"The sky could be blue, I don't mind. Without you, it's a waste of time."
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••| Chapter 3 |••
Eleana and Aryan were dressed in their school uniforms. Eleana wore a cute white shirt with a black mini skirt and a loose tie around her neck. Whereas Aryan was wearing black shorts with white shirt and a tie. They were carrying their school bags at the back which seemed heavier than their own body masses. Both of them had a water bottle hung around their necks. The car stopped inside the school. They jumped out of the car enthusiastically and gave a goodbye kiss to their fathers.
"Aru, Take care of Elly!" His dad advised him.
"Baba, I will. Don't worry!" He assured his daddy and both of them went to their class.
They sat there talking to each other and observing the new colourful class, their eyes filled with wonder and awe. They surely were impressed by their new class. But they couldn't get their head around one particular thing that why on earth was everybody crying in their class when both of them were excited like anything.
"Aru, why are they crying?" Eleana asked him.
"I don't know. I think the teacher told them to." He replied rubbing his neck.
"Uff, You're so stupid." Eleana face palmed herself.
"No Elly, you should cry too. I am damn serious. The teacher will punish you otherwise." He played along.
"Whatever you say. You're mad since the day you were born." She replied sarcastically.
Soon the teacher entered the class and they immediately kept quiet. The day passed in a good mood and then it was recess time. All of the students were in the playground but Aryan was still in the class completing the colouring. After completing the task, he took out his lunch box from his lego star wars bag and went to the playground. He saw some big boys teasing Eleana. He quickly ran towards her. They were circling her and she was crying standing in the middle of them.
"Enough! Don't dare you bully her." Aryan shouted, grabbing their attention. They smirked at him, seeing a little boy acting like that.
The big boys bent towards Aryan and held his hand but he jerked them away in anger, his nostrils flaring.
"You'll pay for it later, shorty!" The big boys taunted him but he didn't give a damn. He placed his arms around her shoulders and wiped away her tears.
"Come Elly. Let's go back to the class." He held her hand and together they marched towards their class room. At off time, they went to their homes. They were very hungry after a tiring day so they quickly had their lunch and took a quick nap. Apparently their first day in school had exhausted them very much.
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"Mama, I'm going to play with Elly." Aryan informed his mommy as soon as he woke up.
"Sure beta. But don't go too far while playing." She ordered him and like the good boy he was, he nodded.
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"Mama, I am going out to play with Aryan." Little Eleana told her mother as she held back a yawn by placing her chubby little hand in front of her mouth and went out to play with her best friend.
"Come Elly, I've to take you to a place." Aryan said excitedly grabbing her hand as soon as he saw her walking out of the house. He was sitting on the grass in front of his house in the street and playing with the dandelions and blowing them while waiting for Eleana to join him. Their houses were opposite to each other in the street but with two houses in between. The terraces of the houses were joined together so it was quite easy to go from one to the other. The entire colony knew each other and it was a pretty peaceful and safe area.
"Aru, Mom forbade me from going far away." She enlightened him as he dragged her out of the colony.
"Come on Elly, It's not too far away! Just 5 more minutes." He insisted.
Eleana agreed and they both went to the place that Aryan had suggested.
"Oh My God! Aru! It's beautiful! How did you find this place?" She asked him curiously, completely taken in by the beauty of the place.
Aryan, who was still rubbing the back of his neck, replied with a sheepish smile. "Umm, I don't know, I was just wandering about aimlessly and came across this."
"You know what? It will be our secret hide out. We'll come here everyday to play." She said jumping up and down in excitement. The place was not very crowded and that was why both of them loved that. They played alongside the beautiful shimmering lake until it was evening time. The sun was just about to set and had spread a rainbow of colours over the sky. They both were tired after playing so much. Eleana spotted a small stone slab bench and ran towards it with Aryan following her closely behind. She settled on the bench waiting for her buddy to join her. Aryan jumped over and sat beside her with his legs dangling on either sides.
"Aru!" Eleana spoke.
"Yeah?" He asked, wiping the sweat beads off his forehead.
"Do you like me as in do you love me? We will get married like mom and dad and then we can share our toys and chocolates and all other stuff." She spoke, grinning ear to ear.
"Ew Elly No! I am not going to marry you." He spoke disgusted by her offer.
"I hate you. Even I will not marry you." She huffed and folded her arms in front of her chest.
"Elly!" Aryan whined as he shook her but she remained stubborn, pouting angrily with her eyebrows furrowed together.
"Okay fine." Aryan surrendered. "I love you but please don't make me marry you because I don't wanna share my toys with you or anyone else. You always break my toys..." He frowned, feeling completely helpless.
She gave a secretive cheeky smile trying to hide it from Aryan but nevertheless he saw it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged the life out of him. He returned it by kissing her cheek. While hugging Aryan, Elly lost her balance and they both fell backwards on the sandy beach and laughed their asses off after recovering from the slight hit.
"Let's go home now Elly, Mama will be worried." Aryan suggested after a while.
"Sure Aru." She chirped.
They reached their homes and had dinner. After watching their favourite cartoons on TV, they went to sleep.
They were just like that, little bunches of happiness. Eleana kept teasing Aryan and Aryan did the same in return. They were the best of friends. They used to roam around together, cycle together in the streets, walk together, play together, go to school together, they both were in the same class even. Eleana, being the smarter one, always topped and Aryan took the second place. Now, they were nearing the teenage. But still their bond of friendship was growing strong as ever. They used to tell each other everything and anything. May it be related to school or family. They both had one hope that at least there was one person in the world who would listen to their shit calmly without getting mad. Everyone just admired how strong their friendship was. Well along with admirers, they had to deal with a bunch of jealous jerks but their friendship was strong enough to endure through that phase as well.
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It was result day of their fourth standard. As usual, Eleana secured the first position in their class with Aryan on the second spot. They both were very happy.
"Chal Aru, treat de. Tu second aya hai." [I want a treat Aryan! You stood second in the class.]
Eleana nudged his shoulder as he was posing for a picture in his daddy's cell phone showing off his shield and trophy and grinning widely.
"Tu bhi to 1st ayi hai. Pehle tu de." [You stood first so you should give it to me first.] He answered smiling cheekily at her.
"Chal dono sath main dete hain. Tu soch le kya khilayega muje. Main to ice cream khilaun gi."
[Let's hang out together. You decide what you'll have! I'm going with ice-cream.]
She proposed and Aryan beamed at her, liking the idea.
He thought for a while about what they should eat.
"Ummm... To fir main...umm.. Golgappay (Pani Puri)"
[I will go with Gol Gappay then! (A roadside snack common in subcontinent)]
Eleana's smile turned into a grin at the mention of her favourite desi snack and she agreed enthusiastically.
In the evening, they went to their secret hideout together. They bought two chocolate chip ice-creams. They were settled on a bench and eating it when Eleana's face turned into an evil grin and she smashed her ice cream on Aryan's nose.
Aryan whined, seeing the ice-cream dripping down from his nose. "Yaar, Elly tu kabhi sakoon se kyun nae beth sakti?" [Eleana, why can't you sit calmly at anytime?]
He wiped his nose with the corner of Eleana's t-shirt.
"Ew, Gross! Ye meri favourite shirt thi. [This was my favourite shirt] Why do you have to ruin everything?"
Now it was Aryan's turn. His face turned into an evil grin and he smashed his ice-cream with Eleana's nose and laughed hysterically. Eleana grabbed the corner of his shirt and wiped her nose.
"Well You ruined my favourite shirt as well. So it's fair and square."
And they both laughed their asses off.
"Chal ab treat nikaal, meri toh ho gyi!" [I'm done! Now it's your turn.] She said as she wiped her hands with a tissue paper.
Aryan got up and grabbed two plates of Gol Gappay from the nearby vendor.
"Let's have a competition. The one who eats more will win. And we'll decide later what to do. For now on let's focus on food." Aryan proposed and they both started digging into their favourite snack. They were literally larger than their own mouths and dripping off but who cared. They were enjoying and that was what all that mattered. Eleana's mouth was full and so was Aryan's. The last thing that they could think of was to spill that water on each other and then laugh their asses off so that was what they did.
"Look I finished first." Eleana showed off her plate.
"Well chipkali, [Lizard] You're late. I'm already done." Aryan smirked at her.
"Wait, did you really call me a "Chipkali"? Like really? A lizard. Is that what comes to your mind seeing me?" She asked as she slapped him on his head.
"Well yeah. Why though? Don't you like your new name?" He teased her and nudged her shoulder while laughing hard.
"Ok then, Maindak kaheen kay. [You're a frog]"
"Oh please, Look how handsome I'm. A frog is no way to describe my handsomeness." He rolled his eyes at her and pushed her away slightly.
"Handsome and You? Tell me some more jokes! Maindak Maindak Maindak. [Froggie]" She said sticking out her tongue.
"Chipkali Chipkali Chipkali [Lizard]" He did the same in return.
And then they sat by the lake. No matter how much they fought, they always ended up together as nothing happened and shared everything with each other. They had their cute Tom and Jerry moments but they also had their adorable friendship. They played hide and seek and did some other stuff and then went home before it grew dark. At reaching their homes, both of their mother's expression changed seeing their little kids as if they had seen some kind of a ghost.
"Oh, You both are a total mess. Why do you always have to be like this?" They said and then laughed at how adorable they looked being a mess. They cleaned them up and put them to sleep.
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