Hues Of Dusk

Chapter 49. Pass it!

So, he turned around and kicked the ball back in our direction. The ball flew high in the air and I ran to catch it. I was not willing to miss that opportunity.

"Mine!" I shouted as the ball came near.

I ran at my top speed and when I thought that I got the ball, I crashed into someone. Hard. We both fell down and all of my breath got knocked out of my lungs. Darkness covered my vision as my head spun around and I felt a huge sting in my left arm.

Fuck! It hurt so much.

"Sandhya, move."

I opened my eyes and saw Ayush looking up at me. He told me to move again and I realised that I had crashed into him. Did I hurt him?

"Why don't you move first?" I groaned.

"Seriously? You are on top of me," he replied.

What?! Really?

I shook my head and mentally facepalmed when I noticed that I was actually lying on top of him.

He was probably crushed under my weight.

I apologized and tried to get up but fell down again, making him groan. My left wrist hurt a lot and I doubted that I twisted my hand when I fell down.

It shouldn't have hurt so much since I landed on top of Ayush but man, it was hurting like hell.

"Ayush, I am sorry but I don't have enough strength. You will have to push me off of you yourself," I told him and gave up. I couldn't even support my own weight.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Parth asked as he approached us and others also joined him.

"Parth, can you please help-" I began but stopped when I heard a low chuckling voice from beside me.

"Hahaha..... Man! This is ridiculous. Haha.... hahahaha....haha," Ayush laughed.

What got into him?

Soon, others also began laughing and I also couldn't stop myself from getting affected by his contagious laughter. Though I would have appreciated if someone told me what we were laughing about. I tried once more to get up but failed again making Ayush laugh more.

"What the hell?" I heard a very familiar angry voice.

Ved grabbed me by my waist and pulled me off of Ayush who was in a laughing fit now. He laughed so hard that he had tears in his eyes. Ved gave his right hand to him while he held me with his left one.

I wanted to get away from him before he exploded on me but as I mentioned earlier, I had no energy left to even stand properly. I was disappointed at my endurance.

Ved's arm felt like a warm blanket was wrapped around my waist and I felt myself getting recharged. I was surprised that I was not hating it. Afterall, he helped me. I wouldn't say it loudly but I appreciated the physical support.

Ved pulled up Ayush too and asked him if he was okay. Ayush calmed down and nodded his head in response. Ved sighed in relief but tightened his grip on me when he sensed me moving away. He looked at me and narrowed his eyes.

"Dude, what happened to your hand?" Parth asked and examined my left hand.

He shook his head and told me that I should go the nurse's office immediately. I had indeed twisted my wrist and now it was swollen.

I nodded and he advised me not to put too much stress on it or it wouldn't heal soon. Surbhi said that she would accompany me and scolded me that I should have taken a break with her.

"You should go now before you get late for the next lecture," Parth adviced.

Ved left me slowly when Surbhi came beside me and gave me her hand for support. I took it and mumbled a small 'thanks' to Ved. He didn't respond and I wondered if he even heard me or not.

Surbhi and I started walking toward the school's clinic and I was feeling better now except for the continuous throbbing in my hand. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Ved staring at me.

Weird. How come he didn't say anything all this time? I was sure he was angry that Ayush almost got hurt because of me but still he didn't say anything.

I turned my head back to the front and tried to decipher his behaviour. But, I was thankful that Ayush was uninjured or else Ved would have killed me.

Wait a minute! That was it.

Ved didn't do anything because nothing happened to Ayush. Phew. I was saved. I would be careful next time.

"Let's play next time too," I suggested.

"And get your other hand broken also? Sure. Why not?" Surbhi replied sarcastically.

I pinched her cheek and she pushed me a little. I punched her lightly and she hit me on the shoulder.

"You can't hit a patient," I complained.

She gave me a fake smile and we continued fighting as we walked together. Rest of my girl gang also joined us when we entered the main hallway and asked me about the injury. I boasted about it and they were not amused.

My hand hurt but my heart was happy. Why, you ask? Because even if I got injured, I got to see Ayush laugh so naturally; just like old times-when there was no hatred and all we did when we saw each other was, smile.

Will we be able to smile like that again?