I'm Here With You

I walked to the door of the mini hall, took in a deep breath and stepped in.

James had earlier texted him to meet in the hall for preparation.

Though I am still wondering how he got my number. Such a mysterious guy.

My eyes landed on him but he wasn't alone, he was with his friends.

They were a group of four. James, Damien, our class rep, and two others I have no idea what their name was.

They were talking about a lady but when they noticed I was around.

They kept shut and shifted their gaze to me.

"Hey beautiful." One of them called out.

I rolled my gaze from the others to the one that just spoke.

"Hey." I replied, I didn't know the best word to use to respond to him.

They exchanged glances and turned back to look at me, their stares boring holes into me.

I exhaled and hopped down of the mini podium to the next floor

I walked over to a seat quite far from where they were.

I opened my bag and brought out my phone.

If nothing happened within a minute, I was going to leave.

I was still thinking of this when they all stood up and walked out of the hall without saying a word.

"Hey, Clara." James called out.

"Why are we here? I thought we'd concluded we would be meeting on the field." I voiced out.

"Yeah I know I had a change of mind, come on I don't bite, come closer...unless you ask nicely" He said.

"No! So you don't get to splash muddy water on me and call it an accident." I yelled out.

He paused and suddenly burst out laughing.

I blinked. What's funny in what I just said?

"Like seriously? Did you just remember that, we'd met this morning and you said nothing about that." He said.

I shrugged without replying, my eyes still fixed on my phone.

"Maybe you should also remember what you were doing in my toilet a few days back." He said.

I sniffed. "Whatever..it was just a coincidence I thought the room belonged to Ethan, that's all." I mouthed.

"Of course you still don't expect me to believe that. You thought it was Ethan's room or whatever you call the guy and yet you entered his toilet, who does that?" He mouthed.

A smirk appeared on my face as I shifted my gaze away from him.

Of course, what was I expecting? That was going to be the same question any one who knows about it would ask me.

"Well, that's gone already." I voiced out.

"No! It hasn't gone yet because I still can't believe it happened. Wait! Is Ethan your boyfriend?" He asked, focusing his gaze on me.

"I don't want to talk about that, please." I said in a haste.

"Alright, if you don't want to talk about it it's fine and I'm sorry for the muddy water though. " He said.

I drew my brows together. I'd thought he was the baddest boy who never said the word sorry.

"Fine, I'm also sorry for appearing in your toilet unexpectedly." I muttered.

"Sure, are we cool now?" He asked again.

A smile threatened to surface on my cheek. "I don't know, let's just dive into what we are here for." I uttered.

"This is the first time we are having a peaceful conversation." He said and brought out the equipment needed from his bag.

"Kind of." I replied and took one of the gloves beside the chronicle flask,wearing it tight on my hand.

"You're too serious." He suddenly said,

"I need to pass this course, guy. Have you ever thought of who you would be when you fail chemistry." I mouthed.

"Of course I love the course. I mean all the courses but basketball comes first."

A smirk appeared on my face. "Stop bragging to me about what I haven't even seen you play." I replied, my hands on the measuring cylinder.

"Of course there'd never be a chance but the school sport center is opening in two weeks time so you're going to watch me with your mouth full open." He concluded.

I scoffed. "You give yourself so much praise, guy." I said.

"Yes, because I know what I can do, girl." He replied.

"I'm not a girl." I replied.

"Do you want to point out all of what I said?" He mouthed.

"No, just trying to tell you what I don't want." I replied.

"Okay, fine." He replied.

My hands moved over the equipment as I arranged it in order.

"So what game do you know how to play best?" He asked.

I smiled, my eyes fixed on the equipment. 

"If there's one sport in this world I'd always loved to play is hockey." I replied.

"Woah that's great, you don't play basketball? " He asked.

"That's my second best." I replied.

"You know...there's kind of some sort of attraction between the both of us." James said.

My brows drew together. What was he talking about?

"I don't get you." I said, looking at my wristwatch.

It was already 8:35pm. We practiced and spoke for more than four hours.

"I mean, colliding at the party, appearing in my toilet, muddy splash and then project partners, it's all pointing at something." He said.

My eyes met with his boring eyes. "What are you expecting to say?" I shrugged.

I dipped my phone into my bag and closed it.

"It's fine you can just stay mute." He muttered.

"It's already late don't you.." I was still in between my sentences when the light tripped off.

The whole hall went dark.

My heart pounded. I needed to find the light.

I was struggling to stand up when I accidentally bumped into James.

I staggered but his cold hands laid on my waist, holding me steady.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard James' voice close to my ears.

Close enough to feel the breath from his nostrils.

"You don't need to be scared, I'm here with you."

Silence stretched between us as I could feel his breath even more closely.

I moved my head forward a bit trying to balance when my lips accidentally brushed his.

I froze and moved my head. And at that moment the light turned on.

I quickly pulled away from his hold, held my handbag and hurried out of the mini hall.

Without saying a word nor staring back at his face.

I hastened my steps to my dorm, what just happened kept replaying in my head.

I shut the door behind me as I entered my room.

I threw my bag on the mini table near my bed and lay on the bed.

"What happened. " Emile and Ivy asked almost at the same time.

I exhaled. "It's a freaking long story." I replied, my gaze fixed on the white ceiling.

"Come on, tell us about it." Emile said, I could hear the sound of her changing her position on her bed.

I froze. A knock from the door rang through my ears.

I hope it wasn't James at the door.