Zarah - infinite dreams

Chapter Fourteen

The whole class gasped and turned to stare at Nathan like he had grown two horns.

"What?" Even senior Christian seemed taken aback, no one expected anybody to speak up not even Christian himself.

"I said it was Diane" He repeated flatly.

Zarah on the other hand was utterly flabbergasted and for the first time since she knew Diane, she looked genuinely scared.

"Good... Diane!"

"H -hu huh?"

"Follow me... And the rest of you..." His eyes roved across the room as he stared at each and everyone of their faces. "To the assembly ground... Now!"

The authority in his voice left no room for disobedience, they stood up almost immediately and filed out of the class after him and Diane wordlessly.

He lingered back after the whole class had left and studied Zarah's retreating figure intensely for a moment.

***

Wading through the throng of students in the hallway with a little difficulty; Zarah, Adaora and Ruby made their way to their classes together after the assembly.

Several students, hesitant to get to their classes were clustered around the hallway in groups, talking and laughing at the top of their voices.

Ruby on the other hand was as usual, chatting animatedly to a very uninterested Adaora and Zarah who listened with an air of nonchalance, humming and ohing in the right places which was more than enough encouragement for Ruby to go on with her incessant chatter.

As they made their way through a set of stairs, they walked into Nathan, who was walking down the stairs. He tossed a small smile in Zarah's direction and she grinned toothily in return, the nonchalant air long forgotten.

Their exchange however did not go unnoticed by Ruby who wiggled her eyebrows teasingly at her. If Adaora noticed, she didn't comment.

"Ooh! I saw that" Ruby sang teasingly.

"Saw what? You saw nothing" Zarah avoided her eyes, her cheek warming up.

"If you say so"

Zarah rolled her eyes in reply. As they rounded off the corner they met Abel. He flashed Zarah a multi million dollar smile, ignoring Ruby and Adaora totally.

Adaora and Ruby exchanged amused glances before turning to stare at her meaningfully. She blushed furiously and tossed him an awkward wave.

He nodded a greeting at her in acknowledgement.

"Aww" Ruby cooed after he had left and Zarah's head snapped in her direction almost immediately.

"What?"

"I can see you're quite popular with the boys around here, huh?"

"I'm not" She scowled, avoiding Ruby's gaze.

"Yeah, yeah I know" A smile was evident in Ruby's voice. She paused and added at an afterthought. "I do wonder how you got someone like Nathan to like you tho, that guy is incapable of human feelings as far as I know"

"Ruby!" Zarah whisper yelled, she glanced around her quickly in the hopes that no one had heard her.

"He does not like me" She huffed, pretending to be annoyed when in reality she kind of liked the idea.

"But you do like him, don't you?"

"I don't!" She squeaked.

Adaora coughed and she turned to stare at her flatly "Adah, you're not helping matters"