With my hand under my chin and my head resting on my hand, I was lost in my thoughts. My mind was stuck at one scene and the question I had was killing me with curiosity.

Did Ali mean what he said? Did he really love me?

That was the question that was roaming around my head the whole day. It was the second period and as much as I wanted to focus on what the teacher was telling us, I couldn't bring myself to think about anything else other than Ali.

"I love you, Anisa."

His words replayed in my head again and I sighed dreamily. But, was it real or not? As I was busy daydreaming, Mr. Brown's eyes fell on me. His brows deepened into a scowl. "Ms. Malik. I'm asking you," he called out from afar. His loud voice made me snap to reality and I sat up straight.

"W-What?" I looked around as if I had no clue about what was happening.

"I just asked you the answer to this but you would know only if you had been paying attention." He spoke bitterly. "This is the last time you're spacing out in class, young lady," he warned but I just glared at him. It wasn't a big deal.

I frowned. "Sorry," I didn't want to apologize but I had to because it was my fault.

When I thought he would leave it and turn back to teach again, he continued. "Why don't you tell us what I've been teaching for the past ten minutes?" He knew that I wouldn't have an answer to that but he still said that to embarrass me. I turned my hands into a fist, hiding it under the table.

I quickly thought of an excuse as he waited for me impatiently. Everyone in the room had their eyes on me and they were enjoying every bit of it. "Well?"

"I'm not feeling well, Mr. Brown." I lied. That wasn't the best excuse but it was the only thing I could come up with. Mr. Brown just looked at me challengingly but he knew that he couldn't say anything to that. "If you're sick, then go to the nurse's office. Kindly, don't disturb my class."

his voice had a mocking tone and it was obvious he was taking advantage of being my teacher to humiliate me.

"Thank you, sir, but I'll recover soon. It's just a little headache." I tried to hide my annoyance but all in vain. He just gave me a dirty look and turned back to the board, which I was thankful for.

I rolled my eyes and turned to the whiteboard which had stupid math equations scribbled all over it. It looked like a beehive. And I wasn't exaggerating. My mind was lost in the equations as Mr. Brown scribbled more on the board. Nothing entered my brain but I tried my very best to listen attentively.

Suddenly, I felt a paper hit my head. I picked it up from the floor and spotted the person who sent it. He was sitting far from me, to my right with a smug expression. He was leaning on his chair like the time when he fell. With an uncontrollable smile, I opened​ up the paper with curiosity.

"Wanna have detention together again?" My eyes read out the words written with messy handwriting. A little wink face emoji at the end of the paper didn't escape me and I just shook my head in disbelief.

The old me would've glared at him but the new Anisa, who was a completely changed person, quickly wrote something and threw it back to him. My eyes didn't leave him as he read the paper, a smile forming on his face.

He gave me a thumbs up and I turned towards Mr. Brown again.

Not a while later, I felt another paper fly my way. "I had fun in detention with you." His handwriting was neater. I rolled my eyes playfully. "Except for the fact that you were responsible for it." I wrote back.

Expecting him to laugh, I was a bit surprised when his smirk faded and a look of guilt flashed over his face.

I instantly regretted writing that.

"Sorry for that," he wrote. I motioned to him that it was okay. Before I could write anything else, the bell rang and I heard Mr. Brown telling us to practice the book exercise at home.

I saw him give me an angry glance as he walked out with his books. I almost pulled my tongue out at him but controlled myself quickly enough. As soon as he walked out, the whole class got into motion. The kids changed their places and sat beside their friends.

Surprisingly, Ali, instead of going to Andrew, came and sat down beside me.

"Thought you were missing me so I came here," he said, throwing me a wink that gave me goosebumps. I tried to give a sassy comment but the blush on my face didn't let me.

"Everyone's staring at us," I said as I noticed the gazes of everyone in the room. He looked around. "Yeah,"

Slowly, he smirked and moved a bit closer to me. "Why not give them a scene worth staring at then?" My eyes widened as he said that and before I could make assumptions about what he was going to do, his hand slipped behind me and landed on my shoulder. His face got closer to me and he pulled me nearer to him until my right shoulder touched his chest.

My flushed cheeks couldn't get much redder than that and I just sat frozen on my place with my hands clutching the hem of my shirt tightly.

"At least now they're looking for a reason, right?" he whispered in my ear, his deep voice making me flinch. I bit my lip nervously and tried to relax my shoulders but couldn't. The closeness between us didn't let me breathe. My shoulder could feel his fast heartbeat and it seemed like even he was feeling nervous.

Finally, Ali moved away.

"I think Brianna told everyone about us." He said casually as if trying to break the awkwardness. To act normal, I nodded quickly. "That's probably why..." I trailed off as I spotted Andrew looking at Ali with a deep scowl and angry eyes. I frowned in confusion. "Did something happen between you and Andrew?" I asked him.

Ali's eyes flashed with anger. "Why do you ask?" He tried to sound normal but I noticed the bitterness in his voice. "Well, Andrew doesn't look so happy about you sitting here with me," I told him, my eyes fixated on the mentioned person. Ali looked in the direction I was looking at and quickly turned to face me, anger clear on his face.

"That guy's a traitor," he replied. My frown grew. "Isn't he your best friend?" I asked him. He looked at me. "Don't call him that. He's anything but a friend." He almost snapped at me so I got quiet. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine. It's none of my concern." I was sort of feeling a bit irritated that he wasn't telling me the reason. Before I never cared what went on between Ali and his friends but now, I started to feel really curious about him and his company.

His face softened and I saw a look of regret. "Sorry, but it's not something you would want to know about." I was actually a bit surprised that he would consider telling me his personal matters. And I understood his situation, so I changed the topic. "Anyways, do you know what exactly Brianna told everyone?" I asked, to which he shrugged. "From what my friends said I think she just told everyone that you and I were girlfriend and boyfriend." He replied.

I nodded. "Seriously, what's the big deal? I don't see why people would be this shocked." I stated. Ali shook his head.

"I don't really blame them. You and I haven't been... Well... Best of friends from the start. Of course, everyone would be surprised." He explained. I laughed at that. "You can say that again."

The teacher entered soon and the lesson started. Thankfully, Ali was sitting beside me and it felt nice. I was starting to get used to the nervous feeling around him. And the butterflies he gave me. Don't ​forget the butterflies.

Ali quietly looked at the board but it seemed as if he wasn't paying attention to the teacher rather, thinking about something else. His expression told me that something was up between him and Andrew.

Suddenly, I remembered that dream I had of Ali confessing his love for me. Oh! How I wished it wasn't just a beautiful dream but reality! But then again who could change the facts? I sighed in defeat.

I understood myself at least that much to know that when I hated someone, I hated them to their core and when I loved someone, I loved them with all my heart. And it was safe to say that I was in love with Ali.

I turned back to the teacher as she read out some lines from a classic novel written by some big English writer. It was a love story and before that day, I never liked stories like those. But that day, I felt the words reach my heart as the teacher read out the girl's lines.

I needed to get myself together.

:

I was walking here and there, searching for Ali. I didn't want to be alone in the parking lot again or else, a herd of elephants would come my way like last time.

Searching through the corridors, I took a left turn. And there Ali was. With a very familiar girl standing in front of him. The girl looked like she was confessing to him as the red blush on her face was apparent.

As soon as my eyes fell on them, my heart dropped to my stomach and I felt rage rush to my head. I tried to stop myself from walking up to them and dragging my Ali away from her.

My anger just increased when I recognized the short blonde hair and brown wicked eyes. Arena.

She was one class behind me, in the 10th grade. The mere sight of her made me want to vanish into a puff of smoke. And not only that, she was trying to steal Ali away from me.

I was sure that she knew about me and him but despite that, she thought of confessing to him right after we came out as an official couple. I could smell some conspiracy from afar. That witch!

I stormed up to them, folding my arms over my chest and unable to hold myself back.

"Am I disturbing something personal?" I snapped. Both of them turned to face me. "Anisa?" Ali asked, a little startled. I glared at Arena. "So, you're going to go this far to get some attention?" I spoke with disgust, studying her from head to toe.

She put on her innocent face. The same mask she had used on me to lure me into her trap. "I don't know what you're saying." she fidgeted in her place as she tried to break eye contact with me but I didn't let her. "Drop the act, Arena. Why're you here?" I got straight to the point, unable to tolerate her presence.

"Anisa, you're misunderstanding me." Her voice was low and she tried to look scared. All the while, Ali looked between us with a confused expression on his face. "Anisa, she's just—" but I cut him off.

"Please, Ali. Let me deal with her." He got quiet at that which was surprising.

"Do you think I'm dumb?" Turning back to her, I leaned closer, giving her a dangerous look. "I can see right through this facade of yours. Go try some other guy. Don't you know he's mine?"

She shook her head quickly in defense. "I was just trying to tell Ali about my… wait." she looked up as realization hit her. "Are you two—" she gasped, trying to act as if she didn't know anything. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know! Please don't misunderstand me!" she turned to Ali to gather his sympathy.

That made my hands curl up into a fist. By the look on Ali's face, I saw that he felt sorry for her, doing exactly what she wanted him to. My blood raged and I spoke up, making her look back at me.

"Where are you looking at? Don't you dare try to think that you have a chance with him? I'll kill you if I see you around him again!" I almost shouted at her, making her flinch.

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again when tears filled the brim of her eyes. With a final look at Ali, Arena ran away. I looked behind her as she faded into the distance.

My knuckles turned white as I tightened my fist. I wanted to either punch her or smash her head in the wall. Just the thought of someone else thinking that they had a chance with Ali made me mad like a bull.

"Anisa, are you okay?" he sounded really concerned as he asked me. I turned around to face him, my scowl fixated on my forehead.

"I'm not okay!" I was frustrated and I didn't know how to let my anger out. "What was she doing here?" I asked him as if interrogating him. I would be lying if I said Ali didn't look scared. He looked like he was thinking twice about telling me the truth. "She was just asking me out on a date. It's not a big deal." he finally said with confidence.

Then, I remembered Ali and I weren't in a romantic relationship. It was one-sided. He didn't even know what I felt for him and that was why he casually said it in front of me. He probably thought that it didn't affect me when someone asked him out or flirted with him. And it really didn't, until a few days ago.

"Honestly, you were really harsh," he remarked with a sincere look. I took a deep breath and that helped me cool down. "You don't know what she's done to me, Ali. She made my life a living hell for a year." I told him when I was calm enough.

He gave me a confused look. "Remember that time when someone uploaded my personal pictures on Facebook?" I asked him.

He took a minute to remember what I was talking about but he nodded when he finally did. "Yeah, I remember. You got them deleted though. I didn't even see them. The girls were talking about it." He recalled.

"She was the one who uploaded them. Thankfully, my father got them removed by professionals but it was something that gave me nightmares for days." I shuddered as the familiar feelings returned. I remembered how a few boys had come up to me after that. It was terrifying.

Ali's eyes widened.

"That's a nasty thing to do," he said and I nodded. "And that's not it. She leaked my phone number at some site. For days, I got calls from men and I felt as if I wasn't safe anymore. I had to delete all my social media." Ali listened quietly.

"Then why was she asking me out today?" he questioned. I sighed before looking at him straight in the eyes. "Don't you get it?" I asked.

"She's trying to take you away from me."