What was I thinking?

" Okay class, take your seats!"

Mr. Alexander said after Mr. Langhorn, our previous chemistry teacher left the lab.

I looked for an empty seat when Adam waved at me to sit with them.

There were three members in each group and I joined with him and Elizabeth to their table.

" Sorry,I forgot to bring you back from the cafeteria."

Elizabeth told me with reluctance in her voice.

" It's okay. "

I nodded.

The class started a few moments after a while and we were engaged to do our work. I was struggling to examine my sample of salt and was looking for the direction written on the book. There were two large row of tables in which around seven groups were doing their experiments. I was standing in the opposite side of Adam and Elizabeth, facing their sides.

As I was looking for a sample of a certain chemical on my desk, I heard some audible whispering around the whole class-

" You have to add a mixture of this first -"

I was surprised to hear a deep voice so close behind my ears that I dropped the funnel from my hand which was shattered in pieces by falling on the ground. I quickly looked back.

It was Mr. Alexander - who was just standing right behind of me!

" Oh are you hurt somewhere? "

He said at once while looking at the shattered pieces.

" N-n-no, I'm fine, Thanks! "

I mumbled as he slightly patted my shoulder with his hand.

The class was burst with whisperings and sighs after the incident as he moved from my side and started to roam around the lab to look around everyone’s work.

I saw that, all the female students were whispering and talking to themselves and was giggling too hard as he was walking by. Some of them even tried to imitate accidents like me and wanted to draw his attention that he might come over their side to rescue them.

I looked at Mr. Alexander as he was standing right opposite of my side, showing Molly the whole process of the experiment while she was just staring at him without even blinking.

Mr. Alexander, no doubt was a man of handsome features and quality to impress people, especially women at their first sights. He was tall and handsome with a perfectly built body. I could see his biceps over the black shirt he was wearing with a coffee colored tie. His dark brown hair was back brushed and some frizz of hair got over his forehead which made his looks even more attractive. He was wearing rimless glasses on his eyes which brought a little hot nerdy look in his appearance.

" You finished?"

I woke up from the thoughts as Adam spoke to me.

" Yeah,almost... "

I hurried to do the experiment again.

I looked at Elizabeth, she seemed kind of tensed while looking at Mr. Alexander. I wonder why. Two times they glanced at each other and each of the time I noticed that Elizabeth was trying to avoid his glance while Mr. Alexander looked kind of indifferent.

What was wrong?May be I was thinking too much for the day!

I thought to myself.

As the bell rang and it announced that the class was over, the female students sighed loudly as we had only two classes in a week.

" Okay,so,those of you who couldn’t finish identifying their sample or couldn’t finish the experiment on time, will work on it this week in the lab extra few hours after everyday's lessons are over to finish it as we have only one practical lesson a week. I'll begin a new lesson from next class. If anybody has questions -ask me in our theoretical class or meet me in my office anytime during the break. "

He left after saying these.

" Oh! Wasn’t he just awesome! "

" I'll go to his office room e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y whether I have problems or not! "

" I'll purposely fail in chemistry from now on! Hopefully he'll give me a private lesson!"

As we were leaving the room,I heard girls were giggling and talking to themselves about Mr. Alexander. I was walking side by side with Elizabeth and Adam who were busy talking with themselves.

" Hey,do you know that he just graduated a few years ago from Sunnydale High School? "

I heard someone talking.

" Really? No wonder he is too young!"

" But how he got into our highschool? Probably pulled some strings to the upper level, right?"

" May be! Who knows,but he was way too much talented while studying here and had got many gold medals on studying and on sports. "

" Really? "

" Yes,he was the former basketball team captain in our school and in his captaincy, we got victory against the very first time with Princeton High School. "

As everyone was talking about the past of Mr. Alexander, I looked at Elizabeth. She was looking way too much tensed and hurriedly left the corridor, leaving behind me and Adam alone.

" It's your responsibility now!"

I saw a boy came from behind and pushed Adam's shoulder.

" What?"

Adam, who was walking with me silently said with curiosity.

" You see,how girls are overreacting for the dude! Like,he won against Princeton High.You are the captain of our team now, so you have to win against them too to show the girls that we can also do that, not only the only one Mr. Alexander! "

The boy shouted and emphasized on Mr. Alexander's name while looking at the girls. But in return, he was attacked by some of them with a loud "Booing" over his face.

" Adam! Help me, mate!"

He was laughing so hard and was starting to get away from the crowd.

" Steeve! It's good for you! Hah! And you know, I'll win against Princeton High in my captaincy this year just not for showing or proving it to anyone or anything, I'll do it cause I can! And you have to improve your defending attack on playground mate! Otherwise I'll have to replace you on the next selection! Good luck!"

Adam chuckled while looking at Steeve and his current vulnerable position between the girls and then left the place with me.

" Wait mate! Don't leave me!"

We could hear Steeve's crying and laughter at the same time as we left the place.

" He's funny!"

I laughed while looking at him.

"Yeah,and he's also our best defender.I told him to replace his position just only to vex him.He also knows that."

" So,you are the captain of our school's basketball team?"

I said casually while looking at him.

" Yeah, that's why it's a huge responsibility for me to uphold the honor of our school. Princeton is a powerful opponent. We hardly have wins against them before like they said. Mr. Alexander brought the first win against them in his senior year.And now it's my time."

As he was talking, he was biting his lower lip. I could feel a certain amount of stress in his voice as he was looking at the ground while walking side by side with me.

" I know, you can do that, Adam!"

Adam looked at me with a jerk as he was engaged in thinking and saw me holding his hand.

I hurriedly left his hand and felt kind of awkward.

What was I thinking! Stupid! Why did I hold his hands? Silly me! Ruth!

" Err...Thanks! "

We said nothing after that as we ahead for the next class.

As we went inside the class, I saw Elizabeth sitting on her desk while holding a piece of paper over her face.

I didn’t know why I felt that way, but my heart jolted a little when Adam went infront of her silently and all of a sudden kissed her forehead.

"Baby!"

He said deeply to her ears while wrapping his arms around her waist.

" Errr.. I'll be right back."

I left my bag on the desk and quickly ran outside of the classroom to give them some intimate time of their own.

The classroom was empty at that time as there was around fifteen minutes break for the next class to start again.

I went outside and leaned over the balcony. I could see the whole school ground from that view. I looked inside for a while.

Adam was fixing Elizabeth's hair with one of his hands and was holding her arms with the other while smiling sweetly at her face. She was also smiling back at him.

I kept staring at his sight while he was doing that and a series of unknown emotions rushed over my heart.

I got jealous of Elizabeth.

I looked back.

" So,did you like the school? "

Elizabeth was asking me as we were walking to our home after school.

" Yeah,it was cool!"

I said.

"So,you walk to home after school everyday? " I asked her after a while.

" Not always, Adam brings me home after school on his car sometimes . He has got practice today. "

Elizabeth said.

" Nice!"

I said casually.

After a while, we came at the junction of the two divided roads which I saw this morning. I could see the white colossal castle standing upright in the middle of the woods in the twilight. It was looking alone and forlorn in the last rays of sunlight.

I stopped for a while to look at it.

" You know who lives there?"

I asked Elizabeth while pointing to it.

" Yeah. "

She said in an indifferent sort of way.

" Who?" I asked again.

" Mr. Alexander. "

I stared at her. I was surprised as she said that and remembered what I saw this morning. She was looking kind of uncomfortable at his presence...

" You know Mr. Alexander? " I asked in surprise.

" Yeah."

Elizabeth said while taking the road to our block.

" He's my cousin."