "When's your competition?"

"Next month," Emily replied.

Elizabeth's eyes widened. “That soon? Will you have enough time to practice?"

Emily's hand paused. She lowered her voice. "I'll manage.”

In her previous life, those bitter years, she hadn't owned a piano. She couldn't even dream of affording one. There was no money for lessons for her daughter, either. All she could do was play piano pieces on her battered old phone and sketch a keyboard on the floor with chalk.

Then, with the music playing from her phone, she'd perform for her daughter, pretending the chalk lines were real keys.

Her daughter, sweet and innocent, always clapped along, giggling at the little show, no matter how crude or makeshift their setup was. Those were their only moments of joy—practicing and teaching piano on a keyboard drawn on the floor.

She practiced for hours, until the floor was pitted and worn where her fingers landed again and again. Even now, she could remember the calluses that formed—so rough and thick compared to her soft hands today.

Elizabeth nodded. "There's a piano at school. Maybe you could ask to borrow it after hours to practice."

Emily smiled. "You think of everything."

She turned her head just in time to see the bus pass a bookstore. Her eyes lit up as an idea she'd had before flashed through her mind.

Without warning, she grabbed Elizabeth's hand. “Let's get off at the next stop.”

Elizabeth looked baffled. "Why? We're still half an hour from home. Do you need to do something?"

Emily just grinned, mysterious. “Just trust me, okay? Come with me.”

Inside the bookstore, Emily leaned against a wall, pretending to read, but not taking in a single word.

She was busy thinking about how to nudge Elizabeth's attention toward the shelf of programming books nearby. If she just handed her one, it'd be way too obvious.

In front of her, Elizabeth drifted from shelf to shelf, picking up books at random, barely glancing at them before putting them back. Nothing seemed to hold her interest.

Emily couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

Trying to act casual, she strolled over, picked up a beginner's book on programming, and flipped through the pages as if she'd done it on a whim.

She made a little noise of surprise. "Oh!"

Elizabeth turned. "What is it?"

Emily held up the book, smiling. "I'm thinking of studying computer science. What do you think?"

She meant it, too.

Seven or eight years had passed between the end of her last life and waking up in this one. No one else knew what was coming, but she did.

Computers, the Internet, and artificial intelligence would soon become pillars of society, spawning a whole new generation of tech-driven industries. The entrepreneurs who caught the wave would make fortunes.

Now that she'd been given a second chance, how could she not try to claim a share of it herself?