Sunlight,preliminaries and kisses.

Joyce woke up with a smiling face and hugged her pillow tight with a sudden surge of unconditional love. She climbed down her bed with a random pop song playing loud in her head as she ran into the bathroom. After getting her ablutions done,she slipped into her school uniform and dashed downstairs to grab a bite of her breakfast in an impatient haste.

“Hey,slow down there girl”,her mother called out to her as Joyce shoved a big piece of her sandwich  into her mouth and  downed a glass of milk without any necessary pause.

“I am fine ma…”,she said through her mouth full of food.

She flung her bag across her shoulder and waving to her mother with that exaggerated demeanour as if to ensure her that nothing were the matter,she scurried out to catch her bus,she almost missed.

Warm Wind swept across her face as summer’s day breathed into her ears and a sharp sensation of novelty engulfed her,eventhough there was nothing new in her shrunken universe except for a few shadows of new identities,she wanted to explore.

“What’s with that face? It’s quirky,the way you’re looking right now”,Joyce’s friend Abegil said with a deep frown, as she got into the bus.

Flomping down on the backseat beside her friend, Joyce clasped her hands with a queer expression which appeared as an impasse to an ultimate joy and excitement.”Abegil,that new guy,his stop hasn’t reached yet,right?”,she enquired.

“The new boy it is!” Abegil shook her head in wonder at her friend. “When are you ever going to stop obsessing yourself over him?”

“Never,never Abegil.I have never felt this way for anyone in a long time. He beats the shit out of me ,everytime I lay my eyes on him. This has to be love!”,Joyce said completely besotted.

“No kidding! love? You haven’t  talked to him ever. Stop this nonsense and start speaking some sense!”,Abegil commanded.

Just then the bus jerked and came to a halt.

Heart thudding,hands sweating and pupils completely dilated,Joyce strained her head ahead and fixed her gaze on the the door of the bus,with an expectant look. If it hadn’t been for momentous wait,she would have surely passed out.

The wait was a long one but reassured  that even today the boy would glance at her, like all the other days,she waited eagerly, hanging in mid air,comforting herself,calming herself down but all at once,  her hopes shattered at what she saw next, what she’d have never imagined to see even in her distant dreams. She felt a little part of something inside her turn into bloody shards of glass.

The new guy,whose name was believed to be Tom,had climbed into the bus accompanied by yet another guy who was all over him. Tom tried to restrain him coyily at first but once they had settled in one of the backseats,they instantly indulged in the act of snogging with absolutely no care in the world. That is why they didn’t notice the many surprised spectators around them who could only gawk at them with mouths hanging wide open.

Abegil had to literally shake Joyce to bring her back to consciousness. The reverie did not feel unknown to Joyce. She wanted to puke,she wanted to kick,she wanted to laugh,she wanted to cry,she wanted to do all at the same time and worse of all, she wanted to kiss Abegil to show Tom what he had done to her. And that thought filled her with immense sadness and helplessness.

“Hey,are you alright?”,Abegil asked showing genuine concern for her friend.

The seat Tom and his boyfriend were sharing was just next to their seat and the groaning noise emanating from that corner,made Joyce want to prowl on both of them. Her anger had reached a state of total hysteria. She was broken and someone had to pay for it.