The Heiress Club

Chaper 6: Poker Face

School is quiet. Too quiet.

Jasper, especially, has been quiet for the past week. He's definitely plotting something. I just need to figure out what it is before he does. One step ahead of the game, right? In the meantime, he seems almost normal. He's finally gotten another girlfriend, one of the daughters of a member of parliament. I remember seeing her around Manners House.

I'm sitting in the library with Seung-jun and Noelise, watching the rain. Arbourne's library is gorgeous—if you haven't been there, you haven't truly lived. Tall bookshelves reach towards a ceiling as high as a church's, filled with dusty tomes that nobody actually reads. There are loft floors along the bookshelves so if you want to find an author whose name starts with A, you'll have to climb two sets of stairs. Bannisters intricately carved with snakes and unicorns line the floors. On the ground floor, cosy couches and study tables lie in perfect proximity to the tall gothic windows.

There's a windy and heavy thunderstorm outside; most people have chosen to stay in the library or their dormitories for the weekend. Typically everyone's jetting off to Ibiza or Athens for the weekend, but most private planes don't risk flying in this weather.

"I can't," Seung-jun sighs dramatically, throwing his pencil down.

I toss my pencil aside too, leaning back in my chair and stretching. "Me neither," I admit. The two of us are probably the worst students at Arbourne.

"You guys are weak," Noelise says bluntly. Seung-jun is the only person she actively tolerates, it seems. With me it's a bit of a dice toss still.

"You're not even studying!" I protest. I've learned that with Noelise, you just have to match her abrasiveness. "You're listening to your Cage the Elephant or whatever."

"I'm not studying because I already studied enough. And I'm listening to true crime." She gives me a dirty look. I can never tell if she's being serious or not, so I just always assume she's joking. It's worked out well enough so far.

Seung-jun does an exaggerated shiver. "Brr. You're so creepy. All your podcasts are about serial killers cutting out people's hearts and stuff."

"This episode isn't," Noelise points out dryly.

"Oh, let me guess, it's about a serial maimer who dismembers people's left legs."

"Close, actually."

"Really?"

"No. It's about a jailbreak in Chicago."

"That's not even real true crime," Seung-jun complains. "Jailbreak is like, not crime. I mean, true crime is like, the crimes that get you into jail in the first place."

"It is true crime. This guy survived the electric chair and broke out of jail with the help of the mafia. He's never been caught, so it counts," Noelise insists.

"I agree," I say. "As long as it has the mafia in it, it's true crime."

"Jailbreak is like, crime for losers," Seung-jun retorts.

Seung-jun begins a very one-sided argument with Noelise about what truly qualifies as true crime. I look around the library, tuning them out. Es is studying with Teddy (they've bonded over politics) in the corner. Cahyono is still trying to flirt with her, but he's toned it down as he's realised that it's not happening. Seeing Teddy there is surprising. Normally he follows Jasper around all the time.

Suddenly, I hear a loud burst of laughter. I turn around.

An impromptu poker game has arisen in the corner. Someone has just won nearly the entire pot. As someone moves aside, I see Jasper. He's grinning cockily while raking in all the chips that he's just won. It's kind of disgusting how smug he is. My fingers itch.