Just then, I don't know from where it came, a punch comes and lands on Aarav's face.

    Oh my tomatoes, I was as startled as when I saw a monkey eating a banana which was on my hand!!! It was Dev, the leader of 'The Devils', as they call it. 

   He says, no shouts, "I guess I told you to stay away from my problems, didn't I?"

   I swear on God, I could even see his vein popping out from his neck. Oh boy, he definitely does work out a lot. He was wearing his school uniform, with the shirt half out of trousers and a teeny tinsy bit of a glint of metal probably from the belt he was wearing. As it was a white shirt, I could see his well toned body.....where are my thoughts going? I shake my head and come into this world.

   Aarav was fuming like fire, with smoke being filled all around us. And it was getting denser, second by second. Wait, what? Where was this smoke coming from? I don't think we are in a cartoon, so......there was an actual smoke coming from one of the classrooms. 

  I guess everyone realized that and they started shouting.

  One of the teachers I've never seen before came and shouts,"Don't panic children, it's just a trick played by one of the students. We'll definitely punish that person severely."

  Saying so, he looks around at all children with a murderous glance and walks off. I see a glimpse of a person walking away, in the opposite direction of where we are, so I start to follow that, in that thick smoke, coughing. But someone holds my hands, and I see it was Aarav. 

  He asks,"Where do you think you are going in that smoke? Come, let's head home."

  I look at my watch and say,"But there is still a whole three hours left for school to complete!"

  He scoffs and says,"Are you seriously asking me that? Any other girl in your position would have jumped and said 'How cool are you, Aarav?', with love written all over their face."

  It was my turn to scoff now. 

  I reply,"I guess I'm not like others then." 

 And I start walking off trying to think of that glimpse of the person disappearing. Next, we had a chemistry practical session and I was the first to enter the class. Mixing all the chemicals and getting out the desired result had always been a kick for me. I glanced around the class, took a breath of the air filled with the chemicals smell. Nothing made me happier than this.

  I started to go to the last seat but saw Rahul going in to the storage room. I gasp loudly, in surprise. With the sudden sound, he looks at me and drops the bottle he was holding. The liquid from it spills out and smoke starts rising from the floor. I take a sniff of it and come to a recognition that it was hydrochloric acid, a strong one at that. In his other hand, he was holding a bottle labeled NH3. 

  I add up two and two and realise that it was Rahul who has done all of that smoke fiasco. But why did he do it? Was it another one of his pranks? Before I can delve in to my thoughts deeper, I hear the sound of people arriving to the class. I immediately pull the NH3 bottle in his hands, rush into the store room and place the bottle on the designated shelf, rush out of there again, scratching my hand against the rack in the process, and go and take Rahul's hand, and stand at the last table, putting on my laboratory specified mask as the other students enter.

  Rahul still seems to be in a daze as to what as happened. He was looking at me, his mouth hanging open and his skin on his right hand was burnt. Holy Shit! What was he doing instead of pouring some water or a neutralizing powder? I again hold his hand and take him to the sink, immediately flushing his hand with water. 

  We stand there like that for about five minutes when the teacher arrives and slams his register on the table. He was the same person whom I had seen at lunch, who had a gruff look on his face and asked the students to not worry, saying it was a trick.

  He orders angrily,"If any of you knows the idiot who has made that smoke, report to me immediately!"

  Rahul turns off the tap and takes us to our table, sort of dragging me.

  Then the teacher says in a dignified voice,"I am Mr Malhotra, your chemistry teacher from now on."

  Was he the uncle from our opposite house? I've never seen him till now. But there are many people in India, having the same last name. I brush it off and focus on what he was saying.

  ".....so be decent with me. And let me warn you Aarav, Rahul, Tacy, Trystan, Zafar, Raghav and Dev. I've already known about the tricks you have performed here. I'll keep an extra eye on you."

  Aarav might've said something funny because Trystan next to him, started sniffling, and when the entire eyes of the class were on him, he burst out laughing.

  Trystan and Tacy were twins and they were literally Fred Weasely and George Weasely reincarnated. They were Christians. Aarav's group consisted of Tacy, Trystan, Zafar, Raghav. I have heard rumors that Dev also used to be a part of that group but got seperated for reasons unknown. I personally thought it was rubbish because Aarav and Dev ignored each other. In fact, I've never seen them interacting except the punching today. Zafar was a Muslim, he had a stylish personality. His father was said to own some hotel in Saudi. And Raghav was a typical Sikh, wearing a yellow turban always. No, he didn't have a big tummy and round face, and he was the most innocent of all in their group.

  Mr Malhotra gives a stink eye to Trystan and continues,"All those age old, dumb jokes that you crack on me won't have any effect. And you will be punished in return, I don't care if you have rich parents or you have a political background. And yes Aarav, why is your hand up?"

  "Sir, how did you know we were talking about you. By any chance, do you have an attention deficit disorder? Maybe you don't know what it is...", Aarav says.

  Mr Malhotra stops him in the middle and says,"I know what it is Aarav, maybe you have that disorder, always doing stupid things and putting yourself on the attention board."

  That shut Aarav up. I always thought Aarav had some need for attention. It was proved today.

  "Is this an ethics class or Chemistry class? Just get on with your stupid ego and start the class", Rahul says suddenly. 

  Everyone gasped and Trystan was trying to give a high-five to Aarav, to which Aarav responded by suddenly standing up and storming out of the class.

 The shouts of Mr Malhotra to stop were ignored by Aarav and he slammed the door shut on his way out.

 Mr Malhotra was fuming and he too went after Aarav. We were left like that, without any notice. The class was pin drop silent and at once, Tacy and Trystan started laughing. And every one starts laughing. Some pack up their bags and leave the class. Rahul was about to go too but I stop him.

  "Why did you create the smoke?"

  "How can I create the smoke?"

  "I didn't ask how, I asked why? Do you know that now Mr Malhotra might now think that Aarav was the one who created that smoke and do you know that he can be suspended?"

  Saying so, I get out of the lab, for the first time feeling suffocated in there. I went around the school in search of Aarav. Finally, I found him sitting under a tree in the ground, with his head bent. I go and sit beside him silently and place my hand on his head. 

  Without lifting his head, he says,"Are you here to pity me now? Just go away Sadhvi."

  Though it stung when he said Sadhvi, I remove my bag from my shoulders and say,"I'm Amaira."

  He lifts up his head fast and looks at me with shock. After a few minutes, he asks,"Why are you here? Thought I might need some company, huh? I don't need anyone's pity."

 To which I reply,"No, I just thought you would be more sad if you were lonely. If you want to cry out, you can. It feels good if you let out your feelings and start anew."

  He suddenly hugs me and the tears which he was trying to stop, flow uncontrollably. He gasps for air after a few seconds and says,"Why did she come into our life? I lost an important friend because of her. She just had to beautiful and gain attention and destroy our lives."

 With the each tear of his falling on my shirt, I grew sadder and sadder. So, he was hurt because there wasn't Sadhvi here to calm him down. Sadhvi wasn't reciprocating his feelings and he was tired of it. But he might've been more hurt than me. I just started liking him around a week back and he was almost liking her since three years. Thinking so, I rubbed circles on his back, saying "It's okay, these will pass, I'm here with you."

  After some time, he backs off and I see the surroundings. It was around sunset and the trees were all in a blur to me. Thinking that my specs might've gathered some dust, I remove them to clean. Then I see the water on it and understand that I too cried at some point of time. But it was refreshing, like all the sadness and darkness in me was swept away and I could face this world with a new me. 

  Aarav gets up, dusts off his pants and gives his hand to me, smiling that billion-dollar smile of his. Dazzled by it, I take his hand and stand up, in a trance. After a few seconds, it gets awkward with just staring and he drops off his hand, rubbing his nape. My hand hangs in the air for a second, before I remove it and place it by my waist.

  "Do you know that Rahul too rubs his nape when the situation is awkward?", I say to start up a conversation.

  He looks at me shocked for a second and then says,"You do observe a lot."

  I shrug and say,"Only when there's nothing to do."

  "So let's go and find you some work",Aarav says and starts running towards the gate.

  I shout,"Wait up!", and follow him.

  We reach the gate side by side, event though he had an head start.

  I say,"You lose, so buy me some ice-cream."

  "As you wish, my lady", he says and I laugh, hitting him on his shoulder.

  We leave in his car, me sitting beside him. I roll down my window and observe the scenery nature has to offer, and I notice Rahul looking directly at me, standing under the same tree where Aarav cried.

(A/N: When NH3 and HCl are mixed, they produce white smoke. This is the method that Rahul used.)

  SO.......HOW ARE YOU ALL PEOPLE? SORRY FOR UPDATING THIS CHAPTER LATE, BUT I WAS A BIT HELD BACK BY MY STUDIES AND STUFF. AND...HOW WAS THE CHAPTER? AM I LAGGING THIS STORY TOO LONG? IT'S MY FIRST WORK AND I DON'T KNOW IF I'M PRODUCTIVE LOL. PLEASE GIVE ME SOME FEEDBACK ABOUT MY WORK. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE, COMMENT AND SHARE :)