100%|An Aru Shah AU

Exam Season kills me almost as much as thinking of you does - 12

Just when would middle school get over?

Aru sat at her desk, studying for 8th grade finals. She wouldn't get exceptional scores, sure—she'd made sure of that after realising how much school cost her mom and how much she wanted to spite them—but at least she'd know which questions to skip to attain a B.

"No, I don't want to hear about the American Revolution for the 1000th time," She muttered.

"You call yourself the daughter of a literal museum curator and you hate history?" Aiden had tutted. "That has to be illegal somehow."

"You should know by now that I live to be illegal one day," Aru had grinned.

Aiden. They hadn't talked for a while now. They were busy in their own things, their own schools.

She shook her head. There was no time to think about that. She had to focus on history. She clicked her pen, ready to take notes, when her phone lit up. Her mom texted her, "coming home now :)'

She texted back a thumbs up emoji with a 'can't wait :D' and almost set down her phone when she spotted a contact.

'wifey' with Aiden's picture. Her finger hovered above the call button, but then her phone fell onto the desk and she was snapped back to reality. Her gaze turned to her textbook, still open, along with the blank page of her notebook.

Her and Aiden...it was a while since they had talked. She felt themselves drifting apart slightly. But there was no time to think about that now—

Her phone rang. She startled, almost dropping it onto the desk. Just then, Kara burst into the room. "Aru! Guess wha—"

Then she saw who was calling Aru. Then, Aru turned to the phone to check who was calling her as well.

Aiden.

Aru winced inside, knowing Kara liked him. "Um..."

Her finger hovered above the 'decline' button. Kara shook her head, smiled (a bit forced though), and gestured for her to accept. Then, she left the room. Aru felt her presence outside the door and as if she thought better of it, Kara left and her footsteps died away.

Aru sighed and then answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hey," Aiden's voice came through. "What are you doing?"

"History," She leaned back in her chair. "What are you doing? You have finals too."

"And so do you."

"You're the one who called me!"

"Okay okay. I'm sorry," he said. Aru heard a shuffle on the other end. "I'm finishing up. I studied a bunch so I should be fine."

"Well, right now, a bunch of colonists are wasting tea like the petty bitches they are. So. We have like, 10 minutes to talk."

"How does them wasting tea affect you?"

"That's what I said!" Aru exclaimed. "They've done this 5 times, I'm getting bored of it."

Aiden laughed and somehow, Aru felt so pulled in. Her muscles relaxed and she felt her own smile light up her face.

She heard a smile in his voice when he said, "I missed you, Shah. Really."

"Missed you too, Wifey," Aru flexed her fingers on the table. "I've been kinda busy, you know?"

"Good or bad?"

"Good," Aru replied. "It's distracting me from mom's absence. Oh also, she's coming home today!"

"That's great!" He said. "Bet you and Kara are excited huh? You're lucky you have some kind of company during The Great Depression."

"Hey, that's my line," Aru rolled her eyes, remembering how she always called finals that. "And...yeah, you're right I guess."

"What's wrong? You do have her don't you?"

You have her too. All of her and all our conversations.

"What?"

Shit, her inside voice became her outside voice.

"Nevermind."

"Well, I'll see you both more next year, right? Cause y'all are coming to high school too."

"Mm. You and Rudy," She added.

"He counts as like, a kid."

"Hey, that's a bit—"

"He asked me if l'armoire was called that because picking clothes was a battle."

"I mean...that's not wrong."

"You..." He sighed. "Whatever. Brynne told me to tell you that we're meeting after finals. She also told you to pick another movie to obsess over that's not LOTR."

"Tell her no."

"I'm not your freaking carrier pigeon!"

"You'd be a—" She almost said cute, "good carrier pigeon, though."

"You can flatter me all you want Shah, I'm not going to deliver messages for you."

Aru sighed jokingly, "There goes that idea."

There was a beat of silence on the other end and a shuffle. "Listen, Aru, I—"

"ARU!" Kara's voice came from downstairs, followed by a pretty voice that could only be her mother's.

"I..." Aru hesitated. The thing with Aiden was that if he wanted to tell you something, it was impulsive and later, he probably wouldn't say it. But her mom coming home? That was better than any secret anyone could tell her. "I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah," She heard him sigh. "Yeah. Talk to you later."

After cutting the call, she stared at her phone. Then, her mom called again and she shook herself and ran downstairs into loving arms.

———

This time, Aru woke up slightly calmer. She sat up slowly, breathing deeply. It was still night, she realised.

If I ever fall in love again, She thought, It wouldn't be horrible to fall for him.

She shook her head. What are you thinking?

Aru crossed her legs, leaning her face into her hand. Then she laid back down, staring at the ceiling.

hey guys I got into my 100% groove again ✨✨

how was the chapter?

-Loife xx