Dainty and Dauntless

Egotism:

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

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It was almost the end of the school year, and a bonfire party was to be held in a couple of days to add to the students' amusement. Everyone loved the idea, It was thoughtful and exactly what the closing of a school year needed. That morning when it was announced, the students had cheered.

"Are you excited or what?" Elise just couldn't hold it in and was skipping towards a grinning Natalie with a smile so enormous as they walked back to their classes.

"I sure am". Natalie couldn't avoid Elise's contagious smile as she joined in on the skipping, round and round. The hype was strong. Everyone was excited for tonight and they showed it. The expectations were high, too high and they needed to get through the day at lightning speed if possible. Classes were on as usual but today the time didn't even try to make them wait so long. It cruised its way to the end of class time and to add to the merry feeling, they had a free period next.
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 the book a while back since he had borrowed it for a day, saying how he wanted to take a look at all that was in there. She only hoped he would keep it safe.

"Heads up Natalie, I am not going to be the only one asking for your scrap book".

"How come?" Natalie was confused as she grabbed the book from Garf's hand.

"You see, I might have shown it to three or four friends of mine in the dorms." He scratched his brow as Natalie's eyes bulged.

"The drawings are nice, and your writing is good. I want everyone to see how talented you are"

"But it's private". She hugged the book.

"And good! Remember that. You'll also get some feedback".
Natalie looked at Garf, "if you say so"

Students did ask for the scrap book, took a look and said something nice about her drawings, the stories or her poems. Ramh always asked for it too during their free periods. She loved the comical drawings. That day, she was going through the poems when she suddenly called out;

"Hey, Ethan". She then stood up and went over to his table.
Natalie's shock made her heart thump as she watched the two smile at each other. It wasn't the conversations that Natalie had found odd, that was okay, but the way he lit up around her. Natalie found herself frowning while watching them, she didn't know what to feel when his eyes crinkled too much or when his giggle almost choked him. He often banged the table and threw  his head back as he laughed, making Natalie's heart ache.
Why was he being like that? He never laughed like that nor did he have that much to say to anyone, so why was he forcing it? Pretending? Acting? Why?!
As the conversation between the two became longer, the more Natalie's mood darkened. Natalie found their laughter uncomfortable and their discussions unbearable and she did try to focus on other things away from them and their closeness. Natalie was jealous and angry. Suddenly, Ethan Valer had this whole other side of him, and he had decided to share it with someone else. Then, she was startled by Ramh's quick glance at her and before she could turn away, Ramh began walking back to her.

"Hey Natie, can I borrow your scrap book for some time," Ramh asked while taking glances back at Ethan.

Natalie looked between the two and hesitated a bit. "Sure", she gave in.
The tall girl walked back to Ethan with a grin on her face. When Natalie dared to look his way, Ethan was already looking at her. She gulped and inwardly cussed at her timing. Sometime later, Ramh returned the scrap book but didn't stay to make any comments about it.
After classes, the girls kept to the dorms, talking about the bonfires. The boys had been seen carrying the wood to the small forest on the school's property. While Sera and Riley kept on the look out for any updates about tonight, Natalie made sure she entertained all Elise had to say, delude and to squeal about. Natalie had got herself a huge bag of chips and was cracking each chip with splendor and licking her fingers delightfully. The evening was going to be a good one and the bag of chips was a terrific start. Elise kept coming to pick some chips from Natalie's bag until Natalie froze.

"Elizabeth!," Elise laughed and dropped on her bed with a handful of chips. "Do you need a bag of your own coz I'm all out of chips now thanks to your big hand" Elise was almost out of breath when Natalie dropped the empty bag.

"I'll go get us some water," Natalie moved out. On her way, she caught sight of Ramh a couple of paces away from their room. Her eyes lit up when she saw Natalie. She approached with a deep sigh,
"Guess what Natalie?" She had the most i-can't-wait-to-tell-you smile on. Natalie had never seen her this anticipated.

"Well, someone is in a bright mood. It's the Bonfire, isn't it?"

The other girl shook her head in disapproval and started narrating a whole story about why she had asked for Natalie's scrap book back in class.
Natalie tried hard not to frown but confusion ensued  then turned into anger as Ramh kept talking. She crossed her arms, pierced her eyes at Ramh and asked, "So he is jealous of my writing, is that it?"

"No actually," Ramh giggled, "he says that anything that you do, he can do it even better".

When Natalie studied the girl's face, she couldn't deny this was the most excited Ramh had ever been. No karaoke, movie or storytelling, or funny drama scenes.

Why was Ramh like this?
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