Song of the chapter is I did something bad by Taylor Swift

-33-
-Alishka Malhotra-
-Past-

___________

Delmore High
31 October, 2019
11:56 pm

The full moon is like a silver lantern on an otherwise empty sky.

I tilt my head at the moon as I walk ahead and it follows after me, some trees and dry branches hiding it from my view. He says that my eyes are like two full moons, icy and mysterious. Dangerously innocent, he always says, you're dangerously innocent.

I like to believe that I am.

Trees and bushes pass by in a hurry , shades of dark green covering the Wentworth forest that is far behind the school's back exit. There's just the sound of our heartbeats. Everything else is muffled.

As we approach the school, the thing getting bigger and bigger by the second, I shiver. The school is visible from here. When we step inside the parking lot, I crane my neck to look back at the lush green forests that we travelled through minutes ago.

The wind whistles in this desolation, ruffling the trees' leaves against one another producing a crunching sound. It seems to have a voice of it's own, a voice that knows what I'm about to do. I squeeze Avinash's hand as tight as I can, my eyes travelling around in desperation.

" Babe, you okay?" Avinash asks, smiling slightly.

" Yeah." I reply, my voice small.

My gaze shifts to Saina who is looking at me with scorn in her eyes. I want to roll my eyes so bad, but that would only infuriate her more.

As we reach the back entrance, I spot the rest of the group standing, waiting for us. I put away my thoughts to the corner of my mind and put up a smile. I have to do this job correctly. For me. For him.

" Ah! Finally you arrived!" Zoya chimes , and proceeds to hug Kartik smilingly. The sight makes me want to puke so bad. But I figure it was best if I remain passive. Just this night.

" Sorry for the lateness. " I say, feigning innocence . I hold Saina's shoulder and say," Saina, here, was having some difficulties with her outfit. Thus the delay."

Saina sucks a deep breath and looks away.

" Are we sure we wanna do this? I mean it's practically illegal." Ahaan says nervously. Pathetic.

" Oh Ahaan, come on, it wouldn't hurt to live life a bit daringly, would it?" Avinash chuckles and letting go of my hand, looks at me.

" Absolutely! I think you should have a little fun in your life. After all, what's life without a little adventure?" I say and smile brightly.

A gush of wind whistles in, making me shiver more. I clutched the fabric of my coat.

" Okay, so how are we getting in?" Veronica asks no one in particular.

" I think I left the window of the detention room a little ajar. We can get through there. Come on , follow me." I say and walk past them, making my way through the rough concrete pathway aligning the school building. They follow after me.

After a bit of difficulty, I finally find the window, which I had earlier left slightly open during our detention session in the morning. I pull up the window with my hands and climb into the room, putting one leg after another. The rest follow my lead.

Once we are sure we are all in, Himanshu shuts the window. The detention room is dark in the absence of light. I run my hand through the walls trying to find the light switch. Before I can , however, the light flickers on, and I see Saina near the light switch, at the other corner of the room. She has a frown on her face as she comes and stands with the rest of us.

" What now?" Siya asks.

" Well," I say and smile mischievously, " a party isn't a party without some music and some..." I take out a little bottle of wine from my pocket, " booze."

Their faces are worth a watch. While some of them are in amusement, the others look terrified.

" Hey, Saina, you were supposed to bring the music system." Avinash says and looks at a lost Saina. She flips back from her thoughts and looks at him,
" Uh..uh... Sorry I forgot."

" Damnit Saina! You had one job." Kartik complains and looks at me. " Well, I guess then the booze it is!" I smile widely.

" We shouldn't-" Himanshu begins to protest but Kartik shuts him down saying, " Come on, Himanshu, it wouldn't hurt to try it once."

If my brother is good at something, it is convincing people. His words have an aura that makes people unable to say no.

Himanshu shrugs slightly and looks at Veronica. Oh dear god, he's trying to ask Veronica if she is okay with it without actually asking it. It's adorable. At the same time, it's pathetic.

Veronica clears her throat,
" Well, I guess it wouldn't be bad to have one glass."

The rest give in soon after that and I smilingly take the initiative of making them a punch. I walk over to one of the tables at the back with the glasses and stuff.
" Siya, mind giving me a hand?"

Siya looks at me, terrified. She looks like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Slowly and gradually, she nods and comes up to me.

I start pouring the liquid into the small red plastic cups that Avinash had brought. Siya focusses her gaze upon the cups, not daring to look at me.

" So, how's your sis, Siya?" I ask in a comprehensive voice.

I see her gulp visibly and I almost chuckle. She still avoids looking at me. " She.... she's...fi.. fine."

I tilt my head to the side to get a better look at her. " Really? And what about Nikhil?"

Siya shivers slightly. I smirk at that and run my hands through my hair.

" I... I don't... I don't know." She stammers.

" Why so? Isn't your sister dating him?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

" N-no they... broke up during summer."

I smile smugly, " Oh that's too bad. Do you know why?"

She nods her head in denial.

" Could it possibly be.... because your sister might have caught him kissing someone else?" I lean forward towards her.  "Perhaps her own sister?"

She looks at me, her fear stricken eyes giving me a sense of power. I knew at that moment that she was a puppet in my hands.

"How...how do you know that?" Siya asks, stammering.

I smile deviously, "If you must know.... I tend to know everything."

I had struck a nerve. She was visibly shaken. Oh how easy was it to scare her. It gave me absolute pleasure seeing her tremble in my hands.

"Please.... please you can't tell anyone." She pleaded. I tilt my head to the side and gently remove a strand of her hair from her face and place it behind her ear.

"Oh sweetie, don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

She looks relieved for a moment but also panicked. She isn't convinced, I can tell. I grab the tray filled with the cups and lean closer to her, and whisper in her ears.

"You will." I whisper, digging my nails into her wrists, pulling her towards me. "Because if you don't, I might have to break your sister's brittle heart. You wouldn't want that would you?"

She looks up at me, the fear back in her eyes. I smile and make my way back to the group who are now sitting in a circle. Zoya is sitting on Kartik's lap, next to them, are Himanshu and Veronica, smiling sheepishly at each other. Next to Veronica, Ahaan sits alone, looking equally nervous and excited. Saina sits next and I watch as she plays with the fabric of her dress. There's a spot empty right next to her. But I choose to place the tray on the ground and sit on Avinash's lap. He grins at me.

Saina looks pissed.

Siya comes in a minute later and sits between Ahaan and Saina, her face still glazed with fear and terror. Her gaze flickers at me once or twice,but I look away.

" Guys! Come on! Let's make this a night we'll never forget!" Kartik chimes, taking a sip from his drink.

Oh, it was going to be night they'll never forget...

I smile a knowing grin. He has no idea. No idea of the fact that he had just been drugged by his own sister.

I feel pity. But not really.

I had mixed the pills into the wine bottle long before coming here. They didn't have any idea that the thing that they were drinking right now, thinking of it as alcohol, was going to be the absolute death of them.

Poor innocent souls.

" God, what is this? This tastes awful!" Ahaan complains as he takes a sip and scrunches his face in disgust.

" It's your first time trying it, Ahaan. I'm sure you know how awful it can be when you experiment with something new, don't you?" I remark. I can see him tense up for a moment but he nods and stays quiet.

" Okay, guys guys, we seriously need to get this party started now. What should we do? Anyone any suggestions?" Zoya chimes and looks around at us.

" Well," I drawl and everyone looks at me as I grin mischievously.

" We have 6 hours to kill and no one to impress. How about we start with a game of Secrets and Sins?"