Late! I was late. I forgot to set the alarm and now I was running to catch my bus. If I missed it, I would have to wait for another half an hour. Dad had already left for work. I reached the bus stop and as my luck had it, I missed the bus. Damn.

I plugged in my earphones and 'Kaam Pachhis' by Divine poured in. I added some songs to my playlist and took a seat at the bus stand. Finally after 40 minutes, the bus arrived and I missed my first lecture.

×~×

"Why don't they follow proper timings? The arrival time is 7:25 pm, and they arrive whenever they want. How is our country going to progress like this? Tell me Surbhi. How?" I ranted as we walked down the hallway towards our respective classes.

"Didn't you say you woke up late? Then why are you blaming that poor bus driver?" she asked.

"What are you mad about Sandhya?" Tanya asked as she joined us.

I told her how I got late because the bus didn't arrive on time. She just giggled. She said the same thing as Surbhi. Were they my friends or that bus driver's?

"I have reached my class. See you later girls," I said as I entered my chemistry class.

Today was theory. I sat on my seat and took out my books. After few minutes, rest of the students came except one.

"Say hello to the king!" Shree greeted loudly as he entered. Speak of the devil.

He took a seat behind me and began flirting with the girls. Didn't he get tired? I read some lines from the book and suddenly remembered yesterday's event.

Why was Shree acting like that? Most importantly why was he wearing a hoodie in such hot weather? Was he pranking me again?

I turned around and poked his shoulder with the pencil. He ignored me. I poked him again. He ignored me, again. We did this like 10 times and he finally looked at me irritatingly.

"Can't you see I am busy?" he complained.

"Why did you run away yesterday when you saw me?" I asked. He gave me a confused look.

"Near the clerk's office. Ring a bell?" I said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked.

"If it wasn't you yesterday then I must have met your doppelganger. He ran away like I was some serial killer," I laughed at the memory.

"He wasn't a doppelganger. It must have been my brother," he said.

"You have a brother?"

"Yes. We are twins so you must have confused him with me. But how could you do that? I am so handsome and he is a potato."

"You are identical twins, Shree. That means you are a potato too," I said and the girls started laughing. Shree fake glared at me.

"What's his name?"

"Shreyas."

The girls started asking him about his brother and how they wished they had twin siblings too. He just waved off the topic.

The lecture was fun since Shree didn't leave a chance to embarrass Mrs. Nair. By the end of the lecture, she looked like she would explode. Atleast this class wasn't boring.

×~×

"So what do you want to order?" Surbhi asked Tanya as we sat in the cafeteria. Tanya had brought her friends, Divya and Rashi along with her.

Divya was tall and lean. She had light brown complexion and thick black hair which she had tied up in a messy bun. Her facial features were sharp with a prominent nose and thin lips. She was wearing a blue and peach-coloured playsuit and flats. I really liked her vibe and fashion sense.

( Divya's outfit👆)

Rashi was a bit shorter than Divya and fair in complexion. She was dressed in a brown floor length kurta with a short organza jacket with handiwork on it. She had waist length black hair tied in a neat braid. Her face was oval shaped and she had beautiful almond eyes.

( Rashi's outfit👆)

Now we had 5 girls in our group. Yay! I wanted to celebrate. So, I ordered five cokes as a treat. We began chatting about some random topics but Tanya zoned out.

"What do you think Tanya? Don't you agree that humans are aliens who came to earth from other planet?" I asked.

She didn't respond. Divya nudged her but her eyes were locked on something elsewhere. Rashi motioned for us to turn around.

We turned our heads and saw Ved sitting on a table few metres away. He was surrounded by girls.

"So Tanya, why don't you go and talk to him too?" Rashi poked her and she turned red. Divya joined in the teasing and Tanya was near to turning into a tomato. She shushed them and glanced at Surbhi and me.

"Do you want me to introduce you to him?" Surbhi offered.

"Why would you do that? She can talk to him herself. Right Tanya?" I asked and was shocked to see her reaction. Her face paled and Surbhi punched me on the shoulder. I slapped her hand. Why would she do that?

"What's the problem with you?" I glared at her as I rubbed my shoulder. Sometimes she hit too hard without realizing.

"Sandhya read the atmosphere, will you?" she said.

I looked at Tanya again and confirmed my suspicion. My friend here had a crush on Ved. Why? Just why? I glanced at him and thought why would she even like him. He was an idiot. An idiot who happened to be popular with girls. A lot.

If it wasn't for his behavior towards me, I would have seen him the same way as others. A rising star. The last ray of sunshine. He smiled like he had no care in the world and brightened the mood wherever he stepped.

As if he sensed me staring, he turned his head and his smile vanished. He just looked at me without any emotion and I returned the favour.

"He is looking here!" Divya squealed. They were enjoying this a lot. Tanya was staring holes through her plate, too shy to meet his eyes. I smiled at her.

I told Divya and Rashi to stop embarrassing her but they didn't listen. I shook my head at them and turned to Surbhi. Rest of the break was spent with Tanya getting teased by her friends while Surbhi and I just enjoyed.

×~×

"Here, I want to exchange this with some other book," I said to the librarian. She nodded her head and I went to the astronomy section to replace the book. I had already wrote two pages for my science club report. Eight more left to go.

I wondered how the other members were doing. Today I had to attend sports club. Was I drunk when I signed up for them?

I got the book I needed and went to the librarian's desk. Where did she go? I noticed a boy moving around searching for something. He was wearing a hoodie. Was that Shreyas? Let's confirm.

"Hey, Shreyas!" I called.

He stopped in his tracks and turned around. When he saw me, he scowled.

"How do you know my name?" he asked.

"I know your name-" I began but he cut me off.

"Are you stalking me? What do you want?" he accused as he took a step back.

"Did you loose something? I saw you searching around," I ignored his questions.

"My diary," he said in a low voice and his eyes darted around.

"What? Diary?"

He gave me a look and I shut my mouth. He lost his diary? Why do I feel like I know something? Hm?

Oh right! I had a diary with me too. I found the owner! Great. I began searching in my bag and when I found it, I took it out.

"Here, I have..... Where did he go?" I turned my head and saw him exiting.

"Shreyas, wait!" I followed him but he began walking fast. I called him again. He just started running and I ran behind him.

Within seconds, he was out of reach but I continued shouting that I had his diary. But the way he was running meant he didn't hear me. Was I that scary?

After running for quite sometime, I gave up. Just as he turned around the corner, I shouted for last time. I waved the diary above my head incase he looked back. He didn't. How could he run so fast?

"Why do you have this?" Ved snatched it from my hand and waved it in front of my face.

"Give that back to me!" I tried to snatch the diary but he put his hand above his head and I couldn't reach it. He had gotten a lot taller since I last saw him. Never make fun of boys' heights as kids.

"I asked why do you have this with you? Did you steal it?" he asked. How dare he accuse me of stealing?

"That doesn't belong to you so you better return it to me."

"Did you read it?" he asked sternly. It wasn't his diary, so why was he getting angry at me?

"None of your business. Give it back already." I jumped but he pushed me. I fell on the floor and realized we had a small crowd gathered around us.

"Did you read it?" he asked again and I shook my head.

"Don't touch what's not yours. And, stealing is bad, Sandhya," he said in a soft voice trying to act like a nice person. Other students started whispering to each other.

"Did he say stealing?"

"Did she steal something from him?"

"Thief."

"Desperate to get attention."

Excuse me. I am right here!

I got up and ignored all the comments. I picked up my bag and asked him to give me the diary back once more. He smirked and kept it in his bag.

"That isn't yours. I know the owner and I have to return it," I said.

He ignored me and walked away. The crowd soon dispersed and I cursed him. During sports club meeting, I kept zoning out. When we were playing, the volleyball hit me so many times. All because of that idiot.

I concluded that since Ved was Shree's friend and Shree was Shreyas' brother, Ved and Shreyas must also be friends. That's why he was acting so protective of it. Hence, the diary would be returned to Shreyas. Problem solved.

"Watch out!" I looked up and the ball hit me on the face. I wasn't surprised. I got tired of getting hit and decided to sit aside. I checked my phone for any messages or calls. Zero. I was so lonely.

×~×

"How was your day?" Mom asked.

"As usual." I replied and laid down on the sofa. After watching a movie and two episodes of mom's favourite soap opera, I went to my room.

I emptied out my bag and tossed it in the washroom. It got so dirty within one week. Next time I will buy a black coloured bag. White gets spoiled easily.

I sorted out my notebooks and threw unnecessary papers in trash. I will learn origami so that I didn't waste them. Amidst my notes were lying some yellowish ones. They were torn at random places and some were even taped back together. I picked them. About a dozen were there.

Where did they come from? I read the text from one of the papers and instantly shut my eyes. Oops.

They were Shreyas' and must have fallen in my bag and got mixed with other papers. I thought I was out of the problem. What if Shreyas found out and told Ved?

Then he will surely investigate and prove me a thief. Judging by Ved's behavior towards Shreyas' diary, they must be really close friends. What could I do now?

I had the answer. Parth.