10 Coward

"Have you delivered my message?"

"Yes, Miss."

"How did Aunt Alice react?" Chloe asked.

"She didn't suspect a thing."

"Good." Chloe muttered. "Tell me, Mary, how long have you stayed by my aunt's side?"

Mary hesitated. "Two years."

"Then you must still feel some loyalty towards her, no?"

Mary shook her head. "Since the day you decided to save my brother, I have vowed to serve you for a lifetime."

"Speaking of which, how is your brother?"

"He's doing much better, thank you for asking."

"That's a relief." Chloe said, tapping her fingers against the hard surface of the table. "I want you to do a job for me. You know that we're currently in war, yes?"

"So I've heard."

"I want you to find out for me what the other two gangs are up to. I'll give you five days."

"Yes, Miss."

…

"That child's just getting more and more wild!" Aunt Alice shouted, smashing a teacup on the floor. "Last time she humiliated us, this time she faults us, what will she do next?"

"Calm down, Alice." Uncle James soothed. "Have you found anything that we can use to our advantage?"

Aunt Alice frowned. "Actually, the maid told me something interesting the other day."

"What is it?" Uncle James urged. "Tell me quickly."

"The maid said that a boy from an important family has taken an interest in Chloe."

"Is that so," Uncle James murmured, rubbing his chin. "That will only be disadvantageous to us. If that child gains the backing of a strong family, it'll be harder to fight her for the successor position."

"Yes, that was what I was thinking too." Aunt Alice said. "If we can find a way to put a stop to their relationship, that would be the best choice."

"Mm," Uncle James agreed. "Let me think some more about it."

…

The leaves rustled gently as a small breeze whizzed through the school. The hot, summer air infiltrated the classroom and mosquitos the size of cherries hovered in the air. The sun shone brightly outside, lighting up the classroom and creating shadows where there were objects.

A boy with bandages stuck on his face shifted through the hallway and into the room, holding his breath and hunching his back so as to not attract unwanted attention. Unfortunately, his plans did not succeed.

"Oh, who do we have here?" A group of boys sniggered. "If it isn't our good friend, four-eyes Willie."

Trembling, the boy with bandages stopped moving, not daring to look up.

"Were the bruises we gave you last time not enough?" One of them mocked. "Why are you still coming to school?"

"S-sorry," the boy squeaked. "I-"

Chloe looked on with a frown on her face, thinking, why would they bother doing such a thing? Do they really have nothing else to do?

"You what?" One of the taller boys smirked as he delivered a kick to William's stomach.

William instantly flew backwards from the force, hitting a chair in the process.

"Ow!" Kitty shrieked. "Why'd you kick him in my direction? If you want to have fun, have fun somewhere else!"

"Sorry, Kitty." The taller boy said meekly. "It wasn't on purpose."

The boy behaved like this not because he was afraid of Kitty, but because he liked her. It was only natural as Kitty was pretty and rich – an ideal girlfriend candidate.

Kitty suddenly had an idea; her eyes twinkled with an evil gleam. "Come with me," she dragged William outside to one of the empty rooms. She checked to make sure no one was listening.

"I'll give you a chance." She stated arrogantly. "If you do something for me, I'll tell them not to bully you anymore."

The boy stopped trembling, and instead looked up slowly at Kitty with doubt.

"You'll tell them to stop bullying me?" He said in a small voice.

"Of course." She said confidently. "How about it? Will you do it for me?"

"Tell me. What do you want me to do?"

Kitty placed a small object in William's hand. "I want you to put this in Chloe's locker."

William felt confused. "Chloe? The new student? Can't you do that yourself?"

"You still don't get it?" Kitty said impatiently. "I'm telling you to do it because I don't want to get in trouble."

William bit his lips. "I'll do it," he said. "But you have to keep your promise."

"Of course I will," Kitty said, rolling her eyes.

…

As Chloe listened to the monotonous and boring lectures of the teachers, a wave of fatigue washed over her. Her muscles had no strength and her brain couldn't think, and she was ready to fall asleep at any moment.

The problem was, she couldn't fall asleep. She kept on feeling the gazes of two different people. One took quick peeks at her every so often. The other stared intensely at the side of her head and almost bore a hole into her skull. With these two people staring at her throughout the whole lesson, she almost became crazy from frustration. If they had something to say, why didn't they say it?

But the thing was, one of the people she recognised, and other she didn't. It was normal for Kitty to stare so intensely at her as they had a conflict between them. But the other… the boy who got beaten up this morning. Why was he staring at her too?

Vexed, Chloe could only wait until after class to question him.

…

The boy walked towards the classroom, now silent and empty. He looked around to make sure that no one was following him, and stepped inside the classroom cautiously. He looked around the room, searching hard for whatever he wanted to find.

There it is, he thought. Gleefully, he took out something from his pocket and walked over to the locker. Just as he was about to put it in, however, a voice interrupted him.

"What are you doing?" Chloe threatened, walking towards him. "I was wondering what you were up to when you kept on staring at me throughout the day. So this is what you had in mind."

"Uh… I-I just…"

"Save it." Chloe said, shaking her head. "You don't need to make excuses. I'm not dumb."

The boy trembled.

"Why did you do it?" Chloe interrogated. "What reason do you have to mess with my locker?"

"You… wouldn't understand."

"I merely asked you why you are in front of my locker. How is it so hard to answer?"

"I said you wouldn't understand!" He shouted. "You rich kids wouldn't understand what I have to go through."

"Yeah? Why wouldn't I understand?" Chloe countered. "Tell me."

The boy bit his lips, and said in a whisper. "The world revolves around money. You who are born with a silver spoon in your mouth would not understand my troubles."

Chloe laughed at the outrageousness of his words. "You don't have money, so what? You think you are unfortunate? You don't know how big the world is!" Chloe closed her eyes and took a deep breath, struggling to keep her emotions in check.

Stunned, the boy looked up at Chloe.

"You're just a coward," Chloe spit out each word, one by one. "I saw you this morning. You just let those boys beat you without fighting back. They wouldn't bully you if you didn't let them."

The boy gulped.

"Now get the hell away from my locker," Chloe said, suppressing her anger.

The boy, seeing the fury in her eyes, staggered back a few steps.

Chloe walked towards the door, but left only after saying in a whisper, "I hope you will stand up for yourself one day, against those boys who you find to be more frightening than I am."

Once the girl left, William collapsed onto the ground in a daze. She told me to stand up for myself, he repeated in his mind. She told me I'm a coward.

Moments later, a girl with black hair walked into the room. When she saw William sprawled over on the ground, she walked to him quickly and grabbed him by the clothes.

She hissed. "Well? Did you do it?"

"I-" he hesitated.

"Say it. Did you or did you not?"

"I… didn't do it." He mumbled.

"What?" Kitty's eyes widened. "You didn't do it?"

"I'm giving this back to you." He stuffed an object into Kitty's hands and pulled away from her grasp.

"What are you-" before Kitty could finish her sentence, she realised that the boy had already left.