The Careful Implementation of External Pressure

Case #4: Sasha Lles.

Case #4: Sasha Lles.
Tuesday/April/2/2019/2:25PM

Sasha Lles did her best. The part of Missouri she lived in housed people with nothing beyond a high school education (if that) and little to no knowledge of anything more than farming and fishing. So, how she had ended up as the outsider with plans of travelling the world and attending prestigious schools, she had no idea, but she was grateful for her far above average intellect.

Especially at times like this.

The new student, a girl with short brown hair and eyes that changed like they couldn't decide what colour to be, sits to the left of her in English class as two months ago, and there's something off about her.

For starters, her name on the roll was 'Quinn Cardigan,' but she always had a delayed reaction when it was called, like she wasn't used to be addressed by the name, but had practice acting like she was. And, she had the aura of knowing more than she was saying around her like a thick fog, lacing her words with secrets and mystery.

Not to mention, she seemed to have no parents in the area, and occasionally leaned into her right headphone heavily, as if listening to more than music, before stuttering an excuse- the only time she spoke- and hurrying out of class, sometimes not returning until the next day.

Sasha sometimes wondered if the girl really was at the high school level. When it came to topics she should have no knowledge of, the girl sighed softly and stared onward in an act of boredom that Sasha herself did more often than not when the information was tired and she already knew it.

Actually, there had been a brief period where Sasha wondered if she had finally snapped and the shorter girl, "Quinn," was a figment of her imagination. No one else seemed to even see the girl, let alone do anything to show Sasha that she wasn't the only one capable of acknowledging her.

Until, Mrs. William, the English teacher, called on the girl to summarize a scene from the Shakespearean play they were working on; King Lear. Sasha had read it years ago and liked it more than she thought she would, so she wasn't going to pass up the chance to read it again, but the girl recalled details even Sasha had forgotten. Themes even those who study the text professionally would struggle to comprehend were summed up in a few sentences.

"How did you know all that?" Sasha whispered while the teacher struggled to regain composure and control the class, hating the way it made her sound as if she herself knew nothing of the play. She wanted to demonstrate her intelligence to the other girl, not ask stupid, awestruck questions.

The girl laughed nervously, her hands coming together in her lap to fidget, "uh, a few friends of mine read it often. They fight over the metaphors and such a lot, so the rest of us pick up on things."

Sasha could feel her eyebrows draw together at the girl's words. Friends? "The rest of us"? What did that mean?

After that, Sasha noticed the girl everywhere she went. They sat against opposite walls in the cafeteria to eat, and while Sasha was usually lost in her book, Quinn kept one eye on the entrances and exits and periodically checked over every student, somehow still managing to read more than Sasha herself.

It had been almost three weeks since they first spoke, and, despite Sasha's careful planning, they had yet to have a real conversation. She had finally realized that the girl was someone she needed to befriend when she glanced at the girl's phone screen and caught her texting someone in what she later figured out to be Latin. However, it was almost impossible to catch the girl any time but in class. You never noticed her showing up or leaving, it was uncanny how well she disappeared and appeared.

Today, however, Sasha kept her eyes glued to the girl, tuning out Mrs. William with practiced ease, watching as the girl texted under her desk in the supposed-to-be-dead language with professional level ease. A few seconds before the bell, Mrs. William called Sasha's name and she looked before she could stop the instinctive action, catching herself and whipping back to look at the girl's desk before the bell had even finished echoing through the classroom.