"Taaliyah," Derek shouted and pulled her back putting his arms around. She had a water bottle in her hand to hit Ryan.
"You stupid," she got angry at Ryan.
"See I told you," Ryan said. "I told you all that these two are together," Taaliyah fumed with anger. "They planned and came here together, see, they must have been caught red handed in the previous school and got expelled or something," Derek was trying his best to control listening to this wrong accusations about Taaliyah more than him.
"You filthy centipede," she called him. Since she hates the centipede that terrorizes her.
"Relax, Liya relax," he said, took her hands and dragged her out of the class. Everybody stopped eating and rounded up.
The girls had no words to say. They rushed out of the class to see where Derek took her. But the two appeared to have vanished.
"Where did they go?" Ester asked others.
"No idea," others said and shrugged looking at each other.
"Let's search," they said and walked back into the class to finish lunch and and pack them. They packed Taaliyah's and kept inside her bag and they rushed out to search. Ryan and his gang sat there bad mouthing Derek and Taaliyah for reacting to his words.
"You better shut up Ryan," Emily scolded him and walked out.
They went to washroom washed their hands began to search.
On the meanwhile, inside the library, between the shelves, Derek spoke to Taaliyah, whispering to her. Librarian had gone out to lunch asking the two of them to wait there until he comes back to take the books. It was a great chance for them.
"Taaliyah, why did you get angry?" he asked Taaliyah looking at her. Her cheeks were red and hot. She looked back at him.
"How dare he hit you!" she said to him raising her voice.
"Hush, slowly," he reminded her.
"How dare he fight with you," she whispered then. "He is such an asshole," she said. Derek was surprised.
"Did you just call him the A word," he smiled in surprise.
"Yes," she said and folded her arms against ther chest. she shook her head. "You were tolerating him too,"
"Am the class leader remember, you are assistant, but you broke the rule today," he reminded her.
"I had to, or else he would have kept saying those," she stopped in the middle. He also said nothing back to it. They both wished to change the topic. And both of them not aware of what it is.
"Ok Ok relax," he said and lifted her chin. There was some sort of spark between them. "How about I give you a chocolate?" he said to her.
"You have chocolate?" Why do you always have chocolate with you?"
"I don't know I just get them," he said. Whenever he got them, he always kept them for her, to give her and see her eat them and share it with him. Or else he would not have them.
"There they are," Ester walked towards them with the other girls. "God you two really scared and worried us," they said to Taaliyah and Derek.
"Everything okay?" Derek asked. Taaliyah was having the Cadbury and gave Derek his share. She then handed the girl her share and had together.
"Don't bother what they said okay?" Emiky said to the two. "You two know what you are, so ignore others. Love is different, friendship like yours is different," she advised then. "Don't mind when people say it, it's not like you two are in love," Derek and Taaliyah looked at each other. His ears were turning red. Tensed.
"We get it, we are fine," Taaliyah said.
"Good," Ester said and smiled.
"Yup," Derek said and began to search for the books. He was looking around for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Taaliyah gave him the fever of reading books and especially the Harry Potter series she adores. She had already finished reading it all begging and borrowing from everyone she knows but it was hard for him to get since he only started reading them recently.
"Yes," he suddenly screamed. Everyone looked at his direction. "I got the third part, it is here,"
"Silence," a man said. Librarian was back to work. Taaliyah laughed silently and walked towards him. He did not notice that. The boy took the other part of the series, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince from the top rack of the shelf and turned around hitting her head hard with his cheek. The books fell down.
"An sorry, I did not see you," he whispered.
"Take care of the books, don't destroy it, Librarian called out from the front, hearing the thud of book that fell on the floor.
"Yes sir," Derek shouted and sat down, same time as he did and hit his head again with hers. "Oh my God, oh God, am sorry I did not mean to," he apologised.
"Fine, fine, take it," she said and handed him the book she picked. She noticed that he was looking at her with a worried expression. He was in a dilemma whether to touch her head or keep his hands to himself. He lifted his hands and withdrew them back and got the books from. She rubbed her forehead. And touched her lips. There was a cut she felt and tasted blood. His cheek had hit her had.
He noticed her lips but remained silent, pretending to not know about it. His heart skipped a beat. He exhaled and he walked towards the counter. He took two books and She did too so that he gets to keep all the parts. They were given a month of time to return. He took all the books from her hand and carried them himself. The girls were waiting for them outside and Fred was also there. They all walked together back to class.
But Dalia stood there at the entrance waiting for the all. Taaliyah looked at Derek and he looked back at her. She swallowed hard.