Chapter 19

Nothing, means everything; from cold stares to sharp smiles to our own storyline.

Vee

26th April 2019, Friday
20:30

I stuffed my mouth to avoid any conversations especially when Papa decided to join us which came as a surprise to both me and Mummy. I made a mistake of eating in silence and not telling him just how happy I was to see him share the meal. After we ate and I was a moment away from running to my room, he cleared his throat.

"Are we going to pretend nothing happened?" He asked.

I frowned at Mummy. She shook her head and turned to Papa. "What happened?"

The way he looked at her clearly told that he thought she did not know.

"Our boy got involved in something he should've stayed away from," he said. "Why were you at the police station in the first place?"

At this, Mummy turned to me. I, in turn, looked at Raj. He kept his word to not mention to Papa about me but this world would be damned if he ever hid anything willingly. I had almost forgotten that hehad been there the entire time after Sameer had arrived.

"What did he tell you?" I asked Papa. When Mummy shook her head in disappointment, I said to her, "It is something else."

"Explain, Vicky." "What else?" They both spoke simultaneously.

I pinched the tip of my nose and said, "Rishab is gay and everyone found out through someone else who we do not know. Rishab thought I did it but I didn't. Turns out, Sameer wanted to do it but he did not. They both discussed things and Rishab dropped the complaint."

Discussed. I internally snorted at that.

"What?" Papa's expression was priceless.

"I thought it was only a rumour," Mummy said.

"Wait, does that mean you knew?" He asked her.

I raised a hand. "She found out when I came home and after Raj informed you." When she raised an eyebrow at me, I gestured at her to play along.

"How is Sameer connected to any of this? Isn't he Ashiamma's brother, that guy? Plus, why did Rish-"

"Leave it," Mummy cut him off. "Vicky is innocent and safe, that's what matters."

"What if he was not innocent?"

I smirked. "Why would I not be?"

"Then, he would be behind the bars and not here. I know my son. Unlike other people," she gave him a pointed look, "he does not scrunch up his nose when someone doesn't fit his description of an ideal person."

"What do you mean?" He mumbled.

I answered, "I did not flinch when I found my classmate was gay."

"Let's hope he doesn't drink too," he replied.

My phone buzzed. I smiled at him and read the message sent by Sameer.

'Can we meet? Like, right now?'

"I'm sure his father does not drink," I said, typing into my phone.

'Sure. Where?'

'The open ground opposite to your colony.' That was close.

When Papa said nothing, I continued, "It reminds me, Raj, did you clean the car? I don't want to see any more Royal Stags."

Papa clenched his jaw when Mummy gave him a disappointed head shake. I got up and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

"Where are you going?" Papa asked.

I smiled and pointed at Raj. "He'll let you know soon."

"You both are the same." Mummy sighed.

I pretended to gag at her comment. "I'm just going to the end of the colony, take some time and -"

"Give air to your fungus ridden brain," Papa said.

"Will that work? You're saying like you already tried it."

When he growled, I lazily smiled and walked out.

The temperature outside was low compared to the humid heaviness of the night. I took my time walking to the ground which was less than two minutes away. Few dogs rested in a dimly lit corner and raised their heads at my arrival. Their growls stopped when they saw my familiar face. When the ground came in sight, I could make a silhouette, standing just below the lamp post. The neighborhood was eerily quiet. It was not that late. The only noise was of the children playing on the opposite side of the ground. Sameer looked up at me. When I tried to go down, he gestured to me to stop and came up instead.

"I already slipped twice. Save yourself," he said, coming up.

I shrugged. "I know the ground is slippery. At least you are not foolish enough like other lads to make a grand entry on your bike and fall."

I highly doubted that people were crazy to drive over a slippery slope at high speed. They were simply blind.

"I'm leaving." He said.

"Is it because of-"

"No. I was going to leave anyway just as I told you. My semester started a day before Ash's birthday." He kicked the stone and looked everywhere but at me.

"Why are you telling this now? We met an hour ago," I said.

"I am leaving right now," he replied. "I told my parents. They're...okay, they say. I think even if they wanted to react, they are staying quiet because of her. She should have mentioned me instead of him in the note."

"She did not say anything wrong about him," I pointed out.

He snickered. "Did you see those boys? One of them just lost and gave the bat to another one. He reminds me of Ash. I thought she gave up because she lost but she gave up because it was never about winning." He turned to me. "It was about our happiness. That bat, it is Rishab, getting passed from one to another. He didn't want to break up. I wanted him to. When I went to talk to her, it ended up badly. So he did it. He said he would break up without involving me. She just found out."

"Like I did?"

He shook his head. "Not in a position you caught us. He was telling me that he did it. She found and said that it was fine. I never asked Rishab if he was fine. That was my problem. I thought just because they were not together, we'd be. I didn't treat him like she did."

"And how did she treat him?" I asked despite knowing the answer.

"Just how you treated her," he answered. "Like a friend who needs space."

I said nothing.

"I wasn't your greatest fan because you were the brother I should've been. Now she's dead and I still haven't learnt anything."

I gulped. Had I been the friend I should've been? I hardly believed so. "You have. You just need to know what it is that you learnt."

"Do me a favour and try to find who did it, who found about him. The audio I was told about is just me talking. What about the talk we both had?"

I chewed on my lip and thought back to Kiara. I cannot say it was the school but it was someone who had access to the photographs and audio.

27th April 2019, Saturday
11:45

The last thread tying Rishab and I was also broken. I didn't really talk to him much but Sameer's constant messages about him frustrated me. If he spent half as much effort on their relationship than on finding who did it, Rishab might just forgive him. I could not say anything about them getting back, at least not anything positive.

"Are you going to tell me anything or not?" Hardik asked, taking my pen and claiming as his.

"Do I ask you about Mehak?" I replied.

"It's different."

"How?" I turned to face him. We both knew the truth but he would never say it aloud. "Ask me when you can speak."

"Vicky, I leave your side for one moment and I find you next to Shay. You either tell me or stop thinking about it."

I slapped him on the head. "Complete your test, Hardik. Only five minutes are left. I can play storytime because I am free, unlike you."

He got back to his test. I shook my head and stared outside the window.

"Curse me all you want," he mumbled. "But I know you're still thinking about her."

Of course I was. It felt unreal. How had I even crossed her path? I avoided her like leech. She avoided me like I was her enemy, like I had always been.

My clothes had been covered in blue ink and I had been busy checking how bad the ink spots were that I hadn't seen ahead. Shay had been sitting near the wash basin examining her leg. I had gone into the washroom, cleaned the mess and had seen her only after coming out.

I stared out of the window at the kids playing. One fell, another came to help.

Her wound had opened with blood oozing out of it. She had been mumbling something and wiping it off her skin. My desperate eyes had searched the corridors for a teacher or a maid. Great. Just when you need them, they vanish. My feet had itched to walk away but her condition demanded attention. Very reluctantly, I had taken a step towards her, ignoring the protests my heart made.

"Where's the maid?"

I had caught her by surprise. "When did you come?"

I had given her a flat look and repeated my question.

She had sighed as if she was wasting her breath at me. "Maids get a break in the sixth period. Don't you know that?"

As genuine as she had tried to sound, I knew her question was nothing but sardonic.

"Why are you in the school if it hasn't healed?"

"I was not going to miss school just because it has not completely healed. Plus, everything was fine until the last period. Sometimes it aches but it suddenly started bleeding. I t–"

"Okay, alright. I got your point. It was unexpected. Stop narrating an epic." I had held back a groan. "Did you tell anyone?"

She had shaken her head.

Of course, playing innocent and helpless.

"It'll stop soon," she had said, all the while tying her handkerchief around it. It had looked nowhere near ending. Her handkerchief had barely covered it.

"Wait." I had gotten on my knee, removed the poorly tied cloth, I took out mine and tied it. Half of me had wanted to tie the knot very nicely but after an examination her wound, I had decided the other way around.

"I don't think it'll hold," I had said because, well, I was an idotic fool.

"It'll have to do."

"It is not a fracture, is it?"

"Knee ligament tear and artery ruptures. My toes were dislocated but they're fine now. The–" She had paused. "I'm narrating an epic again."

I had been close to shaking my head but I had gotten up and stepped back. "Can you walk?"

No words, just a nod.

"You should go to the infirmary." I had picked up her crutches and waited for her to get up, looking around for someone else. When she had not taken the crutches, I had turned to see her struggling to get up.

My fingers tightened around my pen as I continued to stare at the kid helping her friend up.

She could've fallen back but I had grabbed her hand to steady her. "Here, your crutches. Will you manage or should I come?"

"I'll manage. Thank you. I would rather not have you next to me especially if you're going to flinch."

I frowned as the kid smiled at her friend, after helping her up. I had not flinched even once and just to prove my point, I had accompanied her all the way to the ground floor.

"You're thinking again," Hardik said.

"Do your-"

"I have done." He smirked. "You weren't paying attention. Rather, you're staring across the corridor into her class before staring out of the window."

"My intention was not to hurt them," Shay had said after the doctor examined her wound and left to bring some bandages.

"Just get this done. I helped you because you were hurt. It doesn't mean we're friends," I had replied, looking out of the room.

She had scowled at me. "All of you are so full of yourselves, thinking you know it all when you know nothing. Do you not wonder what happened to Ash?"

"Don't take her name," I had snapped at her. "And don't call me selfish when you were the one-"

"It doesn't change the fact that I was her friend once. I'm just asking if you think ab-"

My jaw had ticked. There I had been telling her she was responsible for making both of us drift on separate boats, and there she had sat defending her friendship with Ashiamma.

"I don't," I had answered her.

I did not want to know anything from her. Nothing. Not even why she pushed me away rather than asking me to not choose sides. I wanted nothing from her. And somehow, Hardik's smirk called out the lie in my statement.