CHAPTER THREE: CURIOSITY TURNED POISON
888 Words
CHAPTER THREE: CURIOSITY
Chloe hated mysteries.
No.
That wasn't entirely true.
She loved mysteries.
What she hated was not knowing the answer.
Unfortunately, the three transfer students had become exactly that.
A mystery.
And for the past four days, they had occupied far more space in her thoughts than she was willing to admit.
Which was ridiculous.
Completely ridiculous.
They were just students.
Three students who had transferred into the school only weeks before graduation.
That was all.
At least, that was what Chloe kept telling herself.
The problem was that she didn't believe it.
Not anymore.
"Chloe."
No response.
"Chloe."
Still nothing.
"Chloe!"
A notebook hit her shoulder.
Chloe jumped.
"What?"
Iris stared at her from across the Student Council table.
Around them, several council members looked equally amused.
"You've been staring out the window for ten minutes."
"I have not."
"You absolutely have," Sean said.
Felix nodded immediately.
"It was actually impressive."
Chloe frowned.
"I was thinking."
"That's usually a bad sign," Evie said.
The room laughed.
Chloe ignored them.
Instead, her eyes drifted back toward the window.
Toward the courtyard below.
And unfortunately...
Toward them.
The transfer students.
Fenrik sat beneath a tree, lazily flipping through a book.
Alaric stood nearby, hands tucked into his pockets, staring into the distance.
Aelthira sat on the edge of a stone planter, speaking quietly to a group of students.
Nothing unusual.
Nothing suspicious.
Nothing that explained why Chloe couldn't stop watching them.
Which somehow made it worse.
Because if they had been acting strange, at least she would have had a reason.
Instead, they behaved almost perfectly.
Too perfectly.
Like people trying very hard to be ordinary.
And that, Chloe had decided, was suspicious.
Very suspicious.
---
Over the next few days, things only got worse.
Not because the transfer students did anything strange.
But because they didn't.
Every morning they arrived on time.
Every class they attended without issue.
Every teacher seemed to like them.
Every student who spoke to them came away smiling.
It was irritating.
Deeply irritating.
Because Chloe couldn't find a single thing wrong with them.
And yet...
Something felt wrong.
She just couldn't explain why.
---
By Thursday, she had started keeping notes.
Not official notes.
Secret notes.
Very secret notes.
The kind she would absolutely deny existed if anyone found them.
At the top of the page she had written:
Transfer Students Investigation
Below it:
Fenrik
- Silver hair.
- Annoyingly friendly.
- Talks to everyone.
- Somehow always knows people's names.
Alaric
- Black hair.
- Quiet.
- Extremely quiet.
- Has spoken approximately seven words all week.
Aelthira
- Blonde.
- Smiles a lot.
- Somehow makes teachers agree with her immediately.
Chloe stared at the notebook.
Then sighed.
These weren't observations.
These were complaints.
---
"What's that?"
Chloe nearly launched the notebook across the room.
Evie raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing."
"It looked like something."
"It wasn't."
Sean suddenly appeared behind them.
"Oh, it's definitely something."
Chloe immediately slammed the notebook shut.
Both Sean and Evie exchanged knowing looks.
"She's investigating," Sean whispered dramatically.
"I knew it," Evie replied.
"I am not investigating."
"You absolutely are."
"I'm not."
"You made a notebook."
Chloe froze.
"How did you know about the notebook?"
Sean pointed.
"You literally have a notebook."
"Oh."
That was embarrassing.
---
The next day, Chloe decided she was going to stop.
Seriously.
She meant it.
No more staring.
No more notes.
No more thinking about transfer students.
She lasted until first period.
Then she noticed Fenrik sitting three rows away.
And the plan immediately failed.
---
The worst part was that none of them ever acknowledged her attention.
Not once.
Not a glance.
Not a reaction.
Nothing.
It was as if they genuinely had no idea she was watching them.
And somehow that annoyed her even more.
Because Chloe was used to getting reactions.
People noticed when she was paying attention to something.
These three didn't.
Or pretended not to.
She wasn't sure which possibility irritated her more.
---
By the end of the week, graduation preparations had consumed the entire school.
Students rushed through hallways carrying decorations.
Teachers looked permanently exhausted.
The Student Council office had become a second home.
Everyone was busy.
Everyone except Chloe.
Because despite all the work piling up around her...
Her thoughts kept returning to the same three people.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Until finally she couldn't ignore it anymore.
That afternoon, she found herself sitting alone in the nearly empty Student Council office.
The setting sun painted the room gold.
Outside, students slowly filtered toward the parking lot.
Most were heading home.
Chloe wasn't.
Not yet.
She stared at her notebook.
Then at the window.
Then back at her notebook.
A slow realization settled over her.
The problem wasn't that she had no answers.
The problem was that she hadn't actually tried to get any.
She had only been watching from a distance.
Guessing.
Wondering.
Assuming.
Maybe it was time to stop doing that.
Maybe it was time to find out for herself.
A smile slowly spread across her face.
The kind of smile that usually led to trouble.
"Oh no," she muttered.
Because she already knew exactly what that smile meant.
Tomorrow...
She was going to follow them.
Properly.
And this time...
She wasn't stopping until she found answers.
- Writer
