[COMPLETE] African Pride

4. No Ordinary Princess

I tried to clean up the display room to the best of my ability, although I didn't return the dagger. This thing surely was stolen from a sacred Ngai tribal ground, and it needed to be returned to its rightful owners. A lot of the display cases were smashed, but if I were lucky, the Headmaster would think some other juvenile delinquent did it.

Closing the door behind me, I had only taken about three steps before almost slamming face-to-face with that Chinese Girl from before. What was her name again? Xiulan? She appeared to be my age, now that we were closer, and still had that playful sparkle in her eyes as she tilted her head to her side.

"Breaking the rules?" She asked.

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

She smirked. "I mean you snuck away during the assembly and vanished for twenty minutes. So, where ya been?"

"I...What...Look, you shouldn't be just wondering the halls. You could get hurt or something." I stammered.

She took a step closer to me, and reflectively I took a step back. Being so close to her, I could see that her eyes were the color of beaten silver, not brown like I thought they might be. Her black hair, although pulled into a bun in the back of her head, was highlighted chestnut brown in certain places. The makeup she wore made her look fresh and natural, a look I knew I could never pull off as makeup and I never seemed to agree.

"Why?" she asked, still in that light-hearted, playful manner. "Is there something dangerous roaming the halls or something?"

Not anymore... "No. But...However, you shouldn't be..."

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

Before I could react, she reached behind me, grabbing the dagger and raising it to her eyes. She ran her finger over the blade, trying her hardest not to cut herself.

"Whoa..." she gasped, her eyes growing wide. "This is a wicked knife... You could kill someone with this!" She began to wave it around, 'hiyaing' and striking poses. "With this thing, I can defend China from the Huns!"

"Who?"

She looked at me. "Seriously? You never heard of the Huns? They tried to invade China and got their asses handed to them several times. Legends say that a woman called Hua Mulan did most of the kicking."

"Never heard of her before. However, look, can I have the dagger back? Keep on doing that and you'll poke your eye out."

She extended her hand to me to give it back, as I asked, but when she did... she brushed her fingers against mine. It was soft, almost as if the air itself was caressing me, but it sent a shudder of—was it excitement?—shooting up my spine. It lasted a mere moment, but I felt as if lightning had struck me, my whole body tingled while my hand felt as if it was on fire.

My hand snatched back the second the moment ended, and I arched an eyebrow. "What...What do you think you're doing?"

She only smiled and shook her head. "Just looking at something. You know, I never got your name..."

"Ms. Shujaa!" roared a sharp voice that I knew could only belong to the Headmaster, came from down the hall.

He was coming out of the art gallery, and having seen me not far from the room might have put two and two together. As he stomped in our direction, I tucked the dagger into the back of my pants and widened my hands innocently.

"What is the matter, Headmaster?" I asked.

"Several cases within the Art Gallery are smashed, and the room is in disarray. Do you have any idea on what's happened?"