Strength |✔️

fifteen

Neil

My phone vibrates on the desk right when I start to get up. It continues to vibrate, which means that someone is calling me. I start to think that it's Alisha, but it probably isn't, since she's giving me the cold shoulder. I sigh and look at my phone, and see that it's my Dad calling me. What now?

"Hello?" I mumble against the phone.

"Yes, Neil, hello," Dad says. I hear him sipping tea, since he always sips tea in the mornings. "I need to talk to you about something."

"If it's about kicking me off the football team again, then I don't want to hear it," I say without thinking.

Dad chuckles slowly. "No, it is not. And yes, Monika did talk to me... and me and mom acknowledged your hard work over the past years, and we didn't want to take the thing you love away from you." He pauses and sips. "But, I have something else other than that."

"What is it?" I say breathlessly.

I hear him set the cup down on the table. "Monika must have already told you about her and Raj, since I heard she came down to your area yesterday." I didn't know his name was Raj. "And on December 28th they are going to get married."

If I was drinking something, I would've immediately spat it out. But Monika's getting married? Already? She just got over Harry and met Raj, and now they expect her to marry Raj all of a sudden? And to think, she's only four years older than me. In four to five years, I'll be getting married too.

"Oh..." I say.

"Monika is very happy with Raj, though. After what happened to her and Harry... I think she will be able to recover. So talk to her if you can, okay?"

"Okay, Dad," I say softly. There's no point in talking to him from our point of view anymore. It's already done.

I hang up and groan, pushing my hair back. I sit on my bed and dial in Monika's number. It rings, and she picks up on one of the last rings.

"Hey, Neil!" She says giddily.

"Hey, Monika," I say, confusingly. Wow, she seems excited. "Dad called me like five minutes ago and he told me that-"

"I'm getting MARRIED!" She squealed. She starts screaming and I wince and pull the phone back a couple of inches. Once she finishes, I chuckle and pull the phone back to my ear. "You seem very excited."

"Of course I would be, lil' bro," she says. "Raj and I have talked so much more and turns out, he is so amazing. Our parents saw our great chemistry and they, well, fixed the wedding date. I have so much to do in such a short amount of time. I have to pass out final invitations, pick out my dresses for, like, five different occasions and so much more and UGH Indian weddings are so much!"

I smile. "Can't wait for it, Monika. I'm so proud of you."

"Aw, thanks!"

There's a pause. Before I can stop myself, I say, "So, Monika. I met this nice girl at college."

She squeals and says, "OMG, NEIL! I need details!"

I laugh. "Her name's Alisha Dave and-"

"Wait, Alisha? You mean the girl that her Dad murdered her mother? I don't know about her Neil, I-"

"Alisha is wonderful," I say defending her. "She is not who people say she is. She is sweet and she still misses her mom very much. And I like her. A lot."

Monika starts to say something, but then she sighs. "Alright. As long as you're happy lil' bro. But how are you going to tell Mom and Dad? Are you sure they will approve about Alisha?"