Song of the chapter is Secrets by The Pierces

-42-
-Alishka Malhotra-
-Past-

____________

Delmore High
1 November, 2019
12:15 am

" So how do we play this game?"

My brother asks me and I smile sweetly at him. It's this naive little trait of his that I absolutely adore.

" Simple." I say, looking at the rest. "We'll spin the bottle. The person on whom it stops, will have to tell us their deepest, darkest secret."

The looks they give me are quizzical. I almost laugh.

"And no lying, cause I'll surely be able to tell if you were." I say, with a smirk blossoming on my face.

I feel them physically tense up. They are like puppets , moving just like I want them to.

"So," I drawl as I spin the bottle, " let's see who goes first."

The bottle spins and spins and then lands on Avinash. I grin with my teeth as I feel Saina tense up beside me.

"Babe , you're first." I say as I lean closer to him. "Tell us, your deepest darkest secret. And no lying."

He takes a deep breath while his eyes remain impassive. He's trying so hard to act cool, it almost makes me smirk.

" Uh...two years ago, I found out that....my dad was cheating....on my mom. He asked me, pleaded me, not to tell her anything. And I didn't." He says and looks at me solemnly, " I didn't want them to get a divorce so.... I kept it a secret. I still am keeping it a secret. It's gonna haunt me until the day I die."

I almost feel sympathy for him.

Key word: Almost.

" Your dad had no right to put you in a situation like that." Saina suddenly speaks up and then in an instant, goes silent. I smirk.

" True, it should not be your burden to save your parents' relationship. After all, they are the ones who are adults." Himanshu says, in his goody two shoes voice.

Avinash gives him a tight lipped smile. "Thanks."

I was already bored by this monotonous sympathy sharing conversation. " Okay, who's next?"

I spin the bottle and this time it lands on Saina. Wow, fate really is playing according to my plan today.

" Bestie! You're up next!" I say, emphasizing on the sweetness in my voice. She tries hard not to roll her eyes.

" I don't really have one that bad." She replies. Lame.

" Come on, Saina. No one is that much of a saint." I say , playfully. "And I know for sure, you aren't one either."

Her eyes harden, a smouldering look etches on her face. She wants to plunge her nails into me so bad.

" Fine." She takes a sip from her glass. " I have kept a secret from Avinash for so long. Maybe tonight's the night I should tell him then."

I smirk and tilt my head at her.

" Secret? What secret?" Avinash says, tensing up beside me.

Saina looks at me dangerously and then at him, as her features soften. " Avinash,....last year during spring fest, Alishka hooked up with someone while you were away for a vacation. And I knew about it. And I kept it a secret from you."

Her eyes gleam with satisfaction. She thinks she has beat me in this game.

Poor Saina. Doesn't even know that the game she thinks she's winning at , is mine after all.

" Babe , is this true?" Avinash asks me, feigning accusation. I turn to him, giving him my softest smile.

" How about we talk about this when we're alone?"

I give him the look, and he understands. He knows it best not to contradict me. He knows what happens if he does.

" Okay."

" Let's go next. Lemme spin." Zoya says, to break the awkward essence in the room.

She spins and spins and it lands on Himanshu. Mr. Goody-two-shoes looks at Veronica nervously without blinking.

Oh Devil, this guy is in love.

" Mr. Good guy, I'm so excited to hear yours." I say, leaning a bit towards him. He nervously fidgets with his fingers.

" Um...when I was 8, my brother drowned in an accident. He was four at the time." He says. I quirk a brow. Veronica looks at him solemnly.

" That's your secret?" I ask.

" No." He looks at me and then back at his shoes. " We were playing in the pool when he.....when he started drowning.
I ran out of the pool, promising him...that I would....get help. But I was too late."

My lips part in realisation.

" My brother died waiting for me to get help." He says, his voice barely a whisper. The room goes eerily silent.

Veronica slowly and steadily places her hand over his. " It wasn't your fault."

Himanshu looks at her , a bit surprised at the sudden expression of emotions. Veronica being the static no emotion girl that she was, had quite a difficulty in expressing herself. I could swear on my sequin dresses and red skirts that I had never once seen her smile, or even cry.

That's why she intrigues me the most.

She is mysterious, in ways I can't explain. Maybe that's why Himanshu is so drawn to this raven haired girl. He believes he can save her from whatever hell she was in.

Oh he can't be more wrong about that.

" Let's just... continue the game." Himanshu says, and spins the bottle. It spins thrice and lands on Siya. She struggles to breathe.

I smile. " Siya, looks like you're up next."

She looks at me, with such a fierce look of resistance that for moment I would have been scared, if I wasn't I.

" Um..." She shifts uncomfortably.

" It's going to be something academics related , isn't it?" Zoya jokes.

" Hush, Zoya. Let her talk." Kartik defends. I quirk a brow at him. He simply shrugs. Siya looks at him and then at me.

" Uh.... during summer, I took part in an international essay writing competition on my parents' insistence. They wanted me to get first place and I knew that my essay wasn't good enough for that. So I copied off my sister's high school essay and gave it for submission. And ofcourse, I won first prize."

I almost wanna tell everyone the truth. The truth of the brunette whom everyone perceives as the perfect girl next door.

But I resist the urge.

" I told you it was going to be something academics related." Zoya states.

" Yeah...sorry. I know it's boring." Siya says, satisfied at having dodged a bullet.

" You have way more to you than the story that people paint about you, don't you? " Kartik suddenly says, his eyes fixated at the pretty brunette. She looks at him, startled but says nothing.

" Why don't we continue?" I say quickly, to break whatever spell the girl was casting at my brother.

I spin the bottle and it lands at Zoya. She removes a strand of her hair and sits straight.

" When I was in seventh grade, I.... developed an eating disorder. And....it took me....a lot of time....to get back to normal. I'm thankfully, okay now." She says, her eyes gleaming with sadness. I roll my eyes.

" That's really brave of you, Zoya. I'm glad you could share this with us." Kartik says, putting his arm around her. She gives him a tight lipped smile.

I almost gag at the exchange.

" Okay, next. Lemme spin." Ahaan says and enthusiastically spins the bottle. It spins and spins and then lands on himself. His lips part as his eyes widen.

" Shit."

Zoya laughs, " Come on, Ahaan! Go ahead and tell us how you cheated on your test once in your life."

" Fuck off!" He makes a poker face at her and she laughs even more.

" Then, prove her wrong, Ahaan. Tell them what's really your deepest secret." I say and smirk knowingly. He looks like he is a deer caught in a pair of headlights, all scared and nervous.

" Uh.....my father..... isn't.. dead."

The words leave his throat and he immediately covers his mouth , realising what he had just blurted out. All of us look at him questioningly.

" But , peaches, you said your dad passed away when you were five?" Veronica says, most confused among us all.

Ahaan gulps and shifts uncomfortably. " Uh...yeah,..... I lied. My father is......alive....he just doesn't..... stay with us."

I quirk a brow. " Why not?"

He looks at me, nervously and answers, " Because he.... hates me."

" Why would your dad hate you?" Saina asks.

He takes a deep breath. " I don't know. He left when I was five. I didn't know what his actual reason for leaving was. I never asked my mom either cause I figured I would just hurt her more by asking her about him."

My lips curl up in genuine amazement.

"But why did you lie about your father being dead then?" Zoya asks.

" I don't know." He says, looking at the verge of tears. " I was a kid. People used to ask me why my dad never came to pick me up from school and I couldn't answer them. So one day I lied, said that my dad was dead. People stopped asking after that."

The room goes eerily silent again. The secrets were laid bare and now we were more than just acquaintances who passed each other in hallways.

I sigh, " Should we go on?"

" Yeah, go ahead. It's okay." Ahaan replies. I nod.

" It's just you , me and Veronica now. So how about we take turns to say instead of spinning the bottle?" Kartik says to me. I nod, smilingly.

" Okay, I'll go first then." Kartik says, looking at all of us. " I think I'm adopted."

I laugh slightly. So does Zoya.        "Come on, bro." I say, disregarding his statement.

" No, really. And there's a logical reason for me to say this." He says, looking seriously at me.

I tilt my head at him.

" Mom and dad don't care about me as much as they do about you. At times I feel like I'm just a burden. They act like I'm not even there." He says.

" Aw, Kartik. Don't be jealous now. Mom and dad aren't that bad." I drawl, jokingly.

" Easy for you to say. You're their golden child." He says , sounding like an eight year old boy. I smile at his innocence.

He thinks mom and dad favour me over him because they love me. Little does he know that they are just my prisoners. My parents have a hamper booming with mistakes and a graveyard in their closet. Only I know and have possession of the skeletons that could grind their reputation to bones and bits. One word uttered by me, could destroy my parents.

That is why they know it best not to get on my bad side.

" Well, it's not my fault I'm more smarter than you." I say , jokingly. He pouts but says nothing.

" Veronica, you're next." I say and look at her.

She sits there, with her midnight locks and a mouth full of white lies, just ebbing her anxiousness away by drinking from her cup. Her gaze falters between me and Himanshu once or twice.

" I once....lit a dumpster on fire in my neighborhood." She says, smiling slightly.

Himanshu starts chuckling and then everyone joins in. I smile, knowing fully well that she is lying. But I decide to not probe more. I'm going to let her think that she got away with this. Feed her confidence. Before I can crush it with my bare hands.

" Whoa, is anyone else feeling sleepy already? Cause I surely am." Kartik says, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

The liquid is slowly starting to do it's work. I could faintly make out that everyone was already drowsy.

" Yeah , how much did we drink?" Saina asks. I smile.

Just a few minutes more.

" Okay, seems like it's finally my turn." I say , ignoring Saina's question, getting on my knees as I slowly twirled the bottle around.

" My deepest darkest secret.... is going to be what I'm about to do now." I say as Avinash's eyes slowly start to droop down. Kartik rubs his eyes. Saina tiredly lays her head on the ground and falls asleep.

One down.

" I'm about to do something crazy tonight. After tonight, you may never see me again."

Ahaan rubs his eyes and slowly and gradually falls to the ground.

Two down.

" Ever since I was little, I've always wanted to be a mystery. I've always wanted to be known, yet still be unknown. I wanted to be gone, but still be everywhere. I've wanted to become a mystery so much that I would do anything to become so."

Veronica and Himanshu's visions become blurry, and after a minute, they fall to the ground too.

" Anything. Even this."

Four down.

" If you guys are ever able to recall about this night and my words, it means I've obtained my dream. It means that whilst I savour the sweetness of my actions, you all are forced to swallow the bitter repercussions of my actions."

Kartik faints beside an already blacked out Zoya.

Six down.

" Cause the thing is , if I fall, all of you fall. If I'm ruined, you're all ruined. If I crumble , you'll all crumble too. If I suffer, you all suffer too."

Avinash falls to ground, unconscious.

Seven down.

" And you'll live to regret this night,....for the rest of your lives. Nothing would ever change the fact that you're playing my game now."

Siya falls to ground, sound asleep.

All down.

" So game on , bitches."