Song attached: Stuck in the moment by Justin Bieber (couldn't find a better video since all of Justin's My World and My World 2.0 videos 'aren't available' or 'can't be played' so yeah). It's a beautiful song if you see past that it's Justin Bieber's song :) And the lyrics are perfect.
Dedication to my bestest friend on wattpad (minus EvelynMysteryScott) ZaaraArchis . She's downright awesome and so talented and reminds me of myself when I was her age. Her writing is downright awesome too! Go follow her people!
s e v e n
[ c u t ]
Seriously, I think Kiranya is one of those clumsy klutz who trips on thin air. I've seen her tripping when there was a good one feet between her and a bench so it wasn't surprising how she was sitting under the shed which serves as the bicycle parking, her right handing holding her left hand, whatever that let her off the coach's hook, hiding behind a black cardigan.
It's thirty two degree Celsius right now and there she was, wearing a cardigan. What the hell is wrong with her?
"You like her?"
This voice. Ah, lover boy's here.
I glanced at Yuvan as if he had grown a second head. "Dude, why would you ask that?"
Yuvan shrugged, trying to look indifferent but it failed miserably.
"Your first day here and you go straight to her and start talking as if you knew her since forever. You think I'm oblivious to those glances you throw her way? Even now... you're looking at her."
This made me laugh out incredulously. "She's my friend!"
Yuvan looked at me unamused. "You want me to believe that shit?"
"Swear, buddy. We used to be playmates when we were little but then I went to the boarding school and we lost all contact. If you're worried about any competition, rest assured. I don't like her like that."
I even patted his shoulders, a suggestive wink thrown at him.
"Wha—no no. Varun, man, I think you got it wrong. Competition? Me? Kiranya? It's totally not like that. I—I don't like her like that. Never. Ever. No. Okay? Yeah. Yeah."
I snickered as Yuvan ran a hand through his curly black hair, flustered and repeating how he did not like her like that.
Right.
"BOYS!" a shrill pierced the air, followed by a high pitched whistle. Let me tell you, the whistle sounded more pleasant. "Continue with the laps!"
"Aye aye, captain," I muttered before starting to run, Yuvan following me and still mumbling how he didn't see Kiranya in that 'light.'
Okay, I came back to get to know Kiranya after eleven years. And yes, I find her attractive. Because let's face it, that girl is beautiful. Wild, but beautiful. And I'm a teenage boy. But that's just my teenage hormones at display. I can't even imagine wanting to spend my entire life with her. Maybe if she was still like my playmate from eleven years back, I may come to like her but I don't think I can adjust to those corpse eyes and whispers all my life.
Let Yuvan have her.
I finished the laps first and at once my eyes darted to where Kiranya was seated. I may not like her like that but I still like her as a special friend. So I walked to where she was.
"Hi."
I was oh so surprised to find corpse eyes glance at me. See? I'm even gaping with an open mouth. It was so unpredictable. Right.
She didn't say anything and continued gazing at me.
My skin started to crawl.
Yep, I can never see her in a romantic light because, corpse eyes aren't the most romantic feature out there.
Something flickered in her eyes and she ducked her head. If I hadn't known her better, I would've said that she looked hurt.
And when did staring back became hurtful?
"Stop talking out loud." Creepy whisper on the roll.
"What?"
"I said—" Kiranya glanced up, very very very mild anger that somehow I knew she couldn't hide behind her poker face and corpse eyes, coloured her eyes, "—stop talking your thoughts out loud. And if it's in your hare brain to talk out loud, at least make sure it isn't something mean."
Um, okay.
Wait.
Did I just talk my mind out?
Kiranya's poorly disguised angry eyes just proved it.
Shit.
"Um, I didn't mean to say that..." I stopped. What can I say? That she is totally aromantic in my eyes? That she has a dead person's eyes?
Way to screw your friendship, Varun.
Okay then, time to be honest.
"Look," I said, sitting beside her, ignoring the numerous curious eyes and a certain guy's death glare, a good one and a half feet between us, "I'm sorry, Kiranya but let's face it, you used to be so warm and cute and now just look at you."
Kiranya didn't look at me but though she bit her lips, I could see them quiver. Tremble...
Double shit.
I ran a hand through my hair, sighing heavily. People, say hi to Varun, the 'mess up' master and certainly not the Charmer.
"I'm not making it any better, am I?"
I didn't expect Kiranya to answer, to be honest. But this time, I was genuinely surprised (yep, not the mock sarcasm) when she did reply.
"You really are bad at almost all things, helium."
"Kiranya, it's Varun. Not helium. As far as I know, I'm not some gas."
Yep, that was all I could say.
This time, Kiranya didn't reply. I know it was borderline creepy but I kept staring at her face. Okay, half her face since she was staring up ahead and I was sitting beside her but yeah, you get it right?
My eyes ran from her face, to her neck and lowered to her cardigan clad arms.
What was she hiding?
"Thinking and talking out loud are different things, helium. Learn that."
"Huh?"
"I'm not hiding anything."
Triple shit.
I cleared my throat. "Uhm, since you just heard it first hand that I'm curious about what's beneath the cardigan, can I ask you what that is?"
"No."
She really knows how to shut people's mouth.
"Oh, okay."
We didn't talk to each other, each enveloped in their own silence but my mind went back to her arms. And don't you guys ask me why it did. Know that irking feeling you get when you know something is going to happen or happened? Yeah, I was having that irking feeling too and it concerned her hands hid beneath the cardigan.
"Stop glancing at me."
Oh, was I glancing at her? Even I didn't realise that.
"Sorry," I said as I picked my dry lips, trying to brush off the awkwardness.
By now, half the class had finished the laps and they were all sending us not so discreet glances. I mean, jeez, we were just sitting beside each other! Not like that we were demonstrating PDA!
Cold silence once again settled and I let my eyes run over the ground as a distraction. Maybe if Boomi hadn't taken the day off, I would've let Kiranya in her own moody world but since her best friend was absent, as her first ever friend, I decided to give her company. But when my eyes stopped at a glaring Yuvan, I regretted the decision. Now that I think about it, it really looked like Kiranya and I were close though it was purely platonic.
Is it?
It is!
"Why do you care, helium?"
Wow, Kiranya is making conversation?
Words about me wanting to start from where I left were right at the tip of my tongue, but remembering the outburst she gave, I decided against it.
"You're my first friend."
She scoffed beside me. It was too low that I almost missed it. Almost.
"So? It's a duty now?"
I ran a hand through my hair yet again, a frustrated sigh escaping my lips. Wow, I'm frustrated. That's definitely a first.
Happiness, Goofball, Lame and our new member Anger, meet Frustration. He'll be joining Varun's Emotion dictionary from today onwards.
"I don't know if I'm doing it as a duty, okay, BookManiac12?" I spat the words out, "and I don't have a freaking idea! All I know is something makes me care about you, and I'm a person who follows instinct so here I am, actually trying."
I expected Kiranya to ignore me or give a cutting remark or just give cold silence as an answer. What I didn't expect was her pushing her sleeve up, to reveal a nasty looking cut in it.
It looked like something had thrust it's claw onto her skin. The skin around the cut was still red. The cut didn't look like how depressed people cut their wrists. It was cross, almost at forty five degrees. More like an accident. But even idiot old me knew how deep an accidental cut can be. Thank god it was almost on the side of the arm and not directly above the radial or the ulnar artery. Seriously, thank god.
"Helium," she whispered.
This time my skin didn't crawl.
I looked up to find Kiranya looking blurry. That's when I realised how my hands were clutching my hair and how unshed tears were pooled up in my eyes.
Seriously Varun? You are going to freaking cry?
I wanted to laugh but only a breathy whimper came out. And it was all the slap, kick and punch I needed to know how much Kiranya meant to me.
Yes, she looks like a corpse. Yes, she has dead eyes. Yes, her whispers are creepy. And yes, they make my skin crawl and bone freeze. But that didn't mean that this girl didn't mean so much to me.
How the hell would she mean so much to me?! She's just a playmate I made eleven years back!
"Idiot." The word came out as a croaky, dry sound. It wasn't anything like my voice. But I somehow knew the word was from my lips. "Clumsy klutz."
"It was an accident."
"It bloody hell is!"
I didn't realise I had just shouted until all the heads including the coach's glanced at me.
Double triple shit.
I wiped away the tears as discreetly as possible and stood up, taking Kiranya's good hand in mine and pulled her towards the coach's direction. Of course she protested but I was so mad that moment that I was even ready to throw her over my shoulder and take her to the coach myself. But I dismissed the thought since society doesn't exactly appreciate such helpful gestures.
"Yes, new boy?" The woman asked in her shrilly voice that even put a whistle to shame and I winced a little. Her husband is a poor soul, I tell you.
"Kiranya needs—ow!"
I glanced at my throbbing foot then glared up at Kiranya who glared back. God, right now all I wanted to do was pull her into a hug and hold her tight. Seriously, what the hell happened to the little cute sunshine I used to know?
"Kiranya—ouch! Will you stop freaking stomping on my poor foot?!"
"No can do."
She replied. Wow.
"Stop that, girl," the coach said, her eyes narrowed at Kiranya, "you tell, boy."
A part of me was urging to tell 'we do have names' but punching that impulsive imbecile aside, I forced the words out.
"Kiranya needs medical treatment."
"And since when did having periods required medical treatment?"
I glanced at Kiranya with a are-you-serious-this-was-the-best-excuse-you-could-come-up-with look but that girl, god, that girl stuck her tongue out at me, right in front of a teacher.
And my lips freaking tugged up into a smile.
Mental hands slapped my conscience.
Seriousness. Seriousness Varun. Be serious at least for once!
"Um, excluding her periods, she's also suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea so yeah."
I turned back to give Kiranya a cheeky grin and to see the very very very mild pink tinting her cheeks was worth the after wrath.
Goodbye Earth and it's inhabitants. Next time you see me, I'll be a cold, blue lipped (still attractive. Okay, okay, I'll shut up) dead body since I can already see the murder plots inside Kiranya's pretty little head.
The coach's face morphed into one of understanding and she nodded. "You can go to the office, girl."
Before the coach could stop me, I pulled Kiranya towards the office after shouting a 'I'm accompanying her to the office' to the coach.
At the office, once again Hawk lady warmly welcomed us.
If you didn't even pick out the sarcasm, you are one hopeless homosapien, buddy.
"Yes?" She peered down at us.
"This girl is not feeling well," I muttered jerking my thumb at Kiranya, "we've to send her home."
Hawk lady didn't take her eyes off the computer. "Student ID?"
Kiranya stood like she wasn't even there so I had to nudge her quite forcibly to make her remove her ID from around her neck and hand it to the lady. Kiranya's eyes were screaming 'bloodymurder!' at me.
There was only one number there and something dull started aching in my heart. Student IDs required both the parents' numbers.
Did that mean...
"They aren't picking up," Hawk lady said tossing the ID back at me and before I knew what I was even doing, my hands were already handing my ID to the woman.
This time Kiranya hissed.
"My parents are her official guardians."
Dad, I'm counting on you.
Hawk lady didn't give two shit and just dialed my dad's number on the phone.
At that moment, I was the most religious person on the face of earth. And you could say my heart was on my mouth when my dad picked up.
"Hello sir," Hawk lady said, saccharine coating her voice. Job requirements I guess, "we're calling from SKVG—yes sir. Your son's fine... hmm. It's actually about your ward," her eyes lowered to Kiranya's ID now back around her neck, "Kiranya—you're her guardian, right sir?"
Dad, please. Please play along. Say yes. Say yes. Say yes. Say ye—
"Oh, you were surprised? Well she isn't feeling well and no one at her home picked up, so your son mentioned how you were her guardian. It's advised you pick her up as soon as possible—thank you, sir. Good day."
Dad, I really owe you one. Maybe I'll let you drop me at school once again so you can flaunt your damn car!
We were directed to the side room, which was more like the waiting room. Several blue cushioned chairs and mismatched couches lined the room, a coffee table in the middle with magazines that were years old.
Kiranya took a seat on one of the couch and I don't know why, I sat beside her on the couch ignoring the blue cushioned chairs, a good one and a half feet between us.
"You stupid imbecile!"
Ahhh life's final moments. Why is my life not flashing me in front of my eyes like how it flashes in front of all those dying people in the movies?
And yet all I said was this. "Stupid and imbecile mean the same, BookManiac12."
"I hate you!"
"I know," I said, a smile colouring my face. And don't ask me why I was smiling. Even I had no clue. Maybe I really am missing a few screws in the upper compartment.
"We could've got caught! Thank god your father played along."
"But we didn't," I pointed out and got a smack across my face as a reply. My nose throbbed yet the grin grew wider.
"Diarrhoea patients shouldn't be over exerting themselves."
A serious of smacks followed and though she was hitting me, the light look on her face or the fact that her hits weren't anywhere near painful, I knew she was being care free for once. She was being the Kiranya I knew as a kid. The girl who looked at me shyly from behind her mother's legs as I looked at her.
And at that moment, I vowed to myself. I don't know why I vowed but a fire started in me to make Kiranya her old self.
And one thing you guys should learn about me is, when I want something, I always get it.
~✩~✩✩~✩~
Anyone noticed the school's name? *gives a cheeky grin* I UPDATED EARLY! I'm so proud of myself lol 😂
First big chapter of the story minus 't h e m.' It is 2653 words minus the author note so you guys better comment yeah? Maybe you don't realise it, but hearing your opinions boosts us and makes us want to write more, improve a lot or simply happy. So yeah.
Last chapter was the last pre-written chapter so yeah, I wrote this one today. Thoughts?
VOTE. COMMENT. SHARE. LOVE.
With love,
Kavya.