Love Maze

Chapter 7

"So, mum, I got your text message on Saturday night," Anya said casually as she reached for another piece of toast.

Her father must have carried her up to her room at some point last night, because she had woken up to the delicious smell of bacon and eggs that morning after a long dreamless sleep. The family was now sitting at the dining table, eating a hearty breakfast.

"Oooh, yes!" Her mother's face lit up, before her expression turned dreamy. "Can you believe it? Our Kaira's all grown up too. Poor Priya, she's going to miss having her girls around everyday." She sighed.

"Yeah, about that..." Anya hedged. "Um, I was wondering whether I could stay home and not come at all?"

Her mother narrowed her eyes. "What's this about? Don't you want to be there for your cousin's special day?"

"Of course I'd like to," Anya assured her hastily. "It's just that- well, I have school, and you know how important my studies are to me... and you wouldn't want me to miss out on anything important, would you?"

Her mother was already shaking her head by the time Anya stopped speaking. "There won't be any more arguments about this now. I've made a decision," she said firmly. "Besides, your school is giving its students a break for a week. There's going to be some sort of workshop for the teachers."

"What? I didn't know about that," Anya whined, and looked towards her father for help.

"It's true," he confirmed.

"Fine," she sulked. "How long are we going to be there, anyway?"

"Twelve days. We'll be arriving there on the 14th of November and staying till the 25th of that month."

Anya brightened up. "Twelve days? Well, then there's no way I can go."

"How do you figure?" Her mother rolled her eyes.

"We'll be getting a break for the first week, but what about the second one? Mrs. Price will never grant you permission for a leave from school."

As Anya said this, she was supremely confident that she was right. Mrs. Price was the principal of Sierra High, and she was a complete pitbull. With her long, crooked nose, horn-rimmed glasses and the tendency to hand out detentions for even the smallest mistake, she was nothing short of a second Satan. There was no way she would give her permission to miss school for five days straight.

"Oh, don't worry," her mother said smugly. "We've already got the permission."

Anya was speechless. She couldn't believe what she had just heard.

After a few seconds she found her voice, which was thick with disbelief. "How is that possible? What did you say to persuade her?"

At that, her father spoke up. "Well, we may have bent the truth a little and said that we had a family emergency to attend to." A small smile was playing on the corner of his lips.

His words made Anya burst into incredulous laughter. "Are you serious, dad? You lied to Mrs. Price? And she actually bought it?"

Her mother chuckled. "It was surprisingly easy."

Damn it. Anya frowned in annoyance as her plan crashed and burned.

When she got to school, Faith was waiting by her locker.

"So?" She demanded as soon as Anya came to a stop before her.

She only shook her head ruefully.

"Damn it!" Faith exclaimed, echoing what her best friend had said earlier. "Well, I guess that means you're going to India after all. Lucky you! I wish I could miss school for a whole week."