Chapter 47

You're angry, you're shaken and you hate her. Still, you'd help her, for there are people who have been choking her.

Vee

14th May 2019, Tuesday
16:00

The laptop turned on and my hands shook as I plugged in the pen drive that Junior gave me without any hesitation, her eyes away from mine.

"Didn't you say the school had a hand in it?" I had asked.

She had shrugged, placed it in my hand and driven away on her scooter without saying anything else. That was exactly how she would have felt all this time when I ignored her. I sighed and closed the window, not really in the mood of going through this. Something about how she had averted her eyes, how her lips had moved in an almost audible sound, I felt she had wanted to say what she knew, or at least thought.

"Who do you think did this?" Nidhi Ma'am had asked.

I never bothered to answer her. There was a reason I never liked the woman. She had a stretched smile all the time for an adult who spent half the time of her job catering needs of CEOs, Directors, Principals and the sort of people who'd fit in this category, and the rest of the time managing a group of teenagers. I rarely saw her out of her house, always cooped in, away from people's eyes.

But what perturbed me was her tone when she had asked the question, challenging Junior's gaze that was fixated on the ground. It was better to leave Junior away for some time. Her hands had stayed wrapped up around her neck, a little too tight that it made me flinch.

You're pushing another person again because you think she needs it.

I groaned and opened the folder again to finally get done with it. There were number of sub-folders, few named after Ashiamma. I clicked on the one that had the name R. It was there, the picture, but it wasn't what I initially saw in the school.

"It's the school uniform," she had said. It wasn't so in this picture. I reached for my phone and tried Rishab's numbers again, all of them. No response. So I texted him instead: It is about you. Need to talk asap. I hardly believed that he'd reply but it did not hurt to hope. I smiled sardonically at my reflection in the screen of the laptop. Hope. As laughable as all of this.

His parents knew he had gone out of town to clear his head but they still were wary of everything that was happening. I bet they didn't even know half of this everything.

The door opened and Mahi Uncle walked in. "You done?"

I nodded, closed the folders and unplugged the pen drive. "How is Shay?"

He glanced at me. "Why don't you go and see yourself?"

"Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?" I narrowed my eyes. He stared at me with Kiara's frown and silence of the photograph I had just seen.

"Neutral," I concluded. "She isn't getting any better, is she?"

"She's not even getting worse. So, I'd say, it's a good thing, a great thing actually, considering she has a head injury, broken leg and for sure, a messed up mind."

"Why would she do that?" I asked. Almost immediately, I shook my head. "Don't answer that." I checked my watch. "I think I should be going now."

"Check on her," he said as I passed him on the way out.

And see how she should have been standing instead of laying down? No, thank you but I'd survive. At least this way I could convince my mind she was fine, better than reality.

"What happened to your face?" Shay asked.

I scrunched up my nose and winced when pain shot through it. She laughed. "Finally hit puberty?"

I gave her a flat look. "Yeah, this beard and moustache are definitely fake."

"As fake as the eyebrow raise."

As if to mock her comment, my eyebrows shot up. "As fake as the bump on your head when you slipped in your bathroom. At least I'm beginning to grow up. You're still a child."

"I'm immortal, peasant. I don't age." She threw her hair over her shoulder, the same hair which were tied in a braid.

Immortal. I scoffed. You were a liar, Shay. I kept my head low as I passed her room. Liar, both Shay and Ash.

16:20

Why was I here? I blinked and took a breath. I had forgotten the number of times I'd been to this stupid police station in the past month. Raj gave me a skeptical look and I returned it with a helpless shrug.

"Well, well, you put me here behind the bars and still show up."

I gave her a bored look, not going in. I had no plans of talking to her for more than five minutes. I was already beating myself for not speaking up that day and saving Ashiamma.

"Who did it?" I asked. Knowing she'd ask what, I explained, "The pen drive."

"That...I don't know. You tell me. I just know Kiara waltz in one day, saying she wanted to see the footage of her bus. Someone placed a note there, wishing her–"

"You already said that," I snapped.

"I'm your teacher, Vicky. Mind your tone," she said. Her tone dropped a note and her face dropped the arrogance. "You saw everything, didn't you?"

"You mean how Kiara refused to save him because she was scared you'd hurt me?"

She would not understand, no one could. Guilt first overpowered your feelings, then your friendships.

"Did you know Sheereen was going to participate last year? When Ashiamma refused in March, I offered her, without Kiara knowing of course. I knew she could compensate for Ash. She said no. Crazy kids you people are. If I had any of those two, we could've won and none of this would've happened."

I scowled.

"Sheereen tried her luck last April, in 2018, I mean." She shrugged. "The initial plan was to give her a chance. Didn't Kiara tell you?"

"Tell me what?" I took a step back, glancing back at Raj.

"She knew how Ashiamma was against Sheereen's participation. She volunteered to help Shay. All Shay had to do was give an anonymous interview about Ashiamma being bossy. She'd get to participate without Ash finding."

I narrowed my eyes.

"That was Kiara, not me. Don't glare at me."

My nostrils flared. "Why would she tell you that?"

"You forgot it was me who picked her up and made her face known to everyone in school."

As if it wasn't school but a fucking concert.

I snorted at her and turned to leave. "You deserve to rot here."

"But she never fulfilled her promise," I heard her say. "Maybe because Shay didn't leave Ashiamma the way Kiara wanted, like a doll begging for help, like a pretty, little, obedient doll."

I froze.

25 January 2018, Thursday
11:00

"Stop it," I grumbled. "Kiara."

"Give me food."

I rolled my eyes when a paint brush landed on my cheek. Food. Yeah, right. More like my food, my chips. My hand shuffled through my bag as I held the paint brush between my teeth. She picked up another page and I glared at her.

"Here, you have it," I said and shoved the packet of Lays into her hands.

She grinned and got up. "Where's Ash?"

"With Shay," I said, "Something about the deadline for the notice board in Block 2."

"That's completed," she mumbled. When I raised an eyebrow at her, she shook her head. "Nothing."

"I saw them having a heated 'discussion' yesterday. Any idea what it could be about?"

She shook her head, chewing on the chips and staring at the door. I thought I saw a ghost of a smile on her lips through the window pane as she mumbled something. When I turned to face her, her lips sat in a straight line.

"I should go now."

"Those are my chips. Share at least, you greedy Samaritan. What will you do with that huge packet?" I pointed at the top where it was written Buddy pack.

She shrugged. "Go to the library and munch on them loudly to irritate someone, anyone who's there. I'm bored."

"Go study," I shooed her away. "You'll be in Tenth in two months."

She paused at the table and stared at a portrait that Ashiamma was working on. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"Who?" I asked, because in the portrait, she had drawn a man.

15th May 2019, Wednesday
8:00

I walked, feeling dead inside. I had ignored Hardik's glance and Mehak's scrutiny when I was called during the assembly.

"It is about Kiara and the murder," I was simply told by Roy who met me half way.

My feet wanted me to stop, to drop on the floor and coil so that I would see no one and no one would see me. Everywhere I looked, I saw betrayal and stupidity. One year. How could I let this all slide away for one year?

"Here," Roy said.

I paused and stared inside the reception. "Here?" I asked, my voice, a feeble cry of a pup.

He said nothing and I followed him inside, my skin crawling with the image of blood that had been inside one of those offices. I saw Ashiamma lingering outside the reception, just like she had been when we first met. I could almost see Shay behind her but my gaze fell on Kiara's photograph at the side on a board that read The top 20 - CBSE class 10 (2018-19).

As we walked, my steps began to slow and I stared at Kiara standing inside the office with Nidhi Ma'am and another officer. My gaze shifted to Principal's cabin where the curtains had been drawn and I was certain that she wanted to stay out of this.

"What happened?" I asked.

Roy opened the door and stepped aside to let me in. Everyone's gaze momentarily flickered to me before Roy picked up a medal.

"We searched the office and found this medal covered in blood. Did you see this?"

I shook my head and pointed at Kiara. "Why is she here? I'm sure you could run some tests or something to match the blood stains."

Kiara stared at me.

I said, "We know nothing more than what we told you, Roy."

"Can you narrate everything again with as much details as possible?"

I sighed and dived into the story once again.

Once I was done, I said, "Can I leave?"

Roy nodded and glanced at Kiara over my shoulder. "You can go too."

"I'm sorry. I wish I had done something then."

"No use of sorry now," I muttered.

"Vee? Is everything alright? You look–"

"I don't understand," I said and turned to face her, "why you would want Shay to give an interview."

Her eyes widened.

"I don't understand you, Kiara. I'm finding this from somebody else. Why would Shay not tell me? I kept asking her. I thought Ashiamma was the reason of the rift. I was right. There was a rift. I just thought the wrong reason."

"We were all angry at Shay," she muttered.

"No. That was different than what you did. Why did you not think of Ashiamma for once? Just for a second, Kiara, did you weigh how she'd feel? She felt that anyway when Shay did what she did. What was your plan? Telling Ash the truth or continuing to lie behind her back?"

She said nothing, eyes lowered.

"We kept on doing what we wanted to, not once thinking about Ash."

"I never did whatever I had thought. Shay didn't give me the opportunity. Besides, I did it for her benefit."

I smiled. "Didn't we all? We thought let's help Ash by doing what we think is right. Her feelings? Duh, why consider those? Tell me, Kiara, that you were as stupid as I was and didn't really pay it attention."

"What did you do?"

"That's not the answer." I gritted my teeth.

"What did you do?"