Best friends - or Maybe Not

CHAPTER 3: THE BREAKUP

Five years of our strong, bonded friendship had passed, and we were now in our ninth year. From entering ninth, time seemed to be too fast for me to complete my work. But even then, we still made out time to play and hangout.

Ninth was no ordinary year, since from now onwards, we get to go to field trips and camp out. We were all so excited when we got to know the dates that we had already started deciding what to bring for food, drinks, clothes, sports equipment and other stuff, a month before the day even arrived. Looks like we didn't want surprises on our first trip, so early planning seemed to be a good idea for my classmates.

A good whole month had passed by, and finally, the grand day arrived. Everyone was quivering with excitement. Even Fareeha and I couldn't stop talking about it for the whole three days, not even during the journey to the camp on the bus.

All the people in our bus sang songs and challenged each other on guessing games. Everyone was very competitive and loud. But the loudest one was my best friend.

When we reached the camps, we were ordered to set up our camping tents, freshen up and to bring dry twigs or leaves to create a campfire. The teachers had partnered us up and luckily, Fareeha and I were together.

We had started building our camping tent when out of nowhere, there came a shrill squeal. Fareeha and Lily had spotted each other, were squealing like the happiest mice couple. I covered my ears.

Lily, whose true name is Lilian, had come into our neighbourhood a month before the camping day and had joined our school. Ever since then, I've seen Fareeha and her together during recess, although Fareeha was kind enough to spend the morning and afternoon bus trips with me mostly.

But after some time, they had started talking to each other on the bus trips as well, and I had started feeling a bit left out. I would try to keep up with them as much as possible.

They were talking about some things I couldn't relate to, so I decided to utilise the time to go to the washroom. While coming back, I decided to scare them from behind a tree. While I readied myself to get them to jump out of their skins, I heard things I felt I shouldn't have heard.

"Don't you think Asmah is fake?" Lily asked Fareeha. "I mean, I think she's too much on Insta. And nowadays, she doesn't accompany you to school and back home. She seems to show-off a lot."

I was expecting Fareeha to side with me. That's exactly what didn't happen.

"Yeah, I think you are right," said Fareeha. "I don't see her much nowadays. She only comes on special occasions. That makes her seem like a greedy foodie."

But that seriously wasn't the case. I wanted to meet her on several other days and I used to call her and text her. But she never responded the calls nor replied to the texts. Her mother always picked up the telephone and said she was busy doing blah, blah, blah. Her phone seemed to always be on silent mode when I called.

I was upset on hearing this. I thought that was all when I was about to reveal myself when I heard the most shocking words of my life.

"At least she pays for the meals whenever we all hang out," said Lily. "That saves our money. She is foolish enough to think we are broke. Lucky us to have a food bank."

I walked away from the tree normally, with a smile on my face, like as though I never heard this conversation ever taking place.

Just then, the sound of loud laughter filled my ears. Walking right up to them, I saw them laughing, an enactment to hide the fact that they had spoken all that trash behind my back.

"What's the joke?" I asked in a light tone.

They narrated their silly, lame 'joke', and I forced out a laugh. I was having a hard time thinking about all that they said. It would have gotten the better of me had I not kept a check on my change in behaviour.

I kept quiet as the day dragged on, and when nightfall set in, we got into our sleeping bags, after packing our others stuff, and went into a deep slumber. But not I - the incident that had occurred left me feeling through the dark.

Following the traditional rule, I counted the sheep and it seemed to give me some imaginary stardust because then I fell asleep. But not for long - the sound of howling wolves woke me up with a start.

I looked about my tent and found Lily and Fareeha asleep. I thought it was hallucinating when I heard it again - this time more clear and distinct. But none of them woke up.

I went out of the tent. Keeping a wary eye on the surroundings, I moved ahead. Luckily, I had kept a pocket knife, just in case of emergencies. While moving stealthily, I heard the crunch of a branch behind. I swiftly turned around to see someone, a boy I guessed, approaching me.

"Are you alright?" he asked. It took me a moment to realise that he was one of the members of the gang, whose leader had bullied me and Fareeha years ago.

"Yes, I am. Nice to meet you again, Sam," I replied. Sameer, Sam in short, and I had made up with each other the previous year. We were good friends, and he didn't bully people anymore. 

"Why are you here?" I asked, surprised.

"I heard the howling of wolves, the one they do when they're in pain," he said. "Did you hear them too?"

"Yes, I did," I said. The howl sounded again through the night, but no one in the tents stirred.

"Do you think it is only us who can hear it?" I asked. "Why aren't they being aroused?"

"Maybe we are extraordinary, you know," he said, jokingly. "But yeah, you got a point."

The howls intensified as we moved closer. We hid in a nearby bush to see what had happened. What Sam said turned out to be true. The howling wolf, who was roaming in the dark forest, probably in search of the bait, got trapped in the snare trap and was hanging from a tree - slow torture to death.

With Sam's flashlight, we kept out of any other potential snares. The wolf looked at us with fearful eyes, thinking we were its predators. Using my pocket knife, I cut off the rope from the snare trap, while Sam held the torch for me to see.

The wolf looked at us with gratefulness, and most unexpectedly said without moving its mouth, "Thank you, Asmah and Sam. I'll be forever grateful for your kindness." And after nuzzling our legs, it took off.

I was astounded. I looked at Sam and saw his puzzled face. Were we really 'extraordinary'?

~

The next morning, I narrated the whole incident to Fareeha and Lily. They were both laughing their heads off.

"Did you think we would believe such a silly tale?" said Lily, between her guffaws. "Yeah, how can you know what he said? Magic doesn't exist, kiddo," said Fareeha.

"I'm not kidding!" I said defiantly. "Even Sam was there!"

"Looks like Sam has lost his lustrous attitude of bullying," said Lily, giggling.

"Look Asmah, I think after all those years with you, I was so blinded by our love for each other that I couldn't see you were this stupid," said Fareeha.

While getting breakfast, Sam and I heard a howl again. I looked in the distance and then at him, inquisitively.

"It's them saying they are thankful," he said, with a smile.

"What happened, Asmah? Are the wolves coming to hunt you?" said Lily, enacting a whimpering kid. Fareeha nearly choked with laughter. "Are they dumb like you, and speak human language? You really are such a bluffer," said Fareeha.

"Whatever, Lily and Fareeha," I said, and sat down beside Sam to eat.

When I was done, I messaged Fareeha to meet me alone at a certain location.

"What's your problem, Fareeha?" I asked when she arrived.

"It's you. Since when did you start being such a bluffer?" she replied. "Looks like Lily was right when she said you are such a faker. You know what? We're done being BFFs. I really can't believe I was friends with a dumb, lame person like you."

"At least you revealed your true self. And I'm not the faker, Lily is," I retorted. "When things go wrong, don't come bugging behind me." And with tears in my eyes, I left her to rot with Lily.