Return to School

Trinity headed out of the lecture hall after her second lecture ended.

“Trinity?”

Trinity stopped on the steps and turned back. Her group from tutorial class stared at her wide-eyed.

“Damn, girl, what’s the occasion?” The girl that called her asked.

“Why?” Trinity smiled awkwardly as she asked the obvious.

“You look good today.” A boy in her group said.

Trinity laughed weakly. “It’s just a blouse and pants…”

“Yeah. Still a lot better than how you usually dress.” The girl complimented.

“True… Anyway, it’s nothing. I just decided that I had to start cleaning my image up a little bit before job hunting. See what works till then, you know?”

“Well then, you look great today. These summer colours really match your skin tone. You can explore more of these shades.” The girl beamed, revealing her straight set of pearly white teeth. It was a stark contrast against her dark red lipstick.

“Oh. Thank you, Olivia.”

“Want to have lunch together?”

“Erm… I wouldn’t want to impose… Besides, I have to prepare for my tutorial later!”

“Ah, yes, the hard worker in our group. What’s your tutorial later?”

“Stats.”

“Ugh.” Olivia stuck out her tongue in distaste. “Stats suck. Hey, Timothy.”

“Huh?” The other boy who had not yet spoken looked up from his phone.

“Don’t you have a stats class later?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah.”

“What time is it?” Olivia asked.

“2.”

She looked at Trinity with big eyes, waiting for her response.

“Err… Ya, mine’s at 2 too.”

“Oh, hey, Trinity.” His eyes scanned her from head to toe. “You look nice today.”

Trinity laughed weakly again. “Thanks…”

“Yo, you both have the same stats tut. Did you know?” The first boy asked while putting his arm across Timothy’s shoulders.

Timothy shook his head.

When the boy looked at Trinity, she shook her head too.

“How do you guys miss each other like this? A tut class is no larger than 20 people, isn’t it?” The boy cocked his head.

Both shrugged and shook their heads.

“Anyway, you both can prepare for tut together during lunch then! I’m sure our boy here would need some help.” Olivia ruffled Timothy’s hair.

“... No I don’t.” Timothy disagreed. “But I don’t mind working on it together.”

“Okay, then it’s settled?” Olivia looked at Trinity.

Trinity smiled stiffly. “Yeah…”

Olivia linked arms with her then walked together to the cafeteria.

/How did I get myself into this…?/ She looked forlornly at the canteen they passed by. /I wanted to eat there.../

They took a while before they finally found a cosy spot in the cafeteria. Trinity sat down and habitually rummaged through her new black bag that Phil gave her. She frowned. /Where’s my- Oh, wait./ Her motions froze. /I no longer have sandwiches./

“Trinity? Is there something wrong?” Olivia asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just couldn’t find my wallet.” She said while taking it out for show.

Olivia cocked her head. “You use cash?”

Trinity blinked. “Oh…! Ya…! You can pay with an app. It slipped my mind.” She laughed weakly.

Olivia and the boy laughed with her. “You silly. You don’t shop often, right?”

“You got me…!” She raised her hands up like a criminal who got caught red-handed.

“You can go get your food with Timothy. He knows what we want.”

“Sure.”

Trinity stood apart from the queue while Timothy joined the line. She frowned deeply as she studied the overhead menu.

"Is there nothing you like?"

"Huh? Oh, no. It's just more expensive than the things I usually buy." She smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. /If I buy anything at all./

"I recommend their pasta and smoothie. It's worth it. We're all getting those."

"Oh." Trinity browsed the recommended sections. "Oooh…" She said again under her breath as she studied the prices. They were one of the priciest items there.

"Doesn't hurt to splurge every now and then." He commented.

"Yeah…" She gave a half-smile. /Easy for you privileged kids to say./

She ended up purchasing something cheaper with the excuse that she had a filling breakfast.

"That's all you're having?" Olivia asked while staring at Trinity's bowl.

"Creamy soups are filling too."

"True."

The group dug in. Timothy used his phone half the time. Drew and Olivia flirted with each other relentlessly. Once Trinity finished her food, she took out her new laptop case and found out that the laptop was new too. She speechlessly stared at the latest model of the MacBook lying in front of her.

"You forgot something?" Timothy asked as he pushed aside his plate.

"Nothing. Just food coma." Trinity eyed the food left on his plate. "You're not finishing that?"

"Nah. I don't have much of an appetite."

"Oh."

Timothy studied Trinity as she turned on her MacBook. "Drew eats a lot. He'll finish our leftovers anyway."

"Oh" Trinity laughed half-heartedly. "Cool."

Timothy took out his MacBook and saw that Trinity was still clicking around.

"Lost your file?"

"Ah, yeah."

"Remember the name?"

"Yup."

"Why don't you use the Finder then?"

"Finder?"

He looked at her for a while then asked, "This is a new laptop, isn't it? It's the latest model. I'd remember seeing it if you used it with us before. Doesn't seem like something you'd buy, though."

Trinity gave a wry smile. "Yeah… It's a gift…"

"Your family?"

"Mmhm." She nodded.

He leaned over to help her locate her files. "With this, you just need the name of your file and it'll show you where it is."

"Oh! Thank you!" While she navigated to her school's website to download class preparation materials, she silently scolded Phil and Damien in her head.

/I don't care how they got into my laptop and when they transferred all my shit. I did my part to change the things they wanted me to change. Couldn't they at least get me something I actually know how to use?/

Trinity ended up feeding Timothy most of the answers. She knew this group's personality. They always came to class without preparing for it and winged through the questions and activities. They were bright but lazy. She had only grouped with them because they were the only clique with too few people. She had cursed her luck then. She should have known that this change in her image would only draw them closer. What she could not understand yet was their motive.

Time crawled for Trinity. By the time their statistics tutorial ended, Trinity discreetly heaved a sigh of relief. Timothy had chosen to sit beside her in class. She put a hand up to wave goodbye but Timothy offered her a ride back.

"My car's just there." He gestured at the carpark in front of them. A familiar black van caught her eye and alarmed her.

“It’s okay. I got to do something first!” She said while walking away fast.

“I can wait.” He took a step after her.

“No, no, it won’t be fast. See you tomorrow!”

Timothy shrugged. “Alright then, see you.” He trudged to his car.

Trinity turned to face the front and saw Phil walking in her direction just a few steps away from her.

“Relax, I’m going, I’m going.” She said while walking past him without making eye contact.

Phil changed directions and walked beside her. “That’s the wrong direction.”

“I’m circling around.” She explained.

“Why?”

“To stall for some time.”

By the time they made it to the van, no one she recognised was in the vicinity.

“Why did you go through so much trouble to avoid people you know?”

“I don’t want to draw anymore attention.” She laid back on the seat looking like her life got drained out of her.

“Sorry to burst your bubble but unless you’re going to live like Mr Wu, it’s bound to happen. Since Mr Wu chose you, I’m sure you knew that’s just how people are like.”

“But that isn’t the reason why Mr Wu got you, isn’t it?”

“... That’s his story to tell.”

/So it’s related to his childhood./

“Got it.” She said softly as she drifted off to sleep. She knew it was a long drive back to the mansion.