The Kings of Kentworth

96.

Stephanie and Caleb

The next day at school, Stephanie, Lenny, Tessa and Keith were in the school library indulged in last minute preparations for their quiz completion that had apparently been shifted to the weekend.

“Have you studied the major differences between Viruses, Bacteria and fungi?”

“Yep.”

“Good,” Stephanie said. “’cause I’m not reading that shit.”

“Why?” Tessa chuckled as she flipped through pages on her biology textbook.

“Nothing,” Stephanie shrugged. “I just don’t give a shit. I have enough formulas in my head as it is and viruses, bacteria and fungi seem very irrelevant at this point.”

“Mr. Alonzo called me last night,” Lenny said. “He said he’s not going to be in school until that Saturday. So, we should just meet him here.”

“Great,” Tessa rolled her eyes.

Something far behind Stephanie then caught her eye and a smile slowly formed over her face. She reached out and tapped Stephanie. “Your boyfriend is here.”

Stephanie looked up at her with knitted brows. “What?”

Tessa nodded to something behind Stephanie and Stephanie spun to look.

It was Caleb.

He was making his way into the library with some books in his arms pressed to his side and his eyes moving from one point to the other, searching for a place to settle down and study. Stephanie thought to turn away, but she couldn’t.

She didn’t want to.

An unexplainable feeling coursed through her as she took in the way his athletic physique filled up the tight grey t-shirt he was wearing on top blue jeans and blue all-star sneakers.

She felt her heart skip when he turned and smiled at a girl who had called his attention and said hello.

“You can stop staring now,” Tessa said.

Stephanie spun and saw Tessa with a mischievous smirk on her face. She heard Lenny and Keith snickering on the other side of the table before she glanced at them and narrowed her eyes.

“Assholes.”

She shook her head and looked back down to the books scattered before her.

“You should go say hello, Steph,” Lenny grinned at her.

Stephanie looked up at him and deadpanned.

“He is your boyfriend after all,” Keith added.

She snapped her head to face Keith and hissed through her teeth. “Stop calling him my boyfriend.”

“Wow,” Tessa chuckled.

Stephanie spun to her and scowled. “What?”

“Nothing,” Tessa shook her head and faced her books. “It’s just…..the denial. Wow.”

Stephanie threw her head back in frustration and exhaled. “I don’t even know where you guys got the notion that we were even dating.”

“Steph,” Keith started. “Chill. It’s cool.”

“Yeah,” Tessa shrugged. “The guy obviously likes you.”

“Well I don’t like him, okay,” Stephanie shot back in a snide retort.

The entire table fell quiet. Everyone raised their brows.

“He’s just….he’s not my type, okay?”

The table stayed silent for a few seconds with everyone throwing glances at each other; expecting someone to say something, but no one did.

Tessa broke the silence with a sigh. “Okay,” she shrugged and faced her books again. “Sure. Whatever.”

“Thank you.” Stephanie replied. She looked up to Lenny and caught him staring at her. She couldn’t tell if he was mad, disgusted, amused or just confused.

The table fell silent for ten seconds again, and then Keith looked into his watch and spoke.

“Whoa,” he said as he dropped his wrist and started to hustle his books into his bag.

“Guys, Chemistry. Now.”

“Shit,” Lenny hissed.

Everyone looked into their watches and their phones and immediately stood up and started to gather their books. They all hurried down the aisle bordered by tables, chairs, and towering bookshelves as they hurried for the library exit.

Stephanie hurried to catch up with the others before she heard someone call her from behind.

“Hey, Steph.”

She froze in place and squeezed her eyes shut. “Shit.”

She had forgotten all about Caleb.

She spun to face him and smiled.

“Hey," Caleb smiled; charming as ever. "What’s up?”

“Good,” she nodded. “You?”

“Okay I guess. Exams are already weighing down on me.”

She nodded and smiled in response.

“So it’s this Saturday, right?”

Stephanie raised her brows in question.

Caleb smiled. “The competition.”

“Oh-uhm-yeah,” Stephanie nodded again. “Yeah it is. It's been shifted so...eh...yeah.”

“Awesome,” Caleb’s smile widened. “Wish you guys luck.”

“Thanks.”

Stephanie heard someone clear his throat loudly. She spun in the direction of the exit and saw Lenny standing there glaring at her with impatience and tapping his watch with his finger. She raised a palm to him, a gesture that told him to hold on, before she looked back at Caleb and saw him look away from Lenny and down to her again.

“I-uhm-I have to go,” she winced, her grip tightening on her books clutched to her chest. “I’ve got Chemistry.”

“Yeah, sure,” Caleb gave her a tired smile. “No problem. Just wanted to wish you luck, that’s all.”

“Cool,” she smiled. “Thanks again.”

Caleb raised his palm and mouthed a soundless. “Bye.”

She waved at him and spun away.

She had barely passed the second table after Caleb’s when an idea struck her. She paused and looked up in time to see Lenny’s eyes widen with range at the door way.

She raised her fore-finger to him and mouthed a soundless, “One second,” before she spun back and walked towards Caleb’s table. She stood there for about three seconds, and when he didn’t look up, she cleared her throat to get his attention.

Caleb’s head snapped up. A smile slowly brightened up his face the moment he saw her. It was almost as if he was happy to see her again.

“So I was wondering if you would-ehm-.”

“..If I would like to come to the competition with you?” He cut her off instantly.

Stephanie’s brows went up with surprise at his response. “Yeah…well, would-uhm-would you?”

“Of course,” Caleb smiled at her as if he had been waiting for this opportunity all his life. “I-I would love to.”

Stephanie knitted her brows, a bit amused at how eager he was. “Uhm-okay then. Be in school by eight on Saturday morning.”

“No problem,” Caleb replied.

“Okay,” She uttered.

“Okay,” he nodded.

“Okay.” She started to back away.

“Okay.”

“Uhm-Okay,” she smiled.

“Okay Stephanie,” Caleb shook his head and chuckled. “You should get to class.”

“Right,” she coughed out a laugh, before she spun and walked away.

Caleb sat there smiling with his eyes following the red haired girl until she walked out of the library.

Even after she had left, he still kept his eyes on the door way; smiling at it. He caught two boys staring at him in confusion and then he looked down to his books.

They probably thought he was crazy.

The strange thing was, if one of them had come up to him and asked why he was smiling like that, he probably didn’t have an answer for them.

Perhaps it was because no girl,…No, no human being had ever made Caleb Dickson feel this way before.