Balls

9

Iqball was almost a foot taller than her, but she did not have to hurry while walking next to him.

"Whoa, check out their basketball arena! Ballqis, would you mind snapping a photo for me?" Iqball asked excitedly.

Ballqis framed the shot nicely.

It was easy taking a photo of someone who is photogenic.

Iqball pretended to love the photo she took of him. He could only admit to himself that it was just a ploy to get her to look at him.

They crossed a bridge and found the campus' library.

"Ballqis, smile!" he cried but pressed the shutter before she could.

Then he laughed as the frame popped out on his screen.

"Your face looks funny," he noted.

"Delete that," she hissed.

"Let's take a proper one of you first. You must look like you actually love being here," he commanded.

Her mouth dropped and he pressed the shutter button again.

"This one is funnier! I'm keeping this one!" Iqball exclaimed with a laugh.

A thud sounded as she punched him on his shoulders.

"You should always ask for permission before taking someone's photo," she reprimanded.

"Apologies. May I?" he asked ever so politely.

The girl stared at him.

Unbelievable! Ballqis thought.

"Oh you know what..." he said before swinging his arm around her shoulders.

Then click!

"I'm definitely keeping this selfie. Do give me your number so that I can send you the photos," he tried, knowing he had annoyed her.

To his surprise, Ballqis sighed and asked him to hand her his phone.

He thought he was about to get an earful from her.

Is she finally warming up to me? he thought excitedly.

He tap on the Contacts app and she keyed in the number before handing the phone back.

He immediately sent all the photos he had taken, and in his haste he even sent the photo of him at the basketball court.

"Thanks," said Ballqis without even checking.

"Hey I hope I didn't annoy you too much just now," he said, suddenly nervous.

It became quite clear to him that he was becoming a tad desperate for her to like him.

Gosh, this feels like high school again. Whoever said it was easy to forget your high school crush? Iqball could only entertain those thoughts for a few seconds.

Ballqis smiled a crooked one and motioned for them to keep walking.

The campus park was magnificent. Its beautiful water fountain was set in the middle of a brook. It had a solar, wind and water mill running, each with an electronic display to measure how much electricity each mill was producing.

"Imagine if T7 and his gang were to spend the rest of their lives here," Ballqis sighed.

She was getting too conscious of his presence. She must forget about Iqball, she told herself. Talk about fish, her brain commanded.

Iqball appeared to be thoughtful for a second.

"I doubt they'd let him near a place like this one," he noted.