Ever since Alyssa joined Mia’s school. Life in the school had never been the same again, from one horrible event to the other and all were always targeted towards Mia.
Alyssa was so nice to everyone that almost everyone in school became her friend and no one would ever think that Alyssa would try to hurt anyone. Mia was trying to make her way down the school staircase with Alyssa at the bottom.
Suddenly, Mia missed a step and was about to trip when Caleb came to catch her on time. The disappointed look on Alyssa’s face could barely go unnoticed.
“Are you okay?” Caleb was still holding Mia in his arms with everybody staring at them as if watching a movie.
“I’m fine” Mia responded and tried to get herself on the ground but she had twisted her ankle so badly and he had to carry her bridal style down the stairs.
He made her sit on a bench as he removed her shoes and socks before he tightly grabbed her foot with one hand while his other hand was wrapped around her ankle, gently squeezing it. He pulled her foot very roughly and Mia couldn’t help but scream in so much pain.
“Ahhh” she threw her head backwards and bit her lower lip before she finally felt some kind of relief.
“Are you better now? Does it still hurt?” Caleb kept on massaging her foot, checking if she had any other serious injuries and when he was sure there was none he placed her foot on the floor.
“Thank you” Mia said to Caleb.
“For what?” Caleb sat on the bench beside her.
“For helping me. Humans say “thank you” when someone renders help they were in dying need of” Mia kept on nodding her head and Caleb just couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“I should be the one thanking you. You saved my life the other day, this is just the little I could do” Caleb held Mia’s hand and Mia struggled for him to let go but he didn’t. He looked at her immensely and tried to kiss her but Mia quickly stood up from the bench and walked away from him, she ran away rather.
Everyone just looked at them in the hallway, especially the disappointed Caleb who just sat there with a long face. It didn’t take long for Lakshmi to hear that a guy just tried to kiss her innocent Mia and she was blushing as if she was the one.
“Oohh Mia, you don’t know what this means. It means that he likes you” Lakshmi held Mia’s shoulders as she danced around, they were both waiting for the driver outside the school.
“Of course he does. He likes me and you and everyone else that is in this school” Mia was smiling, she really didn’t understand what it meant for a boy to like a girl.
“That is not what I meant Mia. I meant that he likes you like you” Lakshmi gently hit her forehead with her palm. She was thinking of how she could explain things to her very naive friend.
“You just said it twice, it doesn’t really make any difference does it?” Mia tilted her head towards her right and Lakshmi helped her keep her head straight up.
” Yes Mia, it makes a lot of difference. It means he probably has a crush on you” Lakshmi smiled.
“What does crush mean?” Mia was even more confused than she was initially.
“It means he is very attracted to you more than any other girl” Lakshmi was still trying to find the right words.
“Love?” Mia struggled.
“Close to it but we don’t know yet. I guess you just have to wait and see” Lakshmi gestured towards Mia for them to get into the car as they drove home.
Mia tried to do her research on teenage love and crush, she didn’t quite understand what it all meant.
“Mia” her father called out to her and she looked at the mirror that hung on the wall of her room.
“Dad” her face lit up and there was a gentle smile on his face.
“Dad, what does love mean?” Mia debated on whether it was right to ask her father or not but apart from Lakshmi and her father she really didn’t have anybody she could share her feelings with.
“Love is a type of feeling that even I can’t explain. When you are in love with someone you would do everything possible to make that person happy. For example, I love you, that’s why I did my best to make sure that those horrible people couldn’t find you the other day” her father spoke softly and Mia was starting to understand.
“Lakshmi said that a guy in my school has a crush on me and she equated the crush to love then I think he is in love with me” Mia looked at the ceiling immediately after she finished talking.
Her dad looked at his innocent daughter who knew nothing about anything.
“That’s nice. I have to go now and Mia don’t do something stupid” her dad warned just before his reflection was completely out of sight.
The next day Mia tried her best to avoid Caleb, who felt really sad that he had to let his emotions take over him to the point he actually attempted to kiss Mia. He rubbed his eyes with his palms as he regretted every step he took.
“Are you okay?” He suddenly heard Mia’s voice asking him, he brought his hand down from his eyes and looked at her just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
“Mia?” He was so surprised to see her standing in front of him. They were both in the middle of the road located nowhere exactly.
“I’m sorry for my behavior Caleb. I really didn’t mean to run away” Mia lowered her gaze and he touched her chin, raising her face up and using his thumb to massage her cheek.
“It’s okay Mia, I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you without your permission it just wasn’t right” Caleb responded so sweetly and licked his lower lips. He looked at Mia once again and this time she was the one bringing herself closer to him.
He wrapped his hand around her tiny waist and attempted to kiss her but then someone kept on tapping him on the shoulder. He forcefully moved his shoulder, trying to get the person away from him but the person just kept persisting and Mia started to fade away from him. Everything suddenly became blurry and it also began to rain and that was when he woke up.
“Bro, are you sure you are fine?” His elder brother Nathan kept on teasing him
“Yah I’m good” he struggled to get out of bed but then he raised his blanket and found out. The bed was wet.
“Nathan you didn’t have to do that you know” Caleb was frustrated as his foot touched the floor.
“Of course I did. I have been trying to wake you up but you were so deep in your slumber I got scared. Either you were sleeping beauty the male version or you were dead” Nathan raised an eyebrow.
Caleb pulled off his shirt and tried to clean his ear. There was so much water in his ear.
” Very funny Nathan” Caleb gave a fake smile.
“You are running late for school. You have to hurry before mum comes here and makes a scene” Nathan advised Caleb who quickly made his way into his bathroom.