Crossroads | ✓

f o u r

"Don't you think you're being unfair?" I asked as I sighed, "all I want is to know your freaking name. What's in that?"

BookManiac12's eyes hardened, if that was even possible with her already corpse eyes.

"Yeah, be all enigmatic and mysterious," I muttered before turning around.

"Dude, I can always tell you," Yuvan said in a sing-song voice and I just shook my head.

To think unbiased, Yuvan and I had no need to give snarky remarks to each other but it's all because of BookManiac12. I want to know her more and he wants to brag about knowing her more. And suddenly I felt something close to anger when I realised that I'm being a jerk to a potential friend for some girl I met on wattpad.

Wow, anger.

Anger has never been in my dictionary as hard as it seems. And here I was, borderline angry because of such a petty thing as knowing a girl's name.

Oh well, if she's being so stuck up, let her be that way. I won't bother anymore. Even I have a limit and I think eight and a half days (plus the one day before I came to school) of begging to a stranger is enough.

"Good morning, Varun," Boomi called from behind me. She wasn't there when I talked to Book— her best friend. Call me childish, but I was mad and if she doesn't even want to share a simple thing as her name, I don't think I'd address her with her pen name.

Unlike my usual self, I just waved my hand once without even turning.

"What's wrong?" Boomi asked confused and when I didn't reply, from my peripheral vision I saw her smack Yuvan with a notebook.

"Ow! What the hell is your problem, woman?" he hissed rubbing the back of his head where she had attacked.

"Did you spread your jerk fever to our sweetheart, Varun too?"

"Shut up," Yuvan growled and before Boomi could retort, our class teacher (homeroom teacher), entered our class.

And like that, the day continued and though I felt a pair of eyes on me now and then, I knew it wasn't from the girl who shall not be named.

*

*

*

If it wasn't for the almost inaudible hiss from my side, I wouldn't have noticed how BookManiac12 limped as we made our way out of class.

Everyone was pushing each other out of the way in the corridor, trying to get out the school and BookManiac12 was being helplessly tossed around. What made my almost grudge free heart (I'm not one to keep grudges, okay?), stop beside her was how her eyebrows crinkled every time she was pushed aside and how a small 'ah' and 'ow' escaped her thin lips. It got almost drowned in the noise of the corridor. Almost.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked as I took her hand and pulled her inside a nearby classroom.

Let the crowd clear.

BookManiac12 looked at me. Corpse eyes piercing my violet and greenish blue ones and the familiar crawling sensation returned.

Realising that I was looking at her as if she was the scariest thing on the face of earth and how my hand was still, inappropriately might I add, around her wrist, I let go of her hand and stepped back, looking everywhere but her.

"Someone was mad at me this morning," BookManiac12 whispered but there was a hint of obvious amusement clear in her voice.

Wow, obvious emotion showcase? A rarity.