NINE

The pharmacist left what he was doing and looked at Claire. He was her from the gap between his spectacles and his eyebrows, "And for what would you need cyanide pills?"

Claire had done her research because under no circumstances was she willing to reveal her true intentions. She knew that her expressions were not impossible to read, so she needed a solid explanation. "Chemistry project. We have to do a chemical analysis."

She was always humble and sweet towards people who didn't know her personally. Because she wasn't afraid. Claire wasn't afraid of being betrayed by them. For, they held no place in her life. They were  just acquaintances. The old man too, was an acquaintance. She was moreover a regular customer at that pharmacy.

"Here you go. That would be $11.4." the man handed her a strip of cyanide pills. Claire thanked him and left after paying.

As soon as she exited, Claire's smile disappeared. She glanced at the strip in her hands and looked away, tears prominent in her eyes. She quickly wiped them and got inside her car. Claire thought that she was unnoticed. Little did she know, someone saw everything.

"Hey! Isn't that Claire Simpson?" Vernon asked, pointing at the girl who just came out of the pharmacy, across the road.

Troy looked at the same girl with narrow eyes and answered after looking at her carefully. "Yes she is." Everybody's attention was diverted towards her.

"But what is she doing outside a pharmacy?" Cole questioned eagerly.

Antony looked closely and noticed what she held in her hand. Everybody was curious, seeing the Queen Bee outside a pharmacy with unknown pills in her hand. Antony asked, "Look. There's some pills that she's holding. I wonder what they're for."

While his friends were busy discussing about the pills, Alex saw the whole scene. He saw how dejected she looked before entering the pharmacy, then, how happy she seemed inside, and how her smile disappeared and a sad expression took its place as she came out. He saw how miserably she looked at the pills with tears welled up in her eyes. Alex couldn't understand a thing. Claire was so mysterious. Her expressions, her words, they were all so enigmatic. She was like a chest full of secrets that he yearned to open. But he didn't know how to. He didn't have the key. The obscurity she held in all her actions, frustrated him.

All his life, Alex wanted to understand psychology. He wanted to grasp why people said and did what they did, why people reacted the way they did. And he did understand all that. He could read expressions easily and apprehend what a person was thinking. But the fact that he couldn't read Claire's expressions and that he didn't understand what her words meant, angered him. Made him mad at nothing. All he wanted was to know why Claire did all that and what happened to her that made her that way.

The group of boys continued walking to school, talking about random topics on their way. Alex, however, was kind of lost in his thoughts. He couldn't register why he kept getting drawn towards someone he despised. He kept getting into events that Claire was involved in and it was very unsettling.

•••••

Claire didn't show any mercy on Jessi. She didn't even let Jessi enter the classroom. The teachers, once again, felt helpless just like the day before. But, Claire did spare Alex and let him sit. Though it was highly unusual of her to let someone go this easily. She sort of knew that around him, her pretence failed. His aura defeated her flawless public facade that masked private despair.

Right at the corner of the classroom, the troublemaker sat quietly. The rest of the row was occupied by Alex and his friends, with him sitting right next to her.

She fiddled with the strip of pills that she had bought. She looked lost. Claire saw that Alex sat beside her. Being near him made her feel weak and disorientated. Because he questioned her like no one else could. He spoke to her in a way no one dared to. Claire realized where she was and quickly put the strip inside her bag only to not notice if it actually landed inside the bag.

The bell rang and the class was over. Lunch break started. The Queen Bee left for the rooftop. She didn't have any appetite. As she left the classroom, she didn't epsy anything that she left behind.

Anyways, Alex did. He caught sight of the small rectangular strip of pills that didn't end up where it was supposed to. "Guys, look. She dropped something."

He picked it up from the floor and walked towards his friends who might have not heard him. As he reached the spot where they stood, they turned around to look at him. And he put forward the strip to show it to the others.

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