Fairy-Tale

23

- bruises that stay forever -

Arjun Khattar

"Well done, guys." Siddarth Ahuja, the captain of our team, Red Risers,as cliché the name sounds, it is actually the typical team you see. He appreciates us and sits down on stairs of the stadium.

We all nod back and occupy the space around him. He came to us and informed us that he got the permission to practice in our school basket ball stadium. It wasn't the first time I came here, but it was surely the first time I noticed it.

Damn, it is so gigantic. Sid said that it has capacity to occupy around 5000 people. That explains. I pant for air
and settle beside Anand. I'll get my jersey tomorrow. I insisted on getting the number 10. No specific reason.

Anand offers me a water bottle and I am glad to accept it. I finish half of the bottle in a gulp. And hand it back to him. Weird enough I make another eye contact with one of my teammate. He introduced himself as Ashwin. And ever since then he had been giving me weird, hateful glances.

Or maybe I am just being paranoid? I'll choose to ignore.

I excuse myself and stop near the restroom. The cold splash of water, relaxes me. I splash another handful of water and wipe my face with a hand towel and return back to the place to find them excitedly talking about something.

Not being interested in their talk I sit at my place and check my phone. It's almost the time for lunch, just a few more minutes. The game is all fun untill you have no clue when someone snatches the ball from your hands while dribbling.

"Having fun with my favorite sport?" My bestfriend asks. I barely nod," Even If I don't I can't back off." I reply.

"I can talk to him if you don't want to play." He offers.

"You want me to play?" I ask back.

"Desperately."

I chuckle,"Then I am playing , I am not someone who backs off."

He smiles and rolls his eyes.

"Ikr, she's so hot." A guy speaks up, fanning himself with his hand.

My brows furrow,"Who's he talking about?"

"Someone from the science batch." The spectacles guy, Anush answers.

The others tsks," Have you seen Rhea? I bet you didn't, if you did you wouldn't be talking about someone from science." He sighs dreamily.

I glance at him and turn to find Anand looking at me, we both shake our head at the silly boy.

"I bet he's going to get his heart broken." I mutter. He nods, a frown on his face.

"Neha too,"Anush interrupts, surprising both of us.

Anand tenses beside me. His eyes shooting glares at the guy,"What about Neha?" He probes the guy.

The guy's eyes lit up as he releases a exasperated sigh,"I think I like her."

Anand's fist curls up at his confession but relaxes a moment later,"Don't like her." He warns sweetly.

Anush frowns, "Why? She'll break my heart?"

He pins his gaze onto him,"Nah, She's too sweet for it." Anush relaxes, visibly,"But I am not and I'll break your bones." He smiles sweetly.

I crack up and hide it with my hands. Anush blinks, confused and when he realises, his smile fades as he forces out a nod.

A sigh gets out of my lips, I already feel bad for the guy. I shake my head at Anand's balant response, he could do it better. He shrugs off my reaction.