(This is part 3/3 of the story... but there's more than meets the eye. Let me know if you can make a guess :D )
"You mean there's mooorreeee?" Dee groaned into her hands. I almost chuckled despite the darn narration we were amidst. It was as painful as it was cathartic – being able to tell Deeksha everything. More than that, it felt light.. and easy, to be on good terms with Harsh again.
"Dee – we haven't even gotten to the real fight yet!" Harsh said and she turned around to smack his arm. "You are worse than the stereotype of teenage girls, the whole lot of you", she spat out, her voice acidic.
"Anyway.. I will have to leave soon – so let's just get this over with, yeah?" I said, careful to sound nonchalant. This was an art I had struggled to master, but years of practice left me in a rather proficient state.
Dee briefly met my eye and I knew she didn't believe a word I said. Worse, she asked me, "Is someone coming to pick you up?"
Incredulously, Harsh reprimanded her showing his almost hidden 'elder brother' tendencies, "Really, Dee? He's a big boy.. He can take care of himself! Don't ask silly questions!"
"Hmm.." was all she said, though if I had to bet, I wouldn't dare assume that she didn't buy it. Not for one second.
"So – one minute... hold on," she said, turning to Harsh. "Could that be the reason why..?"
Dee didn't get a chance to finish, but Harsh filled in for her, with "Why you feel like throwing up when you smell alcohol? Possibly.. I have always had an inkling it is."
Oh. Deeksha Bhalla doesn't drink. Despite being who she is and what her past has been like. But that's where our similarities end, don't they? Why do YOU care what your similarities are? I heard my inner voice screaming. But thankfully, I didn't have to dwell on it, as Harsh continued, into the ugly bits of our story.
"Anyway – we had a strange sort of tension between Deven and me – for the following months. It was like a break up, but only much worse. Plus, all the projects and academics and everything together, sorting our issue out was not either of our priorities", he recounted and looking back, I realised that if either of us had actually taken the initiative, we wouldn't have had this big an issue to begin with.
"Then.. came the school play – the last official event of the year for the tenth graders. And you know – I chose to help out with the publicity team that year and Deven was head of Props. What's more, you were" he said when Dee interrupted him with "The heroine. Yes. That was when the accident happened." Her voice – her usually happy voice had suddenly gone dark and I immediately felt my insides grip too. No doubt, all the pain and memories that followed, were flashing through her mind.
"Yeah – but here is the thing. I had thought, until today, that Dev had purposely made the "tower" carelessly, thereby causing it to give way under the weight of your body when you climbed to the top. He was, after all, the head of the Prop Committee – and making the tower out of the tables was technically his responsibility. This caused my displeasure towards him to turn into outright hatred – but turns out.. Wait.. Dev – you want to tell her this?" said Harsh and at multiple points throughout his explanation, Dee had involuntarily shuddered.
"Uhm.. Alright", I said, before continuing. "Dee – when I tell you this, please try and understand.. Meena was my friend for many years – because her parents were known to mine. And to me, she was like a far-off cousin, really. When I knew she was very close to people from the notorious groups of the other school, I would look out for her, but it wasn't really my place to say anything. Especially since her elder sister was also an alumnus of that school." Surprisingly, the usually quick tongued Deeksha, didn't say anything. She patiently heard me out.
"Three days before the play, all the other props had been made and only this tower was left. However, that evening, my father had a heart-attack while at work. Vish was in town that week, for some fortunate reason – and Papa (Deven's Dad) was rushed to the hospital by his office people", I explained and watched her expression go into further shock. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening and face contorting into a look of sheer horror.
"I was rushed out of school half way through the day by Papa's secretary to the hospital and there, Vish and I were told that he needs to have an angioplasty done. Do you know what that is?" I asked. She nodded and said, "Of course.."
I chose to continue, promising myself that I wouldn't hold anything back, "Once he had been stabilized for the night by the doctors, it was decided that the surgery would happen the next day. Vish was fortunately a major by then – if I'd been alone, things could have gotten out of hand, waiting for him to make it." I grit my teeth at the overwhelming memories of fear and uncertainty threatened to show themselves. However, I didn't stay that way for long; but rather, felt a comforting hand on my forearm. Dee's.
"Anyway, I called Meena's family that night and her mother sent us dinner to the hospital and Meena came along to drop it off. I told her not to tell anyone in school. She agreed, of course. But there was the matter of the play – so I made Vish speak to the teachers and told my junior – Arjun who had been training under me to help out and finish the tower", I said, struggling to show a reaction to the fact that Dee's simple gesture was bothering me more than it should. It was a friendly attempt to comfort me. Why did it feel... different?
Taking a deep breath, I continued. "However, Meena went home that night and told her boyfriend all this, over a call. And obviously, his entire gang got to know. They decided to use this opportunity further. They somehow manipulated Meena into agreeing to help with their plan and do a terrible job with the whole tower's structure. To do this, they somehow made Meena convince the teacher in-charge that I'd requested for her to take over since – I quote – she was the only one I trusted."
"And no one else had an idea about this, did they?" Dee asked, softly piecing together what happened. "No they didn't. Even Arjun was only told by the teachers that I was away for personal reasons and that Meena would oversee the making of the tower."
Harsh at some point, had cleared his throat and added, "And since we weren't on the best of terms, neither I nor Vicky knew." As Dee took this in, he added, "As a matter of fact – I didn't know about this until today."
I saw Dee squeeze Harsh's hand in reassurance before turning to me and saying, "But – You were the one that actually saved me that day. How the hell did that happen?"