Dainty and Dauntless

Egotism:

More the knowledge, lesser the ego.
Lesser the knowledge, more the ego.
                                                ~Albert Einstein

                                       🖤🖤🖤

It was almost the end of the school year, and a bonfire party was to be held for their amusement.
Natalie heard a squeal of joy.

"Are you excited or what?"
Elise just couldn't hold it in. She was skipping towards a grinning Natalie with a smile so enormous and contagious. 

"Sure am."
Natalie joined in on the skipping. Round in a circle they went.

The hype was blazing. Everyone was excited for tonight and they showed it. The expectations were high, too high. They needed to get through the day at lightning speed if possible.
Classes were on as usual. The time didn't even try to make them wait so long. It was cruising its way to the end of class time. To add to the merry feeling, they had a free period. Sweet!

Natalie kept at her seat, doodling around to pass the time. She could have decided to write up something in her scrap book, but she seemed too excited for the evening to think of anything.

Garf had just returned it a while back. He had borrowed it for a day, saying how he wanted to take a look at all that was in there. It comprised of sketches, drawings, writings, stories and collections. Natalie wasn't surprised he wanted to take a look, so he had given it to him.

"Heads up Natalie, I am not going to be the only one asking for your scrap book."
Natalie was confused.
"How come?"
"You see, I might have shown it to three or four friends of mine in the dorms." He scratched his brow.
Natalie's eyes bulged. Garf hurried to apologize.

"Honestly the drawings are nice, and the writing is so good. I want everyone to see how talented you are."

"Yeah, but it's private, Garf. Am not sure it will be as interesting as they expect it to be." She hugged the book and sighed.

"Trust me, it is very good, ok"
Natalie looked at Garf and gave in. 

So, she had agreed to hand it out to her classmates during their free periods only.
Many did ask for the book, take a look and say something nice. Ethan never did. She didn't think Ethan had once taken a look into it.

It surprised her when once as she was having a conversation with Ramh once and she acknowledged Ethan. 

"Hey Ethan, I want to talk to you" She had said, stood up and went to him.
Ethan had nodded and received her with a smile. She seemed to have made a good bond with Ethan.
Conversations between the two became frequent and longer. They used to discuss and actually laugh out loud. Natalie found this uncomfortable. Ethan looked to be having the time of his life.

She did try to focus on other things away from them, that included updating her scrap book. She was startled by Ramh's unexpected arrival at her seat.

"Hey Natalie, can I borrow your scrap book for some time." She asked, taking glances back at Ethan.

"Sure," replied Natalie and handed the book over.

The other girl walked back in Ethan's direction and Natalie thought she saw a grin on her face as she turned back.
When Natalie dared to look in the direction, Ethan was also looking in her direction.
Woah! She jumped a bit in her seat, and she inwardly swore she would not mind their business any further. Shortly after her book was returned and peace of mind was restored.

Classes came to an end, finally! It was now the joyful race to the dorms to prepare for the bonfires.
Natalie entertained all Elise had to say, delude and to squeal about. She grinned, smiled and laughed with her. She was very excited, and the feeling was mutual.
To celebrate the occasion, Natalie got herself a huge bag of chips, her favorite. She cracked each chip with splendor and licked her fingers delightfully. It was heaven. This evening was going to be a good one. The bag of chips was a terrific start.
Then she sighted Ramh, a couple of paces away from her. She seemed to be looking for something, or maybe someone. When they locked eyes, she scampered towards Natalie.

"Guess what Natalie?"

Her eyes were twinkling with enthusiasm and her body couldn't hide it either. She had the most "I can't wait to tell you" Smile on. Natalie had never seen her this anticipated. This cheered up Natalie.

"Well, someone is in a bright mood. Bonfire maybe?"

The other girl shook her head in disapproval. She started narrating a whole story about why she had asked for Natalie's scrap book back in class.
Natalie's face slowly developed a frown, one that showed confusion then turned into anger as the girl kept talking.
Natalie placed her bag of chips down, crossed her arms, stared at the girl and asked, "So he is envious of my writing, is that it?"

"No actually, he says he is better than you at everything."

When Natalie looked at the girl's face, she couldn't deny this was the most excited Ramh had ever been. No karaoke, movie or storytelling, funniest drama scene had ever done this.  In that moment, she was real.

                                     🖤🖤🖤