ALISHA
“Aryan, I missed you dude!” I hug tackled him as he came into the gym. We were done for the day, and just getting out when Aryan walked in wearing his taekwondo outfit. Oh well, he was the favorites for gold this year, he had to be practicing his ass off like us too.
“I missed you too, now get off me!” he pushed me lightly and I acted fake hurt.
“Uh, I’m gonna leave you two bipolar people and go home.” Lauren side hugged me just as her chauffeur came in with her car. Dimitri had already left, so there was nobody around right now. Flipping the lights off, we both went towards my bedroom.
“Hey, no doors closed with guys in room.” Ruth yelled from downstairs and I yelled back,
“You know well that we two are just friends, right?”
“Rules are rules.” He replied back and I sighed. Nothing would get him to change his order, so why bother trying? Keeping the door open, I slumped on the couch with Aryan besides me.
“It’s nothing, just had some news. So, after the attacks none of us have even looked at our schools…or what is left of it. But apparently, the managements of my school and your school have decided to build a new school for us. They took over Oberoi secretly and renovated it and shit. So yeah, that’s that.” He looked around and furrowed his brows at nothing in particular.
“And…” I stressed and he chuckled. He knew I knew when he was hiding something, and never was successful at keeping it that way.
“I may get in there. They agreed to have special timings for child artists and athletes, so it fits for both of us. And yeah, it’s gonna be the coolest school ever.” He emphasized on the last word and I tried to look excited for his sake. The truth was, I didn’t give a damn about the school being cool or not because I wasn’t going.
“I know, you don’t even wanna go to school anymore…” he trailed off and flashbacks ran through my mind. Going to school had almost killed me. Hundreds had died, only because they went to school. How could I do that all over again? Shaking my head, I got the thoughts out of my mind. Do hell with schooling.
“Anyways, gotta run. Flight to catch.” He ran out before I could press to stay for a while. Shrugging, I got into the washroom for a shower. I had the biggest rips in my hand ever, so I was wearing the alovera- an plant- eye relief on my hands, modified for my use. It looked pretty dumb wearing a lime green belt around my hands, but my hands felt a million times better using it. Also, it was natural so had no side effects on my body.
“Didi.” Arhaan walked into my room as I was on twitter, replying to random questions. Some people were actually wondering if I was in the ICU ‘cause I hadn’t gone online for a while.
“Ah, how’s my champ doing?” I picked him up and set him on my right lap.
“I won a race.” She proudly showed me a chocolate he had earned. Agreed, the chocolate wasn’t worth anything, but his nonchalant smile was priceless.
“Congrats!” I shook his hand and he grinned wider. My little nephew loved when someone shook his hand, he felt older and mature then.
“Comes here, and runs straight to didi.” Arbaaz came in and I patted the seat beside me. I was guessing he and Arhaan had come down for a nice dinner at our place after days. I wished Malaika could have come, but I knew getting work done was important too.
“How was your trip?” I asked as Arhaan played with my shirt.
“Exhausting.” He pointed at the visible dark circles around his eyes and I frowned.
“But worth it.” he added and I felt a little better. He did so much work, but most people forgot to give him and Sohail the credit they deserved for everything. It felt unfair, but the world always remembered the person visible on screen, not off screen. Nevertheless, their work was much appreciated around our home and office atleast.
“Anything new?”
“Not much. Just the ol’ training and stuff.” I shrugged, tweeting goodbye to everyone to twitter. I hated leaving them all, but then I needed to spend time with my brother and nephew too.
“Dinner time guys.” Salman came in and we got up. Getting into the dining room, I could smell delicious Mexican food.
“Did I mention I love you?” I asked our chef and he looked taken aback. What, I did love his food!
“Thank y-you.” He struggled to stammer and left the room. I raised a brow at him but then let it go. He was relatively new, hadn’t gotten used to my constant randomness. I liked the old one so much better, but he left us due to personal problems. And I hated it when the staff kept changing- yeah, very brat-ish I know.
“You should stop doing that- throwing around I love you’s. People may take it a little too seriously.” Salman squint his eyes and me and I gave him a what-the-hell face. Nobody would take an ‘I love you’ from a thirteen year old seriously. And then, it was only normal to compliment people, right? Right?
“Fine.” I just wanted to end the topic then and there. The last thing I needed today was my two brothers suddenly getting overprotective and smothering me with their lectures.
“Watch it.” Arbaaz warned as butlers served the food. I just zipped my lips and shut up. I knew the word had come out a little too harshly, but I couldn’t help it. As soon as they were done serving I dug into the food as Salman chuckled.
“What? I was hungry, a girl can be hungry.” I raised my brows while eating some tostada. I was thinking it was chicken, but I didn’t really bother to think about it. Just the taste of it was tempting.
“Yes you can.” He smiled at me and I placed the fork down.
“Why are you two acting so weird tonight?”
“Nothing.” They both chorused and I narrowed my eyes at them. They definitely had something on their mind, but didn’t think it was important enough to tell me. Or safe enough maybe. Whatever it was, I let it pass and began eating again.
“So, Sasha’s dad texted me.” Arbaaz got his phone out and showed me his texts. Besides the boring adult conversation, there was one highlight- Sasha’s and my education. We hadn’t met in months since she had gotten into this hole, buried in the fictional world of books. Refusing to go out or even talk for more than five minutes, she pushed everyone away. I felt guilty all of a sudden to leave her alone, but she begged me to do so.
“Yeah, he’s getting her into the new school to get her back to life maybe.” I shook the guilty thoughts away. Sasha too was gonna go to the new school with Aryan. So what was I gonna do about it now?
“So, I was thinking that you’ve gotta start school again.” Arbaaz stated and I frowned. Why was the entire world obsessing over that one school?
“See, I’m fine with you homeschooling. I get why you probably don’t want to go to a proper school anymore. I don’t expect you to, but you have to re-start again.”
Till now I didn’t want to go back to school. I didn’t know why, it just didn’t feel right till now. But now I was starting to think about everything. I couldn’t just go join a school, it was difficult for me. But then, I didn’t want to home school either, it just wasn’t me. It was simply boring to be home-schooled, it killed social life and the fun in going to a proper school every day. It was about the diverse people, about the parties and events, about the drama in the café, about the relation students and teachers had that I would miss.
“I’m not sure. Can I think about my options please?” I bit my lip.
“Sure sweetie,” he smiled at me, “you have all the time in the world. Let me know when you decide.”
I nodded and we shifted to another topic. Salman had stayed out because he always trusted Arbaaz with decisions like these- he was the one to look after my education, manners and stuff. And trust me, he was the best candidate out of all my brothers.
“So…someone was trending on twitter today?” I teased Salman and he shook his head. He had gotten over the fact that millions of people could get his name into the world wide trending topics in a matter of minutes. I mean he still found it flattering and loved his fans, but he didn’t get all excited to see his name in the trends. Whereas I got jumpy and quirky everytime I saw anyone I knew trend on twitter. And on the rarest of rare occasions when something about me trended? I wanted to hide under my sheets and never come out.
“It was all good. I think. People thought you had gotten married to some co-star of yours secretly.” I explained and Arbaaz burst out laughing. Sometimes the gossip could be absurd but just hilarious. We laughed at rumors about ourselves a lot.
“Shreya, I know. They’ve been linking her and me starting this week.” Salman was obviously not humored by this little stunt of the media. We knew well that the PR team of the movie must have come up with this idea for promotion, but it hurt Salman deep inside. As much as he liked to refuse, he still hadn’t gotten over the whole Kat thing. He was broken down, and hated her with all his might. Whatever the emotion, he just couldn’t forget her.
After dinner, I took Arhaan at the backyard for a walk as Salman and Arbaaz spoke business. It was well beyond eleven, and I was extremely sleepy by now. Tucking Arhaan into his bed, I went to my own shortly after having a little text conversation with Aryan and Sasha.
So, why are you really joining the new school? – Alisha
I need to show that bastards that they haven’t won yet – Aryan
To…to fight my own fears. – Sasha
Alright, thanks. Gnsd. – Alisha
I placed down the phone and hugged my pillow. After trying to sleep for minutes- failing miserably- I flipped the lights back on and switched on the TV. Flipping through random channels, I thought about one more decision to make. I know it didn’t seem all that hard, but for me it was. I for one knew that life was about the right choices, every choice having its consequence. And I was honestly scared to go back to my normal life as I once knew it.
Homeschooling seemed like such a better option. I could have flexible timings so I could train, I could study here without wasting time to travel or even get out of the safety of my house. I could have so much more time to myself, and maybe even escape the bullying I faced in school. It all seemed perfect- a little too perfect.
School on the other side was a gamble. Even with them offering to give us special timings, I still had to travel, study on set times, get work done on deadlines. School meant drama, some of which I wasn’t ready for. School meant going back to life, something I was genuinely afraid of. School meant…school meant winning the battle.
The terrorists- their goals weren’t just killing a few rich students and free some other vicious terrorists. No, it didn’t end on that. Their ultimate goal was to terrify every person in this country. Their goal was to make every person, every parent, every student question their own security. Their goal was to kill the balance, the harmony and peace of mind we had for so long. They wanted to see us scared when we got out of our homes, they wanted us to suffer every moment of our lives till someone like them killed us randomly.
And not letting that happen was our ultimate goal. People sitting at higher positions knew what their citizens were going through. They were urging the people to believe they were safe, they were encouraging them to stop being paranoid. They increased security around other schools and public places, they tried to increase awareness. But the survivors- not victims, but survivors- getting out again and carrying on with life would change something inside them.
They needed to know that a few morons like Tango Charlie couldn’t keep terrorizing us forever. We had to fight back, and we had to fight back now.
But this for once wasn’t about anyone else but me. It wasn’t for my family, nor for my friends, nor for the people out there who needed support. I knew it would affect them, but this one was still just for me. This was me being selfish and self-centered after a long, tiring journey.
I needed to get back to life because I was afraid. I wasn’t ready to let myself fall into the trap of being afraid my entire life. Oh no, that was the last thing I was gonna let those dead assholes have. They could not terrify me forever, not now. It did take me time, but I was getting better just dealing with life as a whole. I could deal with a school. I wasn’t going to back down, I was gonna get back to normal and do it good. I was gonna go to school, train, go to Being Human and be what I always wanted to be. If there was one person who wasn’t gonna kneel in front of them was me.
“I noticed you hadn’t slept.” Arbaaz came in with some appy fizz and I thanked him. Appy fizz had started to become my life saver these days, besides I loved the shape of the bottles. Yeah, the biggest reason I liked appy fizz was the containers.
“Thinking. And I think I want to go back.” I looked into the ocean ahead as the waves crashed and went back. It always amazed me to see such spectacular scene unfold in front of my eyes.
“I don’t expect you to take decisions so soon Lee, you can take your time.” He got closer to me as I shivered in the cold night. I should have worn a robe or jacket over my nightdress but I hated to go all the way back to the closet to grab it. Instead, I was just gonna use was brother and warm up.
“I know what I’m doing, I want to do this.” I held his hand and he thought for a minute. I used every ounce of determination and confidence I had, and hoped it was enough to convince him that I wasn’t taking steps hastily.
“Alright. The official year is yet to start, but the management said you don’t have to waste time. The government gave them the permission to start ASAP so a year of you guys isn’t wasted. Orientation program next week.”
“I’ll be there. Can I ask Lauren if she’s interested too?” it’d be a great idea for our entire group to be at the same school, nothing could be better than that. She still had to start any type of schooling too, since they hardly had any time since they moved to India. If her dad agreed, I’d be the most excited girl in the neighborhood.
“Sure.” He replied and pulled me closer as another breeze hit us.
“I’ve missed this.” I sighed and Arbaaz raised a brow at me.
“I’ve missed all of it,” I explained further, “you know, just sitting after dinner with no worries, finally being back in shape and training almost like elites, hanging out with friends.”
He nodded and I went back to cuddling against him. We were talking about some case he came across at Being Human today and was trying to get justice to the victim. I wish I could help, but then I knew anything I did could worsen the situation. It was business to be handled by the authorities, Arbaaz was only trying to persuade the government to reopen a law case.
I didn’t even realize when I began to fall asleep. Eyes half closed, I felt Arbaaz pick me up and take me to his room.
“I missed snuggling with my angel.” He told me placing me on the bed. Oh, that’s why he got me to his room and stuff…makes sense. Honestly, I missed it too.
“Not angel.” I groaned and he chuckled pulling the covers over us.
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So! New school!
Speaking of school, here is the news I've been dreading to announce:
I'm gonna start IBDP tomorrow, which means 8 hours of school, plus more CAS and SAT hours. Basically, I'll be drowning in work.
I'm NOT gonna delete my books, but the updates may slow down to weekly or even longer...hope you enderstand. Maybe I'll update more now, when the work load is less, but the frequency will decrease.
Sorry, but I have to do this. Please don't hate me, IB was my dream and I need to focus on it. Thank you, and keep reading!