Stars' Song: Clef

Chapter 18 : Arsonist

18-1

With the auditions finished, some things have gone back to normal. The setting sun greeted me when I departed the campus after a long day of lectures. Because of this early exit, there were almost no students walking in the same direction as I did, except the one next to me. Having concluded the Battle of the Bands auditions, I was able to journey home alongside Chloe.

Snoozing at the rooftop helped in eliminating the migraine. It loitered, but it wasn't as intense as before, and part of it was thanks to the girl who's fixated on her phone. The glimpse of her reminded me of a particular discussion I had.

Hangout... yeah. It's not a date. If all, it would just be like going out with Chloe, right? It's just a hangout between friends to celebrate our achievement. But if we were doing so, shouldn't the three guys be invited as well? A sigh broke free after I realized the flaw in Cyril's plan.

"Here, I found SSG's post about BOTB," Chloe reported.

"When is it?"

She mumbled as she skipped through irrelevant phrases. "September 14."

"Early as usual."

"It's the same rules, so there's not much to know." She clicked the power button on the side of the gadget, then placed it inside her skirt's pocket. In the other pocket, she retrieved a lollipop wrapped in pink.

The noise of the wrapper kept going for a while, so I offered my hand to her. She placed the confection on my palm. As I tore the plastic open, her voice traveled to my ears. "How are ya feelin'?"

"I'm better."

"Good." She presented a gratified smile.

"Sorry about last night." I gave her the exposed candy. Regretting the decision of mentioning it, I changed the subject. "Are you able to study? How's it going?"

"I didn't want to bring it up thinkin' ya might get sick again," She answered, engulfing the sugary ball.

"It's all good."

"It's manageable. Chem is difficult. Social Studies too, for some reason." Her diction was slightly altered by the candy poking through her cheek. "The remaining subjects seem easy."

"Are you serious? STM isn't hard for you?" There's no way she'd forget Selected Topics in Mathematics. It's a hellscape of a subject!

"Oh, I forgot it existed. Yeah, it's pretty hard too." Oh. She really forgot. "Compared to previous years, they really went all out with the memorizin' this time, huh?"

To worsen the problem, the teachers don't even try to create a decent plan to make memorizing easier. They just drop the bombs in front of you and leave you to it. When we were first-year high schoolers, our science teacher gave us a catchy phrase to internalize the electron configuration! Why can't educators be more like her? I can't remember it anymore, though. Cut me some slack; it was almost four years ago.

"You're pretty bad at memorization too..." Chloe inundated me with furtive glances.

"Yeah, yeah, don't shove it in my face. I'll study hard; you don't have to tell me." I gestured my hand to shoo her.

"No... what I'm tryin' to say is..."

"What?"

"We can study together at yours. W-would be easier," Chloe uttered, her modulation distant because she was turned towards her right, hiding her features.