Love in the Margins

"Hey, wait up, Lili! Alright, I'm sorry. You win, okay? LILI!!! NATALIE!!!" "What? What? Whattt? You are distracting me from the race. I can't win if you keep shouting my name like that, Small Dee." I know how much he hates to be called that, but I don't care. Annoying him is one of my favourite things to do. 'Small Dee'. He keeps reminding me how much calling him that name makes him feel, especially since he is older than me. But I do love stepping on his toes... a lot. We kept running through the rain, completely drenched, laughing so hard that neither of us cared about getting soaked. I almost tripped because I kept looking back to see if Dee had caught up with me. But he was bent over with his head facing the ground, his hands were on his knees, his mouth hanging open as he struggled to catch his breath. Well... I think I'm out of breath too. "Deeeee, are you alright?" "Ye-yes, just a little out of breath, that's all." Dee took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "Oh, alright. Should we take a little rest?" I asked because I was feeling tired. "Nope, I'm good," He said, with his voice quite near and clear. "You sure, Dee?" I asked one more time. I turned forward again, searching for somewhere to sit when I realised I couldn't hear Dee's response. "Dee?" I called. I turned back only to see him running with vigour, trying to catch up with me, and me being me, there was no way I was going to let him win the race. I took off immediately and heard him laughing from behind, and I knew in an instant that he wanted to tease me, and I got it right. "Scared, Lili?" he said in between laughs. "Nope, you can do better than that, Small Dee." I told him challengingly. And that's when I knew that I messed up, because Dee sprinted faster than usual and almost caught up with me. I screamed in my head as I ran with everything I had. I saw the door open right in front of me. And right there and then, I knew that I had won the race. I sprinted toward the doorway and positioned myself in front of it, blocking Dee's view. He didn't mind — I don't think he did — he was too focused on getting past me to notice anything else. His head was lowered as the rain pitter-pattered around us. I ran past what was in front of the door and got inside the house, and Dee headed to the door, about to get inside too. He bumped straight into someone standing in front of the door. He looked up — and froze. "Hey, champ!" "Uh... uhm... hi, Dad!"Dee stuttered, quite shocked to see his dad home on time. He looked around, searching for something — or rather, someone. "She isn't home yet." "Whew!" "Whew!" We both breathed a sign of relief. Well... let's just say Mrs. McGregor is one strict woman. "Well, you kids better hurry up before she returns." "Yes, Mr. McGregor." "Yes, Dad." We both ran upstairs and sat on the bed. We looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. I knew Dee had let me win. He always did. He just liked pretending he didn't. I stood up, took my school bag off my back and placed on the bed. Unzipped it and brought out some books, one of the books fell to the floor. Dee helped me pick it up, but he immediately started laughing. I looked up at him to question why he was laughing and suddenly screamed. "Deeeeee, hand it over... pleaseeeee" I pleaded. "NOPE!" Dee said, emphasizing the word as the 'P' popped slightly. "Dee please, you can't read that!" I told him. "Why can't I?" he asked. "BECAUSE YOU CAN'T!" I shouted. I immediately got pissed while trying to reach out for the book but Dee wasn't having it. "Why are you getting riled up, Lili?" He asked with an infuriating smile on his lips. "Because you wouldn't hand it over!" I almost groaned. Why does he keeps asking annoying questions? "Why can't I read it?" he asked again. "Because it's mine. It's my book, and it's personal," I said rolling my eyes. "But, it's just a book" He shrugged. "Did you say 'Just a book'? It's my diary, Dee!" I said and had to swallow the scream down my throat. "Yeah, yeah, I know...okay? You can have it now" I snatched it from him immediately and shoved it back into my school bag. Dee came to my face and smirked at me. "You know...I think your cheerleading paid off" Dee said teasingly. "Yeah, yeah, I won the race and you know it, Dee" I said looking him in the face. "I never said you didn't," he said. "Then, why are you making that face?" I asked irritably. "What face?" I immediately ignored him. What does he mean by 'What face?'. When he does that face — with his dancing eyebrows, his smouldering eyes, and his smirking lips — he thinks he looks handsome. Yuck! But he looks weird. Very weird. He went to his school bag and brought out his books also. "Dee, we have so much homework!" I groaned, dropping my school bag onto the floor. "Maths and Science. They are both due tomorrow," Dee said. "Why don't we negotiate, Dee?" I said to him with a sly smile on my face. Dee looked at me and cringed inwardly. "No, I'm good" He said with a fast response. I laughed so hard while Dee stared at me like my laugh was the most offensive thing he'd ever heard. I simply shrugged. Afterwards, we both began getting on with our homeworks. "JAYDEN MCGREGOR!!!" Dee froze. "Uh-ohh, I think someone is in a deep trouble." I tried not to laugh as I watched the colour drain from Dee's face.