"Who is it?", asked Evelyn.

"Nick", I said while everyone glanced at the screen. Evelyn gave an evil laugh.

"Wait. It's not what it seems like-"

"That's enough!", Natalie interrupted me. I looked pleadingly at her.

"At least listen to me-"

"Kriss, I told you , That's enough! You don't need to give explanations to anyone. Not at least to these people. I TRUST YOU. That's it. We don't need to prove that to people. Also, those who had been planning to win over by creating a misunderstanding between us will NEVER succeed."
With that, Natalie grabbed my hand with one and Ethan's with another and dragged us away from devils.

" Natalie, I -", I tried to clear off the allegations put on me.

"We're late for the class. Come on, Let's go!"

*****

The teacher was ranting without a break and I didn't care to hear a single word. I was staring at my notebook for past half an hour. Well, not only staring but thinking. Wondering about what to make of Natalie's words. Was she mad at me?

There were two ways that could explain Natalie's acts. Either she meant each and every word she said. That she trusted me. Or she said those just for the sake to make Evelyn feel defeated at her attempts. Merely, for not letting herself down in front of Evelyn.

And at that moment, the latter made more sense. Because, anybody could have fallen to accuse me of betraying friends after what Evelyn told. After all, everything went against me. And there I was standing completely speechless with no words to say in my favour. Also, many times, distress makes you believe what is not true. Like I did when my mother died. I was devastated by her death and that made me believe at that moment that the whole world about me was trying to separate her from me. How I blamed Dad and people around for letting her go. Same way, Natalie must be really stressed at seeing her hours of hard work in rival's hands. And the sadness and anguish must have led her to believe even when she didn't want to, that I betrayed her.

Just this morning, I was cherishing our friendship and in a matter of minutes, it has ended. I didn't know what I was going to do without her. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I just couldn't lose her. I would be miserable if I did. And for that , I'll put in every efforts to wash away the accusations and save our friendship. And the only person who could help me in this was the one who caused it,

Nick.

That Mr arrogant has crossed all his limits. He was the one who had so cunningly manipulated our meetings for book club to the meetings for our exchanging the flash drive. He would not be spared !

The class ended and I stormed to the library where we had initially decided to meet for the exchange of book. I spotted his back near the end of the library by the bookshelf.

"I never knew that you were this manipulative, Mr Arrogant! I thought you were better than all this but NO! How cunning of you to accuse me of backstabbing my friend. How the hell did you get the flash drive? I won't let you-"

He turned his back and faced me. My eyes raging with anger met his eyes. His eyes were looking more blue and deeper than usual. Maybe because his face was so close to mine. And suddenly, my lips refused to move and words denied to leave my throat. His eyes had this effect on me that I couldn't yell on him further. I didn't know why his eyes always intimidated me.

"Huh!? What flash drive? What are you talking about?"

His words snapped me out of my trance.
And I continued to scold him.

" Ohhh! You are so innocent! ", I said sarcastically.

His face had a quizzical look and he looked completely clueless. Maybe, he really didn't know about this all. NO! I would not let myself be fooled by his pretense.

"Are you out of your senses?", he asked.

"Don't act smart! Why did you do this? For revenge? There were many ways you could have done that but you decided to ruin my friendship. Just for the sake of winning the elections. Just to help those devils. You yourself are DEVIL and-"

Nick cupped his hand over my mouth in a swift motion and the force pushed me against the bookshelf. His eyes stared right into mine. The gaze was so strong that I felt it piercing through my body and peeking right into my soul. I stared right into his. Hadn't been my friendship at stake, I  would have avoided that strong gaze and would have looked away but I couldn't appear weak. Not now.

" Hush! Can you please stop yelling? For God's sake, it's library! I don't want to be thrown out of here by that horrible librarian", he whispered.

His face was so close to mine that even his whisper was clearly audible. I tried to free myself from his clutches. His hands were so strong. He finally loosened his grip and I got rid of his hand from my face and I took some deep breaths.

" I won't calm down ! Not after what you did ! You will have to clear this mess!", I yelled at the top of my voice not caring about the monster librarian.

" I don't know what you are talking about!"

" Liar! You know everything ! You planned all this! You are the reason for ruining my friendship! Heartless fellow!"

" WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE SAYING! AND I. AM. NOT. HEARTLESS.!"
His eyes were blaring with anger and he punched the bookshelf behind me. The bookshelf rocked and books fell all over the place. My anger vanished seeing his anger.

" Who's there? Ohhh! The books! You little punks! This library's not your property! You rich brats! Always messing the place!  OUT ! Out of this damn library! RIGHT NOW! And no entry in the library for two whole days! LEAVE!", Blared the librarian fuming with anger. You can literally see the smoke and fire rising from her body.

I left without glancing a single look at Nick and at once went to find Natalie. I found her and waited outside for her class to end.

"Kriss!", Natalie said leaving the classroom.

"Natalie. I'm sorry! But you need to hear me out. I don't know how Evelyn got hold of that drive but I wasn't the one to give her. And Nick and I are members of the literary club. He asked me to bring the book-", I explained.

"Calm down, Kriss", Natalie gave me a warm smile and took my hands into hers

"Look, I know, we became friends not much time ago, just a few months back. But, this doesn't mean that I don't trust you. Time for which I know you doesn't define our friendship. You know, If I call you my best friend, then I trust you completely. I can't imagine you betraying me. Never . Much less believe it when some stupid person tells me so. How did you even think that I would fall prey to Evelyn's allegations. Friends don't deceive each other. They believe in you even if whole world's against you! Because they know you.

And the only quality of me that I'm proud of is that I can differentiate between real people and the fake ones. I know you. I know that you can't even think of deceiving me. Of course, I couldn't be wrong." Natalie smiled and flicked her hair back in pride. Both of us laughed even though there were tears welling up in my eyes. I was wrong. Natalie believed in me. And I would never give her a reason not to.

"How did you even think that I would suspect you and accuse you of all that? Don't you consider me as your friend ? If you don't, I can leave", Natalie made a pout and her puppy face.

"NO! NO! I do! You're the only friend that I have. You know what, I never tell you, but I'm so grateful for your friendship. I don't know what I will ever do without you. You supported me in my tough times, when I was miserable about my mother's death. I   love you, Natalie. Never leave my side", I said with blurry eyes. Immediately, I went and hug her.

"I never will", Natalie hugged me back . She broke the hug and looked excited.

"Kriss! I just remembered something. There's a party at college! I'm so excited! "

"Yay!! When?"

"In two days! We need to go Shopping!!"
Natalie was almost jumping in her place. She looked so cheerful.

I wasn't sure when I would find my love. Or whether I would actually find or not. But one thing I was sure of. Natalie and my friendship. I didn't believe in forever. But I think I would now. And I hoped my friendship to last FOREVER.

******
A/N

So, this is one of the special chapters. The chapter clearly depicts the bond of friendship of Kriss and Natalie.

Since, this chapter is about friendship, I dedicate this chapter to all my friends and especially to my best friend. Our bond encouraged me to write the chapter. How you every time make me feel good about myself, always lifting my spirits , fighting for me. Thank you for always staying by my side , giving me a shoulder to cry upon and finally making me realize that you are perfect the way you are.

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