Chapter 32
AKASH'S P. O. V.
"All settled down nice and easy in your new home?" Sid chuckled over the phone. I growled as I sat on the bed; I hadn't called home to have him mock me, I had simply wanted to wish him good luck for high school again before he left for his first day. As it was I had been in a sour mood since they had all left to go back home two days ago, on Sunday. Of course part of it was due to being away from my friends, but another reason had presented itself not long after my family had left that evening.
One of the only ones, apart from Tracy and Carrie, who could make my mood any better was Jay. I had gone online to try and talk to him on Sunday, only to find a message from his fiancée Francesca. She had told me that Jay was a fake, a non-existent identity created by a British girl named Kim Barber. Apparently Kim had been keeping up an act as Jay for nearly two years, fooling a number of people into believing she was a teenage boy from England. I had been stunned by this news, but I was more infuriated and hurt than shocked; Jay had been someone I had had faith in, even to the point that I had told him about Carrie and the situation I was in.
Remembering that Carrie had also spoken to him on one or two occasions using my Facebook account, I felt that she had to be told about this too. As I expected she too was shocked to hear about the true revelation behind Jay Smith. After talking with Carrie for a little while I had spent a couple more hours talking to Francesca, who I could tell was distraught. But my mood was far from its usual laid-back self, and I didn't want to talk to anyone for fear of saying something I didn't mean.
Hence since Sunday evening, the only person I had spoken to was my landlord that day, who had come to collect the month's rent and inform me that none of my other seven housemates had arrived yet. He had said that since classes weren't beginning for us until Thursday, which was two days from now, the other tenants would only be arriving today at the earliest. I hadn't minded in the slightest; I wasn't feeling in a particularly social mood anyway, so having the house to myself was quite welcome. In addition, it gave me the opportunity to call first dibs on where I wanted to keep my dishes in the kitchen, as well as how much space I wanted to occupy in the fridge.
"I'm gonna hang up," I told my brother. "Looks like I made a mistake in calling."
"No, no!" he protested. "Okay, sorry, I didn't mean to make fun of you!" I grunted to show him I had acknowledged the apology. "So what's up? How come you haven't left for class yet?"
"It's Frosh week," I replied. "I have no class until Thursday." He let out an audible gasp of indignation.
"No fair!" he whined. "You get two more days off than I do? How is that fair? You're in university, I thought you would have started earlier or at the same time!"
"I dunno how their system works," I said, "but it doesn't really matter I guess. Anyway you don't have as much work to worry about as I do, so I guess it cancels out." He huffed and I knew my argument hadn't convinced him. But then he laughed again.
"Ha! That means you have school on your birthday, right? Since it's on Friday!" he snickered, before continuing in a mocking tone. "Anything you want for your birthday? Any present?"
I answered without thinking. "Sure, let me see Carrie and Tracy on my birthday, that's all I need." There was silence at the other end, and for a moment I thought he had hung up. As I was about to disconnect, he spoke again.
"You do know I was only joking, right?" he said quietly. "How could I manage that for your birthday?"
I let out a humourless chuckle. "Yeah I guess it would be near impossible, wouldn't it?"
