ENCHANTED

CHAPTER 1 - First Day

ELLA

I wished to fucking go home. I was sitting inside the classroom of my new school. After thinking for almost 2 months, I was sitting in the Humanities batch not because I chose that stream but I had to. I had to get admission and I wasn't able to come to a decision. I detested Mathematics, since 8th standard. And I sometimes also didn't like people who liked mathematics. What was there to like in Mathematics?

Oak Valley High School, Nanital. Yeah... I was studying in this school now. I came here after fighting with my mother. After one year of convincing she approved and then so did my father. I was sitting in the class thinking about what my sister must be doing right now in Lucknow. The thing I was sure about was that she must have skipped school.

"Did you complete the assignment?" asked some boy to a girl sitting with me.

"Nope. I didn't. Hey! Meet her. She is new here", said her. She was the one whom I asked where XI Humanities was and ended up knowing that she was going to be my classmate. And she also helped me when I tripped and made a embarrassment of myself. Sigh...

I looked and caught a boy standing close enough to me to smell the fragrance he was wearing. He was taller than me, had a fair skin and smelted like sandalwood. He was a fine looking guy.

"Hello. I am Ella. Ella Singh. Nice to meet you", Nope. It was not nice to meet anybody here. I missed my old school. Why everyone had to talk? Couldn't they just keep their mouth shut? But that girl, I found her quite nice. She was helpful and polite. In the morning, when we reached the classroom, there was no chair for me so she arranged it. But I couldn't remember her name. Stupid Ella.

"Hi beautiful. I am Nihal. How do you like it?", he replied too excitedly.

I stared him. Beautiful? He must be joking. Bye the way, who said things like this in the first meeting? People here were crazy. When I didn't reply he added, "I mean how is this school. Are you liking it?"

I wanted to say 'NOOOOO' so badly but stopped myself from doing it and instead said while forcing a smile," I think I can survive here for two years."

"What subjects are you having? Are we having the same subjects? I am too excited to know. " he asked being too friendly.

"Take a break Ni. She just arrived here. Let her breathe.", the girl said irritably. It appeared to me that she didn't like that Nihal was talking to me like that.

"Okay Ally." Ally... I thought about the name and recalled that her name was Allison. "Got it. Sorry Ella. But can I ask you one question?" I nodded so he went on, "Why is your name Ella? I mean you're Indian, right?"

"I am curious too about that one", said Allison.

I was wondering why anyone haven't asked me this till now. In my previous school and neighborhood everyone who ever got to know my name had asked me why it was so. And when they know the reason they made fun of me. Here, in India anyone who tries to speak in English is teased by saying that he is trying to be a Britisher. And in a country like that, you could imagine what people could say if you have an American name. But I never cared about them and neither did my family. The only thing I hated about my name was explaining the reason behind it. I shrugged and said, "I like American names."

"Wow. Umm.... that's cool." The expression he had made, it said that it was anything but cool.

Ally looked surprised too but before she could make any comment, the bell rang. Thank god.

A middle aged man entered the classroom and the class was as silent as a graveyard. He was wearing a black dungaree, white shirt and a tie. His pair of spectacles were hanging through his neck and he had a really serious face. It reminded me of Professor Virus of 3 Idiots. He was the history teacher as I have already assumed by looking at his irritated face. He introduced himself as Rakesh Mehta.

The rest of the day went on with Political Science, Philosophy and English classes. I really enjoyed my English class because it had always been my favorite and comfort subject. Mrs. Martin was a really kind lady but also the only teacher who made me introduce myself in front of everyone. And being myself, I embarrassed myself by tripping over my feet and making everyone laugh.

Now, it was time for my optional subject. I was looking for the class and heard someone calling my name. I turned and saw Nihal standing behind me. He said smiling, "You looking for your next class? I think we have the same classes. Let us both go together. Fine?"

"Umm... I haven't taken P.E. I took Mathematics." I replied, feeling relief.

"Oh. Okay. Groundfloor. Room 12." He said feeling disappointed. He seemed shocked and I knew the reason. He (well...no-one) had ever found anyone as stupid as me who had taken Mathematics with Humanities. I know I detested Math and I still did. But you could say I was doing every stupid thing possible these days.

I reached to the classroom but was still standing outside the room. I took a deep breath, sighed, prayed to God to give me strength and then entered the classroom. The teacher hadn't come there yet. There were only 2 more students sitting and talking there. They stopped talking when they saw me. One of them had bronze colored curly hair and was good looking on his Indian tan skin. The other one had dark hair and those ocean blue eyes about which I have read in so many books. When our eyes met he suddenly looked back at his friend and they both started where they have left completely ignoring me.

That was what I needed. No more attention and conversation. As there were only 3 of us, I sat with them and opened my book. Another girl came who had short hair and was pretty. I felt that she was as shy as me and was comfortable with not speaking. I was going to like her company. She was from my class and those boys were from Medical stream. After siting for ten minutes, someone came to inform us that sir was absent. So, we were on our own for today. The bronze one whose name was Aryan said, "Hey dude! You wanna come? I am going to the ground." but the other one refused. After few minutes the girl also left the room for doing something else. I preferred sitting in the classroom only.

While I was thinking about where should I start, I heard someone clearing their throat. "Hello", said a musical and velvet voice.

I looked up, stunned. When he saw that I was looking at him he continued, "I am Saaransh Malhotra. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself earlier." he said smiling.

"Umm...Hi. I am Ella. Ella Singh." He laughed a quiet laugh. It pissed me off.

"What??" I regretted it as soon as I said it. I must have sounded too rude.

"Nothing. It's just that your name is unusual. Is there any story behind it?"

I sighed heavily and gathered the courage to answer the same question everyone had asked me today.

"Am I irritating you?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me", said he.

"No...no", I replied immediately. "I was just thinking how to answer that. I mean I have answered this question more than a hundred times today."

"Oh. You don't need to answer that if you don't want to." He said smiling.

"Actually...I read books that have names like this. So, I liked this name and you can guess the rest."

"Hmm...I get it. Well I never saw you before."

"Yeah, because I am new here and this is my first day."

"So, how come are you here? Father's transfer?"

"I guess we should study something now. Sir will be disappointed if he got to know that we wasted our forty-five minutes."

"Sure, sure." said he, while he was still looking at me. When I stared back he didn't look away. He made an eye contact with me and after a few seconds got back to his book. I couldn't ignore the fact that his eyes were beautiful.

I looked at my timetable slip. It was my free period which meant I could go to the library. This was the first time in the whole day I was feeling happy. Me and my book. After asking a girl about the library, I went upstairs. When I entered the library, I just looked around without blinking so that I won't miss the beautiful view. The library of this school was one of the reason why I had come here. After exploring each every corner, I found a perfect spot for my reading.

I took the very book I was forever obsessed with, Twilight. I was sitting near a window from where I could feel that I was in Forks. With that, I got lost in my fictional world.