The sun soars in through the window, successfully irritating the boy occupying the king sized bed.

Ranbir shifted around in his bed, slowly he opened his eyes, adjusting them to the morning light. He pondered over which excuse to use to not continue his studies in college. Maybe he could say he's too young to worry about college? No, he already told that to his parents and both of them instantly disagreed. His grandmother, tried to convince them but they were determined to make him go to college.

Maybe he could say that he feels sick. No, that wouldn't work either, if he kept on saying he felt sick for too long then his parents would know something's up. Sighing, he snuggles further into his blanket to stay warm in the unusually chilly weather of Mumbai.

Someone shook Ranbir and said his name, reminding him that he'll be late for college if he doesn't wake up soon. Recognising it to be his mother, Pallavi's, voice, he mumbled, "Mom, lemme sleep for 5 more minutes."

"Mujhe pata kya karne ki koshish kar raha hain tu, chup chap utt jao, warna thanda thanda paani pa doongi tumhare upar."

"Mom!" Ranbir whined and slowly starts getting out of bed.

"Accha, ab jaldi se neeche aa jana aur nashta karlo."

Ranbir goes and takes a nice warm shower and then goes downstairs to eat his breakfast, all the while praying that there's something fun to do in college.

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Prachi looked at her surroundings, hoping something will life her spirits. However, even when she spotted the cutest of babies a frown remained etched on her face.

She wondered how her family would be, back in Punjab. She had come here to Mumbai to complete her education. She was hours away from the land she's always be accustomed to. She was hours away from her parents and little sister.

She had only just arrived in Mumbai and she already missed her family heaps. Her father, Abhaijeet Sandhu, was going to visit her next week along with her mother, Avleen Sandhu and her 14 year old sister, Maahi Sandhu.

Even with this news, Prachi still can't help but miss her home town. With a heavy heart, Prachi headed towards the hostel that she'll be staying at while she living in Mumbai.

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Pallavi and Vikram bid bye to Ranbir, wishing him luck for the first of college, pestering him to go in his car.

Ranbir groaned but obeys and tried to drive his car as slowly as possible, maybe this way he'll miss a few of minutes of his first class this year. The car ride feels boring as with only music for company and Ranbir actually finds himself wishing someone was sitting with him. Even though he was extremely protective about his car and wouldn't let anyone go in it without his permission, he was feeling extremely bored. Ranbir finds himself wishing that he reaches college as soon possible. He started driving the car faster and once he reaches college he realises he's 20 minutes early. Ranbir groaned as he wouldn't be able to 'accidentally' miss a few minutes of his class now. He also wouldn't be able to miss meeting them.

Ranbir makes his way to the classroom and accidentally bumped into someone. He helped her pick her stuff up and said, "Sorry, I wasn't looking."

"No need to apologise, it was my fault. I was too busy thinking about..," the girl stopped midway, tears brimmed her eyes.

"Um.. are you okay?" Ranbir asked, tensed that he had done something to upset her.

"Yeah, just a little homesick," the girl replied, feeling a little embarrassed about the fact that she was about to cry, that too in front of a complete stranger!

"Okay, I better be on my way," Ranbir replied and goes off to the classroom.

The girl looked on.

Well, at least my first interaction with someone wasn't that bad! He seemed friendly enough. I just hope everyone else is like him, friendly and kind. The girl, Prachi goes to her first class and hopes to make a good impression on everyone. She was here for second year of college and most of her new classmates were in the same college the previous year, she was worried about fitting in. Would they avoid her because of her not being the same nationality as most of them? Would they avoid her because she was new?

Prachi takes a deep breath to slow down her thoughts and with a calm mind enters her first class.

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"So, your second year of college! I'm your teacher, Mrs. Kapoor, for mathematics this year and I'm sure most of you already now each other from the previous year! Anyways, this year we have a brand new student and I would like you all to make her feel welcome. " The professor beamed.

As if on cue, Prachi enters the classroom and asked, "Um, excuse me, I'm so sorry for interrupting but I'm new here and I was wondering where the second year of college mathematics classroom was?"

"Your standing in it," The professor replied.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for being late!" Prachi apologised.

"No need to apologise, your new so you'll take some time getting used to the buildings," the professor said, with a warm smile.

Prachi goes inside the classroom to take a seat and is pleasantly surprised to see Ranbir there. Ranbir too realised that Prachi was the same girl he bumped into earlier. He figures out why Prachi felt so homesick, and why she was so upset earlier.

Prachi scanned the room and only saw one seat available. She goes towards that seat and sits there.

"Um, Hi, I'm Prachi as you already know I'm new here. What's your name?" Prachi awkwardly asked the girl next to her. Prachi's mind instantly started wondering if she did something wrong, she wasn't the best at making friends.

"Hi Prachi, I'm Shahana. Nice to meet you! I'd advise you to not to talk to those girls over there or those boys over there.....," Shahana blabbered, making Prachi sigh in relief! Shahana was confident and she seemed friendly, that meant that at least two two people here were friendly.

Shahana observed Prachi and thought, judging by Prachi's behaviour so far she's shy, naïve and friendly. I have to keep her out of trouble and I can't let her go near Ranbir's group... they'll definitely cause some trouble. I'll also have to keep her away from Dimpy, Shaina and Priyanka, they're going to find some reason to humiliate her just because she's new.

Prachi notices that Shahana is thinking about something and once Prachi mustered the courage to ask her about it, the professor said, "I'll be back in one minute, I'm getting an extremely important call from the principal, until then work on chapter 1 of your textbooks!"

Once the professor leaves the class started chatting non stop while Prachi asks Shahana what she was thinking about.

"Nothing much, I was just thinking about what to get for my friend's birthday," Shahana copked up an excuse.

"Okay!" Prachi said and starts working on the textbook work.

Dimpy, Shaina and Priyanka approach Prachi and Shahana and are about to say something when the professor returns and glared at the three of them, "Priyanka, Dimpy, Shaina. Go back to your seats and give me the answers to the first five questions! And don't try to give me any excuses - I had the three of you last year as well."

The trio rolled their eyes at the professor and go back to their respective desks with attitude. The professor teaches the class and soon the class ends. The whole class leaves for either their next class or their free study period.

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Shahana and Prachi are on their way to attend their next class, which was the same for the both of them - literature. When Prachi bumped into someone.

Prachi looks up and sees someone unfamiliar in front of her and next to him she sees the person she bumped into earlier in the day (i.e., Ranbir) who was shifting around, seemingly uncomfortable. Before Prachi could apologise Shahana dragged her away, trying to avoid talking to them.

"Shahana, why did you drag me away? I wanted to apologise for bumping into him," Prachi said, perplexed.

"Look, Prachi, you stay away from that group! They're nothing but trouble.. the guy you bumped into was Darsh and the guy standing next to him was Ranbir, you may find him familiar from our maths class. They'll bully someone the moment they get a chance, especially when your new. Last year, someone transferred to our college mid year and they bullied him bigtime... at first a few of them seemed nice and harmless enough but they weren't!!!" Shahana warned.

Prachi thought of Shahana's words and then recalled her first meeting with Ranbir, he seemed friendly, he looked nothing like a bully! She wondered why he apologised to her earlier, if he was a bully. As far as she knew bully's never apologised, even when they were at fault but then Shahana didn't seem like someone who lied, she had been only kind to her since she met her. Prachi was now feeling extremely confused, her first and possibly only friend in this college was saying something that her instincts refused to believe and her instincts were generally right. She couldn't tell this to Shahana though, it could mean loosing her only friend here.

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(1500+ words)

So, the first update of this story has finally be posted.

I know so far this may seem like a cliché love story in which there's a bad-boy who falls for a good-girl but Ranbir's story has more to it than it seems.

I hope you liked it! If you didn't, don't hesitate to leave suggestions.

Anyways, I'll be updating the next part next week. This story has weekly updates.