Midori's Gaze Version II

He had noticed and glanced at her for weeks, no, months. And he wasn't even sure how long they had been exchanging glances across the school canteen, across sweaty shoulders in the lift or across the hall during gym period. Time seemed to stretch, to stretch, so that the seconds and minutes ceased to matter when she was around.

She, he was quite certain, was the prettiest girl in the level. She had the sweetest smile he had ever seen... Yes, and he was the handsome Head Prefect.

Desmond was perhaps, the most wonderful guy a girl would ever hope for. Head Prefect, smart, serious and suave. He was quiet and hardworking. Surely, there was no reason why Midori would not fall in love with him.

*****

"Yo, 'sup, Des?" Desmond whirled around to see Damien grin and give him a spine-shattering thump on his back. Vaguely, he thought he caught a glimpse of Midori, over Damien's shoulder. She was wearing her silky black hair in a high ponytail today and carrying her baby blue slingbag across one shoulder in a casual yet elegant poise.

Composing himself with a slight clearing of his throat, Desmond shrugged. "Been playing B-Ball again?" His best friends nodded and wiped the sweat off from his forehead with the back of his hand. There was a comfortable silence between the two boys that morning, for there was nothing to be said, yet, unknown to them, both were in love with the same girl.

*****

That afternoon, Damien seemed to be unusually deep in thought.
"Do... do you like anyone?" Damien asked abruptly, after a series of mind-boggling quadratic equations and intervals of Super Mario on his graphing calculator.

Desmond gave a little start. "Nope," he replied. "Nope," he repeated again, almost as if he were confirming that fact with himself. "Do you?"

Damien sighed and his eyes followed Midori, who, in the distance, was walking with inate grace and poise in the direction of the library. "You do?!" Desmond gasped a little too loudly, then lowered his voice. "Who is it? Tell me, please... I can keep a secret."

"Is that a promise?" Damien was watching Desmond closely. "Fine.I like Midori." "Oh... Okay..." Desmond's heart was sinking quickly into a quicksand of disappointment. He turned back to Practice Question 12-10.

"Do you think she's nice?" Damien shook Desmond's arm slightly. He shrugged simply, for the words were caught in his throat, inhibited by dread and hurt.

Damien would be a nice person to adore from a distance... Tall, tan and suave... A member of the school's badminton team and one of the fastest runners in the whole of Waffles Institution... Desmond thought, feelings of insecurity were now lunging at him, each wave crashing his usually jovial mood.

*****

A week after that incident, rumours had it that Damien confessed to Midori. Meanwhile, Desmond was utterly heartbroken. He had never felt such strong feelings for a girl before - was it love? He was quite sure it was... and now the sudden turn of events left him quite confused and disappointed, but most of all, hurt.

Strangely, there seemed to be no tension between the two friends, but Desmond could feel his heart breaking into a million tiny pieces whenever he saw Midori. He was shocked and upset when she began avoiding his eyes. However, he spoke nothing of it to Damien, hoping that Damien would not find out his feelings for Midori.

That Friday night, during their Astronomy Club meeting at the observatory, Desmond was exceptionally distracted. He had been listening to Damien's accounts of him sending lovey SMSes to Midori all week... and there was no sign of any rejection.

That was certainly an omnimous sign, Desmond thought, lifting his eyes to the cloudy sky.

"Hi!" Midori's cheery voice interrupted his quiet reflections.

"Uh... Hello," Desmond felt their eyes meet and instantaneously glanced away, hoping she would not see his feelings in his half-teary eyes. A notion that perhaps, all their 'exchanged glances' had only been his fertile imagination running wild.

"Did you hear about Pluto?" Midori sat down beside the Head Prefect.

"Er... yeah. That it was demoted to a dwarf planet, right?" Desmond nodded and sighed. "Sad, wasn't it?"

"Well, it's like a bunch of big bullies in a playground telling a puny kid, 'Shoo. Go away. Shoo. You don't belong here.' " she mused, rolling her eyes.

Desmond laughed. He could talk to her all night... and secretly wondered if she felt the same way, as he stole two glances at her.

Somehow or rather, that breezy night, their conversation progressed to the topic of crushes. Midori seemed to speak so easily about crushes, while Desmond was tongue-tied.

"Damien likes you..." he began teasing Midori. Midori was silent for what seemed like a very long time.

"I'm sorry," he ventured fearfully.

"It's okay... and I knew that too," Midori replied rather non-chalantly. "I don't like him, you know; I like someone else."

"Me too," Desmond answered too quickly, then hesitated. "I love her more and more as each day passes... I don't wanna hurt her, ever. But I seriously think she likes someone else... I don't dare to tell her my true feelings... at least, not now."

Midori choked back her giggles. "You sound like someone in love for the first time."

"Well, I am!" Desmond started indignantly.

Midori smiled seriously, "Here's some advice... Follow your heart. I mean, you can't choose who you like... so make sure you never regret what you do, or what you don't do..."

Desmond was silent for the rest of the night. He did not want to regret not telling her how he truly felt... And he certainly did not want to hurt her anymore.

At bedtime, his last thoughts were those of Midori and her words: to folow his heart... He was certain, absolutely certain, he would not regret his actions.

As for Damien, he would think about that later. After all, Damien wouldn't mind Midori being with the person she truly liked, would he? And their friendship would be able to weather all storms and tests, Desmond concluded before he drifted off to sleep, including the test of one girl......