Playing Her Lover

Part 5 - A Rough Start

Indu stormed out of the bus, and glanced up at Sameera, hoping her eyes would burn the other girl's skin. The cool walk under the trees of her residential area did nothing to calm her down. She was only glad that her emotions had become practically imperceptible over the past couple of years. She reached her house, still in a state of frustration. Her mother immediately sensed that something was not right. Yes, her daughter wasn't exactly known for showing the most amount of joy, but today...

"Putti, enaythu?* Anything bad happened at school?"
"No, just a little more stressful and tiring day. You don't worry about it Amma." she quickly replied, further masking her emotions.
Her mother sighed. "I've made lunch for you, go freshen up and eat, okay?"
Indu nodded and went to her room. Finally, she let her anger out.
* Putti is a nickname used by South Indian parents. Enaythu = what happened? in Kannada.

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"I mean, if I'm honest, Indu is eurgh. Sometimes, her attention-seeking gets really out of hand," Sameera was ranting as she packed her bags. "I'm fed up with her, and now I have to spend a whole month acting. As. Her. Co-Lead!" The others were eyeing her with a look of distaste. Sensing this, she quickly clarified, "I've known her for quite some time, that's why I just want to let you all know about her. Just be careful - especially you, Swara."
Swara raised her brow, confused. "Thanks... I -I suppose." She responded, in a small voice.
"You know, I bet she was disappointed as hell when she came here. She would've said yes only because she wanted a new boyfriend. Poor thing would be sorely disappointed!" She laughed - and was the only one to.

Mirzab asked first, "What do you mean by that, Sameera?" He asked, in a serious tone. 
"I- I mean... you know what I meant. I mean, it's not like she'd date you two - you're very obviously..." she shrugged her shoulders.
"Very obviously what?" It was Swara this time.
"Don't make me say it! All of you are in that same boat or something?!" Sameera was defensive now, and her voice was rising.
"Guys, guys, it's the first day, let's not fight. Please..." Siddhu had gone incredibly pale. He threw Sameera a defeated look. 

He picked his bag up and went outside, and nearly gasped audibly when he saw Indu, who looked like she was ready to throw a punch. Swara closely followed and was greeted with a near heart attack. Indu looked at them, emotionless, and turned the other way. She went to the bus, sat in the very first row, and buried her head in a book. She looked straight down, never once flipping a page. She did not realise when the bus started to move.

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Neither did she realise when the tears began to fall. Maybe she should just accept everything said about her. Maybe she was a predator, just because she liked girls. 'Just be careful - especially you, Swara.' She didn't know why Sameera's words haunted her. Of course, when it's convenient, Sameera had 'known her for quite some time. And when it was not, she pretended like the other never existed. It was infuriating, invalidating, and made her feel lonelier than she had ever felt. She heard her mother's footsteps approaching her room. She swiftly entered the bathroom and closed the door to hide her tears. 
"Kiddo, I'm going to Jayanagar* for a while, I'll be back by 7, okay?" 
"Okay Amma, see you," she replied in complete monotone.
*Jayanagar here is referring to the neighbourhood in Bengaluru

Indu walked out of the bathroom and fell on her bed. She did not want to study. She was exhausted. Every minute of the day, with no one to spend but herself, even in the company of others. She took a deep breath and turned around while lying down. She grabbed a book from her bag and forced herself to get up and do her work. Just as she opened her bag, her phone pinged. They had created two group chats for the play. One with Archana ma'am, and one without, naturally. Within a minute, she also got a private text from a number she did not recognise - 
"Hey Indu, Swara here..."
"You seem like a pretty sweet girl, so I wanted to reach out..."
"I saw you had left your notebook, I have it now, shall I give it to you tomorrow?"
Indu sighed and responded with a thumbs-up emoji. It seemed that Swara was not happy enough with this response, as the word ...typing showed up again on the screen.
"About today... I'm not sure how much you heard, but I want to let you know that I don't intend on listening to Sameera. I'm not sure what her deal is, but nobody deserves to be talked about in that manner... I'm sorry I couldn't stand up to her at that moment."
Indu's eyes glazed over the paragraph text. She sighed. "So she's a goody-two-shoes who wants to make sure that she keeps her hands clean. Perfect."
"Ok. np" She gave a non-committal reply.
 Her eyes wandered to the edge of the script sheet peeking out of the corner of a notebook in her bag. Eventually, she caved. Maybe it would make her a little happier, take her mind off things. She wasn't wrong.