Invisible String

the string grows stronger

I decided to first finish my homework and then text Maanav back.
"Aabha! Come have dinner." My mom called.
"I'm not hungry. I had burgers at Yahvi's pla-"
My mother entered the room and gave me a stern look.
"Sure. Off course. I'll be right there in a minute."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
As I walked out and sat down beside Eesha, I noticed something was odd. Something was odd about her. Her eyes seemed swollen and red. Almost as if...as if she was crying.
I nudged her and whispered, "Hey, everything alright?"
"I have to tell you something later. After dinner. I really, really need you." She looked at me pleadingly.
"Yeah, off course."
As soon as we finished dinner, we both went to her room.
"I'm getting bullied. At school. I thought it'd stop. Or it was normal. But it's not stopping. And I recently discovered that it's not normal as well. I hate it so much." And she burst into tears.
What confused me after Eesha finished talking was that why was she getting bullied? She did not have a dark complexion like me. She was EXTREMELY pretty. You know those girls, who are like walking goddesses. Yeah, she was that. LITERALLY. If I was an 8, she was an 11.
Also, she did not know that I used to get bullied in school too. I always kept her away from that part of my life. The dark side where there's too much negativity. I didn't want it to reach to her in any way. But here we go.
"What exactly happened?" I asked her.
"They're going to parties without me. Doing group video calls and surprising each other on birthdays. And...I read chats of them bitching about me." She said wiping her tears.
"How do you know? Where did you read them?" I asked her.
"Ravi sent them to me." She told me and showed me the chats...and my, my...they weren't worse than what people talked about me when I was in school, but they definitely weren't nice.
At least she had Ravi. To Eesha, Ravi was basically what Arjun was to me.
"Do you need solutions right now or just some comfort?" I asked her.
"Comfort. Please. I'll hear out the solutions tomorrow."
"Sure." I sat down on her bed and hugged her tightly. She was still a tiny little kid for me. I'd sell my soul to protect her from these things. No kidding.
She cried in my arms there for the next five minutes and then gathered herself.
"Do you wanna watch a movie?" I asked her, "Frozen?" It was our favourite one.
Being intimate with each other was not common among us. But during times like these, I knew she wanted my help more than anyone else's.
"I think I'd rather sleep. I feel tired. My head and eyes are hurting, and I have school tomorrow." She said while pulling in her blanket.
"Sure. Take care. And please, TALK. Talk if you feel like this ever again. You know I'm always gonna be there for you at any cost." I told her.
"Yes. Thank you." She said and soon fell asleep.
I stood there at the doorway, watching her sleep peacefully.
The things I'd do to keep her safe...

I went to my room to finish the rest of my homework.
Soon, after completing it, I got ready for bed. Switched off the lights and clicked on my phone to check for new messages.
Maanav's messages were still left unread. I didn't have it in me to reply, but I did.

Aabha: Hi.
Aabha: Nothing much.

His reply came soon, within a few couple minutes.

Maanav: Oh cool.
Maanav: Are you free this week? To catch up?

You've got to be kidding me.

Chapter 12

21st April 2023

(Aabha)

"I don't want to go!!!" I shrieked.
"It's okay. This shall too pass, child." Megha said.
I called her while I was getting ready to meet Maanav. We had agreed to meet today at 9 a.m. I know, early, but I had to study for the rest of the day. I wasn't gonna ditch studying for a guy. He asked me to decide the location, and for some dumb, stupid reason, I suggested him to meet me at my favourite park. AAAAAAAAAA.
"He's doing this just to be nice and stuff. Nothing else." I said while pulling up my hair to do a half-ponytail updo.
"First of all, HE asked you. And second of all you're overthinking this. Don't overthink. Tell me, what are you wearing?" She asked me.
"Black cropped top and jeans." I said while grabbing my zebra print purse. My favourite purse.
"Seriously? You didn't put in any efforts to wear a cute outfit?" She sounded annoyed.
"I mean, I did a good hairstyle." I said, trying to defend myself.
"Agh. Fine. Bye, bye. Please give me the deets later."
"Off course. Bye." And I hung up the call.
Honestly, I didn't wanna go. Not because I was mad at him for ghosting me repeatedly. But because I felt that he was doing this, meeting up and stuff, just for the sake of being nice. And I genuinely didn't want him to do that. I didn't want him to feel obliged to give me a place in his life.
Nonetheless, I tied my shoelace and walked out of my house.
I was home alone today. I had informed my mom that I was going to meet some old friends from CAHS. So, it was not a complete lie. I hated lying to her. But if he was being nice, I had to do that too. I locked the door and started heading to the park.