Fluttering Hearts

Chapter 6

Arav’s POV

"Arav, if you don't want to play just quit now" Anand shouted at me for missing the ball. This is the third time when I missed the ball.

It has been ten minutes, I am looking for her. She is in the ground till now playing badminton with her friends. She is far away from me but I can still see her playing. Suddenly she stopped playing and walked towards the school building with her water bottle with her friend.

'Might be thirsty' I thought.

But it has been ten minutes and she is still not back yet. I have been looking towards the building entrance to see when she comes back. That's how I got distracted and missed the ball.

"Sorry" I said and tried to concentrate on the game. Our opposition got the point. Though it is not a serious award winning game we still try to give our best.

That's what we should do right. Giving our best in everything we do. It doesn't matter if we lose, still trying our best gives the satisfaction of how we did better than the last time. In this way we will do our best and win everything we desire one day.

I see the ball coming towards me and I hit it, making the other team miss their opportunity to hit the ball and it falls on the ground and I hear the cheering from my friends.

"Good shot arav"

I nod my head and concentrate on the game. I am going to get the points back which were lost because of me. If you are not going to be the reason for their success, it is fine but never should be the reason for their loss.

I hit every ball which came towards me and got four points for our team.

Yes. I have done it.

We won the match. I am solely not the reason. Anand, he is the best player and he loves this game. He bought many points for the team.

"Arav, sorry!" Anand apologized to me.

"It's okay, It is my mistake, that's what I should do" I admitted my mistake.

"Yeah. I observed you, what are you looking at?" Anand agreed and asked about my distraction.

"nothing" I replied and his question reminded me about her. I looked towards the badminton court. She is not there.

"Okay then" he goes from there patting my shoulder.

I keep searching for her when harsha came towards me "Arav, come, we should go and see those idiots"

"I am not coming" I said as I continue looking for her.

"What are you searching for?" I listened to his question and looked at him and said "Nothing"

"I saw you were searching for something or…  should I say someone" harsha asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

I think I should answer this "I am looking for those idiots" I lied.

"Huh?" Harsha blinked his eyes and said "Just now didn't you say you are not going to come with me to them?"

did I say that?

Ahhhh...

I think I did.

Fine, one more lie. "Yeah, I said that because I am searching for them. After we know where they are, we can go to them"

I think he doesn't believe me. I can say that the way he is looking at me but still he didn't prolong the conversation and said "I know where they are. No need to search for them"

Harsha never presses about anything, he thinks they will let us know if they want us to know. I like this quality about him.

But still I think the main reason is his laziness. He doesn't prolong anything.

We walk towards the tree where there is a bench and I see the three idiots are sitting. Somebody is standing before them. A girl, her back is facing toward me.

She is somewhat familiar to me.

Isn't she…

Isn't she nithya?

What are these idiots doing with her?

What are they talking about?

I go and see raghu playing with a water bottle. What is he doing with her bottle? She is standing there looking at him.

I wanted to ask him but harsha beat me to it "What are you doing?"

She turns by hearing Harsha's voice and sees me. Her eyes are wide with some confusion on her face.

"You can leave now" we heard raghu's voice and she turned to look at him. I didn't turn my head still looking at her side face. It is similar to the morning when I saw her in the classroom but now I am looking at her left side of face. I can see a small mole on her left side of chin. She is looking even more beautiful from this view. I see her lips moving slightly and saying something.

Next moment her brows got together in confusion, her lips pursed in dissatisfaction, but nodded her head and turned and went towards the school building.

The words I heard next immediately made me look at his buffoon face.
"Bye neethu"

Raghu has a playful expression on his face while playing with the water bottle.

Is he sick? Why is he calling her neethu. When did they get this close. What did they talk till now.

"Raghu, what are you doing?" harsha asked him.

"What did I do?" raghu asked with an innocent smile. I want to punch his face now.

"Why are you calling her with a nickname?" harsha asks him.

"I think she is cute, don't you think?" he asked us. Sandeep and Adithya also look at him confused. It is not like we never see girls. We look at them if they are beautiful. It is an instinct to look at beautiful things. It is just for that moment we will forget the topic then and there.

But still this got me angry listening to his words about her. Yes, I admit. She is cute. Not only cute but everything about her is special. But only I have the right to describe her. Only I can see and enjoy everything about her. Not everyone, even if he is my friend, doesn't have the right.

Are you possessive arav? My mind mocked me.

'May be'.

"Do you like her?" Harsha's question got my blood boiled, my heart felt some pain and fear and my body shivered at what he might say.

Raghu looks at him in confusion and then looks at me with a smile and while smirking he asked "What do you think? Should I like her?" and stood up from his place and walked away while playing with the water bottle.

I got confused listening to his words and the same goes for the other three too.

"He is joking" Sandeep said looking at me and playfully nudges adithya's shoulder and asks "Adithya, Did you believe him? "

"No, I know he is joking, harsha, arav, don't believe that idiot" Adithya laughed forcibly while saying. Though their expression shows it is fake.

"Yeah, come we will go home, it is almost time" Sandeep said looking at his wrist watch and then all of us.

"Arav, come, we will go home" Adithya said and kept his hand on my shoulder.

I nod my head mechanically and walked towards the classroom to collect our bags and walk towards our home.

I don't know how I came home still thinking about raghu's words.

he like her?

What about her?

If he seriously likes her, what am I going to do about it?

With these thoughts I don't when I reached my home.

                           *****

For updates you can follow my Instagram account.

My Insta ID: sri123_stories

Please vote if you like the story.