Frankly speaking, I'd have the same questions Ylle had. She'd applied for the scholarship less than 48 hours ago. It wasn't a terrible thing that they asked to meet her that evening, but it was a bit too soon. Not that she was complaining, but somehow it felt too good to be true. She was currently sitting in the lobby of ALFA EDUCATION RELIEF, an NGO dealing with assisting students from economically suffering families.
Maybe they asked for a meeting to let her down easily because she knew there were students in worse situations than her. She didn't deserve that fast feedback from them.
"Ylle Sky-Blue.", the receptionist called, "They'll see you now."
She was directed to the floor and specific room where the meeting was to take place. She was early, a good thing. When she arrived, she was the only person in the room, but her seat was already marked. She spent the remaining waiting minutes looking out the window, admiring the sunset and hoping for everything to work in her favor.
After a short while, the door opened and two people walked into the room; a man and a woman. The woman wasn't familiar, but she'd seen the man's photos in the website's homepage. Directly she thought he was the head and she was the assistant or something. So, when the woman finally sat on the CEO's chair and the man stood a few centimeters beside the seat, Ylle's jaw almost fell to the floor.
"Hi Ylle. It's so nice to meet you. Welcome to Alfa Education Relief." the woman said first.
"Ni-nice to meet you too." she stuttered.
"I'll go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Gracie, the chairwoman of this organization. Yearly we receive more than 250,000 applications, but we can't help all of them, so only a few lucky ones with applications that stand out are picked. You're one of them."
Ylle beamed happily. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel.
"Tell me more about your situation." Gracie continued.
"A few days ago, I found out that my dad has been fired from his job. He's the breadwinner of our family, assisting me, my little brother and our mom who's trying to settle abroad. I'm currently unemployed, my brother is too young and my mom still can't make ends meet.", she explained, "But my dad assured me that he can still manage only after I postpone going to college."
"But you didn't want to hear that."
"I'm a smart person. I do really well in school. Someone like me can't just magically do well as a college dropout. One can't do both. So, I decided to give this a try."
"You might've noticed that in the application we also asked for your social media platforms. My assistant took the privilege to go check it out. We ended up finding something interesting. Are you friends with Freya Thing?" Gracie asked.
Ylle exhaled a simple yeah. There was a total shift of expressions on her face. Gracie wistfully smiled as she nodded.
"Why didn't she help you? Everyone knows she can."
"At this point, Miss Gracie, I don't think I even have real friends. It sucks that I only realized it now that I'm struggling and really need their help. I wish I knew it sooner."
Gracie signaled her assistant and he immediately went to put a flat file in front of Ylle. He then went back to his spot.
"Feel free to open the file." Gracie proceeded.
Ylle, impatient, opened the file. An instant electric thread ran through her spine. She froze like a statue, only eyes flickering around that one page. Gracie had a very satisfying beam on her face.
"My full name is Ilham Gracie Herman. I know you've heard it before."
Ylle was suddenly invaded by hiccups. You might be wondering what was in the file. Remember Jackie? That bully from St. Philomena. So, there were photos of her taken almost two years ago when she was rushed to the hospital after Ylle beat her to a pulp. All the documents, from the mini X-ray of a fractured elbow bone, captured bruises, medical bills and how long it took her to heal, all were perfectly layered in the file.
"I never knew you're extreme." Ilham commented, "Even I with my temper have never beaten someone to that point. That's ungirly, and most importantly illegal."
To everyone's surprise, Ylle got on her knees. Her head lowered as tears formed like a stream.
"I wasn't in my right mind that day." she sobbed, "I'm not that kind of a person. I never beat people up."
"But you did."
"Please forgive me." she rubbed her hands as she begged desperately, "I regretted what I did. But don't take the offer back, please. My life literally depends on it."
"Well" Ilham leaned back, "You have two choices _ actually three."
"Name them!" she raised her head. Her face was already wet in tears.
"One; go meet Jackie's family, apologize for what you did. In the file there's also a receipt from that day. I'm sure they'll ask you to pay the same amount they did."
"Bu-but I don't have money _"
"Which brings us to two; Leave now and forget this ever happened. Go live the life of a college dropout the way your dad wants. And if you try to apply at any other NGO, this file will haunt you every time you try."
"Please!" Ylle cried.
"Three; Make your friend, River Remington, confess the full plan she has to take down my family."
"What?"
"You know what I'm talking about. I don't need you to do much. Just bring me her confession either in audio or video."
"I can't betray_"
"Your friend? You mean the same friends who've bailed on you now that you need them? This world will pin you down for being a goody two shoes. If you're too good, people will take advantage of it. If you're too bad, they'll all hate you. Form a balance. Don't be too available, or too understanding. Bittersweet, a perfect personality. Freya Thing can help you but refuses to because she knows in 5 months or more she'll invite you all to a trip and you'll obey her like a dog. She'll feed you caviar on a $900 steak and you'll forget that she ditched you when your father got sacked. Friendship? Only two people can be friends. What you have is forgery. Freya and River have placed you all in a simulation where red flags look green. Your dad's loss of his job is your one way ticket out of that tube. It's not a curse, but actually an opportunity to show them that you're not a dummy."
There was a malfunction happening inside Ylle's brain. What once was this now was that. Either her eyes truly opened or got veiled forever. She didn't know. She was angry. But apart from regret, the worst feeling is desperation, and she was on a pinnacle of it.
"You're also taking advantage of me because I need money for college." she told her.
"Frankly, there are thousands more students who deserve our scholarship. You don't even qualify. But I've overlooked it because I need you, and you need me. We're both taking advantage of each other. We're both sitting on different thrones. We both have our crowns on, still."
Ylle looked at the file again, that grave mistake she made in the heat of the moment. It was now haunting her. Does it mean Jackie won? Where the fuck was she by the way? And how did Ilham get all those documents in such a short time? Power. Ilham was more powerful than her. Maybe they were both sitting on thrones, but hers was little and fading.
"So, what's it going to be, Ylle Sky-Blue?"
***