Falling for You

Chapter 21 - Taking a Stroll in the Woods

The day was finally here. It was 4pm on a Friday evening which meant it was time for Akshara's weekend away from Abhimanyu. Convincing everyone at the Birla home, including Kairav and her own parents had been difficult but nonetheless, they and finally said yes to the trip. Especially after Neil had informed them he was going too.

Akshara glanced around the bus and saw that not many students had signed up for this trip. Apart from the 2 senior students, only 15 first years had decided to go on this camping trip. Which honestly suited her just fine. She preferred smaller crowds anyway.

It was supposed to be a 3 hour bus ride to Mount Abu, where they were supposed to go camping and she just couldn't wait! It was going to be her first time being adventurous.

Krishika sat 2 seats behind her whilst Siddharth sat on the seat opposite her, the aisle acting as a barrier. They had all decided to make use of how empty the bus was going to be and take the 3 hours to relax after a hectic day of lectures.

Just then, the door to the bus opened again and the senior supervising students stepped inside. First was a girl, whose name she remembered as Ritvika. She was a 3rd year honor roll student. Ritvika went ahead and took the last remainder empty seat on the bus.

Behind Ritvika, it was Neil who walked in, and casually took his seat beside Krishika, much to her chagrin.

Akshara smiled to herself as Neil began teasing Krishika, only for her smile to come to a pause as soon as she felt him. Her heart began beating against her chest as soon as she felt his presence. He was here. Akshara's eyes darted toward the door of the bus just as Abhimanyu stepped into view, his eyes immediately finding hers.

Abhimanyu?! What was Abhimanyu doing here?! Her brain started to freak out just as her brows furrowed and her palms began to sweat.

Please don't sit next to me, please don't sit next to me, Akshara chanted like a mantra in her head as she closed her eyes, trying to become invisible to Abhimanyu's gaze.

Abhimanyu's eyes found Akshara and saw the empty seat beside her. His eyes then shifted to Siddharth who was watching him intently, just as Abhimanyu was, gaging his next move. Not giving Siddharth a chance to switch seats, Abhimanyu tossed his backpack in the overhead compartment and took his seat beside Akshara.

"Hi." He said.

"Hey." Akshara squealed, trying to remain calm. "I didn't know you'd be on this trip too."

"Senior supervisor." He replied, not elaborating further on how he managed to score the position.

"Nice. It will be fun." She lied, politely.

"Uh huh." He agreed, not believing a word of what she was saying. It wasn't going to be fun at all seeing Siddharth sticking to her like glue, seeing the two of the being cozy, taking advantage of the unsupervised alone time. Possibly sneaking in a ki— Yup. Not happening. Not on his watch at least.

Mrs. Sharma, the supervising teacher did a quick head count before giving the bus driver the go ahead for the road.

Akshara took a few deep breaths, avoiding Abhimanyu's presence or well, trying to as she looked outside the window, laughing at her own cursed fate.

"And just so you are aware guys, Mrs. Sharma and myself will not be staying in the tents with you. After dinner, we will heading to the nearby lodging quarters. But don't think just because there are no teachers around, you have full freedom, that's why we have the senior supervisors, Abhimanyu and Ritvika." Mr. Gupta announced just as the bus picked up speed and made its way to the highway.

~*~

Feeling the awkward piling up, Akshara felt the slight brush of her arm against Abhimanyu's muscular one. She glanced up at him, nervously before taking her AirPods out of her bag and putting it in her ears before turning her music to full blast.