...It was now lunch time; Muskaan and Nikita were in the common room chilling out waiting for the others to come from their lessons. Riddhima was the first to meet the girls, she walked into the common room fuming and sat down on the comfy chair next to Nikita, they both looked at her curiously.
She threw her bag down onto the table and let out a load groan; "Uurrgghhh!"
Muskaan looked at her in concern; "What's wrong?"
Riddhima fumed; "Don't ask...it's been the worst day ever...I'm going to kill him!"
Nikita quizzed her; "Who...what happened?"
"That stupid idiot...first it was Math's...and now English...I can't stand him...uugghhh!!" she put her hands up to her head and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Are you even going to tell us what happened?" Muskaan asked.
Nikita urged her on; "Yeah go on...tell us..."
"That guy...who does he think he is?" Riddhima started up very angrily; "...Thinks he's the best...copies my work and takes all the credit...if I see him again...I'm going to pull his hair out..." she was very mad.
At the same time Rahul and Abhi walked towards the girls with Armaan; Riddhima was looking in her bag for her bottle of water.
Rahul called out to the girls; "Hey guys...hi babes..." he sat down next to Muskaan.
Muskaan smiled; "Hi..."
Riddhima said a quick, "Hi..." then took a sip of water while looking towards the boys but she choked on seeing Armaan with them.
Nikita and Muskaan were worried for her; "Ridz are you okay? What happened?"
Everyone was concerned for her; tapping her on the back and putting her hair out of her face allowing her to breathe.
Rahul put his hand onto her shoulder; "You okay?"
Riddhima ignored him and turned to Armaan; "Tum? Phir se?" (You...again?)
"What did I do?" Armaan asked innocently with a slight smile now that she was okay.
Everyone settled down and looked curiously from Riddhima to Armaan and back.
Riddhima fumed; "I don't ever want to talk to you..."
Armaan smiled sweetly; "But you were the one who started talking to me first..."
Riddhima pointed at him; "YOU!"
Armaan shook his head; "My name is Armaan...not you...how many times do I have to remind you?"
Riddhima turned away with him; "Argh...I wish I didn't have to put up with this..."
Rahul held his hand up between the both of them; "Guys...please calm down..."
"Yeah Riddhima...you haven't even recovered properly...take a deep breath..." Muskaan gave her the bottle of water.
Riddhima gave Armaan a dirty look while he smiled at her; she took a sip of water.
Rahul took this opportunity to introduce Armaan to the gang; "Armaan this is Muskaan...my girlfriend...and this is Nikita and I'm guessing you've met Riddhima already...and Muskaan, Niki this is Armaan...he's new to the school and most of his classes are the same as ours..."
"Oh no..." Riddhima groaned in annoyance.
Muskaan smiled; "Hey Armaan..."
Nikita said a quick "Hi..."
Armaan smiled fully; "Hey nice to meet you guys..."
"I'm hungry...I'm going to get some chips...what are you guys having?" Abhi got up and looked around at the others.
"Same...Muskaan?" Rahul turned to her.
Muskaan nodded; "Cheese sandwich please...thank you..."
Nikita looked over at Riddhima; "Ridz what are you having?"
Riddhima shrugged; "Just a packet of crisp please...I'm not really hungry..."
Nikita nodded; "Okay...I'll get it..."
Rahul, Abhi, Armaan and Nikita all got up to get their food while Riddhima and Muskaan sat back and made themselves comfortable.
"Ridz...kya huwa yaar...itna bhi bura nahi hain woh (What happened...he's not that bad)...and he's very cute..." Muskaan asked her while looking at Armaan getting into the queue.
Riddhima spluttered out in shock; "KYA? Cute? Pagal hogayi ho kya?" (What? Cute? Have you gone mad or what?)
"No...seriously...I think you two would make a really sweet couple actually..." Muskaan grinned.
"MUSKAAN?" Riddhima smacked her arm; "...How could you say that? Me...and him? No way...NEVER..." hitting her on the shoulder; "...not even in his dreams..."
Muskaan smiled cheekily; "Okay...okay...I won't say anything else..."
"Right...now listen..." Riddhima grabbed her attention.
"What?" Muskaan looked on excitedly; "...Are you finally going to speak to Vivik?"
Riddhima sighed; then her expression changed and she seemed very impatient; "Musk...woh baat nahi hai...dii ke bare main hain..." (It's not that...it's about sis...)
Muskaan was now very eager; "Go on..."
Riddhima grinned widely; "Ladke wale ane wale hain aaj!!" (Someone is coming to see her today...)
"Sach!" (Really?) Muskaan was shocked; "...Who is it?"
Riddhima shrugged; "I don't know...papa knows the guy's father really well and they're new here...but the guy sounds quite decent...they're coming later in the evening so I got to go early...I won't be able to come with you guys today..."
Muskaan nodded; "Don't worry about it..."
They quickly changed the subject as they saw the others walking back towards them. They all settled down and Rahul handed Muskaan the sandwich; "Here you go...your cheese sandwich madam..." he sat close to her.
They all talked about their lessons and were all very excited; Armaan kept looking at Riddhima but looked away when she turned to face him. He didn't know why he was so attracted to her; his thoughts were distracted as he noticed a guy putting his hand on Riddhima's shoulder almost giving her a fright.
Vivik smiled down at her; "Hi gorgeous..."
Riddhima was very uncomfortable but forced a smile; the others completely ignored his presence and carried on with their conversations but Armaan carried on looking at Riddhima.
"Hi Viv..."
Vivik cut her off; "Let's go..."
"Where?" she gulped.
"Anywhere...but here..." Vivik looked around at the others.
"But..."
Vivik ignored her; "But nothing...let's go..." he pulled her up.
Riddhima nodded uncertainly; "Okay...guys I'll see you later..." she picked her bag up and looked at Muskaan.
Muskaan gave her a soft smile; "Okay... see you in assembly... bye..." she closed her eyes briefly to say that she understood.
Riddhima smiled weakly; "Bye..."
Vivik took Riddhima away from the gang towards the other end of the common room. Armaan was left confused; he looked over at Riddhima once more before turning to the rest of the gang wondering why the gang had ignored the guy.
Armaan spoke up; "Guys...who was that?"
Abhi made a face; "Oh him...you don't want to know him...that's Riddhima's boyfriend..." Abhi snorted; "...he's got bad news written all over him...everyone hates him..."
Armaan smiled; "Okay...I see that you loathe him..." then he was serious for a moment; "...and if everyone hates him then why is Riddhima with him?"
Muskaan looked at Abhi angrily; "He's not her boyfriend...if anything but don't address him as that..." then she turned back to Armaan; "...he just thinks he is..."
Armaan was confused; "I don't get it..."
"I'll explain..." Rahul looked at Armaan; "...Riddhima and Vivik had been friends for a very long time and had become a so-called couple two months back...but it was only one sided...Vivik always had feelings for her...ever since he moved into her neighbourhood ten years ago...but Ridz only thinks of him as a friend..."
Armaan then pointed his thumb over his shoulder; "Then what's this about?"
"At the end of the previous school year he asked her out to the end of school Boat Party...Ridz was shocked because he was always just a friend to her...but she agreed so that it won't hurt his feelings...but he had mistaken her and began to think that she was his girlfriend..." Nikita informed him.
"They've been going around for two months now and he's really beginning to get on my nerves..." Abhi said angrily; "...I hate that he tags along...he's such a leech..." he turned to Armaan, "...can you believe we had to spend our entire summer with him because he wouldn't leave her alone...and he knows we hate him as much as he hates us..."
"Okay thanks for the info..." Armaan nodded.
"I can't wait for the day when I can lay my hands into him..." Abhi said angrily.
"The sad thing is that she doesn't even feel comfortable with him...and doesn't have the courage to tell him about her true feelings..." Muskaan turned away sadly.
Nikita sighed; "That's so true Muskaan...poor girl...she hates being with him..."
Abhi was fuming; "I think she should just tell him..."
Armaan looked back over to where Riddhima and Vivik were sitting; Riddhima looked upset and Vivik wasn't making her feel any better. His arm was around her waist and he was too close to her; luckily the bell rang just on time.
Riddhima made a speedy move, said a quick bye to Vivik and almost ran back to the gang. Vivik was left standing with his arms dropped by his side and a shocked expression on his face wondering what had just happened. The gang had to go for an assembly which after the first five minutes many people had started to yawn, one of them was Abhi.
When the assembly was over the gang had made plans to go to their #1 hangout; Borders; it was a book shop but also had a coffee shop inside and a really cool lounge where they loved to just chill and have fun. But Riddhima had to leave suddenly remembering the reason she needed to be home early.
"Bye guys...I'll see you tomorrow..." smiling she hugged Muskaan.
"Okay...call me and let me know how it went..." Muskaan said while hugging her.
Riddhima nodded; "Definitely...bye..." she turned away in the opposite direction.
Rahul raised his eye brow; "What's wrong with her?" he asked Muskaan.
"Nothing..." she smiled slightly "...shall we go...?"
"Yeah...let's go...you're coming with us...right Armaan?" Abhi asked.
Armaan nodded; "Yeah sure..." he was happy he had made some great friends on his first day...
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Hey...what do you guys think of the story so far...I really hope you are enjoying it...it has a slow start but things will speed up soon...
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