Every word would fall short to describe how terribly embarrassed I was of my deeds. And then getting caught red-handed for it by none other than Devon made the picture appear much worse. I wish I could go back in time to fix my mistake but then that would mean waking up in a fantasy story.

Which was not possible. Instead, the next morning I woke up with a mission inscribed in my head. To avoid Devon come what may even if that would mean drilling holes in the walls and hiding inside them. Well, not literally, but you got the picture, right?

Trespassing was an offence, something which I had considered doing and actually did. The last thing I wanted was Devon to ridicule me about it. And everybody knows how blunt his words are. Jeez.

But my plans fell through just an hour after I reached school when I suddenly found myself face to face with Devon inspite of being vigilant and stealthy while using the hallways.

His sharp eyes studied me and I tried to play as cool as possible.

"Whom are you searching for, or rather, whom are you hiding from?" he asked, a ridiculing tone underlying his quirky voice.

"Nobody, or rather, nobody," I drawled.

I was about to make a move--

"Wait, I believe you want to say something to me," he stood in my way.

"No, thanks."

"Aww, didn't know you give up so easily even without trying," he taunted, "But I'll give you hints. It's a five letter word that begins with an 'S' and ends with 'y' and normally said by a person after having committed a wrong deed like forgetting to announce their presence in their next-door neighbor's house."

I noted the sarcasm in his voice. I swear my eyebrows must have twisted in anger.

"Oh, I have a better word to tell you," I smiled sweetly at him. "It's a nine letter word that begins with a 'H' and ends with an 'e'. And guess what, it's 'Hypocrite'. After all, eavesdropping is your esteemed job, isn't it?"

Devon chuckled as though I was being an ass. "How many times have I to explain it to you that talking to a pig is not called a private conversation?"

I will bang his head into a wall. Someday. One day. Soon.

"You know what? I don't think you're bothered that I overheard you and Jackson but you're rather annoyed over the fact that I saw you cry."

That stumped him. Yes.

I spoke further defensively."But let me tell you this that crying is not copyrighted by girls. Crying ain't a sign of weakness either as most guys think. Crying tells you that you're human enough to feel pain and that you have a heart."

Devon crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a sombre look. "Since you have accepted that I have a heart, hope you will also understand that I like you."

Now I was stumped, my heart missing a beat. I averted my eyes off him and left from there.

I nearly bumped into Kelly and her cronies at a turn which was a nasty business altogether.

"Watch where you're going, bitch," she snapped at me."I can understand that you're in a hurry to hide your ugly face from the world but how dare you get in my way."

I rolled my eyes. " Pardon me for having a vulgar personality like you," I drawled in sarcasm.

Kelly's loud make-up face twisted into an ugly smirk."You can say whatever shit you want, bitch, but Devon will be mine very soon. He will be in my bed, mark my words."

"I wish you all the best for that, Kelly," I said solemnly. "Win over his senses completely so that he doesn't bother looking at any other girl. Make him go as crazy as you can for you so that he completely forgets bothering other girls. Seduce him so much that he only thinks about you all day long."

Kelly appeared shell shocked hearing me say that. Obviously she never must have expected me of all people to tell her something like that. But I meant each and every word of what I said and she sensed that very well.

"You're serious. Right?"

"You guess it right," I chuckled, feigning amazement. "Thank God you aren't being dumb for today. Saves my time and energy." And I walked away.

***

That afternoon I made a trip to the library at the neighborhood sports club. Heard that a batch of new books had just arrived. Last week the librarian was compiling a list of books that the readers wanted to see on the shelves. I too had recommended two books for the same. Let's see if those are among the new arrivals. The plan was to find a good book and do an hour of productive reading.

As I walked around scanning the shelves, looking at all the titles in display, I felt something soft bump against my knees.

Startled, I looked down and realized I had run into Jackson.

"Oh, I'm so sorry baby. Did you get hurt?" I asked in concern.

The little boy looked up at me with big shining black eyes and a smile on his baby lips. "No, I'm fine. Thank you."

He's so cute! But then something about him struck me odd. I looked around but his mother was nowhere in sight.

"Where is your mum, Jackson?" I asked anxiously.

"I came here alone...." he said uneasily.

I was shocked. "Does your mum know you're here? She obviously wouldn't have allowed you to go anywhere all by yourself! She must be searching for you in panic. C'mon, we've got to reach her!"

I took him by the hand and was about to march out of the library with him but I felt him trying to hold back.

I looked down at him again and he spoke. "Mum made me sit on a bench and went for swimming but I got bored sitting there alone so I came here to see picture books."

He waved the book in his hand.

"Ohh..." Disturbing thoughts clouded my mind. So was the kid left unattended just like that? I'm not saying that Crawford Lane doesn't breeds nice people but then a six year old kid just shouldn't be left all alone!

As I came out of my trail of thoughts, I saw that he was already seated on a chair that was quite big for him and was turning the pages of the picture book.

I strode over and occupied the chair next to him and spoke, "Won't your mum worry when she comes back from swimming and doesn't find you seated on the bench?"

"I don't think..." he paused thoughtfully,"She swims for a long time. I can see many picture books till that time."

As he looked at the pictures with awe, I asked cheerfully, "Have you ever read a story book? It's wonderful to look at pictures along with reading a story!"

"Really?" he looked at me with both confusion and amazement, "I've not read any story book because Devon told me never to read any story book...."

"Why?" I asked, shocked.

"He says story books tell a lot of bad lies like everything is happy happy in the end of a story but life is never happy happy. He says life is hard and reading books makes us weak so we should not read any books," he spoke, his eyes brimming with childlike innocence.

I was at a loss of words, never having expected to hear something like that from a kid.

"Okay, tell me," I said, "isn't every night followed by a morning?"

"Yes! Morning comes after night everyday," Jackson beamed at me.

"Sure it does! Same way if there is lot of sadness in our life, we shouldn't worry because happiness is sure on its way. That's what books teach us. Along with a lot of other good things. Books also make us laugh and smile!"

"Wow!" exclaimed Jackson in admiration. "Devon did not tell me this. But I will tell him what you told me! And I want to read a book now!"

"Come with me," I smiled broadly at him, rising to my feet. The little boy jumped off the chair excitedly, kept the picture book back on the nearby shelf from where he had fetched it and then I walked him to those shelves that stacked children books.

"You can pick any book that you think you will like," I told him.

So Jackson pulled out a book from the rows of books and tried to read the name.

"Char--Char..."

"It's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' by Roald Dahl," I smiled. "Great choice for a book!"

"Thank you!" the kid flashed a cute embarrassed smile. "But...what is a factory?"

"Um..." I paused thinking of how best to explain the meaning to the kid, "A factory is a place where things are made. Like in this story, we're gonna go to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory along with Charlie and four other kids and find out how Willy Wonka makes chocolates!"

"This is so good! I want to know more about Charlie and Willy Wonka!"

"If you want, I can read out the story to you from this book," I told him.

His eyes sparkled some more after I said that. "Will you do that? That will be so good! Also.." he paused, glancing down at his shoes, "Will you be angry with me if I ask you something which I don't understand while you're reading?"

"Ofcourse you can ask me whatever you don't understand. I will gladly explain that to you!"

The child looked up at me with a bright smile again. Since reading out loud in the library was a complete no-no, we went to the adjoining lawn where we sat on a bench under the shade of a tree and I joyfully began to read out the wonderful story to him.

I was amazed by how much he understood all by himself. The absolute awe and wonder in his childlike innocent eyes as I read page after page made me immensely happy. Both he and I were totally absorbed in the chapters and we had no count of time.

"I cannot wait to know about Prince Pondicherry when Willy Wonka visited India!" Jackson said eagerly.

"Well, I guess we have to stop here for today," I said, checking the time on my wrist watch. "We need to drop you back to where your mum had asked you to sit. But we can continue tomorrow!"

It was convenient enough. Because it seemed his mother came to the club to swim everyday so while she was at it, a little bit of story telling could be done. Jackson was very eager to let Devon know about it but I asked him to keep it a secret from everybody. The last thing I needed was Devon to tag along and cause a nuisance.