rabbing a can of coke from the soda fridge and paying Maria - our canteen woman, I made my way towards the table where Jess sat nervously biting on her nails.

I simply sighed and rolled my eyes at her before taking a bite on my sandwich.

"Jonathan Black, of them all" she seemed distant as she aimlessly chewed on the fries hanging out of her mouth.

"It's just a project, Jess. And that to for a month" I replied, as I took another bite on my sandwich.

"Have you read those cliché stories on Wattpad?" Her attention was now solely on me as her blue eyes widened up to something horror running through her mind.

I sat down my sandwich on the plater and tilted my head slightly to right as I held her gaze.

"Don't tell me, you haven't read those stories where Mr. Popular and Ms. Nobody meet up at a project and the next thing you know they've fallen for each other" she said in a single breath as her eyes remained wide.

"This is no cliché story, this is reality. Jess, take it as a project" I sighed a little louder this time and rolled my eyes at her as I took a long sip of coke.

"But what if?"

"You like him?"

"Hah?" She looked at me with wide eyes as a faint line of blush ran over her cheeks.

"You... like... him" I answered my own question this time and shook my head from side to side.

"Now who wouldn't? He's handsome, smart, Vice Captain of Knights-" I slowly narrowed my eyes and pulled a boring face on, making her stop with her blabbering.

"Whatsoever it is Jess, but if he tries to step out of his decency boundaries or as much hurt your feelings, I won't spare a moment to give him a nice bruise, which he has to treat as a tattoo for the rest of his life" I stated with a smirk and saw Jess cringing a little.

"I know you will, bestie. Wow! I'm blessed to have someone like you!" She screamed and grabbed me in a hug from over the table.

I slowly patted on her back and a sudden smile spread over my lips.

True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side.

⚪✶⚪

"So that's for today. Make sure you all solve Exercise 4B and 4D completely before the next class on Sunday" Mr. Calvin stated as he gathered his belongs from the table top, as soon as the bell rang.

A few 'hmm' and 'yes' were heard before the crowd in the class started to leave.

I too, got up from my seat and packed up my stuff before nudging a sleeping Jess.

"What period is it?" She yawned looking around for her bag.

"Sixth" I replied rolling my eyes and pulling the single strap of my bag over my right shoulder.

"Sixth... SIXTH?!" Jess screamed so loud that a few heads turned our way with looks of pain displayed on their faces.

"Yes sixth, Jess" I sighed and picked my pace towards the door.

"Do I look good?" She halted me with a single hand as she stopped just in front of me, slightly tugging at her blond strands.

"Project, Jess. It's a project" this time though, my voice turned a bit stern making her flinch a bit.

"Fine" she huffed as she fell in tow with me.

A couple of silent steps through the corridor, I spotted library to my right making me slow down and finally come to a halt right at the door.

"Okay then, see you at seventh" Jess softly patted at my shoulder, but there was something off about that.

"You'll do fine, Jess" I said, with a genuine smile as far as I could muster and got a smile and nod in return.

I sighed loudly as my gaze followed the steps Jess took, as she walked down the corridor.

"Hey, Jess!" I called out.

"Hmm?" She instantly stopped and turned her head to look at me.

"You going the wrong way. Gym is that way!" I jabbed my thumb to the direction.

"Ops!" Her eyes widened and face turned beet red.

Her head looking at the floor, she then ran past me.

After a sigh left my lips, I slightly rubbed my face with both of my hands before turning on the balls of my heals.

Slightly pushing open the door, I entered into the hall of geeks after a quick nod to Mrs. Lima - our librarian.

As I picked up my pace, my eyes looked around the room in search of the familiar face but didn't caught the sight of him.

Hmm...

Finally, after reaching the back of the library where all classics were kept, I rummaged through the shelf.

My fingers brushed the spines of the hard covers as I walked, reading from one title to the other.

The Taming of the Shrew

The corner of my lips lifted up on their own and I halted on my track. I pulled the book out from its place and ran a hand over its hard cover as a memory ran through my mind.

"You've indeed got a shrew to tame within you, Di" mom's hand brushed through my baby hair as she laughed and took the rocks from my hands.

Thirteenth CHAPTER IS UP!!! ʘ͜͡ʘ .... For all my LOVELY readers... ;)

(˘‿˘ʃƪ) with the fact that I have been receiving all your lovely feedbacks and that the story has reached #606 in #ShortStory...

(>‿◠)✌ (>‿◠)✌

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and BILLION thanks for giving this story a try...

❈

❈

And keep me updated with all your ღSweetღ thoughts!!!

Have a wonderful day ahead... (◕‿-)

xxxUniqueWriterxxx