LEECH

CHAPTER FIVE - SRISHTI (NOW)

Lately, I've begun hating hugs.

Not because I don't like the warmth, but rather because I like it too much, and I hate the increased cold after it ends.

The classroom is mostly empty when I walk into it. My bag slides off of my shoulders and lands with a thump on the bench beside Bhavna, who is busy typing away on her phone, earphones tucked in. She raises her hand in greeting, and then goes back to tapling away.

I sigh. This girl. She's probably listening to rock music. After the nasty breakup that she and Karan had, she'd surprisingly taken to new music choices.

I pluck an earphone out of her ear, letting it dangle among my fingers. She shoots me an annoyed glance. "What?"

"Where's everyone else?"

She raises a brow. "If by 'everyone else' you mean Yash, then he's down there in the field."

I hate my stupid heart which does a tiny somersault at the mere mention of his name. Four years. How that small thing could live through so many heartbreaks and broken expectations and still be so energetic is out of my comprehension. But it still beats. And unfortunately, it still beats for him.

I roll my eyes at Bhavna. "Stop bringing him up in every conversation. He's not that relevant. And by the way, miss, I really was asking about everyone else."

She narrows her eyes, disbelief evident in them. "Yeah. Sure."

Before I can defend my honour and show that I'm not a pathetic teenager, which I am but not everyone needs to know that, Sanket walks in. There's a full blown grin on his face as he runs a hand through his brown hair, scrolling something on his phone.

Bhavna's eyes narrow beside me. Who's he texting, she mouths at me.

Well, I don't have any idea, and neither do I care. If Sanket is happy after so long and he's texting someone whom he likes talking to, who am I to interrupt? Unconsciously, my eyes stray towards the open door, wistfully waiting for another tall, lean figure to walk into this same room, but to no one's surprise, he isn't here. Lately, Yash has become an anomaly, and even though I miss his presence in my life, around me, I think I'll be advocating for us all when I say that I miss his and Sanket's friendship the most. The inseparable duo. The unbreakable bond.

But they are an example that humans are fragile, and so is everything made by them. It only takes one fleeting instance to make or break those creations.

"Yo, Sanket!" Bhavna calls out. Sanket looks up from his phone, blinking at her as if coming out from a weird trance. Bhavna shakes her head, exasperated. "Bro, you were about to walk into the wall. You need to keep that pretty face of yours safe if you want girls to talk to you, especially that one." She gestures to his phone.

His smile grows, a small dimple appearing on his left cheek. "You think I'm pretty?"

Welp, he wants to start a war, I see. Bhavna throws her pencil at him. He ducks just in time, the pencil crashing into the wall before rolling away. Bhavna shrugs. "You'll re-sharpen it."

Sanket bends down and picks it up, twirling it around in his fingers. "Mkay. And for your information, this one will talk to me even if I lack my face, which is a serious bummer, to be honest." He looks down at his phone, which pings with what I assume is a new text. Grinning ear to ear again, he quickly fires off a message before switching it off. "God, she's distracting. I missed talking to her."

Missed talking to whom?

Beside me, Bhavna tugs off her earphones, sitting up straighter. Her eyes are wide open. "Wait, did she follow you too?"