Youthfulness

Chapter Two

Not tired by the seemingly endless steps leading her classroom on the second floor, Claire stepped into her classroom with ease unlike her other classmates, who were heaving and breathing heavily, trudging into the classroom and collapsed onto the seat.

A faint sound of bustle was sounded behind her and she looked back. There were some girls, fan girls, added Claire secretly, screaming again, threatening to burst her eardrums.

"My goddess, oh, she looks at my way!" "I am going to faint! She is so beautiful!" "I am struck by Cupid's arrow!" "I want to talk to her alone and confess my love!" Lesbians, thought Claire. She didn't and would never understand why girls would like girls in an amorous way, though she respected their choice.

It was the nineteenth day of school after the long summer vacation, but everyone seemingly was still uncomfortable about waking up early and either looking tired or simply sleeping on the desk. Claire felt bored looking at her stupid classmates, and she took out her Oxford Dictionary to read, picking up at where she stopped last time.

***

After a few hours of school, Claire stretched slightly before slinging her backpack over her shoulder and walking out of the classroom then school campus, where she was instantly surrounded by rings of boys, young and old, circling her so that she was admired with a circular space with the radius of about fifty meters as usual. Claire felt like a wax statue put on display and melting against the lustful eyes of the males.

Fortunately, she was familiar with this situation and knew how to deal with the ferocious males. She flashed a dazzling smile at the drooling boys who were staring vulgarly at her breasts, and they succumbed to the oozing charisma from the smile, like the slowly melting ice under sunlight.

Seeing their diluted irises that they have fallen under her charms, she smiled and gently pushed through the crowd. The dazzled boys all unconsciously gave her a passage to walk to the waiting car of her twin.

"Great job," snickered Alexander as the car drove away from the boys who still had their mouth agape, "I couldn't even make crowding girls at the gate of my school standing twenty-five meters away from me."

"How can you go inside the car?"

"Well, I flashed them a smile and ran a hand through my hair, which is what they say is my 'signature move' and stunned them for about ten seconds. With this precious time, I could dash to the car and escape," Alexander laughed awkwardly.

"Where do you know it ... wait, you have a fandom website?" Claire knew that it might be this possibility because she once read her own fandom website, which included some fanfictions that were ... sexually embarrassing to share. Definitely written by some wretched boys that were so dirty in their minds. And imaginative in a bad way.

"Of course I do, sister, what do you expect from such an attractive person like Alexander Young, the most handsome being in La Salle College, as branded as my fans from your school?" Alexander threw a seductive wink to Claire, and Claire had to roll her eyes at the huge ego of her twin. He laughed at her expression and patted her head gently. Claire glared at him and he quickly withdrew his hand, diverting his attention to the road.

"Thanks goodness that they don't know you are a trans," Claire broke the silence.

"I know," Alexander replied, suddenly solemn.

Claire reclined on her seat, deep in thought. She ran the list of homework in her mind, and one stuck in her mind, stubbornly leaving a ghostly shadow. Computer homework.

No one would believe her, she's sure. Her computer teacher, Mrs. Ying, told them to create a game account and play the game Calling of Stars until the character reached level 30 so as to "train our gaming skills". Totally rubbish. What kind of homework was it? She sighed in frustration and closed her eyes to rest for a while.

Claire had heard of the game before. Calling of Stars was an online game played in the form of an application. There were six different characters, twelve if counting the difference of gender: Angel, Priest, Swordsman, Wizard, Spirit and Archer, all with their male and female counterparts. It was currently the number one online game in Asia, which she deduced that it might be the reason why her teacher knew about this game and told them to play it for homework. Seriously, shouldn't homework be something more related with writing? She regretted putting so much expectation on her computer teacher.

After Alexander parked the Ferrari in the garage with the driver, Claire got their backpacks and they walked back to the Mayfair. Knowing clearly that their parents wouldn't arrive home until eight, Alexander pulled out his phone again, and Claire sighed, exasperated, too tired to reprimand her rebellious twin once more. She wasn't a phone lover herself, so she had no idea why her brother always held his phone.

Once the door was opened, Claire dashed up to her room and turned on her computer. She quickly entered her password to her computer and surfed the Internet to find out where to download Calling Of Stars was the most convenient. It was in the iPhones or iPads.

Luckily, her own phone was an iPhone, so she needed not to use Alexander's iPad. She slammed close her computer and rummaged in her messy pile of books for her phone.

Within a minute, Claire found her phone between the pages of Pride And Prejudice. Sighing in relief, she quickly downloaded the game, which she knew by fact had a large memory size. It had a square icon in dark blue, with a blue-haired character holding a blue star and a dagger. She pressed the icon, and the icon brought a world of swirling colors on her phone screen.

After a while of contemplation, she chose her character as a female Archer and the username "SleepingLotus". As she passed through the missions and duels swiftly, she found Calling of Stars fascinating. The drawing of the scenes was very realistic and attractive to look, so realistic and magical at the same time that Claire fell in love with the game because of it.

***

For a long time, her world was only consisted of black and white, with a slight tint of colour that was brought forth by her twin. Now, she was starting to see more of the rainbow spectrum.