The Eleventh Gifted (The Gifted Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

Claire's shoulders dropped as she walked toward the theatre. She couldn't find the person who was threatening her and her crush wouldn't be able to attend her play. She wondered what worse could happen next?

All her hope seemed to be gone. Not until she saw her classmate in a braid, wearing her usual earphones, walking with her friends as they chatted.

She walked fast towards her without another hitch and confronted the four.

"Aria," she called the girl, not batting an eye on the other three.

"Yes?"

"I need your help," she said straight away.

Pang, Namtarn, and Ohm looked at each other in confusion.

"Help with?"

"I need you to find someone."

"Who?"

Claire grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from them. She only stopped when no one could possibly hear them. "Someone is trying to blackmail me. And I know that someone is in the Drama Club. You can hear at a fifty-meter radius, right? I need you to find that person for me."

Her eyes were pleading even though her voice was as stern as a rock. Aria could see through her.

"I can find someone who I already know the voice. But if it's someone new, I don't think I can," Aria confessed.

Claire bit her lip, feeling even more stressed as another hope was stripped off her. But then, an idea popped into her head. "That person is using a voice changer. So, can you just listen to that someone's voice when they call me and try to find who's saying the same thing?"

Aria fell into deep thinking. She was not very sure about Claire's request. Not because they weren't friends. Aria wasn't that petty. She could only locate someone if there was no one else around, just like how she found Korn and Namtarm. But the club probably has more than ten members, which was why she wouldn't be able to do it.

But Claire needed her help. It could also be a good exercise for her potential.

And so, she decided to answer, "I will do my best.

°°°

"The talk of the town in social media now is around a certain leaked photo. Sources tell us that her old name used to be Medfai. We won't tell you her current name yet. All we can say is that she's Gifted and involved in theatre."

Aria watched Claire, who was watching the Journal Club reporter, Mamuang, on her cellphone. She brought Aria to the theatre with her to find the culprit, but instead, Claire dragged her away from them. She could not stand their stares that weren't so discreetly judging her.

"That really narrows it down, doesn't it?"

"You shouldn't pay attention to that, you know," she told her classmate.

Claire only gave her an unconvinced stare before her cellphone rang. Someone was calling her.

"Is that the person?"

The girl shook her head as a no. "It's Korn." She tapped the green button and put the cellphone on her ear.

There was a short silence at first. "I'm backstage." Another few seconds of silence. "Forget about that. I am now upset about Punn."

Aria tried not to listen and ignore them by turning her back and busying herself with the wall as if it was the most interesting thing on Earth. But who seriously could? She was just beside Claire!

"He said all this is nonsense." Her face then showed disbelief as she listened to what her friend was saying. "It's not just about that!" Another brief silence. "I have to go, Korn. It's her."