A Shift
Vi threw open the door, dropped her bag and collapsed in front of the desk. She put her head on the table and closed her eyes, deep in thought.
Clearly, Caitlyn was hiding more than Vi realised. In the moment Vi realised how much Caitlyn was holding back, she saw a crack in her polished armour, giving Vi just a glimpse into the real Caitlyn.
Vi knew she’d seen this before. She just couldn’t place it. It was almost like a fever dream to her — details there, but fuzzy and indistinct. Someone, somewhere had been under too much pressure, too proud to show it.
She couldn’t remember, but she knew it had not ended well. Despite barely having met Caitlyn and convincing herself she hated that nerdy goody-two-shoes, Vi knew one thing — whatever had happened before, she wasn’t going to let it repeat itself again.
Vi growled quietly. It didn’t make sense. Why was she so protective of someone she was sure she hated?
But Vi couldn’t help feeling sorry for Caitlyn. The girl had always gotten the grant, and for it to be snatched away by someone who never asked for it had to sting. Badly. Vi knew the scholarship was probably everything to Caitlyn, but Vi herself didn’t want to give it up. She, too, needed the grant to get into college.
Vi understood Caitlyn wasn’t the perfect walking dictionary she’d always been mocked as. She wasn’t an alien or a robot of sorts. She was human, too, with struggles and conflicts of her own. She just managed to hide them so well no one ever noticed until Vi came along. But Vi knew that if Caitlyn kept going down the same secretive path she’d always walked, her happiness would be cut short very soon.
Vi turned her head toward the door. “What the hell,” she murmured.
~~~
Vi walked into class the next day to an unusual sight. Caitlyn Kiramman, the straight A student who always paid attention in class, always did her homework, was passed out at her desk. If Vi didn’t know better she might have thought Caitlyn was hungover.
Vi smiled to herself. “Someone didn’t get her beauty sleep.”
She pulled out her chair next to Caitlyn and was about to sit when she saw the notes sticking out of Caitlyn’s bag. Out of curiosity, she pulled them out and read them. When she realised what was going on, her eyes widened in shock.
They were all tutoring materials, with highlights on key points and well-thought examples written in the side margins. Caitlyn had specifically moulded the examples to fit Vi’s interests and allow her to understand better.
But why? Vi thought to herself. Why’d she do so much for me? She hates me as much as I hate her.
A couple boys walked past and laughed at Caitlyn. “Looks like the teacher’s pet isn’t so perfect, eh?”
Vi lifted her head and glared at them. Her piercing gaze seemed to stab right through them, silencing them immediately. They hurried to their desks at the back of the class.
Vi turned her attention back to Caitlyn’s notes. She couldn’t help admiring the girl. Despite her family’s influence, she never used it against others. Everything she’d achieved in this school she had done fairly, on even playing ground. Despite losing the scholarship to Vi she never really took it out openly on her, and after everything Vi had done to her — being dismissive, brushing off her efforts to help her, calling her a goody-two-shoes — Caitlyn had still gone the extra mile for Vi. A strange sort of warmth spread throughout Vi’s chest, something she hadn’t felt in a decade, since her parents died.
“What are you doing with that? Give it back!” Caitlyn had awoken and snatched the paper out of Vi’s hands.
Vi laughed and teased Caitlyn. “Going the extra mile for me? It’s almost like you’re interested in me.”
Caitlyn’s face flushed, but she scowled. “A-as if! Don’t flatter yourself. I’m only doing this so I don’t get into trouble with Professor Talis.”
Vi smirked. She could see right past Caitlyn’s weak illusion, but kept silent.
~~~
“Why are you here?”
Caitlyn stood in Vi’s doorway, notes and textbooks in hand.
“I’m here to tutor you, of course.” Caitlyn waved a stack of papers in Vi’s face. “Don’t make me regret staying up for this.”
Vi sighed. “Come in.”
Vi led Caitlyn to her desk, where her math textbook lay open. Vi quickly shut it and shoved it into her drawer, but Caitlyn had already seen what she was doing.
“Were you…studying on your own?” she asked suspiciously.
Vi tried to shrug it off. “Well, I am failing.”
Vi pulled a chair over for Caitlyn, who handed Vi the notes. Vi could sense Caitlyn bracing herself for another disastrous session, but when she spoke her tone was nothing like what Vi expected. She sounded…calm. Helpful, even.
“Let’s pick up where we left off,” Caitlyn said. She turned over the notes so Vi couldn’t have any reference. “What’s the formula for acceleration?”
“(v - u)/t, where v is the final velocity, u is the initial velocity and t is the time in seconds.”
Caitlyn looked impressed. “That’s correct. I’m assuming math isn’t the only thing you studied on your own?”
Vi tried to look bored, but her satisfaction betrayed her, and she couldn’t help smiling.
A smile tugged at the corners of Caitlyn’s mouth, too.
~~~
Caitlyn sat on the edge of her bed. It was 2am, and unlike the night before, she wasn’t awake to plan tutoring sessions for Vi.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Vi. Why was Vi studying so hard and yet so desperate to hide it from Caitlyn? Was Vi, perhaps, smarter than she realised? If so, why didn’t she study harder? She wouldn’t need Caitlyn that way.
Caitlyn recalled that afternoon, when she saw Vi’s flaws clearly for the first time. That girl was more street smart than book smart, and it showed in her work. Things Caitlyn found basic were a massive cliff for her to scale, yet Vi refused to give up. Caitlyn could almost see the fire burning in her heart, driving her on.
It wasn’t just in academics. Her resilience shone through in basketball, too. Caitlyn had watched her matches. Her team could be down by several points, reaching rock bottom. The rest of the team had given up, but only Vi’s determination and will to win had spurred them to fight harder, leading to a victorious game. She admired Vi’s passion towards the sports she played, the things she enjoyed, the way her eyes sparkled when she spoke about it, the way her voice turned to a smooth, low baritone each time Caitlyn mentioned basketball.
Caitlyn shook her head. She couldn’t possibly be falling for Vi. They were just friends. Yes, Vi had qualities Caitlyn admired but she certainly didn’t have a crush on Vi.
Whatever, Caitlyn thought to herself. I have better things to focus on. Mother wouldn’t approve of this, hmm?
~~~
Caitlyn glanced at Vi for the fourth time in the past ten minutes. She quickly drew her attention back to the math problems in front of her, but she could barely focus. Vi hummed quietly to herself, scrawling diagrams and graphs on her notebook.
Caitlyn could only imagine the things Vi could accomplish. With her muscular physique, her charisma and determination, Vi could be unstoppable in whatever she set her mind to. Caitlyn sighed longingly, wishing she had those qualities Vi possessed.
“What?”
Caitlyn snapped back to reality. She realised she’d been staring at Vi again, only this time she was caught. She tried to appear nonchalant. “What?”
Vi smirked. “You’ve been staring at me like there’s something on my face. Is it that bad?”
Caitlyn’s heart skipped a beat. “What? No! I-I just…”
“Relax. I know I’m a lot to take in. Pretty amazing, huh?”
Caitlyn felt her cheeks heating up. “I…don’t think that’s the issue.”
“Hmm.” Vi scoffed playfully and returned her attention to her math. “Sure, you do.”
Caitlyn scowled. She was annoyed, though she wasn’t sure if she was mad at herself for making a scene or at Vi for making it impossible to focus.
“Your units are wrong,” Vi muttered absentmindedly.
“What?” Caitlyn said. She glanced at her work. Vi slid her pen over Caitlyn’s page and tapped on her working. “Your units. It needs to be in metres per second, or the formula won’t be accurate.”
Caitlyn bit her lip in frustration. If Vi was distracting her to the point where even her units were wrong, it was a problem she had to fix quickly.
“Loosen up,” Vi chided. “You look like a piece of plywood. It’s just a small error.”
Caitlyn’s expression soured. “It could cost me up to three marks in the exam.”
“You’re a straight A student. What’s three marks to you?” Vi replied, waving off Caitlyn’s displeasure.
Caitlyn instinctively raised her mental shields. She realised she’d let her stress show more than she’d intended, and immediately withdrew from the conversation to prevent Vi from seeing any more of her vulnerability. She shut her book, fingers curled around her pencil so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“You don’t know anything about me,” she muttered as she left, leaving behind a very surprised and confused Vi.
~~~
Caitlyn collapsed onto her chair in front of her desk at home. Her jumbled-up emotions bounced around inside her, memories flashing before her eyes.
What’s three marks to you?
But those three marks could be life or death to Caitlyn. It could make a difference between an A and a B, a B and a C. To Caitlyn, every mark mattered.
Caitlyn stared at her reflection in the mirror, running her fingers along the edges of her features, tracing the contours that others saw as perfect. She always did this when she needed to remind herself that everything was in order. But today, the reflection seemed foreign, like she was looking at someone else's face. Vi had cracked through it — just a little. Enough to make Caitlyn feel raw.
She should’ve been angry. After all, it was Vi, the person Caitlyn was assigned to mentor, who had pointed out the mistake, almost as though she was getting ahead of Caitlyn. It wasn’t just any mistake; it was a crack in Caitlyn's armor, and Vi had seen it. But instead of feeling embarrassed or furious, Caitlyn felt something else — a strange weight in her chest. It was like the moment Vi saw her for who she really was, she also understood her more than anyone ever had.
Caitlyn clenched her fist at her side. She should’ve pushed Vi away, shut her out before things got messy. But something inside her resisted. Vi was different. Vi didn't demand anything, didn’t expect anything in return. She was simply... there.
For the first time in a long while, Caitlyn felt the need to breathe without the pressure of her family’s name bearing down on her every step. But she also felt the pull of fear — fear that Vi might see too much, or worse, that Caitlyn might lose control entirely.