The Ludicruos League

Alianca

I need to disappear.

That was the first thing that crossed Ali's mind the moment she woke up. She dreaded going to school, seeing him going all lovey-dovey with his new girlfriend.

To say that she didn't feel remorse that he had moved on was a lie. Their relationship started on the wrong foot, and yes, she wasn't proud to admit it. Still, she thought of him. A lot.

She never told her best friend Inang about it. Maybe soon she would. She liked Inang very much, and it made her guilty not to confide in her best friend.

"Alianca! Get your lazy bum off your bed and get ready for school!" Her mother hollered from downstairs, with a heavy emphasis on the r.

Her muscles protested as she got up from her bed. The one week school holidays for the Lebaran Celebration had come and gone. Her cousins Zain and Katy had gone back to Darwin with their parents. They had been a great distraction, going out to the shopping malls and games arcade.

They went horse riding at Monae Farm & Stables over the weekend. It made her body ache all over. Her parents had shares on the fifty acres of grassland and stables where they bred F4 cross of Sandel and Thoroughbred horses used for racing.

Periodically, her mother had to entertain her socialite friends at their clubhouse, oftentimes dragging Ali to go with her. It used to be her elder sister Ehan, but since she went to a university in Auckland, Ali had to fill in for her.

Ali and her family used to live in another part of the city. However, the neighbourhood kids were some of the city's unruly and delinquents. Therefore, they moved to a smaller semi-detached townhouse.

Ali saw no point in pursuing a higher education. No matter how hard she studied, her grades could not be improved. If not for the fact that her father was a politician, she thought MIS would have kicked her out since the first semester. There are perks of being a politician's daughter after all, she thought.

She wanted to be a photographer, although she still couldn't make up her mind about her specialisation. She enjoyed taking photos of interesting and rare objects and developing black and white films. She knew it wouldn't be easy to find a job for that kind of thing in this modern world where digital photography was the new norm.

She was bored. She hated school. She wanted to dye her hair, but her mother would not allow it. She hated her hair. It was the type that looked like a complex maze. Tightly-coiled pattern that formed knots and snarls. Sometimes she braided them, but that morning she had no time.

Reluctantly, Ali went over the routine, getting herself ready for school. She had no appetite for  breakfast. Even the freshly warmed milk that was her favourite tasted like dish water.

It was made worse by her mother's constant nagging for Ali to do better in school. She often compared Ali's underachievement to that of her brilliant sister, Ehan. Her brother Ehad snickered across the table. He wasn't super academic either, but he was excellent in sports, and his volleyball and futsal team representing MIS often won in tournaments.

Their father remained silent throughout the meal. Sometimes, Ali wished he would speak up more or show more interest in his children's school dilemmas. He just let his wife make all the decisions. It was such a contrast when he was making his speeches to the public. It seemed like he had two different personalities.

The journey to school was short on her ride-on electric scooter. However, sometimes Ali liked to go around a few blocks just to delay going to school. She checked her phone again. There was no reply from Inang.

Ali mindlessly rode her scooter. Eventually, she arrived at a street where some students younger than herself were walking to their public school. Some of the boys cat-called her while the girls whispered and giggled behind their hands.

Feeling hurt and insulted, Ali increased her speed to get away from that street. Tears brimmed her eyes, but she blinked them away. She hated herself. She knew she had to do something about her weight. She had tried many types of diet programs, but they never seemed to work for her. They just made her crave more food, and when she succumbed, it made her more guilty.

Her classes that day were super boring, especially since Inang didn't turn up. It was very unlike her friend to skip school. It was more the other way around, but Ali had run out of excuses not to go to school. She had no choice but to attend, although her heart was not in it.

Fortunately, her ex-boyfriend was one grade up, so they didn't bump into each other. Every time she caught a glimpse of him or his new girlfriend at the corridor, she would turn the other way to avoid them.

Ali sat at their favourite spot in the canteen, eating her snacks while browsing on her phone. She tried ringing Inang's phone earlier but there was no answer. She aimlessly browsed the Internet for random stuff.

Just before the bell rang for their recess to end, she heard shrieks of excitement from some students. Hearing the commotion, she tucked her phone inside her skirt pocket and joined the others outside the building. What met her eyes made her heart beat faster.

A large cloud appeared to hover in the sky. It looked like an inward swirling cloud vortex in multi colours. Streaks of electric lights flashed between their cottony folds.

She spotted her brother among The Jocks. She approached him hesitantly.

He didn't hide his annoyance. His whispered over gritted teeth. "What are you doing here, Bulat?!" He used his nickname for her which meant round.

Suddenly, several bolts of lightning crackled through the sky, sending a surge of electricity into the ground. Instantly, Ali felt a pulsating sensation travelling through her body. She floated upwards, light as a feather, being pulled into the centre of the vortex. And her screaming brother was floating alongside her.