Rainbow in the Darkness

Chapter 9

            I forget about dressing pretty and go back to my usual, leggings and a t-shirt. I don't want to, I can't see Derrick today. I need to stay away from him. At lunch I go to the reference section of the library to make sure that a) no one will see me and b) Derrick won't find me.

I sit on the floor, between stacks of giant dusty books that no one has looked at for years. I try to read a book that I took from one of the shelves, but my mind won't focus on the words on the page. I wish I could make my mind focus on anything, but Derrick. I was starting to get really frustrated with my mind when someone spoke softly.

"There you are."

I looked up and saw Derrick standing a few feet from me. I'm almost positive that I didn't breath for a few seconds. He came to find me.

"Get away from me." I looked down at my hands, my mind flooding with the image of him kissing Bianca. Before I could stop it a tear rolled down my cheek. Derrick saw the tear and was confused.

"What did I do?"

This made me very angry. "You know what you did. Don't even try to lie to me. I saw you and her. I came over to our spot thinking about asking you out on a date after realizing how much I actually like you, but then I saw you and her...." My words got trapped in my throat. I was crying harder, reliving the day. "How could you kiss her? She is one of them! She is one of the people that bully me. How could you kiss me and say things that made me seem special and then go and kiss her? How could you do that?" I had stood up during my whispered yelling, hoping to seem more angry and hurt.

"Abi, it isn't what you think. She came over and started yelling at me for being there for you and trying to make you happy. She grabbed me angrily and started kissing me. I pushed her away as soon as I could; she is very strong for such a small person." I remember how much strength Bianca had. It took me forever to get her hand off of me when she was angry. "I swear, Abi, you are the only girl I like. I wouldn't do that to you. Please believe me."

I lost all control of my emotions at that point. I started crying, relieved that it wasn't what I thought it was, but also angry with myself for thinking that he would be like that. Derrick brought me to his chest, not saying anything, just being there for me.

I pulled back after a minute and looked up at him. "I'm sorry." A phrase that showed how much I had screwed up.

"It's okay," he said, smiling. He put both of his hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look at him. "Abi, since you didn't get to ask yesterday, will you go on a date with me?"

I smiled and said, "Yes."

Derrick smiled in return. "You looked very pretty yesterday. I wanted to come over to you and kiss you."

"Do it now," I said, feeling the sparks between us.

"Do what?"

"Kiss me."

"You don't need to ask me twice."

We kissed in the reference section of our high school library. It was by far the best kiss we had had because it was an official kiss where both of us knew how much the other person liked the other.