03
3rd December, 2010
Christmas was fast approaching. It was visible not only in the calendar or in all the preparations that people seemed to working hard for, but even in the whole atmosphere around us. There was a certain magic and happiness hanging around, and it was only Christmas that could be held responsible for such arrangements.
We had one big family. And by big, I actually meant the super jumbo size. Every year we all met at my grandparents' house on Christmas, all my uncles and all my aunts coming from all parts of the country, bringing along all my cousins. I liked my cousins. They were annoying, and many of them were spoilt, but unlike most cousins, my cousins were not childish. They were all obsessed with the idea of being mature, even the youngest of them. Nonetheless, I liked my cousins, because they were actually kind of fun to be around.
I pulled on my socks, tied my hair up into a ponytail, grabbed my racquet from where it was hanging on the back of my room's door, put on my shoes and tied my laces. My mom was busy packing. We were scheduled to leave for my grandparents' house in about a week, and mom had bought so many gifts (same story, every year) that it took her days to finish packing for our stay. Usually, I would stay and help her with the humongous task of packing, but I had my tennis class today, and tennis classes were not to be missed anymore.
I walked to where our tennis classes were held. It was a three-minute walk from my house if I walked faster than normal, but it usually took me about eleven minutes to get there, because five of those eleven minutes were wasted on waiting for Ethan to get ready, and the rest six minutes were consumed because we were not in the habit of walking faster than normal.
After collecting Ethan from his house, we walked together towards the court. It was wintery cold now but it hadn't snowed yet. Winter had always been my favourite season since the day we were taught about seasons. Ethan was telling me about this guy in his school that had tried to pick up a fight with him, and we were both laughing about it, when I bumped into someone.
"Ow," I said, feeling the impact of another body hitting me hard.
"Shit," the other body said.
I recognised the voice. I never realised Isaac Harlow had such a hard body.
"I'm sorry, are you hurt?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"Um, yeah, but no. Are you?" I asked him, concerned too.
"I'm a boy," he said, his concern immediately dissolved by a smirk.
I narrowed my eyes. "Your point?"
His smirk grew. "The point being that, since I'm a boy, I cannot be hurt."
I couldn't help it; I laughed. And not the chuckle-once-and-then-stop laugh, but the full-on-hyena-laughing-walrus-dying-uncontrollable-unstoppable laugh. Ethan, seemingly unable to help himself either, burst out laughing too.
"Dude, you're funny," Ethan said, still laughing.
"Not to mention sexist," I added.
"I think you mean sexy," he winked at me. Then he looked at Ethan funny. "And you call yourself a boy," he said, and shook his head.
We resumed our walk. He, too, was going to class, obviously, so the three of us walked together. Isaac stayed silent for the rest of the minute that was left of the walk, while Ethan and I talked each other's ears away. It always happened; I always complained about Ethan and his annoying ways and his irritating habits and his zero smartness, but he was one of the most important people I had, and I wasn't willing to trade him for anything. He was my best friend and, all things kept aside, one of the best people to ever have breathed upon the Earth.
