If I wasn't in a good mood on the way home, I'd argue with mom about having to eat pizza five days, a week for dinner, again. But I was not doing that today.

My mother was a Cardiologist in the busiest hospital of Biratnagar, The Novel Hospital. So that meant mom would be out almost every night performing complicated surgeries while I stayed home with Sayal, eating pizzas, complaining about having to do that everyday. And I didn't blame pizza, I blamed her for taking the night shifts.

Luckily mom was home today and did not seem to be in a hurry for attending any patients.

"Hey mom." I greeted as I started walking for my room.

"Hey. How was school?" She asked from the kitchen.

"Good." I replied.

"Isn't it always?"

"No..."

"Oh, wait, you said 'good'?"

"Yeah..?" I tried to act cool but made it end like a question.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, then. Freshen up, I'm making chicken for dinner."

"Okay. Have you picked Sayal up yet?" I asked from the stairs.

"No. Its about time. You go and get him."

"Okay, I'll be back in a sec."

I walked into my room with my backpack hanging from my left hand and my phone on the right. I dropped my bag on the bed and walked up to the window.

Should've asked for her number.

It had been a week since I'd met Aditi and I already had strange feelings about her. I could've asked her out but she always seemed busy on her studies and I did not want to be a rejected one.

Sara and Aditi became pretty close over the week. And they started to keep us out of their circle, leaving Roman and me following them around most of the times. At first I told them it was because Roman dragged me around, trying to talk to Sara all the time. But I thought it was about time I admitted that I had feelings for Aditi. Not to Aditi, but my other two friends.

There is a way.

I picked my phone from the bed and dialled Sara's number. It rang twice and she picked up.

"Hey." Came from the other end.

"Hey, Sara. I was wondering if you could give me A- ahem Aditi's number. I need a little help with my work."

"Her help? Aren't you like the smartest guy in our class?"

Shit.

"No... And even if I was, I would need help one day or another."

"Something seems fishy, dude."

What the heck is her problem?

"Just give me her damn number!" I yelled.

"Geez, okay. But don't tell her I gave it to you."

"Why? Why don't I tell her?"

"She'll kill me. And besides I can't think of one reason for her to share her number with you."

"I just need a little help. That's it, for god's sake. And what do you expect me to tell her? Jimmy Kimmel announced her number on his show?"

"Maybe. Just think of something. You're good at it, aren't you? Making up false, believable statements?"

Yeah, I'm good at it. I'm so good that no one ever believes anything I say, anymore.

"Alright, thanks anyways."

"Okay, I'll text it to you. And don't do anything stupid."

I didn't want to argue anymore so I just hung up with a 'bye' and a 'see you tomorrow'. Denying the fact, that you have already accepted, to somebody never ends up good.

I sighed and laid on the bed; anxiously waiting for Sara's text.

"Samar!"

Shit! Was I asleep? How long has it been?

I looked at my watch.

5:30? I'm dead.

I had to pick up Sayal and I totally forgot it and I fell asleep and he's probably lost and mom's probably mad and I'm dead.

But wait. Wasn't that Sayal's voice?

"Yes?" I yelled back.

"I hate you!" Oh, great.

"Yeah, me too."

Sayal walked into my room with a kitchen knife, face flushed with anger.

I jumped off my bed and landed hard on my knees.

"Whoa! Whoa! What the heck?" I said backing up a little.

He walked closer, gritting his teeth. I could almost see smoke coming out of his nose.

"You weren't there!" He screamed. "You weren't there!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Don't kill me, yet." I said with a scared, mocking tone.

"What do you mean 'yet'?" He stepped back.

I tried and failed to hold back my laughter. The sight of a twelve year old holding a knife; trying and failing to look tough, is hilarious; except if he really means to kill you.

"I mean don't kill me, please." I said between my laughter.

"Oh, no, this is for the kitchen." He spoke quickly and walked out.
"Chicken." I corrected.

He turned around to meet my eye.

"And don't think that I'm not gonna kill you."

____________________________________

Sara still didn't text me. I wanted to call her to make sure, but I didn't want to sound suspicious, so I decided to just wait.

It was 10 pm and I was getting close to falling asleep. My eyelids were going heavy, it was getting hard to stay focused on the movie playing on my laptop, that was sitting on my thighs.

I checked my phone again. No new messages. Throwing my phone back on the bed in disappointment; I lifted my laptop off my thighs and set it on the bed. The pillow resting against the wall did not help to ease my aching back.

I got off my bed to get a glass of water from the kitchen. Mom still wasn't back, so I did not have to answer for why I had stayed up late.

The water went cold inside my throat, sending chills down, up to my stomach.

Beep! The sound of my phone echoed through the house. I jumped over the stairs railing; landing on the third stair.

Bang! The sound of my head hitting the wall echoed through the house too.

I stood up, grunting. My head was hurting enough to put me in a hospital bed. But I had to see the new message on my phone.

I opened the door, rubbing my forehead and kicking myself mentally for getting over excited.
I opened the screen lock of my phone; ready to leap with joy.

'Still waiting for her number?' Was the message. My heart dropped somewhere into my stomach.

But I wasn't dropping the act yet.
'No. I was sleeping.' I typed and sent.

'Okay. Keep sleeping. I'll send it to you tomorrow.'

This wasn't working good. Do I admit? No, she'd probably tell Aditi about it.

Do I yell at her? No, it'd just aggravate the situation.

'Well, you woke me up. So you can send it now.'

Maybe she was right, after all. I really was good at making up false, believable statements.

'But Aditi might be asleep.'

I was losing my nerves. Sara was intentionally messing with me.

'That's okay. I'll just call her in the morning.'

'So I can text it to you in the morning, right?'

The fuck?

'Just text it to me.'

'Chill Romeo. I'm just messing with you.'

'Okay...'

'And remember what I said.'

'I am remembering it.'

'Okay, good luck.'

________________________________________________________________________

Hey guys. Sorry about the late update. Festivals were going on and I was too busy to write the chapter.

And I wanted to ask: Should I change the cover of this book? The current one is very good and the above one is good too. What do I do?

Votes and comments are always appreciated.

Thoughts? Feel free to share.

Please point out any typos if you see them.

And you are always welcomed to ask stuff about this story to me.

Enjoy.

Lots of love.

~Hunt.