The Girl in The Green Scarf

T w e n t y - n i n e

C H A P T E R

29

"I accept the hard reality that perhaps maybe I might possibly be just the slightest, tiniest, littlest bit kinda sort of interested in him."

―Anonymous.

- H a m s a -

"What about those, where are they from?" Anas asks Sebastian, pointing at a page from the book they both have their faces buried into.

"East Asia, which might be China, Korea or Japan," Sebastian says. "See the relatively small eyes and dark hair? That's mostly their trademark."

"Oh I see. Is Zeina made in China?" Anas asks with a snicker. "She has the trademark too."

From below me Zeina shoots him a murderous glare which only makes him laugh harder. He approaches us, holding the book open at her. "Meet your long lost family, Theina."

Slowly, Zeina reaches for a book on the lower shelf titled 'Primates of Africa'. I purse my lips to keep in a smile, already liking her comeback. She flings the textbook open, flashing a random page that features a giant baboon at Anas.

"Meet yourth," she says with a sweet smile, poking the tip of her tongue through the gap where her front teeth used to be. She swirls around, her hair flowing like chocolate.

"Feisty!" Sebastian whistles and Anas mumbles something under his breath as a frown swallows the rest of his laughing face.

"Both of you, cut this out. We should not make fun of each other," I say and then turn to Sebastian. "And you, stop encouraging such behavior."

I aim for the hard, chastening tone, but my voice lacks conviction.

With a triumphant grin, Zeina snaps the book shut, returns it to place and glances back up at me. "Mitha! Come on! Get me the book with the orange ribbon."

Yeah right. The book; the reason I'm standing on a chair in the middle of the school library. I stand on tips of my toes to reach for it.

"Be careful there, Green," Sebastian speaks up again. "You'll fall and break your neck."

I hear the unspoken words there too; and I won't catch you this time.

The memory of what happened three days ago, burn like a hot metal rod in the back of my mind. How close Sebastian held me, the stark intensity with which he gazed at me, our breaths mingling together as we fought to catch them... AstughfurAllah!

I shake my head against the images, already feeling the humiliation burning a path from my neck to my cheeks.

Dazed, I wrap my fingers around the orange ribbon. Alas not securely enough and it slips out of my hand, knocking Anas in the head.

"Or someone else's head," Sebastian adds amused, fighting laughter.

"Misa!" Anas grunts, wincing and rubbing at his head furiously.

I slap my free hand over my mouth. "Uff! I'm sorry."

Several students laugh and Anas looks up at me accusingly.

"Therves you right," Zeina quips. "Maybe thith pump will fikth thomething up there."

She crouches to pick up Anas' injury weapon and swaggers back to her table with the other girls.

"Nice," Sebastian says, as I hop off the chair to inspect the damage I've instilled on Anas' head. "Glad I'm two tables down from you."

"Judging by how frequent my accidents are becoming, I advise one more," I say, sending him a look of exaggerated despair.