23 December 2010, Thursday, is written on the top left corner of the blackboard, in the class monitor Mythali's loopy handwriting.

It is the day before the school breaks off for the winter holidays and Shiloh is having trouble containing her excitement. Being one of the few Christians in her school, it gets a little boring, with almost no one to share about how much she loves decorating her four-year old Christmas tree and wearing bright red Christmas jumpers and garish tights to boot. Or how her father stays up till 3 am the night before Christmas eve to bake plum cakes (it is a family tradition) which are a little on the bitter side, and how she practically swoons when they put up the fairy lights around the house and she makes up excuses to go outside the house just to look at it.

But Shiloh doesn't mind as much because right now Ria, Akshara and Kiera have made it their responsibility to help her in the daunting task of finishing the wonky Christmas cookies she has brought to school, in funny shapes of a polar bear, a squirrel (complete with a scarf around its neck and an acorn in its paws) and a snowman (Mrs. Daniels doesn't do normal, apparently) all with crooked royal icing smiles to boast.

She notices Eli and Tariq sitting a little far off, staring discreetly in the direction of the cookies (or at least trying to).

She beckons the duo over and then before she knows the cookie box (which had about three dozen cookies) has only a few crumbs left at the bottom and they are in the middle of playing dumb charades.

Tariq nudges, or rather, shoves, Eli.

"Bro, it's your turn to act now. You have been laying off for what, three rounds now? And stop with puppy eyes, I don't care if you are not good at acting. Man up, Eli." Tariq says, clearly annoyed but at the same time seeming anything but, what with the huge smirk planted on his elfish face.

Eli huffs, his hands up in mock surrender.

"Okay, alright, alright. I'll act, anything to wipe that stupid smirk off your face, Tar." he says.

Tariq immediately scowls. Shiloh thinks it has something to do with Eli calling him Tar, but keeps her pretty little mouth shut.

Eli, Tariq and Shiloh are in one team while Kiera, Akshara and Ria are in the other.

Right now, Shiloh can see smug triumphant smiles on the three girls' (and they haven't even given the movie yet) faces and inwardly groans.

What is coming is probably, surely, not good.

Eli leans as Ria whispers the movie's name in his ear. He immediately grimaces.

"Are you sure?" he asks. Shiloh knows he is hoping they would say no.

As if.

"Yup" the three of them say in unison.

"Ugh, fine. Better get along with it then." he mumbles.

He starts with the customary signs. He holds up two of his fingers to show the number of words in the movie's name.

Two.

Then he shows his thumb, in an 'okay' sign.

English, Hollywood.

He stands still for a minute, a finger on his chin, wracking his brains to think of something to act. Suddenly, his eyes light up.

"Okay, second word" he says, but quickly covers his mouth with his hands, eyes wide.

"Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to speak, won't happen again."

He pretends to take something out of his pocket and pops it in his mouth, chewing it.

"This one's easy. Gum." Shiloh says.

Eli literally jumps two feet in the air on hearing the word. He nods his head fervently, eyes wide with excitement.

She glances at Tariq, curly-haired head buried in some book, it is Greek mythology most probably, since Tariq is going through a Greek mythology phase.

Tariq only pays attention to the game when he is the one acting.

"So, like, the second word is gum?" Shiloh asks.

He shakes his head, his floppy hair falling on his eyes. He pushes them back.

"Okay. The second word starts with gum?" she asks.

He nods his head. Shiloh fears it will fall off his neck.

"So, uh, let me think. Uhmm, hey Tariq help me here!" Shiloh shoves Tariq.

He just scowls up at her. When he is not grinning, he is usually scowling.

"Okay fine, I'll do it myself." she says.

She is trying to think, she is an ardent movie buff, when suddenly she can see the name blinking in front of her eyes, like the neon signboards which she saw in Hong Kong when she went there in her summer holidays two years back.

"Forrest Gump Forrest Gump!" she shouts, screams.

Tariq finally looks up from his book, his eyes blinking.

Shiloh sees Eli running towards them (he is literally just five feet away).

Maybe he is going to high-five Tariq or something, she thinks.

But no, Shiloh could not be more mistaken. Because Eli was not running towards them to high-five Tariq and shout "Tar, I totally rock at this whole acting thing" because he is hugging her, he is hugging Shiloh right now and she thinks she cannot breathe, maybe because he is hugging her so tight she thinks her face might be blue. Except it isn't. Because it's a deep red.

Her heart is right in her throat, she can feel it.

She is not much of a hugger, you see.

The only time she hugged someone outside her family of three was Ria, on her birthday party.

And here she is trying to act normal when the boy she thinks she likes is hugging her.

When Eli awkwardly breaks away from the hug which in reality lasted for five seconds but for Shiloh seemed a torturous eternity, she sees the rest of her friends, the whole four of them, staring at Eli and her with matching smug (very smug) smiles on their faces.

"Dude, you so like her. Haina?" Tariq says in his signature blunt way.

Eli visibly stiffens beside her.

What comes out of his mouth next is something nobody expects (maybe not even him).

"What?" he says with a hesitant laugh, his cheeks a flaming red, from embarrassment, anger or plain cold, Shiloh doesn't know.

"Who would like someone as black as her?" he blurts, and tries to smile, his version of a joke. Everybody just stares back at him, except for Shiloh, of course.

Her head is down, she is staring at the grey floor speckled with black and she has no intention of looking up.

It's funny how things around you can change so quickly.

Only minutes ago, they were playing Shiloh's least favorite game, stomach full with Christmas cookies and grins on their faces, Tariq was busy reading his book, Ria and Akshara were laughing at some knock-knock joke.

Now, Tariq tries to act like he is reading the book but is not at the same time, Ria has a laugh frozen on her lips while Akshara tries to dust off non-existent grime from her skirt. Kiera is staring at Shiloh with wide eyes, flitting to Eli every now and then.

Shiloh can feel the tension, the after-taste of Eli's words hanging in the cold air. She hates moments like these.

After what seems like a torturous eternity, the six of them scurry to pack their bags and hurriedly exit the classroom (the final school bell rung about a minute ago), the tension is too much to bear on their 12-13 year old shoulders.

Kiera hugs Shiloh, whispers "He is stupid, don't listen to him" in her ear, waves a quick goodbye and walks off. She has a late afternoon flight for Goa to catch.

Akshara and Ria crowd around Shiloh in the hallway (though crowd is hardly the appropriate word).

"It is okay, Loh. He didn't mean it, you know." Ria says, giving Shiloh's shoulder a light squeeze, her lips pulled into a tight smile.

"Yeah, probably." Shiloh says, with the fakest smile she has ever donned.

"Shiloh, what he said doesn't matter, you know that. We love you, okay?" Akshara says, her hazel eyes glowing, with what, Shiloh has no idea.

"It's okay. I'm okay, don't worry." Shiloh manages to say.

She probably is okay.

She has heard racial insults thrown at her so many times that she likes to think that she has grown immune to them.

But the thing is, she hasn't, not quite.

And anyways, it is Eli.

Freaking Eli Dasgupta.

The boy who lends her his Percy Jackson books and offers her PBJ sandwiches and sits with her at lunch and just smiles at her when he is not quite sure.

The boy who she likes to think is her friend, and also the boy she maybe, kind of, likes.

She is not okay.

But she mouths "I'm cool" to Ria anyway.

"Good" Ria grins, pulling the three into a huge bear hug, hugs are her specialty.

"Break a leg, well not literally, but still. And have my share of Christmas cookies, and bring me a Christmas gift, and sneak in a some mulled wine or eggnog if you can, I really want to taste them, and-"

Akshara drags Ria away before she says something more stupid.

It makes Shiloh feel a little better, (only a little better though).

She is trudging along the staircase, when she sees Tariq. He sees her at the same time.

"Look I'm really sorry Shiloh. I'm sure that dimwit didn't-"

"mean it. I know."

"I know you are angry Shiloh, if it makes it any better, I'm really really sorry for what happened, I'll-"

"It doesn't make it any better Tariq. He called me black. Eli straight up insulted me. Do you realize how it makes you feel, huh?" she says, her eyes narrowed at him.

He gulps. His eyes seem to turn a brighter green.

"Shiloh, I'm-"

"Don't feel sorry for me. And stop making it up for Eli's sake." she spits and walks away, as fast as her short legs can carry her.

Once home, she is crying in her maroon duvet, splotches of tears interspersed by white polka dots.

And here she had thought Christmas holidays couldn't start any better.

A/N: I know this chapter could be a wee little uncomfortable.

All I want to say is that I am completely against racial discrimination, or discrimination, of any sort and the contents of the chapter have nothing to do with my own thoughts about the issue.

I do not mean to insult or hurt anybody. The comment in the chapter is not to promote racial discrimination but to show how it is entrenched in our society when even young teenagers, educated, with seemingly okay morals, say things like these.

Still, if anybody got the least bit offended by the comment, I'm really really sorry.

On another note, who wants to punch Eli in the face?

Also, if you haven't watched Forrest Gump, what were you doing with your sorry asses this whole while?

Much love,

Sarah