A red heart shaped box lay on my table when I arrived in school the next day. I almost gagged at the sight of it, then thrust it under my desk. My eyes darted around. There were only five dwarves in the classroom, and thankfully Roney wasn’t there to see my reaction.

I had somehow got up in the morning and with Phimine’s encouragement and promise to give me my favourite PB and J, even without knowing what was wrong, I had made it to school. Hanging onto the hope that there would be no drama. Boy, was I wrong!

I picked it up and strode towards the corner of the classroom, trying to appear nonchalant and not attract attention. I was about to pop the box into the trash bin, when suddenly a hand grabbed me arm. I looked up, startled, to see Urna. She shook her head. “Come with me. You don’t want to do that.”

We walked back to my desk, I was befuddled and fazed as to what was happening. She kept down her bag next to me, and cast around a furtive glance.

“What is it, Urna? I don’t want anything to do with premature love, or Roney.”

“Roney’s home sick, Melga,” she stared at me deep in the eyes, concern and worry filling her black ones.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t, wait-” I suddenly realised what she had said. “if money isn’t coming today, who gave this to me?”

“I don’t know, Melga. I saw it on your desk and came looking for you. And I don’t like this.”

“If he isn’t going to be here today, could he have sent it through one of his friends?” I wondered.

“I doubt it. None of them are even here yet. He probably wouldn’t want them to know, and he wouldn’t display such a big gesture of affection. Something’s wrong, Melga,” her eyes darted around again.

“Wait, do you think someone else might have given me this?”

She gulped, and then nodded. “I didn’t see anyone come in her and keep it, but I’m positive that this can’t be Roney’s.”

I peered over at her, keeping the box down at the table between us and trying to hide it from other people. “Then who?” I asked, my voice low and whispery. My nerves tingled, and I could feel my legs turning to jelly. I hadn’t even opened the little box, and I was already freaking out.

“We have to check. We shouldn’t just throw it away.”

Slowly and agonisingly, I opened the box. A fabulous aroma wafted to my nose. There was a cupcake lying there, complete with a swirl of light brown icing on top. And it wasn’t just any cupcake, it was my favourite flavour that I ordered whenever I went to a bakery. Peanut Butter Mocha.

“It has to be someone who knows me well enough,” I remarked to Urna. “Maybe it’s just a friend and not an admirer.”

“Or maybe he just did his research. He could be a creepy stalker,” Urna said, not making it any better.

I took out the cupcake, a card lying below it with a picture of me. The hair was in two braids of 12 year old me as I laughed on a special ride we were on when we went to an amusement park from school. I picked up the card and opened it. The inside was just as cringe-worthy as the box. Small glitter hearts lined the borders, and a small poem was written in the centre.

“Your eyes are like a thousand glittering suns.

Which is a fantasy or a brilliant dream.

When the world is ending we will be the ones

That hold each other as others scream.”

Damn, that sounded devoted. A chill ran down my spine. Roney’s method of approach had been different, and I didn’t know which one I preferred. In fact, I wanted to avoid both. Apprehensively, I turned over the card, frightened as to what I would find on the other side. LOVE, KARIR.

I groaned loudly. Was this a joke? Was Karir pranking me? He was a good friend, or had been the previous year when he was in my section. I hadn’t seen him for almost a month, but this was definitely not what I had expected from him. And I wanted answers. I slipped the box into my bag just as Roney came in. I would have been mortified if he had seen the heart box, but it was gone from his sight. He scanned the faces in the room, his own looking impish as ever. When his bouncing black eyes rested on mine, his whole face flushed red, and he immediately looked down at his shoes.

I sighed at my seat. How were we going to manage sitting next to each other if he turned beetroot every time he saw my face? It was certainly going to be a challenge. I was glad that the other people wouldn’t know the reason of the awkwardness between us.

“Hi,” he raised his hand as he came up to me.

“Good morning,” I said, returning Urna’s bag to her so the he could sit, and inadvertently looking away from him. He kept down his bag, not bringing up his eyes to look at my bag. He stood in that position for a second, climbed out of the bench, in again, and did it a few more times, his peach coloured ears turning red. I don’t know how long he would have kept doing that if Mr. Monor hadn’t entered the class. Mr. Monor, my saving grace.

The rest of the day was a blur. The awkwardness persisted, but it was a bit goofy and quirky. I could see that Roney almost slipped up and mentioned yesterday’s incident, but his friend from the neighbouring bench interrupted him. It was a round of constant apologies and continuous formal questions. Meanwhile, my mind didn’t even realise when mr. Monor switched from maths to science, and then to history. I was too preoccupied thinking about Karir. Why would he do that? He had a wicked sense of humour that I had seen take various forms, but something this serious had never been one of them. And I had to find out.

Finally the lunch break arrived. I quickly stuffed all the books on my table into my backpack, which was an awful lot, I realised, and zipped it up as I saw Urna strolling over with her tiffin.

“This is no time for food,” I wagged my finger at her. “We have some investigating to do.”

“Can’t we investigate while eating? I forgot to have breakfast today,” she rubbed her tummy.

I sighed. “I still don’t understand how people can forget their meals, even when living with a family. But alright, bring it along.” I dashed out of the classroom, Urna following at my heels. It turned out that the other section had been relocated to another floor because of the hole in the roof, and Urna and I wasted half the break bumping into dead ends, asking directions from clueless people and hunting for the other section of grade 10. Finally we stood before it. Before Urna could stop me, I could see that she was hoping to, I marched inside. “Karir, what in the world are you-” I stopped short to see only seven people in the class, the nerdiest of the nerds and the obese ones. Not one more person was there.

“Does anyone know where Karir is?” I asked all the kids who were staring at me with blank eyes.

“Coach called the entire class for some formal announcement about an athletics competition. He sent us all back, but Karir and the others will still be out there in the ground,” said one of the girls with huge spectacles and braces.

“Oh,” I said in a small voice. My shoulders slumped towards the earth as I trudged out of the room. Urna patted my back. “We’ll talk to him. And he better have a good explanation. He could be back before the end of the break, or maybe we can catch him before we go home,” she tried reassuring me.

For the remaining free time, we kept a watch outside the classroom to see whether he would come back, but none of the students returned from the sports ground. Finally the bell rang and the two of us returned tour own classroom dejected.

I took out my books and waited for a few minutes for Mr. Monor to appear, but there was no trace of him. It seemed rather unusual. Then a boy entered the class, his face sweaty and his breath ragged. Karir. He scanned the faces until he found mine, and rushed over. “Melga, I have to finally admit this to you. I love you from all my heart.”

I stood right there, my face white as a sheet and my body paralysed. I couldn’t look anywhere except Karir’s face, when suddenly a clenched fist came at it.

Roney had left his seat and punched Karir. “Leave her alone. She’s mine.