Beyond Good and Evil

Chapter 2: Border Lines

The polished wooden floors reflected the above artificial lights as Alicia padded along the corridor, clutching her books tightly to her chest. The halls were bare. All the students had gone to class, leaving her a rogue. But she didn't feel alone, despite the lack of company. Her heart was still lodged in her throat, her stomach quenching with nerves. Robert had touched her. Never in her wildest, darkest fantasy had she ever pictured him actually touching her. Now that he had, she felt dazed, and bemused. His fingers had brushed against her jaw, awakening a deep, unknown desire inside her.

She rounded the corner. Pulling the classroom door open, she found ten pairs of curious eyes gazing up at her arrival. A few were glued to the silk they held firmly in place beneath sewing needles, running the material through the machine. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat, sinking into her chair by the back. If only she could physically dissolve through the plastic, into another dimension.

"Alicia," the stern, aged voice of her tutor cut through the atmosphere like a butter knife. "It's good of you to finally join us." Debra paused, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Perhaps you could explain your absence to the class."

Her cheeks flamed scarlet. What could she say to her tutor, and the rest of her class? Certainly not that she had faltered and crushed like a leaf beneath the intense gaze of her idol. No one would ever believe that.

"I overslept," she murmured, avoiding the heat of Debra's gaze. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

Debra sighed. Alicia sensed the exasperation in her facial expression, but remained mute. She pushed her black half-moon spectacles up her nose, shaking her head as her tousled caramel bun bobbed from side-to-side. She was in her early fifties, but sometimes acted older.

Just as Alicia thought she was free, Elsa bounded over to her table, her smooth soft-featured face creasing with a smile. She had tied her glossy blonde hair back into a neat ponytail, bobby pins holding her fringe from her forehead and temples.

"I want to know everything," she whispered, emphasising the word to the degree where it sounded like she had a throat infection. "Is he a good kisser? What did you get up to? Did he use pro -

"Elsa!" Alicia bellowed, her tone more hazardous than she intended. Elsa flinched. "We didn't kiss. We just talked. Now, can we get to work?"

Elsa nodded hastily, straightening from the table. Alicia joined her momentarily, retrieving the required supplies from the back in-built cupboards. She and Elsa had been working on similarly matching dresses for the past several months. The best design would be entered into the elite scholarship program the university was offering to one student, so Alicia worked harder and more relentless than she ever had during high school the previous year.

She set the purple velvet down on the edge of the thick bench, cutting it down to the right length with a large pair of scissors. Images of Robert flashed through her mind, unwanted, and she found herself mentally struggling to revert her attention back to the dress. In one brief flash, she saw Robert's dark, mystical and brooding eyes pinning her down; in another she saw rather than felt his smooth, thick calloused fingers touching her skin.

Fortunately, she made it through the rest of the class without ruining the dress. When the bell rang, she hastily and clumsily shoved her books into her small back pack. And then she was out the door, rushing to the canteen. She spotted Elsa right away, sitting in the dead centre of the room, sipping a Boost smoothie. Alicia rushed to join her, sliding her bag against her chair leg.

"I wouldn't have come back to uni if that'd been Andreas," Elsa said, meeting Alicia's gaze. "Why didn't you stay with him? Are you mentally insane?"