I Did Not Want To Fall For You

19: Cheats

"Get your hands off me," She snapped, her hands already off his shoulder and pushing.
His eyes widened, "What... why?"
"I said get your freaking hands off me."
Her voice was dangerously low, betraying her emotions. She felt like bursting into tears, she felt like tearing him to pieces. He removed his hands quickly and she stomped away, dodging dancing couples. He followed her.
She couldn't leave because the door was locked and opening it meant risking the creaking noise and everyone seeing her leave so she stomped away to a secluded corner at the back of the hall and leaned against the wall, her head bowed, forcing herself to calm down.
"Kamsi."
She didn't look up at Kaito who was now in front of her. His tone was soft and apologetic but she wasn't having it.
"I didn't know you would be so angry, I was just playing around." He pleaded.
"So you knew I would be angry," She said with barely concealed anger. He fell silent, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
"I'm sorry," He whispered, inching closer. He moved his hands towards her and then kept them back at his side.
"I'm sorry," He repeated. She shut her eyes, calming her raging heart and forcing back the tears that sprang up. Damn foolish tears!
He stepped even closer so that her bent head was supported by his chest.
"I'm sorry, I invaded your personal space, I'm sorry." His chin was on her gelled hair so she felt his mouth's movements. They stayed silent, the silence tense. She could hear his racing heartbeat and her lips twitched. He was really sorry.
The slow music had ended and now hip-hop was being played. She knew there would be a lot of indecent dancing and indecent stuff going on in secluded corners. The last time she checked, it was quarter to eight, they were allowed till nine. She chuckled internally, seeing that she and Kaito were in a secluded corner themselves. She was sure by daybreak, some girls would no longer be a part of the virgin crew. Why people couldn't just wait for the right time, she didn't understand. The smell of alcohol wafted into her nostrils and she grimaced; rules were obviously meant to be broken.
She drew in a breath and released it, three times then raised her head, looking up at Kaito's nervous face that was so close, too close; there was just an inch between them. He stared at her with a look so intense she thought she imagined it. She blinked and he moved back quickly, rubbing his palms on his trousers nervously.
So he could be nervous, she thought.
"CJ will be searching for me now... and Danielle, you." She spoke up, breaking the silence. He nodded, not meeting her eyes.
She heaved a sigh, making sure to mean her next words. "It's fine. I've forgiven you." His eyes snapped to hers.
"I'm serious" she leaned off the wall, "just... don't do that again."
"You don't wear crop tops every day" He smiled, "I won't." He still wasn't meeting her eyes.
"It was uncomfortable and it was... intimate and immoral," She spoke, taking a step closer. He shot her a glance but didn't respond.
"You're the one not meeting my eyes now," She smiled. He smiled awkwardly, rubbing his neck, his eyes trained on the wall.
"Why?" She asked.
"It's just... weird" he responded, "you were furious only a moment ago but now you're talking normally and smiling at me and I'm feeling so guilty remembering what I did."
"What did you do?" She teased.
"I invaded your personal space."
"What exactly did you do?"
"I... I sexually harassed you."
Her eyes narrowed at him, she asked, "Why are you feeling guilty?"
"Because it was wrong," He answered, his eyes not leaving hers, "it was immoral and it doesn't speak much about my upbringing. My mum would be ashamed of me if she heard" his gaze fell, "I shouldn't have done that. I just felt very comfortable with you and I did it without thinking."
He was back to looking her in the eye now. She smirked, "And what's the moral lesson?"
He copied her smirk, "Never do it again till you profess your undying love for me and we get married."
She laughed heartily, her palm over her face while he simply smiled, watching her.
"You're too egoistic for your own good."
They stared at each other. This time, she maintained eye contact. It was like they were challenging each other to see who would look away first. He did, to her surprise, blushing slightly.
"So he blushes too." She commented with a smirk.
"Shut up," He muttered, back to his usual self, "happy Valentine." He said, hurriedly walking away. She stared after him, laughing.
Boys, she shook her head.
★
"Maths test!"
"Ehh!"
"You don smoke?"
"God forbid!"
"You wan die, abi?"
"I'm serious. Mr. Thompson is coming, I heard him say it."
Kamsi watched Kola hurry to his seat, just a bit bothered. She immediately opened her locker and brought out her maths note, hurriedly scrolling through. Not that she wasn't prepared; maths was the easiest subject to pass for her and she could say it was her favorite subject, but situations like this made her lose her confidence and scurry around like she didn't know herself.
"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," Daniel was muttering, his eyes and hands feverishly scanning through his roughly written note.
"Daniel, calm down." She laughed, relaxing a bit.
"Leave me alone oo. Kamsi, leave me because you already know it, that's why you can laugh."
"And that Mr. Thompson that always adds the marks," Sarah grumbled.
Mr. Thompson had a thing for impromptu tests. You could never guess when he would pop into the class and throw one at you and he always had the worst timing. Like how would he organize a test when he knew students were occupied with the upcoming heat, and he always added the marks to their overall score at the end of the term.
She shrugged, going back to scrolling through her notes, at the same time Mr. Thompson entered.
"Class stand!"
"Good morning, sir!"
"Get all notes off your desk. Tear a full scap sheet, and write your personal information on the top with clear legible writing."
Subtle groans followed his announcement but no one voiced their complaints. Noises of lockers being shut, tearing of papers, and whatnot followed. She did the same, glancing subtly at Daniel. She was worried about him.
Daniel was one of the most unserious people she knew though he was a friend. He rarely opened his notes to read; in fact, he barely wrote notes and even the little he wrote was barely legible. He always escaped being asked to repeat with just a hair's breadth.
She had tried talking to him, mostly in form of a joke or playful conversation but he always brushed her off.
She sighed, penning down her name. Hopefully, he would scale through like he usually did. The next five minutes were spent in quiet writing, copying the questions Mr. Thompson wrote on the board.
"If you're done with writing, you can start. You have twenty minutes."
She put down the third and last question, her spirit bursting with excitement. It was fun for her and a good feeling to download on her test or exam paper what she expertly knew. The questions were cheap. Free ten marks.
Ten minutes into the exam, someone stepped on her white sock. She looked up, annoyance already threading its way through her veins. She detested washing socks, especially dirty ones.
Looking in the direction of the leg, she realized it could only come from Daniel. His nervous scared gaze bore into hers. She blinked. She looked back down at her paper. She was answering the last question. He kicked her shoe this time.
She breathed in deeply. He knew. Sarah knew. Michael knew. Everyone in the class knew she didn't partake in examination malpractice. He especially knew how much she avoided it. Why was he doing this to her?
She pretended not to notice and instead continued solving.
"Kamsi." His desperate whisper followed. She shut her eyes. What was she to do? She didn't want him to fail but she also didn't want to compromise her faith.
"Kamsi, please."
She looked at him, shaking her head.
"Just one, number two."
"Daniel, I..."
"Hey, both of you stand!"
She froze, hoping desperately it was someone else. Anyone but them.
"Are you deaf? I said get to your feet!"
She swiftly rose, her palm wiping nonexistent sweat off her forehead.
"Cheats, nothing in your head that's why you cheat. Five marks."
Mr. Thompson came up to them with devilish pleased eyes. She watched with teary eyes as he deducted five marks from her test and Daniel's.
"You can sit. I catch you again and you forfeit this test. Anyone else I catch cheating, I will deduct seven marks, seven!"