To Have and To Hold

Chapter 1

"Did she lift the call" I asked hopefully.

"No" Jyothika said to further dampen our already dampened spirits.

"I'm gonna sue her. She can't always cancel plans" Durga said, awakening the maa Kali in her.

"Guys, wait." Preeta, the Buddha of our tribe said.

"Wait for what. Wait for our Queen Victoria to come" Durga again said in her fury.

"Diana dear, what if she's stuck in some family emergency" Preeta said softly with a tinge of sarcasm to it.

"If she's stuck in an emergency then what's the point of waiting for her" I said.

"Mary, why don't you call her parents" Jyothika asked me.

"I'll do that. Gimme a min" I said. I tried to call her parents but in vain.

"Did they answer?" Preeta asked.

"Obviously no otherwise she would have talked right" Durga said.

"Why do you always have to carry this sarcasm" Preeta said.

"It's because...." Durga was interrupted.

"Diana and Paris, calm down. Can Danielle be our focus for now? Mary, what happened?" Jyothika rightly intervened.

"So what happened is I dialled to Natalie aunty first and she didn't lift. So I called up Matthew uncle and he too didn't lift. I dialled Natalie aunty again and she literally cut my call!" I told in total detail.

"Guys, I don't think everything is alright. I mean why Natalie aunty would!" Preeta said.

"I think the matter is serious" Jyothika said.

"I'll call Anastasia then" Durga said.

All of us nodded in agreement. She called Akanksha to ask where the heck the Kaminenis are. To our relief, Akanksha lifted the call. She maybe the youngest but for now, is the most sensible. Durga put the phone on speaker.

"Kanch, glad you picked up the phone." Durga said heaving a sign of relief "Do you know where Divya akka is?"

"Why?" Akanksha said rudely.

"Kanch, it's because we've been waiting for her since a very long time and she didn't come yet." Preeta quickly said to prevent the bursting of Durga.

"I don't care and please stop calling us" Akanksha said and cut the call. We were in total shock. Akanksha never spoke to us like that. Something was definitely wrong. We had to do something.

"Hey, why don't we ask Molly to talk with Anastasia?" Jyothika suggested.

"Why only Molly, Jessica? Why not Antony?" the protective sister in me responded.

"Because he's a boy." Jyothika said.

"this...." I was about to say something but Preeta interrupted me "Guys, not now"

We agreed and settled on Piyush because Akanksha and Piyush were better friends. We went to Preeta's place. After bribing him with enough promises of TV time, he agreed but not for putting the phone on speaker. He started talking and his voice got heavier and heavier and then he suddenly shouted "What!" and stood up. All of us stood up with him and then he cut the call and ran with it while shouting "Maaaaaaaa!" We got extra tensed. We looked at each other and ran behind him.