Dream Catcher

I took it out from my bag and handed it over to him with a tiny smile that reached to my eyes.

He didn't speak a word when I gave it to him but still I felt my heart thump. There was a moment of silence between us which made me worry. I didn't understand what was on his mind, he had no expression on his face and I started to doubt if he liked the present I gave him.

He unwrapped the box taking his time and opened it with patience.

"Dream Catcher ?!" his voice showed that he was surprised to see my present. It was clear that he hadn't expected the gift.

I nodded as a yes. "I didn't know what you liked..."

A slight smile took place on his face when he took it out from the box and held it in his hand.

"You made it?" he asked me, as he brushed the dream catcher with his thumb.

"Yes," I said in a low voice and hoped for him to like the gift I made.

"It's beautiful. I like it!" I could feel my heart somersault at his words.

"I'm happy that you liked it," I replied and made sure to remain composed.

That's it. That is all I wanted, I wanted to be the reason for a smile on his face and all my hard work and those sleepless nights were worth for his smile.

"Beautiful ?.... it's not fair at all," we heard a voice which caught our attention.

"Did you ever give me a gift ? at least a chocolate on my birthday? you ungrateful sister."

It was the voice of my cousin who doesn't leave a chance to embarrass me in front of Austin. I didn't know where to hide when Austin looked at me with his expressionless face. Justin was right. I never gave him a gift, I only attended his birthdays for food and cake while he always bought me presents for my birthday every year.

"That shows that I'm important to her than you are," Austin mocked him and took his bag from Justin who brought Austin's bag to give him. He put the dream catcher I made for him in his bag carefully.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard Austin's reply to Justin. I didn't know how to react.

"And also that proves that I'm her best friend and not you," Austin added at the end.

"I thought I was your best friend," Justin sounded dejected but he wasn't serious at all.

"You thought, but you were never, you better accept this bitter truth, bro," Austin said.

I don't know why, but I felt that I was being teased by them and there was a kind of pain in my heart when Austin said that I was his best friend.

"Fine, I won't talk much because today is your birthday but at least show me what she gave you," he asked Austin.

"No," was the answer Austin gave him.

I saw Rachel. She was receiving a letter from a kid.

"You are such a moron Austin!" he said and looked at Rachel.

"Great realisation," Austin said.

I thought it must be a confession letter. I went to her to tease her and excused myself, I took the steps while Justin chose shorter way and jumped like a cat from the railing and rushed towards her before me.

He took the letter from her and read, he tightened his fist as he read the letter.

"Who gave you this letter?" he asked the kid coldly.

Instead of words the kid pointed towards a guy who stood in the corridor and watched us from a little distance. It was Jake, he was of Cindy's classmate.

Justin slid the letter in his pocket before I could take it from him and read it, he followed Jake who started to run the moment that kid pointed at him.

Justin chased him and held his collar. I don't know what they spoke because we were little far away from them but I saw Jake blow a punch on Justin's face. Austin ran towards them after he gave his bag to me to hold.

"That kid gave me the letter to give it to you," Rachel said and continued, "I thought of teasing you so I opened it but before I could read it Justin took that letter from me."

"What? for me ? wait let's talk about this later," I said since I wasn't in a situation to listen to her.

We both followed Austin to a certain distance and stopped moving further.

"Guys, behave yourself and move back," he commanded them.

He repeated his words as they weren't leaving each other's collar. Few seconds later, they both stepped back and then Justin took out the letter from his pocket and gave it to Austin.

I looked around, Thank God! People didn't see them, there was a wall between the guys and the students who stood far away from us, hence no one could see what was happening at that time.

Justin came towards us, his lips were bleeding. Rachel was almost to tears but she tried to control herself.

"Why would you let him punch you, should've punched him back," Rachel said out loud enough for that guy to hear. I heard Jake shriek in pain when I was searching for my bottle in my bag.

I saw Austin walk towards us as he adjusted his neck tie. I was shocked when I saw Jake take support of the wall, he wasn't even able to stand after he received a punch from Austin.

"I only held his collar but you ... you being a school president punched him," Justin chuckled.

"He deserves it," he said and he took us to our class room.

Since he had a spare keys of our class cupboard, he opened it and gave us first aid kit.

He took cotton and a cream with him.

"Are you serious?" Justin asked him.

Austin left without saying a word. A moment later I realised that he took that cotton for the guy whom he punched.

Rachel took the cotton and gave it to Justin but he didn't take it and told that his hands were not clean.

I took the first aid kit to put it back in the cupboard. The kid who told about Jake dropped his lunch basket in shock. I picked up his basket and gave it to him. I turned back and saw Justin who was ready to leave.

"You guys done ?" I asked to which Justin replied with a hmm.

After that, Rachel rushed to washroom to wash her hands. Justin told me that he would drop us.

"Thank you for the gift," Austin said before he left.

I wanted to ask him what had happened that he had to punch him but I couldn't talk much since my cousin was beside me. I only nodded to him with a smile.

I was curious to know what did he even write that they were angry especially Austin. I saw Justin fight with other guys since I was a kid but I never saw Austin hit someone or have argument with any person. I wanted to ask Austin because I knew my cousin wouldn't tell me.

Justin and Rachel, both dropped me at my house and then Justin dropped Rachel at her house .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isn't that common to think that a girl likes a guy when she specially makes something and gives it to a him?

Jessica didn't know what made Austin think that she gave him the dream catcher just because she considered him as her best friend. She doesn't know if he told her indirectly not to expect more than friendship from him or was it because he had no clue about her feelings, these thoughts made Jessica sigh and she looked at the window and saw that the rain was still pouring down.