The Sleuth Project ✓

Chapter 12: Inside Scoop

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Inside Scoop 

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QUEENIE ROSE Gintuan was deep in thought later after midnight, during the early hours of the morning.

With a sigh, she adjusted her round specs and pushed back her short strands of curly dark hair behind her ears before focusing on her experiment once more. Across her room, a litter of books were scattered on the floor, and countless testing tubes and bunsen burners sat on a long table that was placed against the wall. 

Ngunit kahit sa pag-hawak ng test tube ay hindi mawala sa isip ng dalaga ang sinabi ni Ann kanina. "You're not even my friends!" she could hear Ann's voice echoing in her mind.

With a sigh, Queenie stopped what she was doing altogether and reclined her back on the swivel chair where she sat, looking out into the dark night through her open windows. 

Hindi mapigilan ng dalaga na maging apektado sa sinabi ni Ann lalo na't kahit hindi sila nag-uusap-usap, Queenie had already considered her dormmates as her somewhat friends. 

They were after all, the only people close enough for her to call as her "friends".

"Pathetic." Queenie scoffed to herself. Pakiramdam niya tuloy ay isa siya desperada pagdating sa pagkakaroon ng kaibigan.

But who could blame her though? She was an outcast in Castillo High for not being as rich as the other students.

Hindi kasi galing sa marangyang pamilya ang kambal na Gintuan. She and her twin, Quinn, came from an average middle-class family. In fact, ayaw pa nga silang paaralin ng kanilang mga magulang sa Castillo High dahil sa mahal na tuition at miscellaneous fees.

But the twins, who dreamt high and were determined to get into the most prestigious high school in Ylando City, secretly applied for a Castillian scholarship — showcasing their brilliant minds and skills.

Quinn after all was particularly amazing with technology and computers. Queenie too, except she much rather pursued her passion for science — specifically in the art of chemistry.

Dahil sa kanilang katalinuhan ay maski ang books at uniforms ng kambal ay libre. Tanging ang dormitories nalang ang kanilang binabayad, much to the relief of their parents who were both public school teachers.

Quinn was the first of the two who adjusted well with the high-status of the academe — much to the thanks of his two childhood friends, Rein and Jarrell, who he had met in their first year as Castillians. Ngunit kung anong kina-swerte ni Quinn, yun naman ang kinamalas ni Queenie.

Compared to Quinn, it was harder for her to make friends with the other girls — especially since most of the rich ladies who studied in the academe were nothing more but stuck-up and snobby, not wanting to do anything with the scholars of Castillo High.

"Is Castillo High turning into some kind of poverty program?" Queenie remembered a girl once said when she first entered her classroom as a first year high school student. The girl who had said that statement wrinkled her nose in disgust, haughtily glancing at Queenie who immediately looked away.

Ever since then, she had considered herself nothing more than unworthy to make friends — she was just not enough, no matter how kind or how smart she was. And so Queenie had no choice. She was forced to survive amongst these wealthy students who bathed in diamonds and tigers on a gold leash, wasting money on trivial matters that were unimportant to her.

In other words, she was nothing but a reject.

"Queenie." A voice suddenly said, snapping the brown-skinned girl out of her thoughts.