Chapter 5

"Azalea, will you put your phone down or do I have to burn that thing down?" As if it's not instantly knowable, it is my mother. And she thinks it is quite alright to disturb a person on a Sunday morning.

"Sure, whatever. What's the big emergency, by the way?" I say, clicking the "send" option and walking out of the room.

"Melissa is here to see you. And make her some tea or coffee too, I am in the middle of some work."

A great way to start a Sunday morning!

I sigh.

"You didn't tell me!" She screech as soon she get a glimpse of my face.

"Sshhh! Get inside. And don't tell me you want tea or coffee or whatever."

" Nah. I want gossip!"

I know.

As soon as she sets her feet inside, she snatches my phone from the desk and starts scrolling through it. Right. Who cares for permission anyway?

"Ah, here it is. Give me a moment. I need to read all these."

Hardly fifteen minutes pass before she returns my phone and grins from ear to ear. Alright, today is about me. I could actually get used to this.

"It's nothing." I wave away a dismissive hand.

"Sure it is. Oh my goodness! You finally found someone you like! I'm so glad. So, tell me. Did you two meet after school? Did you go to dates and romantic dinners and all that?" She really needs to stop watching movies.

"Goodness, Mels! You are so weird. It's been just a fortnight that he has moved here..."

"And you are already so in love with him! Isn't that great?"

"Okay, so maybe 'love' is quite a strong word..."

"Tell me more, na! I really want to know all about you." She jumps up and down my bed.

"I told you, there's nothing. I mean, we have gotten quite close, as friends. He... Well, he talks to me so sweetly and he sent me some poems he wrote..." I blush furiously as I say it.

"So he actually likes you!" She screams.

"Shut it. I'm sure he hasn't even looked at me like that. I mean, just as friends..."

"Azalea Hazel weds Shahbad Sheikh. It sounds so good!"

Okay, now it has gone too far. I do one thing that I am sure would not fail.

"So what about Melissa Meyer and Aaron Telian?"

And it's nothing but Aaron for the rest of the day.

Perching up on the window ledge, I allow myself a small smile. Melissa might be annoying to the last degree, but she really does care about me. Her excitement is so infectious, it had me grinning even after listening to her rant about her love life for nearly three hours. A soft drizzle has started outside, and my grin widens. I watch as the raindrops splatter the leaves, leaving them far greener than they were a moment ago. The smell of wet soil is intoxicating, and I take it all in with bliss. It feels so pure, so in rhythm with what I am feeling now, and I feel sure as if it is all meant to be, just like I knew it from the day I saw his photograph on the admission form.

I didn't need the nudge from Melissa to know that he had already stepped in. I could feel my heart beating with the sound of his approaching steps, but I kept my eyes down, as if afraid of being caught in some wrong act. And that's when I saw his black shoes, and they reflected back me. As I pulled my eyes higher, I saw a perfectly manicured being, with perfectly ironed uniform and perfectly composed stature. I looked at my creased uniform and frowned, and my shoes had turned from black to white as I had dash out of the house hardly sparing some time to polish them. He looked complete antithesis of me, and I looked up, to see if he is as beautiful as I am ugly, and I see to my mixed feelings that he is. The perfect embodiment of an earthly Adonais! Shahbad Sheikh stood there, his hands folded behind him and looking over the students with a look of haughty confidence. His black eyes sparkled with blue glitters, and his tanned skin radiated the glow amiss even from Melissa's. His hair was styled not with spikes and waves, but in a very gentleman-like way, close cropped and side-parted. His nose was reminiscing of the Roman straightness, and his lips were tomato red, full of promises. I realised that I was gaping at him a moment too late, for his eyes had just flickered to my face and I had to look down, embarassed.

I jerk back into reality with a beep on my phone. I grin as I pick it up, and as I know it will be, it is from him. I shake my head, it's foolish. I still haven't gotten used to calling him by his name, and it is really weird because I don't even know its meaning. All I know is the name sounds delicious coming out of my lips that it seems like a horrible waste to call it all the time. Or even think about it. I can almost see the shiver riding my sinews when I say the name: "Shah-bad"

Something is definitely happening to me, I can't put a stop to this goofy grin of mine. With Grace off to her University, and my parents preference to stay downstairs, I have the whole room to my grin. But it fades away fast as I look down my window, as a shadow of a beautiful human figure across the road towards my house. I straighten up, startled, and the shadow vanishes. I slump down again, smiling, as I see the effects of love engulfing me becomes apparent.