The fifteen days of happiness✔️

The long journey

A sweet friendship refreshes the
soul.

-Proverbs 27:9

***

The train arrived at the right time. After bidding goodbyes and endless advice about taking care of ourselves and calling them at least twice a day from our parents, we got inside the train.

We settled ourselves in the seats that we booked. There were only a few people other than us. We were fifty-five in total with fifty-three students and two teachers. We kept our luggage safely and sat in groups. The train jerked signalling that our journey was starting.

We talked and talked and talked. We talked about all random and stupid things. We wandered all over the compartment as few of our seats were not together. It was already morning when we slept!

I felt someone shaking me and I opened my eyes in frustration. I saw Ankita trying to wake me up.

“Let me sleep a little more Anki, please. ” I whined.

“ It's already 11, dude! If you don't wake up now, the food we brought for breakfast will be finished and you will not get anything to eat.” She explained.

I sat up, trying to rub off the sleep from my eyes. I looked around to find my friends taking out the food they had with them. I saw Shreya sleeping in the berth opposite of mine. After waking her up we both went to get freshen up. Soon we joined others to have our breakfast.

That was one thing I loved doing with my friends. Sharing our food with friends is so much fun. We hardly get anything to eat, but the happiness we gain from that; it's just priceless.

After breakfast, after so much of a debate, we finally decided to play cards.

I sat at the window seat, with  Rithvik near me. He was my best friend among the guys, the perfect example for the saying that 'friendship isn't about who you've known the longest. It's about who walked into your life, said “I'm here for you” and proved it.' He's the one whom I could call even at the midnight and talk about anything that worried me. Opposite to me was Anki and near to her was Sharaf, her best friend. Most of the students from our college doubted that the two of them were together. But no, they're really good friends. Shreya was sitting near Rithvik and our Neha didn't know how to play the game. We tried teaching her, of course, but after 'n' futile attempts, she gave up saying “This is not my thing. Intelligent people like me are meant for such games.” She joined the other compartment to play anthakshari (it is a musical game where we sing a song and the next one will start with the last word of the song). Yeah, so much of intelligence required for the game!

We started with fifteen of us, including Anand sir, our faculty. In the final round, it was Shreya and Anand sir. And you know what, the girl won, winning against our teacher too.

“I told you no one could beat me in the game.” She said feeling proud of herself.

“Don't boost your ego Shreya, it's just a game. ” I said, rolling my eyes.

“But still I won.” She huffed childishly.

“Yeah, sure. ” I said but I'm sure that she noted the sarcasm in my tone. I stood up to take a pack of chips I brought with me and opened it.

“Want some?” I asked her, taking a few in my hands.

“Yeah.” She took some for her and that was when the disaster began. Soon, there were many hands and after a few minutes, I got the pack with nothing inside it. Did I mention anything about sharing food with friends is fun? Scratch that. I liked the chips, and I hardly got any!

Food was our biggest problem during the journey. Many of us don't like the food we get from the train and some of us even had an opinion that it was not hygienic enough. So we discussed and settled with the dominos. That was the best option we had since we were travelling.

The rest of the day passed by playing various other games like dumb charades, anthakshari, truth or dare etc. And somewhere in the evening, the train halted. No, we didn't reach our destination.

We waited for almost ten minutes and after that, me, Shreya, Anki and Neha got down to click a few pictures. Soon, it became a group picture of almost all of us in the compartment, making it so much fun, with our weird poses and fun remarks while clicking the picture.

It was almost seven in the evening and I decided to call my mother. I moved away from my friends since it was very noisy there. After calling her I went back to see Noel sitting at the window seat, his eyes closed, and earphones plugged in.

He was one of the nicest guys of our class. Talking with him is always fun because of his bluntness. He hardly knows anything about what is happening around him. And we always get a chance to tease him for that. Noel is one of the good friends I have. We can tell him anything without being judged. He was dating one of our juniors for almost six months now.

It was the two-seat side, opposite to where others were sitting and chatting. I sat near him without making any disruption. But he realized my presence, opened his eyes and greeted me. He plugged out the earphones.

“What's up? ” he asked me.

“Nothing. I was calling home.”

“ How's the trip? Are you enjoying it?”

“Yeah. It's fun. But it just started.” I said and he chuckled a little.

Being one of the organizers of the trip was not easy. He had many responsibilities like arranging our stay, travel and make sure that everyone is enjoying. They were working behind the trip for almost two months, obtaining permission from the faculty, staff advisor,  head of the department and the university. All we could do was support and cooperate with them.

“You miss her,” I stated the obvious.

“Yeah. I don't know what will I do for the rest of the days.”

“Hey, it's okay. It's just a few days.”

He just hummed in response. He offered me one earplug and we listened to his playlist in peace.

At night, Noel, Rishaan, Mubin, Ayush and Adhav accomplished the task of showing us the right berth and made sure that we're safe.

Rishaan was the oldest among us and the most responsible one. He had a solution for any crisis and was the cool one among all of us. Mubin was such a nice fella. Always the good boy. Ayush was the one who always had a great comeback. He was the most sarcastic one. He was also older than most of us but looks like a high school student. We all tease him almost all the time because of this. And Adhav, well, if someone comes to our class and ask for him, we'll say no one with the name study here. Firstly, he barely attends class. And secondly, he is known by his nickname 'bolt'. The entire college knows him by his nickname and not the real one. Even he forgets his real name at times.

And with all of them being the coordinators, we know we'll enjoy the trip to it's fullest. And they'll make sure of it.

_._._._._._._._

A/N: Heyy guys,

Chapter two is up! Please do give it a shot and let me know what you think about it.

Please, please leave your thoughts as comments.

And in the next chapter, they'll bein their first destination.

Vote and share if you like the story.

Hugs,
Aparna.