Song of the Chapter is
For Him by Troye Sivan

-15-
- Ahaan Jaiswal-
-Present-

_________

Delmore High
19 November, 2019
8:25 am

Everything was back to normal.

As I walked down the hallways, the squelching of my shoes against the floor was muffled by the sounds around me. Girls were squealing and embracing each other like they hadn't seen each other in ages; The sounds of senior boys ricocheted through the hallways. The hallways was bustling with so much sound, I almost missed the sound of phone chimming. I took out my phone and stared at the message blaring on the screen. Thankfully, it had come from Veronica ; She was waiting for me at the school newspaper office . I rolled my eyes and turned back on my heels. However as soon as I turned, he stepped in front of me.

A small smile blossomed on his features. He smiled at me, his eyes swirls of mint mixed with chocolate - twinkling with a familiar childlike innocence as he raised his shoulders and outstretched his hand.

"Hey....Ahaan , right?"

Daniel Fernandez uttered my name with such simplicity, it almost made the butterflies in my stomach squeal and jump with happiness. Daniel Fernandez uttered my name like it was the only word that was in the english language that made sense. My name had never sounded so good when uttered by someone else. I'm sure it was his voice but I'd like to believe otherwise.

"Yeah, um... Daniel, right?"

"Yeah," he said and laughed off.
"Walk me to class, would you?"

"Sure." I uttered, somehow.

As he walked ahead, I fell into step with him, totally forgetting that I was supposed to get to the Emerald Gazzetta , which was on the opposite side of where we were headed to .

I really needed to come up with a good excuse to tell Veronica.

"Say Ahaan, would you mind giving me a little tour of this place? Cause god knows, I've been here like two days and I still haven't figured out how to get to half of my classes." He asked.

My throat turned dry for a moment but maintaining my composure, I said, "Sure , why not?"

" I mean, if you're only free now; I don't want you to miss your classes." He said.

"Uh..no. I have english now and I was thinking of bunking anyways so.. I can give you a tour now if you want?"

" Sure, that'd be great."

Okay, this was it, Ahaan. This was your chance.

"Um..okay, so how about we start with a little history? So, Delmore High first opened it's doors in 1946 and-"

"And hasn't been redecorated since, I believe," he said, his wandering eyes whisking through the walls of the hallways where the old bulletin boards hung like dead weights.

" Yup, you got it right." I laughed.

" Sorry, it's just... I'm feeling like I'm walking through the lost epilogue of old town." He said, looking at me. I smiled slightly.

" What is the social scene here? Like any clubs and stuff?"

" There is a night club named Coney Island and also a gay club named Innuendo. Other than that, I don't think you'll find much of that stuff in here." I said,

" Wow, when my dad said that we were moving to a town in Goa, I sure did expect a little too much." He said , scrunching his nose.

" Yeah, well, this part of Goa is a little different than the rest. This particular town is just.....how to put it subtly?" I said.

"Boring?"

"Boring."

He laughed slightly. It was the most beautiful random sound that I had ever heard truly. God, what was wrong with me? Why was I finding everything about this guy charming?

"Hey, one more thing, who is Alishka Malhotra and what happened to her?" He asked and my throat went dry again.

" Uh...." I felt short of words. How do sum up the entire catastrophic incident that was Alishka Malhotra's death?

" Yeah, I heard a lot of people in my class talking about it. I just understood bits and pieces though." He added.

I blinked nervously.
" Um...yeah,she was a student here.... well, not an ordinary student ; she was kind of like the mean girl of Delmore High. "

" So what happened to her?"

" Um...she died. Last week."

His nodded, his face devoid of any expression other than curiousity. And I guess that was justified cause he was new in here. I envied him so much at that moment. He never got to experience the chaotic psycho storm that Alishka was.

Lucky bitch.

" But how ? Like a medical condition or something?" He questioned.

" No...she was murdered."

He stopped right in his tracks and looked at me to double check whether he had heard it right.

" What? How?"

I started walking ahead and he soon joined me. " They don't know that yet. I mean,...the investigation is still on . The police are trying to find whoever did this to her."

He blinked twice. " Hopefully they do."

"Yeah."

" Isn't it just perfect? The week I move into a town,a murder happens and now there's a psycho killer out on loose and god knows, with my luck, I'll probably be this guy's next victim." He said sarcastically with pursed lips.

I gave him an awkward smile.

" So...did you know this girl closely? Like , was she a friend?" He asked and I almost missed a beat.

" Uh..no..not really. She and I ran in totally different circles."

He nodded slightly.

"Listen,....if you have any problems regarding absolutely anything here...you can always contact me. I mean.... I'll probably not be able to help you with the bullies but.... I'll surely be there to give you a hand when they shove you to the ground." I said.

" They do that here?" He asked, genuinely concerned.

I laughed. " No , I was just messing with you."

He laughed slightly.

" But how will I ever contact you? I mean,....you got a number or something?"

Yipeeeeeee Aye Yayyyyy!!!!

" Uh yeah.... I actually do."

We exchanged numbers and a few stolen glances. I swear, no sound could compare to the sound of my heart , which was beating so fast.

" Okay then... I'll text you." He said and smiled.

"Cool."

He smiled and glanced at his watch. " Oh shoot, I'm late to class. I gotta go...but I'll see you later, k?"

" Yeah.... and if you want you can join us for lunch at the cafeteria." I shot my shot, hoping my friends would understand.

" Sure, I'll find you." He said and rushed towards his class but not before giving me a last glance and a small smile. My cheeks blossomed a cherry red colour.

Just then, my phone chimed, indicating a new notification. I took it out and stared at the message that was on the screen with widened eyes.

'Seems like you've found a new boytoy, mr. genius. Wonder what your friends would say if they knew about your dirty little secret.’

_______________