Kamau traced her face on the piece of dry, rough paper, scratching out her form with a gray pencil. He'd asked her to hold still, to stay in one position so he could capture that wistful look of hers, but Rue couldn't help but to fidget. She locked eyes with him, brown eyes that glittered with an everlasting twinkle, and mouthed one word: Please. Kamau smiled, and threw down his pencil.
"Fine!" he called, rolling up the portrait with his slender, dark fingers. "Next time you want a portrait, it won't be free."
Rue hopped off the stool she had been sitting on, and lightly punched Kamau in the shoulder. "Hey, you were the one who wanted to draw me. I didn't sign up to be your model."
"I won't be asking you again; you're a terrible one," Kamau replied, flashing her a smile. They were silent for a moment, and then Rue looked up at him. She was small for twelve years of age, petite, with springy hair that cascaded in dark curls from her scalp. Her sparkling eyes were lidded with long lashes, her cheeks rosy, her eye-brows smooth and soft, her face always innocently shining, tinting with humor and kindness. Kamau was fourteen, lean and tall, and he was in love. He was in love with Rue. He'd never told her, and didn't plan to, unless—Kamau gazed down into Rue's eyes again, and his stomach was cluttered with the sensation he always felt around her. He could feel electricity shooting from her eyes, empathy somehow reeking from her hands. The hands he so longed to hold, but couldn't. Rue was his best friend, and he was sure she didn't have such feelings for him. She was still too young, too naïve, to think of him as anything more than a companion.
"Kamau?" she asked softly.
He looked intently down at her, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He took a breath.
"Do you think they'll pick me? You know—at the reaping?"
Kamau couldn't restrain himself. He grasped Rue's hand, and pulled her towards him so that her soft, sweet-smelling hair was resting on his chest. "They won't, Rue. Don't worry."
He could feel Rue shivering in his arms, and, afraid that she was scared of him, instinctively let go.
Rue managed a smile, and then a laugh, and hugged him. "You didn't do anything, Kamau."
"Oh. Alright," he swallowed, and as he hugged her, Kamau shut his eyes. For a moment, his world was completely still and peaceful. He was with Rue, he was hugging Rue, and he had never felt such love for anyone in his entire life.