LILITH
(Age Sixteen)

I was in a bad mood and the reason for that was my so-called best friend who sat beside me in the cafeteria as we had our lunch.

The reason I was angry with him? He refused to give me the extra piece of garlic bread he had on his plate.

For someone who was already eighteen, he was acting like a petty kid. Yesterday I ate the last slice of pizza at dinner and he was making me pay for that.

I glowered at him as he took a bite of that last piece of garlic bread while holding my gaze, mocking me silently.

I tried to snatch it away but of course, he didn't let me. All the training he does every day has made his reflexes so fast and smooth.

With an angry pout, I watched him eat. My eyes trailed over his face. It's as if each day his features keep turning sharper and more beautiful.

Ever since I told him not to shave years back, he actually listened. Now, he keeps a nice stubble which does make him look really mature and handsome, won't admit that to him though.

"Please...at least give me half of that."

He ignored me and continued to eat.

"God, I hate you," I mumbled.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw a girl approaching us so I turned my head towards her and recognised her as one of my classmates.

I offered her a smile when she neared me but her attention was fixed on Silvio who was oblivious to it.

At last, she looked at me. "Lilith, right?"

"Yeah..."

She brushed her strawberry blonde hair away from her face. "I always see you hanging out with him."

"Yes...?"

"Are you his girlfriend?" Her nose scrunched up.

It took everything in me to not laugh at that. I would be the last person to date Silvio.

"No. He is my best friend."

Her eyes scanned me from head to toe and she rolled her eyes. "Thought so."

Okay, ouch. I get it. I am definitely not Silvio's type and we don't even look good together but she didn't have to be a bitch about it.

Silvio's head snapped to her at that statement. He had already finished his garlic bread and unhurriedly got up.

His gaze fixed on her and he cocked his head, sizing her up like how a predator does to its prey.

Silvio is overprotective of me and I love that. But when he cocks his head like that, that's when you should really run away.

I grabbed his hand before he could do anything stupid and gave it a squeeze, silently pleading to him with my eyes.

That girl, whatever her name was, noticed the shift in the air and glanced between us looking unsure.

Maybe it was her lucky day cause she was suddenly called away by one of her friends and giving Silvio one last look, she ran away from there.

I sighed in relief and shot him a glare. "Sit down, you didn't have to do that. I don't want you to be called to the office again just because of me."

When I said overprotective, I meant it. I can't even remember the number of times Silvio has picked up a fight just because someone said something to me. And that's been going on ever since I joined this school.

He once broke a boy's arm because he pulled my hair. Silvio did try to be discreet about that but I eventually got to know.

I was glad though that he didn't do that in front of me or my oversensitive ass would have not taken that lightly.

When I pointed out how he also pulls my hair sometimes, he simply said, "Only I am allowed to do that."

If not for how powerful his dad is, he would have been kicked out long back.

He glared back at me, accusing me. He has told me numerous times to not let anyone walk over me but I just don't know what to reply to anyone's insulting comment.

"Just let it be." I sighed softly. "It's okay."

His jaw ticked but he didn't say anything. It took him a minute to calm down after which he placed another garlic bread on my plate.

"What? How did that--" I realised he was actually holding an extra one all this time in his other hand which was hidden by the table.

"So you were just playing with me, asshole." I pinched his bicep.

He just gestured for me to finish the food.

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.
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I came to an abrupt halt right outside the cafeteria the next day.

Silvio paused beside me and followed my line of vision to the ginger guy leaning against the wall, busy on his phone.

It was fair to say, I had a crush on him.

To be honest he had that clean-shaven face which was not my thing yet I kind of found him attractive.

I sighed dreamily and it didn't take Silvio long to put everything together. He glanced between that guy named Elis and me.

Once I realised I was staring at him for too long, I shifted my attention to Silvio who was already staring at me blankly.

He jerked his chin towards his direction. After so many years, I was able to understand the meaning behind his gestures without any problem and right now he wanted me to go talk to him.

"I do want to ask him out but..."

He stared at me curiously, waiting for me to finish my sentence.

"I mean look at him, he is so beautiful and so out of my league. There is no way I am going to ask him out and embarrass myself."

Now, I was being subjected to his glare.

If Silvio glares at anyone, they run in the opposite direction. But when he glares at me, there is always a certain softness underneath that which makes me feel privileged to be his best friend.

"Don't be ridiculous, Silvio. I am not talking to him. Let's go."

I grabbed his hand to lead him forward but he removed himself from my hold and stuffing his hands inside his pocket, strolled towards his class with me beside him.

Just as we neared Elis, Silvio shoved me with his shoulder in his direction and I almost bumped into that guy.

Elis now looked at me in confusion.

"Oh, I am so sorry." I looked over my shoulder to see that Silvio had suddenly disappeared. "Um...I..."

"Hi...?" I said in the most awkward way possible.

I must have been looking so freaking stupid. Elis gave me a half-hearted smile. "Hi."

"I'm Lilith." I introduced myself.

He nodded curtly. "Elis." Just then his phone rang and he excused himself from there.

I let out a deep breath. As if on cue, Silvio appeared beside me again.

"You asshole!" I hit him on his chest. "Why did you do that? That was so awkward!"

He gave me a subtle roll of his eyes and walked away.

.
.
.

Silvio apparently had made it his mission to force me to talk to Elis every day and eventually ask him out on a date and also for prom which was approaching soon.

Yup, this school is completely different from the others. You have a prom when you are in the tenth standard and that's it. And I need a date for the prom.

So, even though my every conversation with Elis was awkward as fuck, I tried. Through our conversations, I even gathered that he didn't have a girlfriend or a date for the prom.

A week later, once we had formed some kind of an acquaintance, Silvio pushed me to ask him out finally.

"You are going to get me embarrassed." I groaned.

He was about to push me in the direction of Elis but I held up my hands. "Fine, don't push me. I am going."

He followed me to the library, where Elis said he would be, like a bodyguard.

The library was empty and I found Elis near a bookshelf, going through a book.

"Hey," I whispered to him.

"Hello, Lilith."

Silvio stood right behind me and pretended to be looking for some book.

"So, um...I was wondering...if..." I gulped. "...are you free tomorrow evening?"

"I guess, do you need something?"

"I was just wondering if we could go out for coffee or anything." I could feel how hot my cheeks had become suddenly. "Like a...date."

"Oh, I don't think--" He stopped abruptly, looking over my shoulder, his eyes widening slightly. "S-sure!"

"Really?"

"Yeah...why not...?" He chuckled awkwardly.

"Okay, I will message you the time and place then."

He nodded at me and saying he had to do something important, he almost dashed away from there.

I turned around to face Silvio who was still casually flipping the pages of some random book.

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously. "Why do I have a feeling that you forced him into this?"

He pretended to not hear me and placed the book back in its place. He looked down at his wristwatch and shook his head in disappointment as if he was late for something and then took off in the opposite direction.

I can bet he scared him with his dagger.

Ugh.