After the meet was over and I collected my medals [ 3 golds and 1 silver if you were wondering ] I decided I wanted to go back . But they now probably hate me for leaving like that so I needed a disguise . So I moved back to Chennai as Aleesha , a girl who moved from Dubai . I wore a blonde wig , blue contacts and always wore pink , purple or black. If not , I wore yellow or a light , pale blue . I didn't go back to my old school because I thought they might think I was sus. So I joined Darshan's school , Sherwood Hall. my first day went brilliantly ! I needed a guide and guess who it was ! It was Darshan ! I couldn't believe it ! My guide was Darshan ! And this is my " amazing " conversation with him :
Darshan : Oh ! Hi ! You must be Aleesha , The new girl ?
Me : Oh Yeah ! That's me ! And who are you ?
Darshan : My name is Darshan and by the way , nice to meet you.
Me : Hi Darshan . You can call me Ally .. all my friends in Dubai used to call me that .
Darshan : Ok Ally , lets begin our tour .
The whole time Darshan made stupid jokes and made me laugh so much my stomach hurt . Once the day was over , I said goodbye to Darshan and went home to get ready for swimming . I knew he came morning and evening so I would see him there . Now I needed to pretend I was new to the class and that I had no clue that Darshan went that class . Well this was going to be so fun . I wanted to find out what they taught about me . Oh darn ! I forgot ! I was supposed to pretend I was new to class ! I couldn't let them know I knew , well, me ! Now this would be so " fun " . I went to swimming and I saw Darshan sitting and waiting for class to start . I pretended not to notice him until he said this :
Darshan : Aleesha ?! What are you doing here ?!
Me : Oh ! Darshan ! I didn't know you swam !
Darshan : I didn't know you knew either !
Me : Well now you do !
Darshan : [ quietly ] at least there is a girl to sub for Vanshika
Me : Me subbing for who
Darshan : Well .. you see there was this girl , Vanshika , she used to swim here , she left about a year ago and no one has heard from her , we don't even know where she is or if she is alive ! she was amazing swimmer and a part of the girls relay team , once she left they have been a swimmer short . And since you're the same age as her , you could try to get into the relay team ! They could check your speed today if you want .
Me : That would be great ! Do you think she was a bit mean to leave you like that ?
Darshan : Nah . she probably had a good reason if she didn't tell anyone . Hey Its almost class time , I will see you after changing .
Me : Okay .
I couldn't believe it ! He wasn't mad at me for leaving ! I felt so bad ! Once I reached the changing room , I locked myself in one of the stalls and quietly sobbed for some time . I quickly realised that Darshan would be waiting for me so I changed fast and came out just as he came out of the boys bathroom . We started swimming and it felt so good to be back . People slowly started coming and saw me . I was moved from lane 6 to lane 2 as sir saw me swim almost as fast as Darshan . That's when I started to recognise more people , like Darshini and Aleah and Anjali and Jitesh , Harish and Sudhan . It was so nice to see them again ! After class when I went to change the girls started asking me questions about me .
Darshini : Hi ! You must be new here ! I am Darshini , what is your name ?
Me : Oh hi ! My name is Aleesha , but you can call me Ally if you want .
Aleah : Where are you from ?
Me : Oh I am from Dubai .
Anjali : Which school do you go to ?
Me : Sherwood Hall .
Anjali : As in Darshan's school ?! YOU ALREADY KNOW HIM ?!
Me : Yeah .
Anjali : SO HE KNOWS YOU ?!
Me : Well if I know him he obviously knows me .
Anjali : He is my boyfriend so you better not get any ideas !
Me : Not planning to .
I quickly change and leave . Unlike Anjali ,the boys were really nice to talk to and I became friends with them almost immediately . It was fun to hang out with them before going home . The next morning I woke up at 4:30 A.M , and started getting ready for the morning batch . If Anjali thought she was only facing me in the morning , she does not know what is coming her way .
