Page 20 of Winterveil

“If you say so.” Jane was silent for a moment, and then a smile quivered onto her face. “I’ll make you a deal—if you sleep past six tomorrow, I’ll give you the privilege of teaching me about the perfective aspect.”

Jane was the only person who could make Klaudia laugh uninhibitedly. They passed the rest of the lunch hour in animated conversation, and Klaudia felt as close to normal as she believed she ever could.

Klaudia only had one class that afternoon, National Security Decision-Making, which went by without incident. The simulation from earlier was still preying on her. She had been too impulsive. She had almost allowed herself to slip. The top students were ranked so closely together that even something as small as a single loss could cause her to be overtaken. No mistake at Valeran went without consequence or reprisal.

She decided to peruse some of the physical books in the reading room. Her mistake, she had come to realize, had been because she had let the fundaments of the discipline fall by the wayside in favor of more granular, tactical thinking. She could use a refresher on theory. Maybe she didn’t need to abstract her way back to Hobbes or Thucydides, but a bit of Morgenthau would set her mind in order again.

Satisfied with this solution, Klaudia made her way to the reading room. April was already too warm for the fireplace to be lit, which was the main appeal of the antiquated, stuffy space. Once the heat scattered the mist of the mountains, the room would be deserted for months at a time, making it one of the most private places on campus. Aside from her own dorm room, it was Klaudia’s favorite refuge.

So she had every reason to expect it to be empty. And at first she thought it was. But once she stepped inside and approached the shelves, she heard a muffled sound. She paused and listened more closely. It was only after a few more moments that she identified it as crying.

Who could possibly be crying? Klaudia thought, with a vague flicker of irritation. Surely anyone who ended up at Valeran was smart enough to know what a grave mistake it would be to have anyone overhear them. The humiliation would follow them for their entire sentence. Their fellow students would never let them forget it.

It seemed cruel and voyeuristic to listen, and it occurred to Klaudia that she could confront them, warn them about the repercussions of being caught in such a vulnerable position. But the notion evaporated as quickly as it had appeared. She didn’t want to get a reputation for kindness. That was almost worse than crying.

Admittedly it was a perverse sense of curiosity that had Klaudia tiptoeing closer, until she caught sight of him at last. The boy was half-hidden in one of the alcoves, elbows braced on his knees, and hands shielding his face, so that she could only see the blond crown of his head. Even hunched over he looked tall, though perhaps more lean than muscular.

Surprise froze her in place. She didn’t know anyone at Valeran who matched his looks.

The boy lifted his head and showed his face. It was tear-streaked and flushed. Behind his glasses, his eyes—a surprisingly vivid green—glimmered with wetness. There was an obvious pain in his gaze that made her heart skip.

Immediately, Klaudia regretted approaching him. His eyes met hers, and she knew at once that this was a boy who did not belong.

Interstitial

SUBMITTED: PAGEANT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR BUCKLEY, GISELLE [CHARLESTON, WV] [CLEARANCE REQ.]

Miss Teen West Virginia—Ultimate Royalty Pageant

Registration Form

PARTICIPANT’S NAME: Giselle Buckley

BIRTH DATE: July 5, 2019

HOMETOWN: Belle, WV

HEIGHT: 5'4"

WEIGHT: 110 lb.

HAIR COLOR: Strawberry blond

EYE COLOR: Blue

DRESS SIZE: 4

MIC: Yes

Please use the space below to tell the judges about yourself and why you think you should be the next Miss Teen West Virginia:

My name is Giselle Buckley. I am from Belle, West Virginia. I live with my grandmother, my mom, my two little sisters, and our dogs, Huck and Nina. I’ve been doing pageants since I was nine months old, and it’s my favorite thing in the world. Even though I’ve won a lot of crowns and a lot of titles, the reason I keep doing pageants is because I love performing. It’s my dream to one day be crowned Miss America, and to make everyone from West Virginia proud.

Seven

Spring 2037

Rural Virginia