September 15th. Friday, 2:46 PM.

  Classes finished at midday to give students extra time to prepare for their challenge next week. Extra revision time for them. That is precisely what two students were doing in the campus library... Well, one of them was.

  "Do you need help with anything?" Malakai asked, looking across the table with his head resting on his palm.

  "No, I'm okay", Maria replied, lightly shaking her head, giving a little smile.

  "Why am I offering her help? She's smarter than me", Malakai thought, looking down at the one book he had. "I'm the one who probably needs help".

  The two were sitting opposite each other, revising. Maria had her books open, flashcards piled up next to her, different coloured pens on the other side, and highlighters in front of her. She came to study.

  Malakai, on the other hand, had one singular, lonely notebook open in front of him. He didn't come to study.

  Malakai didn't come prepared at all. He turned up with his one notebook, which had notes he'd made from all the subjects, and one pen. Malakai was a last-minute type of person when it came to exams. He thinks memorising the information a day or two before the exam is the best way to prepare for an exam because the content will be fresh in your memory.

  From this information, you can probably guess that Malakai found studying boring. The only reason he accepted this study session was because Maria offered, and he felt too awkward to reject her.

  The two of them had already been there for 15 minutes and had only spoken to each other for a little bit. There were two reasons for this: one, Maria wanted to get some work done and review her notes, and two, Maria was nervous. The only pieces of conversation they had were when they met outside the library and when they walked around the library to find an empty table and some seats. When they sat down, Maria instantly pulled out her equipment and went straight to work. So they basically barely talked.

  Malakai was leaning back in his chair. "I wish I brought my earphones", he thought. "I probably could've actually revised then".

  The position he was in now, he was comfortable. But it wasn't only his position that was comfortable. His outfit massively helped. Malakai was comfy in his soft black tracksuit. He was a comfort dresser. Malakai knows how to dress fashionably but would choose comfort over fashion if given the choice. Which is 8 out of 10 times.

  "Music would've been perfect right now", Malakai thought, internally agonising.

  While he decided on plain, simple, and comfortable, Maria came looking like a model... which she is. But this outfit emphasized it more.. Maria wore blue denim jeans tied with a black leather belt and a long-sleeve black silk turtleneck. She also wore a silver necklace.

  Malakai's eyes lifted from his notebook and landed on Maraia. He didn't properly look at her outfit when they first met. He just remembered it looked nice at first glance. Upon further inspection, he could understand why everybody breaks their necks to look at her when she walks past, why most guys have a crush on her, and why she is famous, apart from being the daughter of a celebrity.

  She was beautiful.

  Malakai didn't really notice her in her school uniform as she looked like an ordinary girl to him. But now, gazing at her, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

  "She's mad pretty", Malakai thought. "Heh. Nah. Not even pretty. Beautiful".

  Maria noticed Malakai looking at her, "Do you need any flashcards to make notes?" she nervously offered, thinking he wanted something, as his side of the table looked empty.

  Malakai's eyelids flinched after getting caught staring. "Naaah, I'm fine", he replied, shaking his head, breaking eye contact to reset his thoughts.

  "Okay. If you want any notes, you can ask me", Maria said, briefly looking at him before going back to writing.

  When Maria's eyes dropped back down to her notes, Malakai's eyes rose to her. After getting a glimpse of her eyes, Malakai wanted to look at them again. He knew she had a similar eye colour to Ray, but he wanted to see if their eyes were similar. He kept slyly looking at her and noticed something.

  "You look tired. Do you sleep enough?" he asked, trying to look into her eyes.

  Maria's hand paused after the sudden question. "I'm not tired. I'm usually tired later in the day", she replied, avoiding eye contact, continuing to write.

  Malakai picked up his pen and started a sketch at the bottom of his page. "I think talking on the balcony at one in the morning isn't good for you. You should be sleeping".

  "I like our talks", Maria said, finishing writing her sentence. "My body randomly wants water in the middle of the night. And every time I go to the balcony, you're there". She pointed the end of her pen towards Malakai, "If anything, I think you should go to sleep earlier", she giggled.

  Malakai lightly smiled, finally getting eye contact. "We won't talk then", he lifted his shoulders.

  "Oh… uhh, hmmm", Maria touched her chin with the end of her pen, tilted her head up to the ceiling, thinking of a solution. "Thennn we should talk more during the day", she suggested, getting less tense, easing more into the conversation.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "If you wanna", Malakai said, spinning his pen with his fingers. "But I'm not the type to approach people and talk. Unless I really need to or want to talk to that person".

  "So you don't want to talk to me?" Maria playfully pouted, trying to put him on the spot.

  Malakai laughed through his nose and smirked, "I know we're gonna talk on the balcony innit".

  Maria couldn't contain her smile, "Then maybe I won't stop coming to the balcony".

  Malakai sat up, leaned forward, and put his elbows on the table.

  "Don't blame me if you're tired the next day", he said, waving his finger at her.

  Mari's smile stayed on her face while she looked at him. She couldn't think of a response, so she shyly dropped her eyes back down to her notebook and started writing a random sentence to look busy.

  Silence followed. That was the end of that conversation, leaving Malakai with nothing to do. Malakai wasn't going to start revising. He didn't feel like revising. He needed music. The background noise was too boring. Therefore, instead of revising, he entertained himself by continuing to draw the little sketch he started.

  A few minutes passed, and Malakai rested his head on his palm again and gazed around at the other people at random tables, deep in thought.

  "Have you ever thought about how everyone here is living their own life?" he randomly said.

  Maria looked up from her notebook, hearing his voice.

  "Like, they have their own problems, like me", he continued, not even knowing if Maria was listening. "Whenever I walk past someone, I think they are just a stranger I won't see again. Like I don't deep it too much. But when I think about it, they are actually human beings. They have their own life. They're living their own life".

  Malakai rambled on, just staring into space. He spoke in a tone that was like he was speaking to himself.

  Maria watched Malakai as he said that. Seeing his hazelnut-coloured eyes shine from her angle, "Isn't there a word for that feeling?" Maria asked to keep the conversation going.

  "Yeah. Sonder", Malakai replied, still looking into space. "I remember my friend telling me about it. It changed how I see things".

  "Who was it?" Maria asked, interested, thinking it was one of his friends who was with him now.

  "You won't know them. A friend from England".

  "Do you still talk to them?" Maria kept asking questions.

  Malakai paused for a second. "Nah, not really. People move on, I guess", he said with a small smile on his face.

  Maria watched Malakai, who was deep in thought, staring at nothing.

  "Are you having any problems?", she asked. "I would be happy to listen if you have any", she said, putting her pen down and sitting up straighter.

  Malakai's eyes shifted to Maria, who sounded serious. He put his arm down and leaned back in his seat, putting both his hands in his hoodie pocket.

  "My life's good right now. I have no problems", he said, smiling at Maria.

  Seeing Malakai smile caused a chain reaction that ended with Maria smiling. Hearing that eased the tiny bit of concern she had. If he was happy, she was happy.

  Brrr! Brrrr!

  Malakai's phone vibrated on the table. Malakai took his right hand out of his pocket and picked it up to see someone calling him.

  "Ray?".

  He accepted the call and put the phone to his ear.

  "Yo you good?".

  "Hey", Ray replied. "Is David with you?".

  "Nah, why?".

  "Oh. He went out and left his phone and his bag. I asked everyone else, and they haven't seen him".

  "Maybe he's gone to revise with Delilah or something", Malakai said, not thinking too much of it.

  "I don't have her number, so I can't ask her".

  "I'll text her".

  Maria was looking at Malakai, slightly worried about what was happening. Also, she didn't want him to leave to sort out the problem. She wanted to stay with him longer.

  "Okay, if you find out where he's gone, text me".

  "Why're you acting like his dad?" Malakai jokingly asked, laughing a bit.

  "It's because he left his phone", Ray replied. "It's weird he would do that".

  "It's David though", Malakai said, shrugging, not worrying. "He's a gaint. He'll be fine whereever he is".

  "Yeah but-".

  "Bro, don't worry man. I'll text you if I know anything".

  "...Okay, fine", Ray said. "See ya".

  "Safe". (Safe is slang for bye in the UK)

  Malakai hung up and took his phone away from his ear.

  "Did something happen?" Maria asked, fidgeting with her hands under the table, wishing something didn't.

  "Yeah, David went out without his phone. No one knows where he is, apparently", Malakai replied, looking down at his phone.

  He opened his contacts and tapped on Delilah. He sent Delilah a quick text asking if she'd seen David.

  "Do you have to go?" Maria asked to make sure.

  "Naah, it's David", Malakai replied, shaking his head. "He's gonna be aryt".

  Maria let out a sigh of relief. She was glad this moment could last a little longer.

  "We can go look for him when we finish studying", Maria offered.

  Malakai put his phone on the table. "I thought we were going to eat?", he asked with a smirk.

  "We can do that as well", she quickly responded excitedly.

  Malakai laughed, "Aryt, let's finish revising quickly then".

  Maria was about to look down at her notebook, but caught something in the corner of her left eye. She saw people walking into the library. Around eight or nine boys walked in, following each other. She didn't recognise most of them, but she knew one of them.

  "He's here", Maria said, staring over at the entrance. "David's over there".

  Malakai popped up from his seat, "Where?" he said, looking around.

  Maria pointed to the entrance. "Over there".

  Malakai turned around, looked over the edge, and saw David walking in with Ryan and Dillon. He didn't know the rest of the guys.

  "Why is he with Ryan and Dillon?" he mummbled, furrowing his eyebrows.

  Malakai picked up his phone and texted in the group chat.

  'I found David. He's with me.'

  Malakai slipped his phone into his pocket and watched as they walked in.

  Malakai and Maria were on the second floor of the library. From where they were seated, the entrance could be seen through a glass wall. It was almost like a balcony. You could look over the edge and see directly below you. So, if people walked in, people on the second floor near the edge could see.

  Meanwhile, the boys who walked in found a large table that looked purposely reserved for this occasion. They all took a seat as if this were a planned meeting.

  "What are they doing? Is he having a meeting with them?" Malakai curiously asked, under his breath, leaning over the railing, watching as they all sat at the table.

  Malakai turned around and put his hand into his pocket to check if he had his phone.

  "Maria, imma be back", he said, barely glancing at her before walking away to the stairs.

  "Malakai! Wait!" Maria said, standing up and reaching out.

  It was too late. She could only look on helplessly while he continued to rush towards the stairs to the first floor, knowing she couldn't stop him. She hoped he'd looked back just once more, but she only saw the back of his head.

  Maria slumped back into her seat, placed her head on the table in frustration, using her arms as cushions, and mumbled,

  "Why did I tell him?".