𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙵𝙴𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝙽 [𝙴𝙽- 𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙴𝙼]

Chapter 83

"Sania Mehta!"

I clapped loudly. For the first time, I didn't feel all that bitter. My classmates looked at me weirdly but I didn't mind them. I got second place. Sania beat me with two marks. And I didn't feel bad about it. Not when I felt a weird kind of satisfaction that she was smiling again. And I felt light even. The position clearly meant more to her than it did to me. Maybe her parents were stricter than mine.

She came down with her prize and sat beside me, in her designated seat. She was beaming and her eyes held the same glint I had gotten used to over the years.

"Thank you, Leah." She said softly.

I had to double-take.

"Woah. Was your voice always this sweet?" I teased her.

She rolled her eyes and pushed me. But it wasn't that push from years ago. It was friendly.

"Well really. I owe you." She said seriously.

"Good. I think I'll use it someday." I flipped my hair.

An hour into the performances, I found that Sania was actually a great person if she wasn't being insufferable. And true to my thoughts, our strict households became common grounds for our friendship. She did look a bit uncomfortable when it came to our grades but she brushed it off pretty quickly. And by the end of the event, we had bonded more in that hour than we did in five years.

(Seventh grade)

If two people who breathed fire in each other's direction started to hang out like long-lost friends, how would that make you feel? Well even after two years, it certainly did surprise people when they found us sitting in the canteen together or whispering secret gossip in the hallway.

Our classes shuffled due to the second language. I landed in the Sanskrit division and Sanu was in the Hindi division. And this meant we both were at the top of our class. With no competition between us, our friendship had grown stronger. To the point, the whole class dubbed us as the classic example of 'Enemies to lovers'. It was silly, to be honest but I didn't mind sticking out my tongue at anyone who called us that.

(Sania's POV.)

It was silly how much I liked it when they called us lovers. Leah always took it as a joke so I laughed it off with her. But what do I do about this fuzzy feeling in my stomach? It felt so weird. She was my best friend. My savior. And a girl at that. Not that I minded it. With the exception of a few, I hated men from the trenches of my heart. So I'd rather prefer girls than even look at in general direction of boys.

But this also meant trouble. What if she becomes disgusted by me? The only girl who had ever bothered to ask me if I was fine. Even when we weren't on good terms. I can never forget the favor she did to me. Unknowingly, she had saved me. Because I couldn't take it for the life of me.

Now when I look at her chatting about the boy who proposed to her, I can't help but curl my lip to hide the grimace. There was no chance I was getting any boy to come a meter near her. She was too naive and generous to look past their sweet facade. So it was my responsibility to keep them away.
............................

"Come on please...he's cute!" I whined.

"Nope. He might be cute. But that's no guarantee that he's a good boy." Sanu rolled her eyes.

I had told her about the boy I had a crush on and what were the odds that he proposed to me first. But she was completely relentless, saying she knew he was bad news and I should forget him. I huffed in annoyance as we climbed the steps to her house.

We frequented each other's houses a lot for the past few months and my coming here was almost second nature to me. Her mother greeted me and shooed us both to her room. To be honest, Aunty wasn't that strict in front of me. But who knows what happens in one's house?