Nameless

Chapter 2: A Message To The Devil.

I stuffed the idli in my mouth and ran out the door, grabbing my bag on the way. The bus was just arriving at the bus stop as I ran up to it. "You nearly missed it!" My sister informed me on my arrival. "No shit." I said, grinning. I straightened my tie and adjusted my belt, before heaving my massive bag into my back and boarding the school bus.

I hate the school's uniform. A crisp white blouse, tucked in at the waist, into a blue pleated skirt with a grey and black plaid print, held up with a thin black belt, and a matching blue tie to finish it off. So impractical, running around in skirts, and it was the worst color combination ever.

Anika was sitting in the last row by the window. I headed straight there, and plopped down on the seat next to her. "What's up?" I said cheerfully, peering into my bag to make sure I had all my homework. No reply, she just stared out the window. "Oye." I said, poking her arm, "what happened to you?" Now I was worrying. Anika is my closest friend. When she'a sad, I'm sad. My day just goes for a toss if something is bothering her. Yeah, I was too attached to people.

When she turned to look at me, only after more poking and pleading, there were tears brimming in her eyes and her dainty little nose was turning red. "What happened, Ni?" I asked, my voice becoming a whisper. "My marks." She whispered back. "What about them?" I asked her, a little confused. Anika was pretty good, when she applied herself. "Not good enough." Her tone turned sour, and I knew it had to do with her parents. They were quite strict at times. "Dude, a sixty percent average on eighty is pretty damn good...!" I replied, forcing my tone to remain neutral. I was getting annoyed.

Bloody hell. She got good marks, she was funny, she played most sports pretty damn well, she was beautiful, she had cool parents when it came to most things, she could sing, and she could sketch wonderfully. What more could she ask for? What more could demand? What the bloody hell did she have the right to complain about?! All these thoughts screamed in my head. Yet, I held my façade. Convinced her she would do better in the next unit tests and that she'd ace the finals. By the time we reached school, she was smiling again and only looked like she had slept late.

As the morning bell rang, I ran to class. Miss Gupta was not tolerant to tardiness, especially if the student in question was me. I ran down the hall and saw Miss Gupta talking to Miss Anil just outside room 10C. I was in 10B. I started smiling as I skid into class before she even noticed me. I walked to my desk, dumped my bag on the ground and flopped into my seat. I hate running. No sooner had I sat than Miss Gupta walked in and I had to rise again to say, "Good morning Miss." Along with the rest of the class. She replied with a curt, "Good morning class," and a wave of her hand. We all sat. Sahil, who sat next to me at the two-person bench, poked my arm and whispered, "Is it just me or does she look like a pumpkin today?" A cheeky grin spread across his face. I stifled a laugh by poking through my bag for my books.

Math. Of all the glorious subjects of the world, why did we have to start with math? Sure, it was beautiful when the sums worked out properly, which rarely happened for me. Ergo, majority of the time it was a bit of a bitch.

Sahil and I sat in the fifth row from the front of the class, and to the right side of the classroom, which meant we had no reason to pay attention. He was one of my closest friends, along with Anika. But they aren't too close. Yet, I'm positive he likes her. His best friend just so happens to be Manan. Manan. I've had a crush on him for the past five months, and I swear its worsening by the day. Sahil is no help, all he does is tease me. And he always seems to want to talk to me whenever Anika is around. I wonder how she doesn't see it. But then again she has eyes only for Karan. Those two had been together for almost a year now, gosh. And poor Sahil, waiting on the sidelines. Karan isn't exceptionally nice to anybody, but he fawns over Anika. It was all so Bollywood.

Anika had everything!

I was pulled out of my depressing mental ramble by a poke in my arm. "What?" I asked Sahil, still a little grumpy from my thoughts. No reply, but a quick smirk, and then he turned his face to Miss Gupta. i was puzzled, but the i saw his right hand sliding across the bench seat till his fingers brushed my thigh. I moved awkwardly to the side, bumping my shoulder on the wall. His hand lifted, and there was a piece of paper, folded into a square, with my name on it. A note!

"We still on for Wednesday night?" It read, in neat print. It was from Manan. My cheeks turned red as my brain thought he was asking my out. How wonderful would that be? But then I realized, he was referring to the concert. I felt a little disappointed, but wrote on the back of the note, "Cant. Chem test. Not allowed." I folded it and handed it back to Sahil. He crumpled it and the moment Miss Gupta turned her back he threw it at Manan. I gasped, what if it missed? But Sahil had good aim, it hit Manan squarely on the head....And bounced off in Aanchal's direction. Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap.