Nasaza

VII

As I continued to talk with Aadrika, we noticed a slight commotion near the door.

I looked at that direction to see a girl entering the class by...sliding? Why the heck was she sliding like she was in an action movie?

She entered the class, got on her knees in front of another girl standing near the gate, and spoke with a false, male-ish voice, "Oh the Noor of my eyes,the maharani of my heart, the Kohinoor of my crown and the status of my throne! Thou are the most beautiful lady I've ever laid my eyes upon. I feel honored to be breathing in the same planet as you do. I beg thou to return my feelings of affection."

Her friend chuckled, "If I don't, kind prince?"

The girl fake gasped, putting a hand on her heart. "Why don't you just put a stake through my heart?" She feigned being wounded. Her friend ruffled her hair, laughed and walked out of the classroom.

Both Aadrika and I chuckled at the girl's goofiness, and I found it adorable how the girl was still on her knees, laughing. Her face was covered by her hair, which was quite thick and wavy. But my smile faded as soon as she stood up and I saw her face.

Fate couldn't be crueler, could it?

The subject of my irritation seemed to be having the same thought, as she stared back at me with surprise and distaste in the familiar dark chocolate eyes.

Aadrika suddenly spoke up, smiling. "That's Sanskriti," she said, "One of the friendliest girls in class. You can hang out with her."

I felt a weird sense of disconnect between Aadrika's words and the way Sanskriti was looking at me, as if Aadrika was trying to portray Sanskriti as something she wasn't.

A brief flash of annoyance consumed me. Sanskriti didn't seem friendly, considering how she was glaring at me. The contradiction between Aadrika's words and Sanskriti's actions made me skeptical of Aadrika's intentions and her motives in trying to introduce me to Sanskriti.

"Is she now...?" I slowly murmered to myself, distaste filling my tongue.

"But..." Aadrika started to say, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I felt my curiosity intensifying as she paused, seeming to struggle to resist saying something.

"But what?" I ask, "Is there something you want to say?"

She paused for a few moments, then resumed speaking.

"Sanskriti is friendly and all but she's...she has her faults," she said, hinting at something dark and ominous about Sanskriti's character.

My mind began to race with questions and possibilities.

It suddenly struck me that Aadrika had offered a subtle warning about Sanskriti.

She said Sanskriti was kind and friendly, but she had faults, I started to imagine what kinds of faults she could have.

Did she have trouble controlling her anger? Was she a compulsive liar? Was she secretly toxic like stereotypical city girls?

I was starting to become intrigued but also wary of Sanskriti and her so-called "faults".

"She can be quite attention seeking. She's well known and she got her popularity within a short period of time. That's suspicious."

Aadrika's words continued to stoke the flames of curiosity and suspicion in my mind.

Sanskriti was a well-known girl and had gained her popularity within a short timeframe, which was "suspicious" to Aadrika. But what did this really mean? Was Sanskriti trying really hard to gain attention? Was she doing something that was off-keeping with her image?