Before the Coming of Dawn

Chapter: 02

Chapter:02

Friday 26th December, 2018

Time: 3:00pm

Sahil's P.O.V

'Where the hell is everybody? The meeting time had been decided to be around 2:45 pm but still no one was here...or was I too early?' these thoughts passed through my head as I looked outside the front window of Starbucks, there was no one outside, weirdly the world seemed too peaceful today. There was usually a heavy bustle near the front of the shop seeing how this was a prime location for a coffee shop, especially for a big brand like Starbucks seeing how it was located just in the front entrance of a mall looking out towards the main road.

But a perfectly peaceful day like today seems all too ironic if we consider it in respect to my plans...no matter we will see when the time comes. A sudden noise reached my ear as I realized I had knocked my phone off the table, "Dammit" I murmured as I bent down to reach for my phone, which had thankfully fallen on its back. "Phew..." I blew air loudly through my mouth as I was glad to see my phone was still intact.

Just as I was about to get up the familiar ring of a bell reached my ears, intrigued I got up and looked towards the direction of the noise, I guessed that it was the sound of the bell from the doors of the store opening. As I thought this, I met the eyes of the person that had entered, it was Sara. She was a girl of a small stature, with her hair in a ponytail on top of her head, with black rimmed glasses and cowboy boots. She was wearing a 'I Love Shawn Mendes' shirt with black ripped jeans. She walked towards me with a small grin on her face and an earphone sticking out of one of her ears, she was probably listening to another Shawn Mendes song. She should really mix up her choice of songs, she weirdly only listens to Shawn Mendes songs, but it comes without saying that she has an obvious crush on him, like seriously she will kill anyone who insults him, once she kicked Prateek in the balls for saying Shawn Mendes was killed by a random fangirl. What a pitiful sight it truly was.

"Hi...."

"Are you even listening?"

"Why are you staring?"

A sudden jerk to my shoulder brought me back to reality, as I realized that Sara was giving off an intense killing vibe while waiting for me to respond.

"Sorry" I shook my head trying to get my concentration back to what the person in front of me was saying.

"Go get a coffee or something, the rest are yet to arrive, and we will only discuss then" I continued.

"Ok, you don't need to pressurize me." She said.

"Whatever...get going, it is awkward enough like this." I responded.

As soon as I said this Sara left in a hurry while humming the tune of 'Treat You Better'. Before I realized someone else had quietly sat down at my side without me realizing, there was only one person who could be so rude to me.... the one and only Arshia, she was almost 5'4 in height and had a slightly tanned body, she had unruly curly hair sticking out in all directions enough to poke someone to death. She is the extreme athlete type, taking extreme pride in her abilities especially in swimming. No one in our school has the guts to challenge her, I made the mistake once didn't hear the end of it for a whole month. She works out everyday in the morning before going to class. Like usual she was immersed in her own thoughts paying no attention to those around her, if she would talk it would be mostly about herself so it is better if she stays zipped up.

To my surprise there was an increased number of people now entering the mall many of which would enter the shop. One of which was a mostly well-built guy, sharing many common interests as me and like usual sporting a FC Barcelona shirt, with his name proud fully written at the back, it was Pankit, for some reason though he was staring at the sky as he entered, oh yeah, he wants to be a pilot doesn't he? He must be staring at a plane passing overhead. He is the perfectionist of our group, like I have seen the guy cry whenever he loses one or two marks in an exam, but he sure knows a lot about of sports and absolutely loves soccer, like he will watch everyone match without fail. Well, same could be said for me but that was a different matter altogether.

He finally started to enter the shop when someone pushed him from behind, it was a tall guy, sporting glasses with a wide frame which really made his eyes pop out, it was Varun I personally found him cool but I feel he needs to open up more, sometimes he just sits there and only nods his head around and whispers at best, but there is one person he really locks heads with.....Aditi, like seriously these two can really go at it, throwing water at each other, sometimes ink and what not, whatever it is, it never ends with a good outcome and they usually get others involved as well.

'What great timing." I said to myself as I saw Aditi meeting up with Varun and Pankit. Pankit was still smiling but Varun looked irritated now meeting Aditi. Aditi was the same height as Sara and had shoulder length hair, I didn't know her much...but for now the common understanding between us guys is that she is our sister. All the boys including Prateek, Pankit, Varun, Arnav, Daksh and I think of her as our sister. This way not only do we not make stuff awkward and weird between us friends this also ensures that we do not hurt each other in any way, you can call it a pact of sorts. But for some reason in my mind I cannot think of her in any other way but as a sister. Her best relationship amongst all of us is with Aanya, like they are proper besties, so it was weird seeing her arrive alone.

After what seemed like mere moments the newly formed trio entered and looked around, I waved at them indicating them to come over. Pankit had a wide smile for some reason, it seemed that Varun was whispering something in his ear which was unsurprisingly irritating Aditi probably because she was feeling left out.

Now our group was making a great deal of noise as everyone was busy in their own conversation.

Just as I was about to call Yashica to check on her, she entered the coffee shop, today she was wearing heels and a black skater skirt that accentuated her white top. She also like Aditi had shoulder length hair, however Yashica's hair was curly compared to Aditi's straight hair. Today she had a new looking black colored purse at her side, ohhh...now I get it, she must have gone shopping no wonder she looked so spirited today. Not too soon after grabbing her coffee she joined us now only 6 people were left.

Not soon after, my sister walked in along with Aanya. Nikita was a little taller than all of the girls as she was 5'5. She had waist length black hair which she had currently tied in a French braid. She was wearing black skinny jeans and her favorite red oversized sweater that I had seen her wear on many occasions.

Next to her was Aanya, who was a lot shorter than her. Aanya's hair went a little past her shoulder but was tied in a bun on top of her head right now. I had not gotten to know her much, but she got along well with everyone in our bus and had quickly become a close friend to my sister.

Since there were no more chairs left at our table, they dragged two chairs from the table next to ours and sat down.

"Hey!" Nikita said as a greeting.

"You do realize you are 25 minutes late, right?" I responded.

"Excuse me, me and Aanya were the first ones to arrive. Since, no one was here we decided to do a little shopping." My sister said rolling her eyes.

But before I could say anything Yashica asked. "What did you buy?"

"Perfume" Aanya responded.

"Oh can I -" Yashica started but got interrupted by the sound made by the bell.

Everyone at our table looked up to see Prateek, Kabir, Arnav and Daksh walk in. Prateek was the usual anti-social type watching others from afar like a hawk. He can be considered the drama queen of the bus as he over exaggerates everything every time he speaks. He height matches my own. He has a short-cropped hairstyle that accentuates his body structure. He loves to mess with Aanya and is a good friend to Aditi.

Kabir was small in height compare to the rest of us. He did not have much significant relationships with us apart from Arnav and Dhruv, with whom he shared a strong bond due to their many shared interests.

Arnav and Daksh were like twins, not in their appearence but in their psychology. Both had the same height, the significant difference between the two being that one could be called a little fat while the other had a slightly rounded physique. All of them walked up to the table and dragged chairs from the adjacent table just like Nikita and Aanya had, and sat down.

Seeing everybody together like this brought a smile to my face. My plan was finally starting to come together. So, shall we get started? Because this was going to be one hell of a bumpy ride.

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