┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

 ➶-͙˚ ༘✶ ───

❝ You're my girlfriend now❞

 ┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Auditorium, Warrior High
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"kindly stand up for the National Anthem" announced the School Pupil Leader , whom Nandini hated with all her guts , why won't she ? how can you ever forgive the person who snitched on you for a plant.

That black shiny badge on Ritika's flat chest reminded Nandini about the ugly betrayal.

Well , betrayal was such a small word. she polluted the meaning of "Friendship" for Nandini way before she was even properly introduced to it.

Little Nandini would have never thought her one week visit to her grandma's place due to her dear grand father's demise would make her lose another person in her life.

if she had to be honest , she loved to be alone , even if it was depressing at times but better than petting snakes.

"Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he, Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!" 

as soon as the National anthem finished , the students were arranged in a single line to make them exit the auditorium and continue their daily class schedule.

Harshad, the school secretary kind of had bad name among ladies. 

"do I know you?" Harshad asked bending his head a little down to match Nandini's height.

"no." she hated his attention , apparently this happened almost on every past few morning assemblies , Harshad along with his clown group of friends would come to her for the sole purpose of annoying her.

As it was Nandini's section turn to exit the auditorium , she tried to walk away but Harshad grabbed her wrist, "hey, don't leave yet" he snickered, " I like your company".

"but I don't , leave me or else-"

"let go" a voice hissed lowly , on looking up she saw Manik standing next to Harshad grabbing him by his shirt's collar , his  veins were bulging up and eyes darker than she has ever seen.

"Chill Manik, I was just talking " Harshad laughed nervously , still not leaving Nandini's wrist , she was sure it must have been bruised till now.

" I will fuck your existence , if you don't let go of her right now , and you know I can easily do that. yeah?" Manik hissed balling his fists. Nandini's eyes widened seeing him like this , it was like he was a completely different person while with her.

"I just want to talk-- ouch wtf man!" before Harshad could finish , Manik had punched on his jaw really hard , Nandini gasped while moving back. it felt as if he was breathing fire.

"MANIK MALHOTRA! PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE RIGHT NOW" boomed the speakers , the principal had clearly witnessed this fight through the CCTV camera's, Manik rolled his eyes.

Nandini started Panicking , Harshad had a cut on his cheeks. 

Suddenly her hands were grabbed by a hard pair of veiny hands , she looked up to see Manik looking at her with a concerned yet soft look on his face, "don't worry , I'll be alright, you should go to class right now , meet me at the staircase while break , alright?" 

she softly nodded her head , still very much worried for him , he smiled at her and left to follow the teacher towards the principal office , not before passing her his charming wink.

Nandini shook her head softly smiling looking at his retreating figure.

he's crazy she thought.

Break-Time: in the infirmary
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 

"have you never cleaned your wounds with alcohol , before?" asked the nurse, grabbing Manik's  

"No." Manik sucked in a breath.

"should have thought that before doing that 'macho' act" glared Nandini.

Manik smirked , "you should given me a chance quite earlier, look what all I have to do just to get noticed by you?" he pouted.

"Whatever , as if I care!" Nandini rolled her eyes , and turned away refusing to give him another glance.

suddenly he hissed in pain , "careful" Nandini cautioned the nurse , looking at manik worriedly.

Manik smiled , his eyes still closed, "and Madam says she doesn't care".

ughh! why is he so annoying! 

"why does your hair look so frizzy today?" Manik asked , while feeling the softness of her hair. she slapped his hand away.

"must be the rain , I'll get it cut soon." she felt her hair , got to know that he's right , it did feel a little frizzy.

"can I come with you?" Manik's eyes enlarged , and his lower lip protruded downwards , but the only he received from Nandini was of disgust.

even though Nandini found him cute, but she would rather die than admit it before him.

he continued to give her those eyes seeing her lack of affection towards him.

"No." his face fell.

"Fine." She huffed.

 well , it didn't even take a nanosecond to witness the return of the shit-eating grin on his face.

Outside the city park

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 

Today , Nandini murthy was quite flustered. she was about to go-out with a boy for the very first time in her life.

"late" Manik looked up from his watch to seeing huffing while grabbing her knees , of course she ran she was late by twenty minutes , she may or may not have wasted time while thinking about her dress-code but still here she stood with a dark blue hoodie and high-waisted jeans, for a change she did match with Manik in clothes.

"That's not a good way to start!" Manik bit his lips trying to control his smile while seeing her getting red in anger. 

"Whatever" she huffed.

"It takes a lot of nerve to run twenty minutes late on our first date , without even informing her. you know?" Nandini never felt more annoyed than seeing his smirk , it did shear damage to her insides which kind of had her concerned.

"This is not a date!" Nandini's face got hot all of a sudden. "we are just going to a salon".

"Of course , this is a date!" Manik argued determined to prove his point which caused her to whine in frustration.

Honestly , it wasn't like she didn't want to go out on a date with him, she did worry about what to wear , even though she wasn't successful.

she didn't want to look to dressed up. They were just going to a salon after-all.

Manik grinned, "look at you , we are even dressed alike, apparently we have same taste in clothes, that's pretty cool isn't it?". he looked at her like looked at her so much to make her speechless, she felt like she was wearing the most prettiest outfit and not a hoodie.

"You look Beautiful" he stepped closer making her take in a deep breath.

Nandini stepped back , "we- we need to go to the salon".

Manik frowned, "now? I mean we can go there later , unless you have an appointment." he raised his brows in a questioning manner.

"No , I don't " she softly answered back , suddenly feeling nervous by his gaze.

"perfect , we should have some fun. we can go to the salon later. yeah?" he smiled.

"yeah sure" she laughed nervously.

"what should we do , shall we go on a movie?" he smirked , grabbing her soft hands, he loved to hold her hands, he thought her hands were made to be held by him.

Nandini turned very nervous , "No where behind closed doors" she glared at him , feeling intimated but in a good way.

"why not?" Manik frowned , "don't worry , i won't do anything besides kissing you" he grinned sheepishly.

Her eye widened , 'Say What?!!!"

Manik's feature turned serious, "Nandini , do I look that shallow to you ?" he whispered near her face.

Nandini's face softened , " No I mean-"

"let's act more like a couple , okay?" Manik smiled.

"but we haven't started dating-"

"sure we have, you're my girlfriend now" he softly  grabbed her hands.

Nandini thought holding hands wasn't much big of a deal as kissing, but as their hands touched she could feel his warmth in a different way, it made her heart pound just as hard. she never really knew that another person's touch would feel so warm and comforting. it was nice.

"Listen. this might not be the right time" Manik scratched his head with his free hand appearing embarrassed , "Can I kiss you?"  

Nandini's Heart was beating a bit faster, "sure".