Bookish London

Chapter 9 - Liz

I walked around the corner towards my locker to grab my bags and go home, after I had changed back into my uniform in the girls’ locker room.
Kayla follows my route and says: “We played the game well, huh?” She leaned on the locker next to mine, smiling happily.
“Yeah, we played well, so? What are you so delighted about? I’ve never seen you smile this way before…” I respond, nodding to her unusual facial expression.
“Oh well, I’m just glad we got an A in physical education! It was fun to beat the boys for once, they always win when sports are involved…” she says.
“True…well, do you want to hang at my house? My mum would be fine with it, I’m sure…” I offer.
“I’m sorry, but I must decline your offer, bestie. Duncan asked me to work on Mr Charleston’s project, you know which one…” she glances down at her feet as she pronounces these last few words.
“Oh, okay. Sorry, I forgot we had to do that. You should go work with him, you’re right. See you tomorrow.” I tell her as I walk out of the building.
Just as I’m about to step outside, someone grabs my arm and pulls me back.
“What the hell-?!” I say, turning around, to see who grabbed me.
And it was HIM. The one guy I want to avoid. KYLE JAMES CARTER GET OUT OF MY LIFE!
“I’m sorry, don’t you see it’s raining? Do you have an umbrella, perhaps? Because I’m not letting you walk to the tube station under this pouring rain, sorry.” He pronounces, smirking knowingly.
“Go to hell, Carter. I’m going home.” I start walking out again but he stops me, AGAIN.
“Can’t you get it in your head Carter- leave me alone-!” I spin around at him to look him in the eye one last time…and for the first time I actually see him.
Not that he was invisible before, of course not, it’s just that…I never considered him as someone to like, you know what I mean? And today, his brown eyes have more shades than any palette I have ever laid eyes upon…ok stop that’s not something you want to think about, stop it Brain. Okay sorry that was Heart speaking, we should mute him. Do it already!
“Everything fine, Cuthbert? You seem a little off…” he asks, as he slowly steps away from me.
He had gotten too close for our kind of relationship…we were almost in a hug-kiss situation…phew, we avoided that. Ha.
“Yeah, all’s good. Anyway, I’m going home, bye.” I go, but he follows me.
“If you’re not going to wait somewhere dry for this rain to pass, I feel obliged to walk you to the tube station myself. With an umbrella, of course.” He announces, covering both of us with a big, black umbrella, large enough to fit three people.
“Thanks, but I can easily walk on my own.” I speak, as I grab the umbrella’s handle from Kyle’s hands and run towards the station.
He runs towards me, but I don’t see him. I live in this moment of bliss and games and take in the pouring rain from above me (I was indeed not covering myself with the umbrella, but simply dancing while holding it in my hand, childishly, moving around like the dancers would if there was a music video of that old song, you know which one).
As he almost reaches me, I run into the midst of the lunch time crowd in the tube station and get lost within it. He can’t find me here! I strut to my platform and wait for my train. When it comes, I hop on it and head home.
Mission Disturbing-Kyle-James-Carter Multiple-Times-In-A-Day: accomplished.
I have lunch with my mum, and not long after she had left for her afternoon shift at the local bookshop nearby, someone rang my apartment’s doorbell.
I look through the peephole to see who it is and to my surprise, the damp figure of one Kyle James Carter appears in front of me.
“Well, hello there.” I speak.
“What brings you here, Carter?” I add, determined not to open the door at any cost.
“I. Want. My. Umbrella. Back.”
He stammers through chattering teeth. He must’ve caught a cold under the pouring rain. 
Hope he’s okay…no I don’t, I don’t care.
“What if I don’t want to give it back to you? Or what if I lost it?” I ask him with a grin he can’t see.
“Well, you would have to pay me back.”
He establishes nonchalantly.
“How? Tell me, I’m intrigued.” I demand with a smile, knowing there’s nothing in this world I would exchange for that stupid umbrella.
I’d rather keep it for myself, really.
Stupidly enough, I let the unlocked door slid open a few inches, just enough for him to step in with his foot. Strong as he is, he easily manages to open the door completely, and there he stands in front of me, glaring at me with irritation.
“My umbrella, Cuthbert. Now.” He pronounces.
“Never.” I say, lunging at the umbrella holder behind him and grabbing his stupid black one, while avoiding his futile attempts at stealing it from me.
Though technically, I stole IT from HIM, not the other way round…whatever.
“I see you haven’t lost it, then.”
He observes, distracting me momentarily. This news disturbs my concentration enough to let him grab the umbrella, but as he does it, I mirror his actions unconsciously and we end up almost chest to chest, near enough to kiss if we wanted to, like the position at the end of those old couple dances, if it wasn’t for the darn umbrella between us…
As the scene unfolds, the both of us react with a nervous laugh.
“You want me to let go?” he asks innocently.
“Wait, what-?!” I demand him, alarmed. Before I can hear his answer, he lets me go. I see my life go through me, like that one time I jumped from the cliffs at the beach in middle school, when Chad and I accidentally fell…when I survived the twenty feet fall and he did not, he- he died…my childhood best friend…it is just a nightmare, Chad is fine, we talkedlast Saturday...saints, I still remember the fear I felt, and the panic attack that hit me that time, as it’s hitting me now, too…I only see black…like last Tuesday, at school, when I fainted in the hallway…when HE saved me…
As though I had called for him, I felt a strong-arm wrap around mine and pull me up.
I slowly regained consciousness and acknowledged what in the heavens had just happened.
“You want me to save you ALL the time, Cuthbert?” He grins.
I look at him dismally and say nothing. I set myself to rights, trying not to manifest my embarrassment too greatly.
I laugh a little at the joke and hand him his umbrella with a grin.
“Here’s your darned umbrella, Carter. Hope it’s not raining cats and dogs when you step outside onto the street.” I smile.
“I won’t feel a drop on my clothes again, thanks to my umbrella. I would’ve not wasted my good coat if you hadn’t taken it away from me, but still…thanks. See you tomorrow, then?” he says, grinning.
“Tomorrow? Why tomorrow-?” I ask, wondering if I had in some way unconsciously invited him on a date somehow in the meantime.
“We have to work on Mr Charleston’s pair work about Shakespeare through London’s history and its buildings…? You didn’t forget, did you Cuthbert? You’re so attentive about anything academic, it seems ironic that I should be the one to remind You about this…whatever. Pick you up at 10 a.m.?” he says, taking for the open door of my apartment.
“Wait, what-?!” I yell at the closed door he left behind.
I guess HE kind of invited ME on a date, instead.
A school-based one, sure, but still…he must’ve been sure I’d say no or try to force him to do it on my terms, and timetables…instead he took the matter into his hands and left me speechless…clever, Carter, clever.