I was at the library again to meet Sindi. She was going to help me study. But she hadn’t pitched, and so far I had waited thirty minutes.

Come on, I told myself, I can do this on my own. I settled down on the floor with my books.

“You’ll never get anything in, studying like that.” At the sound of the crisp yet husky voice I froze. It was Marius. He had a strong Afrikaans accent. I closed my eyes and braced myself. If I looked up and saw his ridiculously sexy grin, or stared into his smoky hazel eyes, I would faint.

“And who died and made you an expert on studying?” I said, scrambling to my knees. I liked lying on the floor to study.

“Discovery Health. They just published some articles on it. I hope they didn’t actually die doing it,” he said coolly.

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm. Is there anything the guy doesn’t know? I thought as I started packing my books.

“I’ll read it sometime,” I said. Pathetic! I had no quirky comebacks to throw at him. Holding my heavy Engineering text book I pictured throwing it at his face, but shoved it in my backpack instead.

“Well you’re in luck, coz I’m here,” he said helping me collect my other books.

“You call that lucky,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Let’s put my methods to the test, shall we?” he said, as he paged through my People’s Magazine puzzle book. He saw the horrid look on my face. “Come on, I’ll prove it to you. With a contest.”

“I have no time for games, Marius,” I lied. The way his name rolled off my tongue gave me goose bumps. I wondered if he saw them on my bare arms.

“So,” he continued, totally ignoring my words, “how long does it take you to finish one of these crossword puzzles?” He was still paging. I knew that really he was sizing me up, testing my smarts. I could feel a hot blaze of anger rising up inside of me.

“Ten, fifteen minutes tops.” Now our eyes were locked. He held my glance a little longer than I would have liked. I could feel my neck tensing as I looked up at him.

“Fifteen minutes.” He said. I knew this gaze; it was a dare.

He was towering over me; I was melting in his stare. But he was challenging me and I had to take him on. This was what I knew; my territory. I solved crosswords in my sleep. He didn’t know that but now I was going to show him. Finally, Marius Smit would see that I too, was smart. I spoke but my voice was barely audible.

“What are the stakes?”

“If I win, I teach you a proper study method,” he said. The fresh minty smell from his lips almost made me close my eyes. But one knows never to blink in a stare-down.

“And when I win?”

“If you win,” he said with a grin, “then you get to rid yourself of me forever.”

“No more pranks? No more stupid, childish games?” My eyes hadn’t left his and my heart was playing the drumroll. I was going deaf under its thundering sound. To be rid of Marius in my life would mean peace, I thought. But somehow the way my spirits plummeted at the thought of him gone, told me I was wrong. My body was refusing to agree with my mind, but that was no surprise to me.

He leaned in so close that I could feel that hot minty breath on my face. I could feel myself turning a lighter shade of plum under my dark complexion. Forever, I thought.

“Forever,” he echoed my thoughts.

“Deal,” I said. He turned and walked to the photocopy machine, then brought me back my copy of the crossword. He sat at a nearby table, found a song on his mp3, and plugged his earphones in. He put his phone on the table and set the stopwatch timer, then nodded to me as the signal to begin.

I could hear the music blaring from where I was standing. He obviously wasn’t bothered by the effect it had on his eardrums. Maybe Discovery Health hasn’t published an article on it yet, I thought.

I wondered if he was hurt that I didn’t want him near me. Or did he sense the conflict in my heart? What did he really think? I looked at him. Oh gawd, he wasn’t thinking about me – he was doing his crossword! I quickly returned to earth at the thought of the challenge.

The alarm went off, signalling that time was up, and this was the beginning of ‘forever’. But I knew I had lost because half the time I had spent looking at Marius, wondering what music he liked, which books he read, what he did in his free time. The other half I was trying to figure out the answer to seven across.

Marius had won; his grin confirmed it after he tallied up our scores. He had beaten me by one word, and I knew which one it was. Seven across.

“Shall we?” he said taking my bag and throwing it over his shoulder. He turned and walked out of the study centre before I could protest. I kept opening and closing my mouth. With a wicked grin on my face.

***

Tell us: Why do you think Sino is grinning? Could she have deliberately lost the contest?