Colors

ten

"Hi!"

I knew that voice, and it was way too chirpy for my liking, especially this early in the morning.

"Mmmm, shut up, Om," I groaned, rolling over and hiding underneath the blanket to avoid the sound.

"Om? Om's not here. I'll go check his room, though."

Huh?

I sprung up from bed, shielding my eyes from the sudden light.

"Dhruv?!" I practically shouted. I would've shouted if my voice wasn't so hoarse and if I had enough energy for that, but it was way too early. I glanced over at my clock on the nightstand, and sure enough, it was nine. In the morning. "What?! What in the world are you doing here?"

"Nothing, I'll find Om." He skipped out, closing the door behind him. I collapsed back into the bed, convinced that this was all some sort of insane dream. I mean, it made sense since I had seen him yesterday. I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Before I knew it, I heard a little girl's voice, and I opened my eyes just a crack, finding the person to be Ruhani. My dreams had reached another level of weirdness. I rubbed my eyes and turned over, wrapping myself tightly in the blanket. I tried to listen to what she was "saying" without waking myself up. "She's sleeping," Ruhani whispered.

"Exactly, let's go. Waiting for her in here while she's asleep is crossing all sorts of boundaries. Give the girl some privacy...," I heard a low voice whisper back. It sounded kind of like Jai. What an interesting dream.

Jai?

I turned back around and tried to peek at wherever the sound was coming from. To my confusion, I saw Ruhani and Jai standing by the door, which was open just a crack.

"See, we're waking her up... let's go. I don't want to make her uncomfortable."

"But her mom said to wake her up if she's still asleep."

"I'd rather not. It's Saturday. Wouldn't it be nice for her to catch up on sleep on a Saturday morning?"

I heard some yelling around the house, and I shifted again, waiting to hear what they would say next.

"Now we have to wake her up! I don't want aunty to be mad at us or her. What if she gets mad that Laila is still sleeping?"

There was a pause, and then Jai spoke. "You're right."

"I'm always right." Another pause and some footsteps. "I want to go play. Will you wake her up?"

"No way. I don't want her to think I'm some kind of creep who watches her in her sleep." I snorted and then tried to hide the noise by turning around, but they didn't seem to say anything. "Besides, I feel bad. I don't wanna ruin her sleep. I doubt she'd want me of all people to wake her up."

"Figure it out, dada. I'm going. I'll defend you if she calls the police."

I heard the door and some footsteps, and it sounded like Ruhani had left the room. Jai sighed and moved around. I didn't know what to expect, but then I heard something clunk against my study chair. He was probably having a seat at my desk, which was positioned in the direction I was facing. I peeked, and sure enough, he was there. Jai was playing with his fingers and then suddenly looked straight at me.

I panicked and shut my eyes, hoping he hadn't noticed my peeking. I still wanted to sleep.

"It's 9:45, Laila. Sheesh, get your ass up," Jai mumbled absentmindedly, as if I was insane for wanting to wake up at a reasonable time unlike the rest of them. I didn't think he'd caught me looking. "Guess I'm on wake-up duty. Maybe I'll just hang out here and let her sleep. She's gonna think I'm a creep, but her mom will make me wake her up if I go back down," he muttered. I resisted the urge to laugh.