'Pretty lies.'

Maira

Miss Wannabe Perfect: #Exposed

It is often believed that truth always has a way to get out even if you try to hide it. You might lie, run away as far as you can, or probably realize that you have been looking at the truth all along, just not necessarily the way you wanted it to be. Pretty lies can catch up to you in no time.

I have spied with my little eye that our queen (E.A) has turned a little wiser...or not so much. From dating a certain coach to our beloved jock of the season (J.X). When the cat's away, the mice will play. Where are you A? The cold war has already begun and it's just the matter of time the brew escalates to a simmer.

And as for you E, you are nothing without your King. So I take it you have been officially dethroned. Until next time darlings, x.

Holy Fuck! This is bad. This is ridiculously bad.

I shut my smartphone and shove it in the back pocket of my denim as I stride into the cafeteria, darting my gaze around the corners to spot Ishani-the only person besides us who knew anything about Jordan Xaba. It took only twenty four hours for the fucking word to circle; and she is as good as dead now.

"Where the fuck is Ella?" Sam mutters as she joins me and I fail to find Ishani.

"I think she's with Aagnay," Vaanya asserts, catching my hand and I freeze to my stance. I hate it when she does that. I don't want to calm down damn it. I already hate her fucking nerve and this shit has now gone too far. I know for sure that Ishani is settling some sick score I wasn't aware of. "Doing the much needed damage control."

"Well, that's good for her," I mutter snappishly and spot Ranveer with his group of junkie friends, laughing to something. Fucker doesn't even care his girlfriend is in the same room. Someone needs to smack his balls. "Where's Ishani?"

"I haven't seen her since yesterday," Sam says and I pivot to check the last corner of the room crawling with retarded fuckers of this glorious college. "She seemed sad you know? I wanted to speak with her but she just bolted like nobody's business."

I snap my neck in her direction to face her. "Why did you want to speak with her?"

She gawks at me and then at Vaanya before she tentatively answers, "Well because, like I said, she seemed sad." That's not a fucking reason. Bitch deserved to be sad-no freaking miserable after what she said to me. If it weren't for these people, I'd have snapped her neck into two like goddamned twigs.

"You people need to focus," Vaanya interjects and I avert my gaze on her. "Ishani isn't the issue, Ella is."

"Ishani is the reason this got out in the first place," I bite out gruffly and she purses her lips. "Bitch better have an explanation when I hunt her boney ass down."

"Well you can't," Ella announces, sauntering to us and my brows furrow.

Vaanya's gaze narrows on her. "What do you mean?"

"Ishani is dead." That alone gives me a massive pause. Ella sighs heavily and pinches the bridge of her nose exasperatedly. "She was found dead downtown last night-well her remains, I mean."

Sam shakes her head confoundedly. "Wait, hang on, what do you mean by 'remains'?"

"Apparently, her cause of death is a gas leak in her kitchen," she says and I gape at her. "The tank blew off." What the fuck?

Vaanya looks like she will pass out any second and Sam is agape. I'm just stunned to know the girl isn't alive now when I wanted to kick her ass.

"So another open and shut case then," Sam whispers and disparity sinks in my gut like an anchor, roiling it.

"Huh," I huff and Ella looks at me. "Well, I guess, rest in peace poor soul."

"You seem surprisingly okay with that," Sam mutters and I avert my gaze on her, shoving my hands in the pockets of my leather jacket.

I tilt my head bewildered. "Oh I'm sorry for not shedding tears over someone who used to screw with my boyfriend behind my back." My gaze travels to my boots and I tug on my lip ring. "Why do you always have a knack for insinuating shit like that?" I glance at her through my hooded eyes and she scoffs.

"You know," she begins to say, leaning closer to me and the girls close in. "You, out of all of us, are capable of murder." Ella's brows arch up to Sam's notion and Vaanya gasps.

That makes my head fall back as I laugh like a hyena. "Let's be honest woman, all of us are capable of murder."

"Can you stop talking about fucking murder?" Ella snaps at me and I wink at her. She is fun when she is on her toes. "This isn't helping. That girl is dead and it was an accident. I can legit say that we had nothing to do with this..." Her gaze sweeps one our faces. "Right?"

"Sure," Sam quickly chirps and I narrow my gaze on her, and at the same time Vaanya says, "I was with Jia last night, reading and watching some cookie cutter show on Netflix. I had nothing to do with this."

"And I don't have the mental capacity to plan a murder, so it wasn't me either," I announce and Ella nods.

"Good, so we don't have to talk about it," she says and shrugs offhandedly. "Except mourn her sudden demise, of course." She taps her feet-a move she is attuned to when she is anxious. "So who do you think released this gossip blast?"

"She must have told someone," Vaanya says and I think about that. That girl barely had a friend except Kunal. I never really saw her with anyone else.

"And the word travelled faster than we thought until it reached the right person responsible for this." Sam tucks a tendril of her hair and I pull my lip ring in between my teeth.

"So if Ishani isn't behind Kunal's death...does that mean his death was an accident too?" Vaanya inquires and I wince to myself. This shit just keeps getting worse.

"Two accidents seem too much of a coincidence, don't you think V?" Ella shoots, sweeping her gaze around to spot if anyone is hearing us. I, on the other hand, think people are more concerned about Aagnay Bhasin than they are about us. Fucker has some real balls to keep women around him even after that sick gossip blast.

"So you mean this is some serial killing spree going on?" Sam squeaks lowly and I hiss under my breath exasperatedly. This girl just can't pipe down, can she?

"Ishani died out of an accident, Kunal didn't," I say and Vaanya purses her lips. "End of fucking story."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sam mutters and looks away. "It isn't like anyone would want Ishani dead anyway."

"My point exa-" What the fuck?

Ella

I wrench away with a muted wince as I find Aagnay charging at Jordan with full force, on a dead bolt-taking him down in the middle of the freaking cafeteria. I step back from the impact as the clamor of chairs and tables crash through the air with a sickening thud of Jodan's body against the marbled floor.

"What the fuck man?" Jordan hisses but Aagnay is seething with unchecked fury, his eyes bloodshot and hair dampened with sweat. Someone yells. Another guy hoots to the crowd and someone snickers but I stand frozen to the ground, wondering about the object to this debacle.

Aagnay pins Jordan down, striking his jaw relentlessly. "You mother fucking piece of shit," he growls and Jordan might as well just pass out, grunting to each blow until Aagnay pummels his nose. "I thought you're my best friend." Jordan spits the blood onto the floor and wrenches away, tackling Aagnay with a direct hit on his jaw.

Aagnay stumbles back and pushes to his feet instantly. "And that's exactly why I'm taking care of your girlfriend," Jordan sniggers, wiping his bloodied nose. God, he's such an ass.

"Shit escalated real fast, huh?" Maira mutters and Vaanya is agape. "Can't even say I didn't see that one coming." Sam rubs her arm up and down to soothe her chills and I want to scream at them.

Aagnay's fury is pumping through him, his muscles bulging to the movements as he retaliates Jordan's next move fluidly and lashes out with a roundhouse kick. Jordan swings back and lands on his butt. Pressing on the advantage, Aagnay hammers into his ribs and Jordan lurches away.

But before Jordan could strike back, Ranveer intervenes, catching Jordan's fist before it could hit against Aagnay's jaw. "Enough." His roar echoes through the hall and the room falls into a dead silence. "What the fuck dude?" He pivots to face Aagnay and we walk to the men immediately as the crowd begins to disperse.

"No, you stay the hell out of this," Aagnay demands gruffly and Ranveer shakes his head slowly.

"No. Your girl cheating on you isn't his fault man," he says in a matter-of-factly tone and glances at Vaanya. "She's the one you should be dealing with instead of coming after him."

"My word," Sam murmurs and I roll my eyes. "No wonder you love this guy. He's kinda smart."

"Yeah, I know that," Vaanya snaps and Maira smirks at her. "I know what he means." She looks at Ranveer longingly and I can't help but feel horrible for Jordan. He didn't deserve any of this. I never meant for Aagnay to find out until I found a way to break up with him.

"But he is supposed to be my best friend," Aagnay bites out, pouncing further and Ranveer blocks his movements.

"So what? People are messed up," he says and lurches him away from Jordan. "Stop this fuckery already. You're wearing me down." He pivots to face Jordan. "Get out if you don't want your bones grounded."

Jordan looks at me, wiping his nose and I can't do anything-I can't be with him, not here and not now which is even worse than I thought. He backs away and the air in the room thunders with loud gasps and murmurs.

Not knowing what shifted the air, I twist from my waist to look at the door and spot a team of cops striding towards us. My stomach drops. "What the hell is going on?" Vaanya inquires horridly and my hand travels to my mouth as I turn to face them.

"What are they doing here?" Sam asks dreadfully and I tremble as the terror courses through me. Maira scowls at them as one of the cops halts and stands right in front of us.

"And the cops showed up for a fucking brawl show?" Maira asks quizzically. "What?"

Ranveer tenses, releasing his grip on Aagnay's shoulder. "Where is my father?" He saunters to them and the inspector looks at him.

"He has other businesses to deal with."

Ranveer looks at all of them, and then he shrugs. "Then why the show?"

"We're here for your friend," he says and I swear I'm going to throw up if this doesn't stop right now. My hand flutters to my throat as I look at the girls and find them shell-shocked. Which friend? The cop looks past Ranveer. "Aagnay Bhasin, you're under arrest on suspicion of Ishani Mehera's death."

I stumble back in disbelief, feeling the ground shatter beneath me and Aagnay looks like he has seen a ghost. Ranveer's gaze narrows on him and then he looks at Aagnay. "No, this must be a mistake."

"We know what we are doing," the cop says and the girls are stunned. "There are witnesses who have identified his presence at the crime scene last night." Oh my God. "Hold your hands forward," he demands and another cop unlocks the cuffs with a sickening clamor.

I have been so absorbed into the moment that I didn't notice everyone is watching. Ranveer's gaze averts on Aagnay. "Listen to me," he murmurs, urging Aagnay to step forward. "Aagnay, damn it, look at me," Ranveer demands and his gaze averts on him. "I'll talk to my father about this. Just do what they say right now."

Aagnay remains silent as the cop locks the cuffs around his wrists and he stares at it silently. "Veer call my father," he demands somberly as he begins to walk away with the cops. "And your father too." And with that, he is out of the room in no time.

"What the hell just happened?" Maira asks as Ranveer curses under his breath. Vaanya catches his hand but he jerks away as though she had hit him. Her face falls and Sam sighs.

"For all I know..." I stare at the threshold of the cafeteria blankly, pondering just how fast Aagnay might be lawyered up. "Bhasin killed Ishani last night."

~~~~

Hello Darlings!

This chapter concludes the first part of the book. The second part of the book will be released next week. Let me know what you think so far? I would love to read your thoughts about Aagnay and Ishani.

Nevertheless, get ready to have some of your questions answered.

Thank you so much for reading and sticking by #Exposed so far. You have no idea how much this means to me. My gratitude extends to each and every one of you.

I hope you liked what you read. Please don't forget to vote, comment and share.

Happy Sunday! Take care and I'll see you guys next time. <3