Chapter 32 Hidden Tiger (2/2)

Sophia felt like she could just die. 'Just shoot me,' she groaned internally. First, she had smashed into him early in the morning. Then, she nearly smashed his head open by startling him. Now, she was running her hand through his hair so freely. It was only when his strong hand wrapped around her wrist that she realised how intimate she had been, running her hand all over his head and through his hair. Remembering how soft his hair was and how close she had been, made her blush.

She coughed to cover her embarrassment, standing up and held out her hand to help him up. He waved the kind gesture away, assuring her that it was okay. Putting the chair back in position, he smiled at her to ease her worry and asked, ”Sorry for scaring you like that. What's up?”

”Oh,” she said, then hesitated. She could feel the gazes at her back, well aware that everyone in class was curious and now listening in as well. So she leaned forward and said in a low voice, ”Can I see you after school? At the Blues Corner. There's something I need to tell you.”

Ali's eyes went slightly wide, and Sophia suddenly realised what she said, and how it sounded. After school. Need to talk. Blues Corner, one of the more quieter areas in the school.

”No no! It's not a confession! I really need to tell you something!” she quickly said, rapidly waving her hands about in front of her. The last thing she needed was a misunderstanding!

”Sure,” Ali replied with a smile and then the bell rang. It was amusing to see how flustered she could become and how red her face was. Even her ears were red.

Sophia didn't reply, but turned and rushed back to her seat before the teacher entered. She quickly took out the textbook and opening it, hid her blushing face behind it. She knew, from how hot her face felt, that she must be bright red by now. Her desk partner was nudging her, whispering and asking her what was going on. Sophia just shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to talk about it. Her desk mate persisted for a while, but had to stop when the teacher came into class.

Ali's gaze continued to stay on her long after class started.

**--**--

When the school bell to end the last class rang, Ali didn't get up from his seat until the class was emptied out. He wanted to give Sophia time to reach Blues Corner first, and he would go there in due time. Not too late, though but just enough time so that people won't notice anything weird. He didn't want anyone to make up rumours about her.

As he walked through the door, he found that there were three guys standing right outside staring at him. He ignored them, pretending that he didn't know that they had stayed back for him. As he walked by, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he stopped, looked at that hand and its owner before asking, ”What?” while pushing that hand away.

”Don't start getting weird ideas just because Sophia was nice enough to pay you any attention,”the guy whom Ali recognised as Hank said.

”Weird ideas?” sneered Ali, ”The only one who has any weird ideas here is you. I have no idea what you're talking about.”

Ali turned to walk away, making Hank grit his teeth in anger. He sent a punch to the back of Ali's head, but Ali merely leaned to the side, grabbed the fist as it flew by the side of his head and twisted the arm. Hank yelled out in pain, and found himself on the knees while Ali locked the twisted arm behind his back and pressed down.

The other two were going to come and try help, but Ali merely pressed more pressure on the twist, making Hank smash his hand on the floor in pain.

”Tell your lackeys to back off, or I'll break your arm.” Ali hissed.

Hank managed to stammer out the words through clenched teeth and the others did his bidding. Ali gave one last twist, pushed Hank forward and glared at the others, ”Let this be a warning. I don't fight, but it doesn't mean that I can't - or won't. You'd better hope there is no next time.”

Hank and the others looked on as Ali walked away. Never in their life did they think that the mild mannered boy that didn't cause any ripples in class, was a tiger in disguise.