The black box containing the e-ciggarate remained in Iqball's  bag for a couple of days. He had totally forgotten about it until the moment he sat dejectedly next to a vending machine.

When Ballqis didn't acknowledge him at all during Mr Evan's class on Monday nor the lab shift on Tuesday, Iqball nearly gave up.

Right after lab, he left the fish nook on time as even T7 wouldn't say anything about the thoughts running through his head.

Ballqis hates me.

I'm not her friend anymore.

We've never actually been friends, who were you trying to kid?

The fish in Tank 7 had stared at him, its eyes as round as a full moon but as cold as a polar bear's nose.

Once outside, he went to the vending machine to get a cup of hot drink, but the machine wasn't working. It must have been jammed by someone who accidentally put in currency that wasn't AUD. He even saw Ballqis put in Ringgit Malaysia once, and the machine would still be cough out coffee.

Iqball sat mournfully on the bench next to the weird machine. He rummaged through his bag, hoping to find a box of Ricola or anything to eat. He found a sour apple but it reminded him of Ballqis, so he dunk the fruit back into the depths of his bag. His fingers picked on a tiny box that he had forgotten all about since last Sunday.

I wonder how this works, Iqball thought. His curiosity got him reading the manual and opening the package of vape juice that Bella had also supplied with the tiny cylindrical gadget.

Putting the two together, Iqball switch on the little smoke maker.

He wasn't supposed to smoke on campus grounds, but this was an e-ciggarate. He had seen a few students smoke it at deserted corners just like where he was at.

He took a puff.

Smoke entered his mouth and he slowly exhale.

The peach flavour of the vape juice was thick and quite delicious. Iqball took a second puff.

"Hand it over."

A voice he had been wanting to hear since yesterday barged in.

Iqball stared at Ballqis. She had a fierce streak in her eyes. The corners of her mouth did not point upwards. And she had a hand held out towards him, clearly expecting him to surrender the machine.

"Why should I? I got terribly bored. I was just trying this one out," he challenged and tried to keep her engaged.

But the girl wasn't falling for that trick.

"Come on," she pressed. Though Ballqis was looking super cute dressed in faded blue jeans and oversized flannel shirt, she looked pretty scary to him.

Slowly, he handed the e-ciggarate to her.

Ballqis took it with a huff and turned. Before Iqball could say anything, she left.

As she walk away, Iqball found himself unwilling to give up just yet.

She talked.

She talked to me.

Maybe it ended with a swagger that meant 'don't talk to me', I'm sure she still considers me a friend.

Iqball knew he needed to find her and iron things out instead of holding his feelings as he did during class and lab just now.

***

"We're friends, right? Just give me the e-ciggy so that I can resell it," he pleaded.

Iqball had cornered Ballqis at a quiet spot near the faculty park the following day. Ballqis refused to entertain his request.

"No. You're going to use it."

"Promise I won't." His expression was soft, coy and slightly pleading.

But she was resolute. "Do I look like your girlfriend?"

"I never had one, so, no."

That silenced her for a second but she quickly recovered.

"What I'm trying to say is that I'm nobody to you so you wouldn't be so keen to keep a promise like that."

Iqball mulled that explanation for a bit.

"I know we didn't talk in school, but I know you. You're a friend now."

"You don't know me," she reacted, somewhat defensively.

"Hey you're hurting a friend's feelings," he tried to lighten her up.

"If I had wanted to hurt you I'd let you kill yourself slowly with that e-ciggy. Which, by the way, have been couriered to my home," she announced, ready to walk away.

"You sent it to Perlis!" cried Iqball.

Ballqis jaw dropped. "You know I'm from Perlis?"

He grinned. "I know your mom's a doctor. That's why you snatched the e-cigarette."

To which she slowly mumbled, "And I know your mom died of cancer, that's why I got so angry when I saw you holding it."

They both didn't say anything for a full minute. The subject of 'moms' wasn't something both were comfortable to discuss.

Other students passing by thought the two just had a lovers' quarrel over where to eat.

"So you've heard that much about me huh," he said unnecessarily, knowing that the whole school had been talking about how he scored so well despite having to care for and then losing a family.

Some had even called him 'heartless'.

"God knows how you heard anything at all about me," she quipped and sent her glacial glance towards the warm, lush park.

"I talked to a senior about you before... In high school," he finally admitted.

Ballqis looked up in surprise.

"Why? What for?"

"Well you didn't have friends our age. You were only friends with seniors."

"More like only the seniors would talk to me. I don't know why but after Form 3 none of the girls in our batch spoke to me."

He wasn't keen to talk about the past, so he picked the most important piece of history. "I asked the seniors about you, because... I have a crush on you."

She wasn't keen on grammar but a discussion on tenses suddenly became necessary. "You have... Or you had...?"

"Oh come on Ball-kiss. You heard me," said the guy who at that moment appeared more like his nickname's opposite.

"How come you never said anything?" she whispered, thinking high school would have been half the hell if he did.

"Haven't you got a crush before? Confessing isn't easy. I'm not some 'kebal' guy they perceived me to be." His voice was equally soft, revealing how hard it was for him to gain enough balls to admit it.

"So now you still want your e-ciggy?" she inquired a few moments after getting over her shock.

"What I really want, is to know how you feel about this," he answered, pointing to himself.

She smiled. For such a bright guy he still needed some help with spelling. "I thought yesterday I made it clear. You're a guy worth saving."