1 CHAPTER ONE: THE PAST

Present day

Toronto, Canada

Sigh.

"Something wrong, Vihaan?" Aarvi asked in a sleepy voice.

She's beautiful.

"Oh, I was thinking how the heck I ended up with you?" she blushed and I continued, "I could have done better, you know… "

Slap!

"You know, technically I was the one choosing the person, not you Mr Vihaan Malhotra." Aarvi said.

  "Well if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have had the choice in the first place! By the way, thanks for the slap, I was getting sleepy."

"Those were wild times weren't they?" she said looking at me.

I looked in her eyes, blue as the oceans yet so warm and welcoming. I always wonder how my life would've turned out if it wasn't for her. I was a jerk, and yet she never gave up on me… before I knew it I was already kissing her, her hands caressing my cheeks and mine on her waist.

"You should do that more often", she said putting her hands on my chest.

"Nah, I don't want you to get addicted to it."  I replied.

"By the way, what should we do about the school reunion?" she asked getting up from the bed.

School, huh.

October 8, 2012

Delhi

"It's a tense moment here, the penalty shootouts have not been able to yield any result till now. Both the goalkeepers are giving all they have." The commentator whispered. "And here comes the famed striker of DAV Delhi east, Avinash Singh, to take the final penalty shot for his team. Can his team win the interschool tournament for the fourth time in a row?

"Referee signals the play, Avinash shoots at the bottom corner, Nikhil dives and… great save by the DPS R.K.Puram's goalkeeper, Nikhil sharma." The commentator shouted as the crowd started booing and cheering at the same time.

"Now it's time for DPS' well-known striker Vihaan Malhotra to take the shot for his team," the commentator had to shout as the girls from both schools started to cheer at top of their lungs. "If he scores his team would finally win the tournament for the first time in five years!" commentator continues.

"Both the players have taken their positions, intense moment for both the teams, referee signals the play, looks like Vihaan is going to shoot at top right corner, Vivek seems to take the hint…" all shouting dies down.  "Vivek moves right but Vihaan shoots left, Vivek tries to save but it's too late and it's a goal!..." commentator bellowed as the crowd erupted from the stands!

"Vihaan completely outplayed the keeper this time! Fabulous presentation of wits and skills. Lovely performance by both the teams but DPS R.K. Puram made the cut this time. Let's begin the award ceremony."

Few hours later

Boy's locker room

"It was a great idea to fake the shot, Vihaan." The coach said humbly, patting my head.

"Thanks coach" my voice was as cold as ever.

"Gee dude, we won the tournament! Show some enthusiasm!"  Nitin, the defender exclaimed.

"Yeah we won, no thanks to you."

"Now that's uncalled for Vihaan, we all did what we could, and the important thing is we won!"  Coach interjected.  "And so the practice session for the next week are cancelled. Enjoy yourselves!" and the locker room roared, and I left, I have more important things to take care of.

The next day

At School

"Where did you ran off to yesterday?" Nikhil asked.

"Had some stuff to take care of, so what did you guys do?"

"Nothing much, by the way, Meghna's been asking about you lately" he smirked.

"Meghna who?"

"Girls' basketball team captain? The sports secretary? The one with brown hair? The one girl every guy in the team is after? You seriously don't know her?" It felt as if he was about to kill me.

"Is it a crime or what? Either way with everything going on I don't have time for this." Well that was true, still I can't tell anyone about my dad. I have to figure something out on my own.

"At least talk to her once." He kept pestering. "She might need help with something important who knows?"

"All right, just tell her to be near basketball court after school, it's a good thing we don't have practice sessions for a week or you would have had it by now." She better have some good reason for all this crap, I don't have time to waste. Not anymore.

"Done! We should hurry though, can't afford to miss the chemistry class now can we?"

And we ran off to the class.

After school

Basketball court

Teachers are weird, I thought, they want everyone to be on time for classes but won't ever dismiss the class on time for once. No sign of the girl, what was her name? Meghna. Wonder what he wants with me? Someone's coming might be her, yup it's her, brown hairs, student council's badge no doubt it's her.

"You sure took your sweet time!" I said before she could say anything. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh nothing much, just saw your match yesterday. You're pretty good I must say" she said crossing her arms before her chest. She appeared to be an approachable person, fair complexion, 5'7 or 5'8 height, her below shoulder hair was braided in a ponytail. As beautiful as she looked, her voice was as cold as ice. "Oh where are my manners, I'm Meghna shah, a pleasure to meet you." She said extending her hand.

"What do you want?" I replied not bothering to even shake her hand.

"Nothing, just wanted to know how your dad's been holding up. Must be hard on you, right?" she said. "After all anyone would be devastated after what happened."

I was shaken, how could anyone know about it? Just who the hell is she?

"I… I don't know what you're talking about." I replied as calmly as I could yet my voice was shaking. "I'm sorry but I have to leave now."  And I started walking past her.

"Oh you don't know huh? Maybe I was wrong after all." She smirked. "I just hope everything is alright at your home. Bye then!" and she walked off to the changing rooms.

Who is this girl! What did she meant by saying everything 'alright at home'? I have to hurry. And I started running toward my bicycle; I rode as fast as I could. Where are the watchmen?  I left the bicycle there and ran inside. The gates were wide open and no one was inside. This can't be happening.

Where is everyone?

.....

"But that's not fair mom. You promised me that I could choose the new school myself. What's this DPS? Draco's pessimistic slytherins' shed? I don't want to be at a place where I don't belong,"I shouted.

"Baby, be grown up. You know your mom would never choose anything less for you. DPS is the best option you could ever have. And most importantly, they're super impressed with your grades and they are humbly welcoming you to their school. You'll be a celebrity. Isn't it what you always wanted?"

For the 20th time, I argued with my mother and she won me over the conversation again. Maybe, she was right. I could be a celebrity in DPS. What could be better than being everyone's favourite at a new place?

Without bothering to take my dad's opinion, I went to my room and locked myself inside.

"Aarvi Bagga, you've come this far on your own. The winds tried to turn you, fire tried to burn you, water tried to drown you but.....you never gave up," I said to the girl standing in the mirror. "You're the only reason behind your achievements and you should be proud of it. The new school is only a new bunch of opportunities. And you, you my girl, you've never learned to give up. So grab this chance and make the best out of it."

I smiled at myself and pulled out the new school bag my dad had brought to bribe me. I put all my books into it and, definitely, my secret journal.

Next week,

I dressed myself and poked last time into the mirror to check on myself. Damn, I was looking too smart to make a good impression. I dabbed my shoulder and smiled one last time. After giving a quick hug to my mom and dad, I walked myself out and sat on the porch. I waited for 15 minutes until the school bus arrived. I got inside the bus. I looked at the students. They smiled as I passed by.

Maybe, they really liked me or maybe not. I shook my head and starting finding a seat. Nobody seemed to be interested in having me sit next to them. What did that mean?

"Oops!" I almost tripped onto someone in anxiety. Was I getting awkward? Was I again overwhelmed? That was definitely not a smooth start, Aarvi.

After a 20 minutes ride, we reached the school. I took a sigh of relief and moved my head out of the suffocating bus. As I looked at the school, I was mesmerized.

"W-O-W," I gasped under my breath. My eyes couldn't divert away from the magnificent architecture. The campus looked just like the Bollywood movies manifested it. I stood impressed on the entrance of DPS when the school bell rang. Hundreds of students rushed hurriedly inside the school. I, enchanting "Ram Ram", took my first step inside. I creeped to the auditorium slowly digesting the beauty of each corner. I moved to the corridor attempting to find my classroom. Being plunged in thoughts, I bumped into a strong figure.

"Ouch! Did you eat metal in your breakfast?" I exclaimed rubbing my elbow.

"..."

The guy held a neutral expression. I couldn't read if he was impressed or offended. I raised my eyebrow in a hope of getting a reply. He left an irritated sigh and continued to his way.

I felt ashamed. What was that act? Could he not see me holding my hurt elbow?

"Such a hubristic dork," I said while continuing my search.

"Hi! New bug? Can I help you with anything?" a nerdy guy said extending his hand.

"Yes, please. Could you show me the way to class 11th A?" I asked.

" Only if you let me walk you there."

"Sure. Why not. That'd be great."

"Cool. I'm Nikhil Sharma and you?"

"I'm Aarvi Bagga"

"The topper of DAV?" he exclaimed with wide eyes.

"How do you know?"

"Come on gal. You're famous in the entire school. Everybody was excited to see you when we got to know about your admission. "

"Um. I didn't know I could be a celebrity before my arrival."

He left a giggle.

"Well, you are. I'm glad to have you as my classmate," he said sweetly.

" Oh! You're in 11th A as well. So walking me here wasn't a help. You were coming to the classroom too," I said feeling stupid.

"Hey. Come on. I helped you find your way. "

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just get inside" I told him finally seeing the classroom.

"Yeah definitely."

I looked around for a minute. The students stared at me just like a lion does after seeing a prey. My forehead started sweating. I could feel the adrenaline in my mouth. I ignored those scary eyes and sat on the last bench of first row. I pulled out my journal and started scribbling nervously when the strong figure crossed my mind. He was undoubtedly the worst guy I had ever seen. How could anyone be so arrogant?

Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching me. I didn't want to raise my head to be stared at again. The student stopped in front of me. "Shit! No more trouble please," I pleaded to God.

"That's my seat," the student mentioned.

I raised my head.

"Crap! You!! How come you sit here? I thought that you sit on clouds," I uttered sarcastically.

"Get off of my seat," he said coming inch closer.

"Don't try to freak me. You'd regret it."

"Oh cool! Get up, then."

I opened my mouth to answer when Nikhil interrupted. He gestured to the strong figure to calm down and took him to the other bench. I sighed.

"Not all guys are the same," I smiled thanking Nikhil in my mind.

"First day?" I didn't know that these tiny words would actually burn my ears someday. Why would they not? About 10 teachers and 23 students asked me the same thing that day. My ears couldn't bear to hear it anymore. I needed some peace of mind. I needed some "Me time". I went to the library and started searching through racks. My fingers stopped on a red coloured book named "His deadly girl". I pulled it out and started examining it.

"Romance?"

A voice made the book shuffle out of my hands. I turned around and found Nikhil smirking at me.

What's so wrong with boys? Can't they let a girl read a romantic book peacefully? Why do they always have to interfere?

"Nikhil, would you leave me alone for awhile?" If you ask me, it was more of a threaten than a request to him.

He nodded and left me with my older companion - SILENCE.

I sat on a chair and started reading the book. It was interesting. Very interesting actually. I spent about an hour in the library and then got back to my classroom which was more of a forest with different varieties of Carnivores with their mouths watering to feed on me. I cleared my head and got back to my seat.

The whole day, I was baffled. I couldn't decide if these girls were appreciating me or humiliating me for all I was getting was their inescapable glares. And that strong figure, he was behaving like I'm invisible. My first day in DPS was nothing less than a nightmare.

                                                                         ***************

"Beta, get up. You'll be late for school."

My mom's voice woke me up the next day. Honestly, I had enough of that school already. I couldn't go there to be avoided again.

I sat on the bed scratching my head and making ugly faces to describe the students of DPS. Hopefully, mom noticed and came and sat right next by me. She hold my hand and asked me what was wrong. I told her everything. Every single little micro tiniest thing. I told her how that strong figure behaved. I told her how everyone stared. And when I looked at mom's face, I could guess that she was speechless.

"Mom, I told you. I freakin' told you. Why didn't you listen?" I protested.

"Honey, it's human nature to oppose every stimuli in the environment. But trust me, things will be fine in a while. I can bet you," said mom.

"Mom, a mothers is always there for her children. Didn't that strong figure's mom taught her how to behave with others?

"Sweetie, this is not how you talk. You saw what he showed. You don't know the other side of his story"

"Hmm...other side."

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