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"Have you made friends?" Willie asked his sister as they sat in class together the next day.
"Felice." Vera shrugged. "Have you?"
"Felice." he agreed, mimicking her shrug.
"So you all agree that murder is at the top of the list, followed by child abuse and rape." their teacher speaking from the board had the pair looking forward again. "But if we put less sensitive issues against each other, then what?"
A boy in a blue and white shirt rose his hand. "Walter?"
"Well, regarding tax evasion, you've earned a lot of money and at least contribute it to society by creating new jobs and so on." the boy answered, Vera twisted the hem of her dress, biting at the inside of her mouth but stopped immediately when Felice gave her a smile.
"Okay. Stella?" the teacher called on the pretty blonde girl from the back.
"Well, Welfare scammers give nothing back. They just take, so that's worse." Stella commented with a raise of her eyebrows.
Vera gave a snort before she realized what she was doing. "Yeah, that's the entire point."
All eyes had turned to her. Willie squeezed the bridge of his nose, knowing they weren't suppose to talk about anything series like this. Especially not on their first day.
"Princess Vera, would you like to add something?" their teacher suggested with a nod of her head. Vera had told her she could just call her by her name at the beginning of class, but that's beyond what she was thinking about right now.
The blonde spun in her chair to face Stella in the back. "The entire point of welfare is to support families and people who can't do it themselves. Why would they give back something that they don't have, the entire point as to why they need help in the first place."
"The scammers, I meant." Stella reddened in the face, her very first conversation with the princess, who she'd wanted to talk to this entire time, clearly had gotten under her skin.
"So what do you suggest then? It just stops because there happens to be scammers out there? Then people starve or die from diseases, that they could get sick from not having housing, and then can't get the healthcare they need. Does that sound better to you?"
Stella stared at her.
Vera shrugged. "Just wondering your thoughts on that part."
"I have something to say." Henry spoke up quickly before it could get awkward. When Vera turned back in her seat, Willie nudged her leg, giving her a knowing look but a minor grin was on his face. "If you were to lower the taxes, companies wouldn't have had to move their business abroad. Like, take my dads estate for example. They struggle to make ends meet because of the high taxes."
Simon, who Vera only knew the name of because she'd heard the girl next to him say it, gave a laugh after Henry finished talking. The attention was on him now as their teacher looked is way. "Simon, do you want to share something with the rest of the class?"
