[Highest rank: #84 in Teen Fiction]
Anya Brooks was convinced that the brown-eyed boy she met two years ago during her trip to India was the one for her. Things didn't go exactly as planned, though, and she returned to New York heartbroken.
When An...
Anya was dumbstruck. She gaped at Zayan as he approached them with a slight smile on his face.
He looked just like he had two years ago- except, not quite. He was still essentially Zayan, with the same superior smile that she had at first found annoying but had grown to love. But time- and puberty, of course, she thought- had done wonders to him. He wasn't just cute anymore, and she wondered idly if she would get some serious burns from all the hotness if she touched him. She would even go as far as to say that he was as hot as Aiden. He was taller- almost two heads taller than her; she cringed, feeling like a pixie in comparison- and leaner. His hair was ruffled, making him look ten times cuter. His chocolate brown eyes were as gorgeous as she remembered... and they were trained right on her.
Gulping, she shook herself out of her daze and struggled to speak. Before she could say anything, though, he had already turned to Kaira. "Hey, my mum was looking for you. Some sort of cake emergency."
"Damn," Kaira muttered under her breath, and flounced off to find Mrs. Mehra after quickly waving goodbye.
Zayan's eyes flitted back to her, and he looked as though he wanted to say something to her. But she never found out what it was, because they were interrupted again as a chirpy voice called out, "Oh my, look who it is!"
Anya turned to see Nikki bounding over, and hardly got a good look at her before the other girl threw her arms around her, squealing in excitement.
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"I've missed you so much, An!" Nikki said, her voice muffled as she buried her face in Anya's shoulder.
She finally stepped back, a broad smile on her face. "I can't believe you're finally back!" She beamed.
"Wow, you look... different," Anya stammered.
She definitely did. When Anya had visited them two years ago, Nikki had been a crazy but simple girl. Her dark hair- which was incidentally the same shade as Zayan's- had been long and straight. She had looked pretty, but wasn't really noticeable. She hadn't minded it, though, because her vivacious personality had made up for her simple looks.
But now, nobody could mistake her for a plain, sweet girl. She had changed her hair to match her personality. It was cropped short, reaching upto just above her shoulders, and streaked with pink. Her bangs almost hung in her eyes, and she reached up to impatiently push them out of the way as she smiled. When she did this, Anya noticed a simple tattoo of a crown on her wrist.
"I still have a hard time believing that mum actually let me cut my hair so short. Although I definitely can't forget all that effort and pleading I put in before she agreed," Nikki shuddered, probably reliving the experience of having to convince her mother that cutting her hair wasn't a bad idea.
Anya laughed as an image of Nikki on her knees as she begged the ever-stern Mrs. Mehra to let her change her look from girl-next-door to rock princess floated up into her mind.
