The strangest thing about this strange journey is that it began with a word. That word was not very new to me, I knew what it meant superficially, yet, I guess I understood it very clearly in my junior year, that is, 11th grade. The infamous word that twisted my already Topsy-Turvy life was, "cliché". A word with two syllables that actually helped two enemies to get to know each other better! Mind-boggling, isn't it?

"My heart was racing faster than a million miles per second. I felt something unusual, something different, exciting even, in a good way. The wind blew hard and played with my hair that was tied up into a ponytail. It produced goosebumps as it soothingly chased my moving arms.
Tears of happiness and awe filled my eyes, blurring my vision before strumming down my flushed red cheeks in new undiscovered patterns. My eyes wandered across the blue horizon which was getting captivated in the darkness the grey clouds were bringing along with the time ticking slow.
My ears danced to the thunder that now surrounded me, my eyes playfully getting treated by the mesmerizing beauty.
The gigantic, or should I say, vivid sky looked tempting as the clouds formed unique patterns. It was pink, not the shocking, not the baby, but just pink with a tint of red that merged with the blue-grey complexion of the space above me..."

As Mrs. Kapoor, our English teacher, reads out my essay on ' The Nature's Bliss ' to the class and keeps adding her remarks here and there, squeezing them between some of the lines, I give my iconic smirk to Arnav Mishra who was looking like he was shooting daggers with his eyes at me because, as always, my essay was the best in class and was chosen for The National Essay Writing Competition while his essay was...as usual, a runner-up.
He gives me an annoyed look before turning back his attention towards Mrs. Kapoor.

"... The sky was in the middle of a war.", Mrs. Kapoor takes a small break, stretches her lips into a wide grin and turns her head towards me, "Amaira, that line was so impressive, especially the way you have metaphorised the sky to be a battlefield... Unbelievable. You have come far young lady. Class, make sure you use as many literary devices you can in your writing. They make it uplifting! Now, you may sit Amaira. Next, the essay that was very close to going to The National Essay Writing Competition was Arnav's, as expected."
Arnav stood up, yet, had his head bowed. Maybe, because he was getting beaten up by a girl for what,... The thousandth time!

"Arnav, you could have done a little bit better. Your essay is admiral but Amaira's was better. Young man, polish your skills and you will be just fine.", She says reassuringly.

That is it. I was about to crack up in front of the entire class. I know it may sound bad that I am laughing at some one else's failure but, hey, can you blame me that that "some one else" is Arnav? He has never thought before making fun of me in the past. The fact that I am controlling my laughter is enough to justify that I am trying to make his life better!

The bell rang and the class was dismissed. It was lunch now and I, along with my best friend Ishita, was packing my bag and heading towards the cafeteria for having lunch before, the devil came up and snarled,

"What did you do this time Amaira? Played 'Miss Vulnerable' so that the teachers can send your essay to the competition? Or let me guess, you must have pleaded them on your knees or maybe, just, maybe, buttered the judges. No wonder your disgusting essay is now going for the nationals and...",

That's it, he was getting to my nerves now. I cut him in mid sentence,

"Thank god I didn't have to do any of those clumsy and lame stuff you just told in order to defeat you, because, apparently I think that my amazing essay was just enough for it.
I didn't have to go through all the trouble that you went through in the past few days, trying to play your charm on all the teachers and getting them to choose your essay while you still did not make it.", I spat and was about to leave when,

"Oh, so at least you agree that I have charm!",he said smugly.

I gave him a loathed look and walked past him before his arm brushed along my shoulder just for a millisecond. Though it was just as brief as it sounds, it surely sent a fire alarm ringing in my system. I ignored it and walked past but surely he didn't. He turned back and watched me as I left for the cafeteria.

I glanced at him only to see a tired expression on his face. Something, like he was tired of arguing with me and that he wanted to spill the beans out about something. Gosh! That guy surely knows how to waste my time.

"Oh my god! Have I mentioned how cliché this is?", Ishita nearly screams into my ear causing them to almost tear apart.

"What and how is everything cliché?", I say annoyed, though I know what she means. This is déjà vu all over again. We have had this conversation so many times!

"Well, you know that I am your best friend and not to mention your only friend, since, you are socially awkward. You are introvert and hardly open up to people.", she started off..." See, this sounds weird but you guys have to give it a try. You are the Head Girl while he is the Head Boy."

"Not to forget a really bad one", I say interrupting her well rehearsed speech.

She rolls her eyes and ignores me,"Your name starts with an 'A' while his does too. You are always the topper of the grade and in girls while he might not be the topper in the grade, yet, he is topper in boys. You both are straight A grade students. Both of you are the teacher's pets. Both of you compete even in sports. He, in soccer while you ace badminton."

I was now starting to get bored. I took out my lunch and started munching on the sandwich and crisps my mom had packed in the morning. Ishita, still being in her own world, continued...(deep sigh)

"Both of your roll numbers are close by because your names are similar. You are by far the most beautiful girl I have seen in this school while he is pretty handsome himself!"

"Are you done?", I ask. But, clearly she is deaf..

"And how can I forget, you are from north India while he is from south India because of which we have the entire north-south attraction theory working for us."

My jaw hung open at this one. She is getting too out of hand.

"You know what I think?", she asks.

"I actually don't care but will you stop after I answer..."

"I think that if this were a novel. Not just any novel but the classic, cliché highschool novels. You would be the queen bee of the school and probably the cheer leading squad's head while Arnav would have been the quarter back of the school football team! How obvious can this get! Can I ask you a question though?"

Okay, firstly, she did not let me finish my sentence and secondly, "Ask your question.", I blurt out before even thinking about it.

She did give me her, "i-would-have-asked-you-anyways" look that she has perfected in the past few years and eventually asks, "Why are you two still not dating? You guys have to be living up to the expectations of the world!"

OK, my patience level has been crossed over.

Red alarm!!!

"Ishita, you are sounding stupid. I know you have read books based on all that and that, maybe, in your fantasy it is all very true.", she gives me an encouraging look as I continue,"...but, here, we are talking about Amaira, that is me and Arnav, that is the guy I compete with and hate because of all his stupid prejudice about me.

And, you are forgetting that your best friend may be a shy, introvert badminton nerd but she stays far away from boys because of the same novels you are talking about!"

I think it came out loud because now the entire cafeteria was showing their interests in our little, non significant discussion. As I was about to continue,

"Hey, Amaira..."

I turn back to see who owns the deep voice, though I might have my suspicions. I turn back and almost flip my hair on Ishita when I am astonished to see that the voice belonged to none other than the notorious, Arnav itself.

"Hey, I guess? What do you want?", I said with a blank expression.

" OK, point number 1 you don't have to be so rude..."

"I wasn't.", I snap.

"Fine, you were not. I know I deserve this kind of behaviour from your side since I haven't been a great first impression."

Wait, what! Is Arnav Mishra about to apologize?

"But, I won't apologize because I know you understand that, part of me was just jealous of you for doing everything with perfection."

OK, my bad, I shouldn't have had my hopes high, but, now, was he actually praising me!?

"I am not praising you anyways. Because if I did, I would just raise your already sky high ego even higher.", he said that last part... SHYLY!

Was "the" Arnav Mishra shy? And that too of me!

Why am I screaming that inside my head again? And why am I calling him with his full name? Ugh, so many questions. "Amaira it is better if you just shut up and try to focus on what he is saying", I heard my inner voice say to me.

I probably looked like an idiot with a unique facial expression because of the words that came out of Arnav's mouth.

"Um... Amaira are you OK? You look like you are constipated!"

"Yeah, I am fine. So why did you come here exactly?"

"Oh, yeah... I almost forgot.", he said this while he took out a package from his backpack. He held it in front of me and gestured me to take it. His face looked genuinely HAPPY as I took it from his hand.

I unwrapped the package and discovered a novel, 'Will you not say no to me', well, a unique title I must say.

I opened the novel and saw a lot of handwritten stuff. I raised my eyebrows at him confusingly as he just stares at me amused.

I start reading it and realize that it was actually some sort of diary and as I read further, I realized that it wasn't just anyone's diary but was actually Arnav's and that all that was written on it was all about...ME!

I look up from the book for the first time after I bent my head down to read it. I searched for Arnav but he wasn't there. I looked at Ishita, who, herself was trying to decipher what all just happened a couple of seconds ago. I hear the bell ring and come back to reality.

I immediately shove all my belongings and Arnav's diary into my bag and swing it around my shoulder as I head towards the next class I have.

The school day ended and I didn't see Arnav at all. I had millions, no scratch that, billions of questions running a marathon in my brain and was sure to pass out after reaching home.

I boarded the school bus, didn't speak to Ishita the entire bus ride, got off at my stop, opened my house door with my keys, closed it, ran into my room, slammed that door, switched on the fan, took the dairy out of my bag and climbed onto the bed only, not to move from there for hours.

"She is some competition. I mean I haven't met a girl like her in my life before. She is different. Unlike the other girls, she puts me in place, gives wise retorts at my stupid comments and remarks, and, always tries to be better than me in everything. Not try actually, she is better than me in everything. I am in 9th grade now but this girl makes each and everything fun and challenging for me. The reason I am trying my best and pushing myself to the maximum is because of her."

Wow, that was not what I expected. Now that I think about it, he has done the same to me... I continue reading,

"... I give her sneer comments only to talk to her and listen to her voice. She is always cute when she gets annoyed. Even though now I am in 11th grade, nothing about her has changed in my opinion. She is beautiful in a way I will never be able to define..."

Okay, a lot of information to take in. He always behaved horrible to me because I looked cute apparently! I cannot believe this! I hated a person whom I never knew properly. How cliché, yeah that is THE correct word here.

I kept reading it for hours. I got to know a lot about Arnav. He was insightful and funny. I started liking his sense of humour. Maybe, we can have a fresh start and not really, almost, kill each other the next time we talk.

I was called downstairs for dinner and I left the book lying on my desk.

Things are going to change, I said to myself.

This may sound like the typical storyline of any novel but, seriously, things like this happen in real life too. I am going to return his diary to him tomorrow and also, probably, make a new friend and erase an old enemy. It is definitely cliché how everything has turned out to be... Starting off with,

Hatred- Enemies- Sneer comments- Teasing- Staring- Talking- Being concerned- Being worried to actually being friends, true, true friends. If not, even more.

The above, my dear reader is the the way things work, in most cases. But, yes, this was surely the start of the strange journey of my strange friendship with the strangest word to begin with, pure 'CLICHÉ'!!!