The Sun and the Moon

Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Neil's POV

I want to explore the world, in all its ups and downs with you by my side.

By lunch time I was starving. Turned out that I wasn't the only one taken in by Dennis' personality.

He already knew the names of everyone in class and had even befriended half of our section. Which was great for me too, since I could tag along with him for introductions and let him do the chatting.

Which saved me from any awkward encounters and interactions.

But what I would enjoy the most is my time with him alone.

"Hey," His voice snapped me back to reality. I watched him bang his lunch tray on our table in the cafeteria, the one in the extreme row closest to the green fields.

"Finish your lunch quickly." He said in a determined tone and began wolfing down his fruit salad.

"Wait, why?"

He paused eating and looked me in the eye. "It's been half a day and we haven't got to explore this place. Believe me, there's more to it than just the campus in this region."

"I know. We have the vast forest in the west. Ocean in the north."

"And I think-no," His eyes swiftly glanced around and his voice dropped. "I found the very route that leads to the forest. There are several here but all are monitored. But there's one in the backend. We're gonna head there."

"Wait, you're telling me that this is your first day and you observed all routes to the jungle and managed to find a secret one, right before we arrived at the amphitheater?" I was stunned.

"Oh, please. I am not that fast." Dennis feigned shyness. "I found it right before class began."

"So, you didn't actually end up in the wrong classroom."

Dennis beamed proudly (do those muscles ever pain smiling all day?). "Of course, you can be up to no good if you can cover it up well."

"True." I agreed and then got to finishing my lunch.

"Dennis, wait for me!"

"Do you want to be followed?" He whispered back. "Come on, keep those legs running!"

No one noticed or bothered our escape from the cafeteria. We went inside the school under the pretext of using the washroom but took another route. We ran along a long corridor and while I am a good runner, a heavy lunch slows me down.

But the same wasn't true for Dennis. He practically sprinted in a few smooth and slid to a stop. His lean figure belied how much this guy actually eats.

I felt this route was somehow familiar. As I jogged further, I realized we were inside the glass doors of the dome at the amphitheater.

Dennis pulled open the door and I eagerly rushed out for fresh air. And I felt my shirt collar yanked back.

"Not there!" I heard him warning me. "You go out of the dome, the surveillance camera will spot you!"

But why bother about that when we have already been recorded running till here?

I still obeyed and followed him, struggling to keep up with his pace.

After what felt like almost an hour of running around campus boundary, we stopped in front of a weathered brown side gate.

"So, this, is it?" I panted, squatting on the ground.

Gods, how huge is this place?

"Yeah" Dennis nodded, panting himself. His cheeks were tinted pink. "From here onwards, I don't know what'll happen to us."

He pushed open the gate.

"Wait," I spoke up. "I'll go in first."

He raised an eyebrow in question. "Okay."

"So if anything attacks us, I'll bear it and you'll be all safe and sound behind me." And I gave a cheeky grin worthy of Dennis himself.

Dennis pouted before assenting.

You have seen those movie scenes where a simple veil of creepers is lifted and voila! You have a whole new world beyond you?

That's how this is. While Aranya is a piece of civilization within a forest, here only the forest exists.

Rough paths cleared of twigs and branches and stones led to the biggest cluster of trees, creepers and wildlife ever. Sunlight peeked in from the gaps in the canopy while clear, cool water of a stream gushed nearby. Birds chirruped merrily and the cacophony of crickets was everywhere.

Dennis and I followed the stream for a while until we reached a spot where it was knee deep and sat on the big rocks and dipped our legs.

A couple of koi fish swam in the cool water and even curiously inspected our legs before swimming away.

"This place is truly relaxing. We could come here for a dip or swim to unwind ourselves." I spoke.

"Yeah," Dennis agreed. "Plus, since not everyone is a great explorer like us, it'll be some time before they find this."

"So, you finally acknowledge I am your equal, huh?" I asked, smirking.

"Not quite. A teeny tiny bit less than me." Then he laughed. "Joking. We could be a duo, you know. Mischief makers."

I pondered on that. Usually, in front of others I like to put on a face but when I am alone, venturing to the unknown, escaping from this world for some time...that's what gives me pleasure.

I am nervous in front of people because they have all the freedom to judge me. But nature? Nope. She never does.

Given a choice, I would immerse myself into this river rather than meet new people. But now, it was a bit different.

I would immerse myself along with Dennis in this river.

I would explore the world, with him by my side. Funny how two days of company can change you.

We sat there with a comfortable silence. "Hey, I think we gotta go."

"Yeah?" I asked, eyes closed.

"We gotta go." Dennis announced. "Lunch break's over and it's 15 mins into the next period."

"What?!" I sprang up. "Didn't we have 15 more mins?"

"Nope." Dennis said simply. "We finished lunch late and we just had 20 mins. And we took 10 mins to come here."

"Shit!" I immediately got out of the water.

"Don't worry," Dennis smirked like the devil himself. "It's a sports period. We can always claim we went to the washroom and lost our way. Leave it to me."

I laughed. I am changing my statement: I'll explore this world in all its mayhems brought by Dennis, with him by my side. From here, there's no turning back.