The Red Diamond, Emily Flowers [books to read this summer .txt] 📗

My puffy eyes after a night of sobbing made me dread waking up and stepping into a world of idiots.

To my surprise, Troy, the one and only pain in my nerve, was ironically early. He sat there gazing at me with his husky brown eyes that were to die for, but that didn’t exclude him from being peevish. I hurried over to my seat, which was unfortunately still next to him. I sat down, trying to avoid all contact until suddenly he decided to communicate with me.

“Hi ... listen, I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to ––”

“It’s ok. Thanks.” I said. I cut him off while he was busy apologizing, not to be rude, but rather to avoid his eyes looking so deep into me. Thank goodness! Professor Lee entered the room at that moment, which broke the awkward tension between us.

“Good day students. Today we’ll learn the principals of epidemiology. As an epidemiologist our job is to find the causes of health outcomes and diseases that affect populations.”

While the professor was giving his lecture, my mind was clouded with Troy. Even his scent was amazing. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way he glared at me as if he could read my soul.

“So can anyone name what public health problems or events that are investigated?” the professor asked, while I was far, far away in my imagination until the professor called out my name. “Iman?”

I looked at him amused.

“Yes, sir. The answer is: environmental exposures, infectious diseases, injuries, non-infectious diseases, natural disasters and terrorism,” I speedily shot the answer to the professor like a robot, which left me looking like a total show-off and that was not my intention; he just caught me off guard.

After the class I headed off to the bathroom to splash my face with cold water. “Why am I thinking about Troy?” I asked myself looking at the mirror. He only apologized, which was the right thing for him to do. It was not like he bought me a cheese cake.

So I went to the library and what a coincidence! Troy Billings was there, looking through books in the science section.

“Hmm ... hi!” I quietly gasped.

“Oh, hey!” Troy responded smiling at me like I was his ray of sunshine.

I turned my attention to a shelf of books although I knew I couldn’t concentrate. The narrow space that we both occupied felt like flames of constrained arrows darting into my blood cells. Troy picked out a book and handed it to me, which was an astonishing move from someone like him. The book was called A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

“This book is about the universe of stars and planets and the tiny universe of atoms and subatomic particles. The theories explain the workings of the grand-scale universe and others explain the workings of the minute scale, which in my opinion contradict one another. Don’t worry. I won’t tell you why now, only after you’re done reading it.”

I was marveled off my feet as he explained the knowledge within the book. It was not even part of our studies but he read a book. In high school the only thing a good-looking guy would want from me was to complete their homework, but here standing before me was a hot fine-looking man. And guess what? He was a smart-ass, absolutely unbelievable.

“Wow, it sounds really awesome! I can’t wait to read it!” I responded smiling at him. I could feel my cheeks turn red as we stood in the same breathing space.

“Well, I got what I came for. See you around!” Troy said, winking at me as he walked away.

My mind and heart felt like a stroke of lightening hit. Troy Billings played in my mind every minute and I even started smiling alone. My brain wouldn’t stop and my body felt a weird sensation. Should I cast a spell on myself to stop thinking of him? I looked at my bedroom mirror and untied my long thick red hair. I felt different, like a rose ready to embrace love, or maybe love was about to capture me.

Chapter 4

I decided to try out the cafeteria again. I let down my hair, dressed up in a cute black dress that showed off my pear-shaped figure and entered the doors with my chin up. I never felt this confident before and I could feel the sprawling eyes on me.

The menu at the food court had my favorite, macaroni and cheese, which I couldn’t wait to indulge in. I caught a glimpse of Troy looking at me and I quickly pretended like I didn’t see him and sat at a table not too far from his sight. The meal was very scrumptious, which made me feel calmer and not a nervous wreck sitting alone.

There was this tall girl with long brown hair who suddenly sat in front of Troy, smiling at him, and he seemed to enjoy her company and I almost choked on my food when she blew him a kiss. Without looking broken or upset I walked out of the cafeteria and went to a place I belonged, the library.

“There has to be a way to remove my feelings for Troy,” I said to myself as I scurried through my spell book.

“What are you up to?” Troy asked, giving me fright.

“Oh, I didn’t see you walk in.” I said, quickly closing my spell book.

Troy sat down opposite me. “You look different, in a nice way,” he commented.

“Thanks!” I said, looking down shyly tucking my hair behind my perfectly shaped ears.

“I read the book you suggested. It was great and I understand why you feel there is a contradiction between the large-scale universe and the smaller,” I said, trying not to make direct contact with him.

“Do you mind coming with me, somewhere?”

I looked at him startled. “Somewhere ... like?” I interrogated.

“Well, you’ll see when we get there,” he said, holding his hand out like it was a marriage proposal and I said, “Yes, ok let’s go somewhere then.”

Troy owned a BMW E30 M3, a cool ride that suited his spontaneous personality.

“I inherited this baby from Grandfather after he passed on, cool right?” Troy said.

“It’s real awesome!” I said, sounding like an idiot, unsure how to relate to boys and their cars.

“My grandfather won’t allow me to have my own car as yet, which sucks,” I said, trying to make conversation as he drove.

“Yeah, but you’re an adult now. I’m sure you don’t need anyone’s permission to drive a car,” Troy went on to say.

“Yes, I know, but my grandfather has this fear of me driving because he lost my parents in a car crash when I was a baby.”

At that moment I felt like a sorrowful bird sharing all this information with him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. It must have been difficult for you growing up,” Troy said, trying to show concern.

“Actually my grandfather filled my life with so much love