Bianca
"Hi, I'm Neil." He lifts his hand for a shake and as I hold his cold hand, even the very little guts I have, drains out in splits of a second.
I bite my lower lip. "I..uh, I'm Bianca."
Now that he's so close, I observe that he has the most beautiful set of brown, wide-set eyes a person can ever have. A narrow nose with a pointed tip, thin lips and a narrow, tapering chin—his tall and skinny figure, everything he possesses makes him look very, very attractive.
"Ahem!" Sia makes me realize that we are still staring at eachother.
I quickly release my hand from his light grip which makes him flinch a bit. He scratches the back of his head and moves a bit backwards with a shy smile appearing on his face.
"Oh! umm, she's Sia, my cousin." I say, after clearing my throat.
"Hello, Sia." The bus arrives soon after the short introduction and as we stand in front of the door, Neil gestures us to enter first.
Although I'm looking at him directly, I'm still able to literally feel his gaze on me, which, for sure, is enough to fill me with ample amount of nervousness.
Damn you, Neil.
When we enter inside, I see that half the seats are already occupied, so we move to the middle section at the right side.
"Hey, mind if I take that seat instead?" I stop Sia who was about to take the window seat.
"Sure." She sits beside me and I notice that Neil took the seat right at the back of mine.
"By the way, where on earth is Samir? I haven't got a glimpse of him since I arrived."
"He's in Kerala." She tries to hide a sigh but I notice it anyway. "Joined the Naval Academy."
"Okay." I bite my smile. "You must be missing him."
She looks irritated as she speaks. "Why am I supposed to miss him?"
"Well," I sense that this conversation would rather turn into an argument so I continue the other way instead. "He's been in the neighborhood all our lives, that's why." She nods and goes back to minding her own business.
We had to stop every once in a while for more students to tag along but the real delight started once we drove passed the residential areas to the silent road decorated with the gifts of nature.
I secretly wish if I could just walk along the street and enjoy the enchanting scenario instead of sitting here and only get the glimpses of them. But something is better than nothing and the journey feels lovely anyway.
After approx 20 minutes of riding, the bus starts slowing down and I see that there are several students walking nearby. I have to stretch my neck up to look at the front of the windshield and a massive metal gate written with- 'The Elite Academy' is visible at a distance on the right side of the road that is slightly steep.
The memories of my childhood days in the school are like a dream-almost fading away from my mind. So, it's like coming to the place for the very first time.
Maybe due to the winding road and the increasing number of students passing by, the bus is getting much slower then it already was when we cross the gate.
I'm peering out of the window like a kid outside a candy shop, as everything seems way better than I remember and even more than I could've imagined.
My previous school back there in Kolkata is one of the finest schools in the city, it has an elegant modern styled architecture in a huge campus, but the reason why I like this school better is because of its enchanting atmosphere. The way it embraces nature makes it extraordinarily beautiful.
Yeah, I'm definitely a sucker when it comes to flowers and trees.
I'm enjoying everything that I'm watching because its more like I'm passing through a beautiful parkland, making me almost forget that I'm in my school.
At the right side of the road are the big trees, hedged by flowers and bushes and at the left side are the various activity areas like the basketball court, tennis court, etc; which are on the lower level than the road. We slowly pass by the school cafeteria and a small but beautiful garden, which is on the left side as well before the driver finally killed the engine at the outskirt of a vast ground which is surrounded by huge building blocks with the main building in between.
"We're here." Sia declares and my relaxed attitude starts to change and my heart is now on frenzy. I try real hard to push that feeling far back on my mind and try my best to be strong for once.
. . .
I don't know how I should react by the way Neil is behaving. He is literally everywhere and the way he looks at me all the time is simply intimidating. Is he really enjoying teasing me? Or is he just extremely weird? The question are screwing up my brain.
After the assembly, I sit down in my new spot which is next to the window, first-row second bench and to avoid thinking about Neil, I divert my thoughts back to the announcement made by the principal during the morning assembly. The yearly school concert is being held in the month of September, so whoever interested in singing, dancing, drama, etc are told to participate in the auditions being held in the upcoming month of July.
I love music, but to present it publicly isn't my cup of tea. Even the very thought of standing in front of the whole school is frightening.
"Is the seat taken?" A boy speaks, pulling me out of my thoughts while pointing at the seat next to me.
"Nope." I shift to make more space and he sits down looking at me.
"You look very familiar. Have we met before?" He asks.
"I don't think so." I reply instantly, pretending to look for something inside my bag placed on the wooden desk. "I'm new in town." I wasn't lying when I said that I was bad at making conversations, extremely bad.
"Really? Where do you live here?"
"Upper Tathangchen..."
"Do you know Dr. Gurung?"
"Yeah, he's my uncle." I finally look at him.
He looks tall and wiry, and his thick black, graduation styled hair is tousled back to give him a boyish look. His eyes are dark but not so big, complimenting his arched brows, pale skin with dimples on both of his cheeks which are vividly visible even when he spoke. Overall, he's got the looks that could make any girl drool over him.
"Are you Bianca?" His eyes opens wide with realization as a smile spreads across his face.
"Uh..yeah?.. How?" I ask, my mind racing with curiosity.
"Don't you remember me? We used to be neighbors. You, me, Sia and Kieth, we used to play all the time."
Now that he mentioned, his face and the way he talks certainly looks very familiar.
"Penzo?" I ask.
"Yup." If I way that I'm elated, it would be an understatement and before I figure out my emotions, I'm already hugging him.
The best coincidence.
I was afraid of not having a single acquaintance and here he is, my puppy love.
As much as I remember, he was very cute and was always kind to me when we were younger, so I liked being around him.
But now that he looks so much better and we are no more kids I'm still hugging him like my life completely depends on him.
Awkward.
I clear my throat and force a smile, letting him off my embrace. "I can't believe, it's been such a long time."
"I know, right?" His face is literally gleaming with happiness.
"I don't see you in the neighborhood anymore. Where do you live?"
"It's been like 6 years since we moved to our new place. It's closer to school ." He replys.
"But why did you leave the old place?"
"My parents have some kind of obsession with nature, so we ended up living in our family cabin in the woods. It's quiet and isolated there, but it's not like we completely left the town house, it's still there for us."
"Wow! That sounds cool."
"It's beautiful there but sometimes it's so damn boring and awfully silent. So, whenever we yearn company, we return back to our town house."
"That sounds even better."
"Yeah and creepy as well, " He says, smiling ear to ear. "You're here now, expect us any moment in your new neighborhood ."
The teacher shortly arrived after the bell rang and the studying sessions starts with political science.
. . .
After the first two periods are over, its time for the recess.
"Hey, why don't you come with me? I'll show you around." Penzo says, his face still beaming with excitement. He probably stands in the category of my little brother and Sia when it comes to the level of excitement.
"Okay, shall I call Sia as well?"
"She doesn't need to look around, she's been here almost all her life."
"But, still. " I speak, my voice barely above a whisper.
Seeing him after so many years is extremely nice, I won't deny, but the small talk is over and I've already started feeling uncomfortable because elaborated conversations are way out of my reach. Although we were very close back in the days, it has been a long time now and he has changed so much, so have I. Its almost like getting acquainted to someone as good as a complete stranger.
"I'm not a stranger." A stranger with mind-reading abilities.
"I know."
When I said he was my 'puppy love', I meant it for real. He did ask me to be his girlfriend and I totally agreed to that. We were like, what? 7? Did we even have a single idea of what it really meant? We were just in love with the idea of being grown ups. But we were kids, learning whatever words we heard and the television gave us enough ideas to end up saying weird stuff.
He holds my hand and I walk with him along the corridors-that was like a habit when we were younger. But honestly, now it feels weird, just me he looks completely normal with it, so I do nothing about it.
"Hey, why is everyone staring at us?"
"Nope, they are staring at you, because you know, you're pretty." He tells, turning to look at me with a glint of mischief running over his expression.
"Oh! Shut up!" I say, trying to avoid his gaze. "They're seriously creeping me out."
He smiles looking away and starts walking again as he continues-"You're the 'new girl', that's no big a deal."
"May be." I say, quietly.
"Tell me, where do you wanna go first?"
"The library? "
"I kinda knew you'd say that."
I simply smile at that statement.
Nerd.
"But there are so many other things in this school that you're surely gonna love."
"Library would be best for now."
"Okay, but we're gonna go somewhere else during the lunch break."
"I'm sorry I can't, I have to meet up with Sia."
"Are you trying to avoid me?"
"No!! We just planned to have lunch together, why don't you tag along?"
"Are you sure?"
I roll my eyes. "Of course, Penzo."
"Alright then."
The recess is over, so we return back to our classroom after a short tour to the massive Library.
The teachers are nice here and so are the few people I was trying to get acquainted with.
I always wanted to be someone who enjoyed going to school and I'm feeling really positive about it this time.
Let's hope for the best.
______________________________________
Finally, this chapter is over as well but I don't know if you like it so far. Please let me know what you think.
I know, Bianca is a little too much uneasy most of the time, but maybe you have seen such people who have problems in socialising.
Nobody's perfect.
Anyway, I'm expecting genuine feedbacks.
Please read, vote, comment.
Thank you♡♡