Classroom X

day two: jealousy

There was a distinct, lingering smell of nail polish in the air from Chloe's freshly coated nails. Chloe set her hands palms down on her desk, admiring how the pale pink nails looked pretty against her flawless white skin. She praised her own foresight for slipping her newest set of nail polish into her bag before she came to attend the night class. She had enough polish to last her a whole month.

However, she hoped the lockdown wouldn't last a whole month. She had sufficient nail polish and makeup, but she didn't carry around hair dyes. If her hair grew out she'd be in trouble—people would know her natural hair wasn't the silky, lustrous shade of blonde that she normally flaunted, but an ugly and embarrassing carrot shade that didn't suit her at all.

And then there was her skin to worry about. She had perfect skin—the kind of skin that turned on males. No blemishes, no pockmarks, no discolourations. It was neither dry nor oily nor scaly. It was so soft and smooth and clear that if someone grabbed her above her elbow, with the slightest tug, their hand would slide all the way down to her fingertips.

The problem was, the skin wasn't hundred percent natural either; it was the product of hours spent in beauty parlours, sterilising and burnishing it to a glowing beauty. Her normal skin, unfortunately, was oily. If she didn't give her skin the proper care, a pimple might pop out of her face one of these days.

It would be disastrous.

But Chloe had faith. She had faith in the soldiers of her country, that they wouldn't let them suffer for long. Her father had told her many tales about how brave the soldiers of Asahan were, how courageous and glorious they were when they faced Kazzai soldiers. They wouldn't let the lockdown last for long. They knew what they were doing. They just wanted to observe them for a while, until they could figure out the true terrorist.

Of course, she was aware three of her classmates were dead; but she couldn't blame the military for it. Emryse was an emigrant from the Kazza Federation. His death was no loss. And Athene was stupid to lash out like that. If she had any idea about the rules of military, she would have known that it was legally acceptable for a soldier to take out anyone who attempted to kill them—after all, plenty of terrorists and anarchists disguised themselves as civilians. And Gardien...he brought it on himself. Chloe always knew there were foolish people like Gardien in the world. Her father would call him a misguided hero, someone who believed he was doing something great even though his actions achieved nothing worth talking about. In the end, Gardien's death had no grand consequence. He had led an unremarkable life, and died a futile death.

Nonetheless, it was to be mentioned that Manchovy had been acting like someone had pissed on her ever since Gardien's death. For some obscure reason only she knew, she was making it look like she had a thing for him. A rich girl like her falling for a nobody like Gardien? The very idea of it was laughable. But Chloe would admit that Nike was a wily, unpredictable girl who cooked up evil schemes with Rooney Jacobs. Nike and Rooney were always up to something. Impossible Nike and Irascible Rooney; two peas in a pod, partners in crime; two girls who had abysmal opinions about Chloe Evans.

Just thinking about them put a sour taste in Chloe's stomach.

Right now, her own friends Manoir and Emilia were being a headache to her, constantly bitching about the soldiers until it made Chloe want to plug up their mouths. They were being so immature! Couldn't they learn to see the bigger picture like she did?

Chloe craned her neck to see what Emilia and Manoir were currently doing. She found them stuck in the middle of a crowd still picking out sweaters and hoodies from a heap of clothes the soldiers had dumped inside the compound. Change of clothes. Chloe had chosen a pale green sweatshirt and brown pants for herself and shoved them into her school locker for safekeeping. She also found a lovely red and blue knitted scarf she would never actually let anyone see her wearing.