Their First Spring

10 - clearing misconceptions

Days went by normally. School started giving pressure on the students. And everyone slowly returned to their daily routine. The only thing that was still happening was Maho not wanting to meet Danish face to face. The days when he went to school, she stayed in class in hopes of not running into him. She still talked to him on insta but lesser than before.
"Oi you coming or nah?" asked Abi, while packing up her things. "Here take the money and buy an ice cream for me from the canteen" replied Maho while giving the money in Abi's hand. "You can't keep on doing this Maho! He doesn't own this school. Why r u so scared??" "I don't know...I just don't wanna meet him I guess?" "SHUT UP AND COME WITH ME" "UGHHH WHYYYY" " Maho please" "Ugh fine. But promise me you will not make me talk to him?" "What am I supposed to do if he pops out in front of us?" "I don't know lets go I'm hungry". Both of them walked out of the class to peek in Subho's class. But she seemed to be doing some work which had to be submitted by the end of the day so she called Sreya to help. "Good luck" Subho patted Abi's shoulder. "I'll kill you. Why do u always ditch us huh?" Abi smacked away Subho's hand. "Areh teacher keeps assigning new tasks" "But you promised" "Go now I'm sorry. I'll give treat now don't disturb" Abi rolled her eyes and walked away with Maho. They went to the canteen to buy ice cream. On their way back, they had to encounter Danish's friends. "Hey isn't that Mahogany?" "Lower your voice they might hear us" "Yeah let's go inform him that his girl is in school" "Yeah let's go fast" his friends were whispering among themselves and then ran away towards the upper floor. "What was that?" Maho asked, opening her ice cream. "Don't mind them" Abi said, gaining a suspicious side eye from her friend. They went to their class to eat lunch. Maho was half way done when Shriya came towards their desk. "Um Mahogany, someone told me to give this to you" she said, handing a piece of paper to Maho. "Huh?" Maho looked confused but took it nonetheless. "Back gate, in front of pond, dispersal time, alone." she read the things written on the note. "The hell is this? Who gave this?" "How will I know?" "What do I have to do with this??" "I think someone is wanting to meet you. You should go" "Are you crazy Abi? I can't go alone" "Shut up it can be important" "You're coming with me then" "The hell no" "Yes. Or I won't go". The bell rang as soon as Maho finished her sentence. Abi huffed and rolled her eyes knowing damn well that she'll have to tag along with Maho.

The last bell rang on time, making the class sigh in relief. The whole day was boring other than the note passing. For some reason, Maho was very much eager to know what was going to happen. She quickly packed her bag and turned towards her friend who was still putting her books inside the bag. "What could it be?" "Aren't you getting a bit too much excited?" "NO. I'm being curious that's it!" "Yeah yeah. You gonna get out or-" before Abi could finish her sentence, Maho stepped out of the desk, allowing Abi to get out. "Let's go?" "Yupp" Maho jumped a bit in excitement. They walked down towards the exit gate of their school. Just when they stepped out, their notifs went off signaling a text from someone. It was a text in their group chat. Subho texted, tagging Maho and Abi.

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IN NEED OF THERAPISTS

SUBHO

@abi @maho where tf r u 2? ₄:₂₆ ₚₘ

SREYA

exactly bro ₄:₂₆ ₚₘ

ABI

we're at school wym ₄:₂₇ ₚₘ

SUBHO

but Deep said u 2 already went back? ₄:₂₇ ₚₘ

MAHO

TF?? WE'RE NOT HOME WTF ₄:₂₇ ₚₘ

SREYA

he lied? but what for? ₄:₂₇ ₚₘ

ABI

ok gtg we have to go somewhere ₄:₂₇ ₚₘ

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"Do you think this has something to do with the note?" "It's really sus you know..." "I know. Let's go, the person who wants to meet you is probably waiting for too long" "But Abi....Is it really safe?" "Let's see. Come on". They walked towards the pond. Since they got out after all the students, the surroundings seemed to be emptier than normal. They were almost there when suddenly Aditya popped out of nowhere. "Uhmm Abi...Can you help me find um...Uhh...My um..YEAH MY DIARY" he said making an awkward face. "Uh what?" Abi asked, confused. She looked at Maho, who looked confused too. Maho looked back at her and Abi signalled her that she didn't want to stay with Aditya. "Actually no! She has somewhere to go, so no" Maho replied, smiling apologetically, saving Abi from directly telling no. "Oh. Where are you going?" he asked back. "I don't know. Someone gave me this note" she handed him the note. He read it and gave it back, saying "It's written you should go alone. Why tag her along?" "No way I'm going there all alone! I don't care what it is but Abi is going with me. If it's that important then call that Raghav friend of yours and search for your diary" Maho said, clearly indicating that she won't go without her friend. "Okay but-" before he could finish his sentence, Maho walked off with Abi. As they reached the pond, the saw someone standing there. The person turned around towards them. "What are you- So you sent it?" Maho asked, slapping her hand over her mouth so cover her shock. But he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at someone behind her. "Look Dan, I tried but she was being stubborn and refusing to leave her friend. I told her to come here alone" Aditya spoke up from behind. Both Abi and Maho jumped a little in surprise, since they didn't know he was there. "Um Maho, I think you and Danish should talk- uh- alone. Yeah" Abi said, distancing herself from Maho. "Yeah this is exactly why I wanted to separate you two" Aditya reasoned. "But-" "No buts, I'll be right there" Abi pointed towards a spot, a bit far from the pond. "We can go home as soon as your talking is done" she walked away to give the two of them privacy.

Maho walked closer to Danish. "So what do you want to talk about?"- Maho "Did I do something wrong?" Danish asked, looking straight into Maho's eyes. "No" she stated, looking back, into his eyes. "Then why are you ignoring me?" he asked back. Maho couldn't hold the eye contact anymore. She lowered her eyes, unable to find an answer. A few minutes of silence. Danish was still looking at Maho, waiting for an answer. "Tell me Mahogany. What did I do to receive this silent treatment?" he asked, breaking the silence. "Well I'm not-" "Don't say that. I saw how you almost never left you classroom. How you replied in lesser words. How you hid behind your friends, so that I couldn't see you. How your text time gaps increased. How-how you refused to look at me that day, when teacher sent you to call me. How you ran away that day and never came face to face with me. And many more. How you only use the front stairs so that you won't run into me. I noticed it all Mahogany. You can't say you weren't avoiding or ignoring me" he finished with a sigh. Maho stood there, feeling shocked that he noticed all those tiny details. She felt guilty for ignoring him for something so unreasonable. "Look I'm so sorry. I-I didn't want to avoid you. It's just that umm I kinda felt awkward after that you know what happened uh that day while the movie" Maho tried to explain herself. She was blushing like crazy, that scene playing in her head. She looked at Danish. "Oh. And I thought I did some kind of crime-" he replied, relief washing over his face. But soon his face turned red because he realised how close they were that day. "I-UH-ITHINKTHATSIT" he quickly said, scratching his neck awkwardly. "Huh?" "I think that's it" "Oh. OH YEAH YEAH. BYE THEN" "Yeah- B-bye". They bid their goodbyes and Maho ran towards Abi. "Done?" "Yeah let's go" "At least spill what happened" "I'LL TELL YOU ONCE WE GO HOME. NOW LET'S GO".