Thanks for 1.01k (on June 15th, 2016) To see that it attained 1k that soon (and to think how hard it was to get 1k during Is He A She?! 's initial days haha), I feel super happy. Thanks again :) VIRTUAL PARTY TIME!!
Posted on: June 20th, 2016
t h r e e
[ c o u n t i n g ]
BookManiac12's black eyes looked back at me point blank.
"Excuse me?"
Her stoic stare somehow made my skin crawl and the zero recognition she showed in her face when I mentioned her username wasn't helping me either.
Wow, when I fantasized— ahem, tried to picture this girl, she was all rainbows and unicorns. But now, sitting in front of me, she had this dark cloud pouring down buckets just over her. Do not, I repeat, do not judge a book by it's cover. Or in my case, beautifu— ahem, okay-ish smile.
"Earth to, buddy," the girl next to BookManiac12 said.
I glanced at the girl. Warm, brown eyes stared back at me as the girl ran a hand through equally brown hair which were held tightly in a ponytail.
"Well, I'd love to see you students chit chat but I've a class to finish," the bald teacher grumbled behind us. "Ram, go sit beside Ajay. Let the new kid take the spot beside Yuvan."
A boy stood from the twin seater in front of BookManiac12's bench and walked to the front of the class, muttering something under his breath. Not before shooting a scathing glare at me.
Probably cursing me for making him end up in the first bench. Well nice to meet you too, Ram.
"Mind taking your seat, sir? I don't have all day." The teacher turned back towards the blackboard.
"Uh... 'kay."
Awesome first conversations. Way to go, Varun.
I sat down in front of BookManiac12. I felt numeroud eyes bore into my back but I was darn sure none of them belonged to my favourite writer in Wattpad.
I tried to glance back at BookManiac12 as the teacher drilled on and on about things I've already been taught at my old school.
"Stop staring at her, weirdo," the guy beside me whispered.
I turned to find the source of the voice. The guy beside me was glaring at me, a scowl plastered on his face. Locks of black, mild curls covered his ears and forehead. Lanky hands were clutched into fists and though a guy wouldn't be happy to hear it, this dude looked adorable.
"Dude!" the guy hissed, "stop looking at me with those eyes. They are so damn creepy."
Creepy. Juvenile much?
I gave the boy one of my brightest smile, before whispering back. "I love my eyes, buddy. Who cares if a total stranger finds it creepy or whatnot? At least, I don't share my eye colour with ninety five percent of the population."
And with that, I turned my gaze back to the teacher.
Seriously Varun, awesome first conversations. Keep it up.
•••
"C'mon BookManiac12, tell me your name. Pretty please!" I asked for the hundredth time.
It has been successfully a week since I started school here and I didn't know why, but that girl was persistent in hiding her name from me. I couldn't figure out what sort of influence she had over our classmates, but even the students wouldn't tell me!
"Varun," BookManiac12's brunette best friend muttered, "and I ask you for the last time. Why do you keep calling her book maniac twelve? What does that even stand for?"
I turned back to Boomi, BookManiac12's brunette friend, confused.
"You say you don't know?"
"Shut up," a voice whispered beside me.
The same creepy feeling crawled on my skin as I heard BookManiac12 talk to me for the first time in a week after the initial 'excuse me.'
Boomi turned her stern gaze to BookManiac12. "You stay out of this."
"Now, Varun," Boomi looked at me and I was startled to see how scary her brown eyes had turned, "tell me, what does Book-Maniac-Twelve stand for?"
"It's her username—"
"I asked you to shut up!" Bookmaniac12 hissed as she slapped a notebook on the desk.
At once my hands flew to my sides, raising in air in the universal peace sign. "Oh, okay. Lips zipped, locked and key thrown."
Yuvan, the mild, curly haired dude, snickered. "So manly."
"Eavesdropping is so manly too," I muttered.
"Get lost, Yuvan," Boomi glared at Yuvan before turning to BookManiac12.
"Your username to what?"
Even BookManiac12, who looked unfazed all the time, gulped meekly. Talk about intimidating.
"Boomi—" BookManiac12 started but the brunette interrupted her.
"When did we start having secrets?" Boomi whispered. Her face was contorted into a scowl and she looked hurt. Hurt, but still scary.
"Boomi, it's not like that—"
Boomi held out a hand. "I know when to draw a line, BookManiac12," she spat the word with so much bitterness.
BookManiac12 looked at her friend for a few seconds, her black eyes as stoic as ever. It was like the eyes of a corpse. So utterly lifeless.
And before I could stop, I shuddered.
BookManiac12 glanced at me with a glare and it just screamed 'I hate you!' with so much ferocity.
Guess I felt great to see something in her lifeless eyes.
Right.
"It's my username in a reading website," BookManiac12 said, slightly cocking her head.
"I write there and this guy is one of my readers. He recognised me since my profile picture is a picture of me from my thirteenth birthday. That's all, Boomi."
Boomi turned to me, yet again, with a sharp look.
"What's your username?"
"Uh... mine? It's Book addict eleven," I said and wrote it down in a paper, "It's written like this."
"What reading website?" Yuvan asked.
"Yuvan, will you quit being nosy?" Boomi asked, her jaws clenched and though she was scary (small but scary), it was kind of amusing to see how worked up she got. And how hypocritical she sounded.
Her squeaky chipmunk voice and petite figure did nothing to disturb her intimidating aura. Let me tell you, that girl was like a female Hitler minus the Charlie Chaplin mustache and trousers.
And in the background, BookManiac12 started to explain about Wattpad while I tuned out.
I was tempted to ask Yuvan her name because, let's face it, that guy was, obviously, highly infatuated with BookManiac12 and he'd give anything to brag to me that he knew her name while I didn't.
But I felt like that her hiding her name from me was more than her twisted sadistic 'anonymous writer' mind. It had something more than that and even if I literally didn't know anything about her other than that 1) She writes in Wattpad 2) Her username is BookManiac12 and 3) She was a 16 year old, I felt like I should respect her privacy. Something told me that she would eventually open up.
And if she wanted to pretend we could continue school without even learning about a classmate's name, I could only give her that much.
•••
I felt like a pathetic preteen boy trying to confess his undying love to his Math teacher as my fingers hovered over my keyboard.
I kept refreshing my Newsfeed and various reply comments by BookManiac12 adorned it.
Alright, time to man up.
BookAddict11: Hi...
My finger halted above the send option but then, swallowing, I pressed it.
Okay, sent. Now, no turning back.
Like I expected, there was no reply from her.
Damn that girl! And to think that I thought she was the friendliest being to ever grace Wattpad—
I froze when I saw the notification at the top of my phone.
One message from BookManiac12
"Yes!" I hooted as I pumped my hand in thin air. I jumped from my chair and the rolling chair on which I had been sitting till a second ago, tumbled away before banging loudly onto my closet.
"Varun!" my mother shouted from downstairs, "everything okay up there?"
"Yeah," I said but it came out more like I was a chipmunk on helium. Clearing my throat, I took a breath. "Everything is fine, ma!"
"Okay!" she shouted back.
Okay, Varun. It's just a single message. One freaking message from a totally gloomy girl. No need for any kind of excitement.
Even though I knew I was behaving too out of character, I couldn't help it. With closed eyes, I clicked on the notification. When I opened them, only two letters adorned the message.
Hi
That's it?
For these two letters you took five minutes and twenty three seconds to reply? And no, I didn't count it, okay? Okay? Okay.
Swallowing my pride, I started typing again.
BookAddic11 : 'ssup?
This time, it only took BookManiac12 three minutes and five seconds to reply. Not the next instant but an improvement. Right?
And nope, I didn't count like a fangirl or anything. Not At all. Did you hear me? Not. At. All.
BookManiac12: The Sky.
My lips curled seeing one of the lamest replies on the face of this whole world.
Talk about adorable.
BookAddict11 : I'd love to lie and say that your reply was brilliant but c'mon, let's face it. It's lame xP Whatcha doing anyway?
This time her reply was even faster.
Two minutes and forty eight seconds. And you should know it by now. I was not counting.
BookManiac12: Lame answer for the lamest person alive. Writing the initial chapters of Through the Cheerleader's eyes. You?
And with that single message, I felt so special.
Okay, so technically speaking she called me the lamest person on the face of earth but she still shared that she was working on her book. And the best part? She was texting me as she wrote the chapter. And even better? She asked me what I was doing. Man, we're having a conversation! How cool was that?
BookAddict11 : Haha, I'll take that as a compliment *bows* and for your question, I'm banging my head trying to figure out your name.
Maybe, I shouldn't have said that.
Because BookManiac12 didn't reply for the next twenty minutes. And I wasn't counting. Oh wait, screw it, all this time, I was counting.
And it sucked so much that right when she started talking, I scared her off.
BookAddict11 : I'm sorry, BookManiac12. I wouldn't pester you about your name again. You can tell me when you want, 'kay? I swear I won't go around asking for it :) So please, talk yeah?
I expected her to ignore me a good number of minutes before she replied but even before I could count 'eight,' she had replied.
BookManiac12: It's a name you've known for a long time.
•••
What do you think her name is?
How was the chapter? Did you like it? Maybe boring? But I've sort of gotten Varun figured out :) If this was BookManiac12's pov, it would've been a piece of cake since her character is mostly based on me (yikes xP) but Varun is different. Shy, funny yet confident and good natured. Tough to figure out cause I'm someone who doesn't apply to three of the above mentioned traits haha.
Personally, I liked the third part of the chapter where they converse. More Varun and BookManiac12 moments to come!
Guess who's turning an adult in 2 days? ME!! (Yep, I'll be 18 on Thursday but I don't feel even a step closer to maturity and adulthood. I still feel like a kid 😂)
VOTE. COMMENT. SHARE. LOVE.
With love,
Kai.