BENEATH THE UNIFORM
Chapter Four: The Club That Watches
The Literary Club met every Friday evening in Room 14B — tucked behind the library, where the walls were lined with gold-edged volumes no one was allowed to borrow.
Sharon didn't knock.
She walked in like she belonged there — her blazer neatly buttoned, her hair pulled back in a sleek, controlled bun, her expression unreadable. She looked like a girl interested in poetry, not justice. That was the point.
The room was softly lit, smelling of old books and brewed hibiscus tea. Six students were already seated in a half-circle. Each one wore the same expression — polite, bored, and slightly amused.
At the center of it all: Bianca Iwu. She sat in a high-backed chair, legs crossed, arms casually draped. Her nails were painted maroon, matching the small velvet notebook on her lap.
Next to her sat Damian, looking too comfortable, too quiet. His eyes found Sharon the moment she entered, and stayed there.
Of course.
Bianca looked her over slowly. "You're not on the roster."
Sharon smiled. "Must've been a mistake."
Bianca didn't respond for a long second. The others watched, waiting to see what she'd do. Finally, she smiled — a tight, sharp expression. "We don't usually take new members mid-term."
Damian leaned forward. "Let her stay. She might surprise us."
Sharon's smile didn't waver. "I plan to."
---
The first part of the meeting was standard Crescent Grove ritual — dramatic readings, analysis of obscure texts, competitive intellectualism masked as discussion. Sharon said little, choosing instead to observe.
Bianca spoke in clipped sentences. Damian only talked when it mattered. A boy named Ikenna made every opinion sound like scripture. A girl named Daphne scribbled in a notebook, but never spoke aloud.
They all performed intelligence. But beneath the surface, Sharon could sense the current. Every sentence was a game. Every smile had rules.
This wasn't just a club. It was a gate.
A test.
---
Halfway through, Damian stood.
"New tradition," he said. "Initiation reading."
Bianca rolled her eyes but didn't object. "Fine. Let's see what she's made of."
Sharon tilted her head. "You want me to read something?"
Damian walked to the shelf and pulled out a slim black book. No title. Just a gold symbol embossed on the front — a lion with a dagger through its mouth.
He handed it to her.
Sharon opened it, but the pages weren't poetry. They were coded phrases. Obscure lines. Pieces of something larger — a manifesto, maybe. She recognized the pattern immediately. She'd seen handwriting like this in her sister's journal.
She read the first line aloud:
"The crown sits crooked. That's why it cuts the skin."
Silence fell.
Ikenna shifted in his seat. Daphne finally looked up. Bianca's jaw tightened, but she said nothing.
Damian smiled. "Fitting."
Sharon handed the book back. "I don't believe in crowns," she said.
A quiet chuckle rippled through the group. Bianca looked annoyed. Damian just looked amused — which somehow felt worse.
---
After the meeting, Sharon lingered near the shelves, pretending to skim books. The rest of the students filed out slowly.
Damian stayed.
"You handled that well," he said, his voice low.
"I wasn't trying to impress anyone."
"You did anyway."
Sharon turned toward him. "What is this club really?"
He didn't answer right away.
Instead, he stepped closer. "You know, your sister said the same thing to me. Word for word."
Her stomach turned — but she didn't show it.
"She wanted to understand the system," Damian continued. "But understanding doesn't protect you."
Sharon met his eyes. "Neither does pretending you're safe."
A pause.
Then Damian leaned closer, just enough for her to feel his breath near her ear. "Be careful, Sharon. The more you pretend not to be afraid… the more they'll try to find out what scares you."
Then he walked away, leaving the scent of cologne and danger behind.
---
That night, Sharon pulled out her notebook again.
New Entry:
> The Literary Club is more than books. It's a gate. A filter.
They used it to test her. They're trying the same with me.
Damian knows too much. Bianca hides it better.
But the real leaders… aren't in the room.
She added a symbol to the bottom corner of the page:
A lion with a dagger.
The same one from the book. The same one in Sade's drawings.
She closed the notebook slowly, her mind already racing toward the next clue.
If she kept peeling layers, eventually something would bleed.
---
📌 End of Chapter Four