f o u r [ h e l i u m ] - part 2

If it wasn't for the almost inaudible hiss from my side, I wouldn't have noticed how BookManiac12 limped as we made our way out of class.

Everyone was pushing each other out of the way in the corridor, trying to get out the school and BookManiac12 was being helplessly tossed around. What made my almost grudge free heart (I'm not one to keep grudges, okay?), stop beside her was how her eyebrows crinkled every time she was pushed aside and how a small 'ah' and 'ow' escaped her thin lips. It got almost drowned in the noise of the corridor. Almost.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked as I took her hand and pulled her inside a nearby classroom.

Let the crowd clear.

BookManiac12 looked at me. Corpse eyes piercing my violet and greenish blue ones and the familiar crawling sensation returned.

Realising that I was looking at her as if she was the scariest thing on the face of earth and how my hand was still, inappropriately might I add, around her wrist, I let go of her hand and stepped back, looking everywhere but her.

"Someone was mad at me this morning," BookManiac12 whispered but there was a hint of obvious amusement clear in her voice.

Wow, obvious emotion showcase? A rarity.

"I wasn't actually mad," I replied indignantly as I kept my stare on the ground, studying their handy workmanship.

Wow, how beautiful these ugly tile floors were. It wasn't swept at the corners and there were some food stains there, too. Wow, such beauty.

A chuckle made me glance up at BookManiac12, startled.

Did she just chuckle?

"What?" she asked as I looked at her in bewilderment.

"You chuckled right now."

"I did," she said, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

"You never smile! Well, not to me and right now your corpse ey— ahem, lacklustre eyes are kind of shining..."

If it was amusement with which BookManiac12 was glancing at me before, what was in her look right now was downright glee, almost close to unbelievable levels of amusement you get when seeing a comedy performance, was colouring her eyes.

"I'm not really doing a great job in trying to praise you, right?"

BookManiac12 chuckled very mildly again but traces of the smile I love made an appearance.

"I don't really know. But if you were a writer trying to enhance your character's definition, you'd be the suckiest one out there. And... I chuckled because you were praising the floor out loud, thinking that you were pulling that stunt in your mind."

Suddenly my knees felt weak and embarrassingly, I had to sit down on the nearby chair to avoid falling.

Can someone kill me already?

Before you wonder if I was suffering from a case of low serum glucose level, I'd like to say that I was just relieved.

BookManiac12 looked at me with even more amusement and now that the curtains covering her thoughts and emotions from the outside world was a little ajar, I also got a look of some kind of affection as she glanced at me. A little lost look on her once corpse eyes.

"Were you going to faint?" she asked at last when all we both did was stare at each other. Me, with bewildered eyes like a deer caught in front of headlights. She, amused as in when you know all the simple math problems like two plus two is four but the three year old writes twenty two and comes to show you.

"No," I said but the same chipmunk on helium voice made an appearance and another chuckle escaped her lips. I knew I should be offended, but I felt my lips twitch as I tried to control the growing grin on my face.

My favourite writer in wattpad is speaking to me. Smiling to me. Being friendly.

Wow.

Total fanboy going totally crazy right now.

"Helium, you're so funny," BookManiac12 said.

"Helium?"

"You sound like a chipmunk on helium," she said with no traces of smiles or chuckles, corpse eyes back on but I still somehow knew she was laughing inside.

I don't know but for someone whom I've never met, I could read BookManiac12 fairly easily even with her corpse eyes.

"I'm offended, BookManiac12."

"You don't look offended. If your offended face is one with a silly grin slapped across it, then okay, you're very offended."

My face broke into a full on grin if that was even possible.

"For someone who's so closed and distant and who only talks like a Voldemort wannabe, you're pretty talkative, aren't ya?"

BookManiac12 looked at me totally not amused.

"Voldemort wannabe?"

"Yep, Voldemort wannabe."

She rolled her eyes and glanced out of the window to find the corridor completely empty.

"Safe walk," I said raising an imaginary hat in a goodbye gesture and without any reply other than a blank stare at me, BookManiac12 started walking towards the door.

I don't know how it happened but somehow her right foot got caught with the leg of the twin seater and she fell down unceremoniously.

It wouldn't have irked me if she chose to give a startled shout or spill tears after she fell down. But the smile on my face was wiped clean when I saw how she bit her lips to avoid even the slightest bit of sound to escape. It wasn't a totally strange sight but the obvious practiced gesture was too hard to miss.

She sealed her lips as if she constantly fell down.

"You okay?" I was at once by her side.

BookManiac12 shoved me aside trying to get up but I didn't budge and she slipped back to the floor.

"Too weak, BookManiac12," I said trying to laugh but it faded when I remembered the mild hisses she gave when legs bumped into hers or the open limp with which she walked.

"Not," she groaned indignantly and once again tried to get up.

"Stop."

Unsurprisingly, she got up again.

And unsurprisingly, she fell down again.

"I asked you to quit, BookManiac12," I murmured as my hand hovered above her knee, "can I?"

She looked at me in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?" She asked in her trademark whisper, the same corpse eyes making an appearance.

This time my skin didn't crawl.

"Do I look like I'm kidding? I'm going to fold your uniform's pants till your knee, okay?"

"But—"

"You wore skirts till last year, so no big deal."

BookManiac12's corpse eyes studied me before huffing. "I don't see the need why you've to inspect my leg."

Ignoring her grumbling, I folded her pants as gently as I could and without touching her bare skin, glancing at her face every time to see traces of pain.

Nothing.

Good.

But my hands froze when I saw what was beneath her knee.

A very ugly bruise was there below her knee and I wondered how she even walked with it. It looked more like a fracture than a bruise.

"It's a bruise. No broken bones," BookManiac12 answered and I looked up surprised.

She gave me the same amused smile and though it was small, it was still there.

"You were talking out loud again."

I tried to lower my face as much as possible but I felt a blush creep on my cheeks and from the chuckle BookManiac12 gave, it was evident she could see that too.

I seriously need major tanning and learn anti blushing techniques, I tell you.

Not knowing what else to say to clutch my remaining dignity, if there was anything remaining, I got to my feet.

"C'mon," I mumbled, extending my hand to BookManiac12, but my eyes tried best to avoid hers.

Without turning my hand down like I expected, BookManiac12 gripped it and I pulled her up.

I didn't get any sparks or a bolt of electricity pass through me when our hands touched. But it felt oddly familiar. As if we've held our hands so many times in the past. And before I could try to figure why I felt like that, her hand was gone.

I offered to help her but she shook her head. "I can walk very well."

When we made our ways out of the school building, the whole school ground was empty except for a lone car.

Guess my parents got worried that I'm not at home though it's been more than twenty minutes since bell rang. Yay, perks of living two blocks away from school!

"I'll drop you home," I said once we were near the car.

All traces of smiles and chuckles were wiped clean as she looked at me with the same corpse eyes, as if nothing friendly happened between us at all. Without even bothering to reply, she just shook her head.

"I insist."

BookManiac12 tilted her head, her eyes boring into me. I felt a chill run down my spine when I saw the gesture. It felt... familiar.

"Get in," I said again and added, "please..."

BookManiac12 continued looking at me with the same tilted head and I tried to think of all the happy things to evade the creepiness.

"Okay."

One word. And with that she turned towards the car.

I opened the back seat door and once she was seated, I took the passenger seat in the front.

"Where to?"

BookManiac12 took a moment to reply.

"Three blocks from here and turn right."

A sudden sense of dread crept onto my stomach as I heard the familiar street.

Within two minutes, we were in the street. My eyes were fixated on the third house. It was still locked.

"And your house, miss?" the driver asked but she shook her head.

"I can walk from here, sir. Thanks for the help."

Before I could protest, she was already out of the door.

"BookManiac—"

"Helium," she interrupted me, "the name's Kiranya."

And with that, she turned around and started walking, or limping, towards the third house in the street.