Something Good Can Happen (On Indefinite Hold)

Chapter 3: Favourite Day

It took me more than a few seconds to let what he said register. 

"Oh. Ok. For starts, I'm Val. Hi." I said, and smiled. 

Friends, huh? 

I'm not good at this stuff, but I can do this.

"I'm Ryan.' He said, and smiled. Now I'd seen cute boys before, and if I were to ever mention a "Type"- I'd say someone lanky, tall, and nerdy, with glasses and who likes star wars as much as I do. But, if at that moment you'd ask me what my type was, I'd have said Ryan.

'Hi. You live around here?"

"Yeah, I live within walking distance, twenty minutes, if I walk super slowly." I replied, getting comfortable. It was the complete opposite effect of what I gave off. I generally gave out a cold, scary aura.

"And if you walk normally?" he asked, looking and sounding genuinely interested, even though his eyes glinted with slight mockery at the ridiculousness of what I'd just said."Ten minutes, give or take. But I like taking a bus; they're generally empty to where I go. What about you?" I asked him, getting a little uncomfortable talking all about me.

"I stay like, 45 minutes away from here, give or take. I have a car from there, with a couple of other kids from school." He said. I whistled. Its this bad habit I picked up from my brother. He's married now, and has kids- my nephews- the four year old twins.There is a 13 year difference between us.

And not because my brother wanted a younger sibling or anything, but because my parents wanted a daughter, and since my brother was born when my mom was 24, she thought 37 wasn't too old to have another baby-And hope it was a girl. And yes, while it meant I was a 16 year old godmother, my mother was a 53 year old grandmother. 

"That's far. Why'd you come here?" I inquired.

People started trickling into class in pairs of twos and more.

"Because this is a pretty good school, that's why. You?" he raised an eyebrow at me. I noticed he had a scar through his eyebrow.

"I got in. This place is good for the base it offers in literature." I shrugged. 

Then there was that awkward silence. 

Suddenly, he asked me "So what do you do for fun?"

I laughed, because fun is the one thing NO ONE would ever call me-For me, fun was climbing onto the terrace, and listening to some really, really underground indie pop.  

Put me in an cliche ridden American high school movie- I'd be one of those geeky kids with the huge glasses in the corner, with neo-gothic literature or something. Now, since Indian movies never really focused much on teenagers, I was just the weird, quiet girl in the corner who always wore glasses and gaudy Indian attire whom the hero- girl saved from being bullied from time to time. 

Sort of-Since, well, even the bullies don't really care much about me.

And also because the only Indian outfit I owned was just... 

I could NEVER wear it anywhere other than to maybe a wedding or something. 

Of like, a Hindu family friend or something. 

"Fun?" I echoed, and grinned at him. 

"I'm not really a fun person. I'm more of a sit in the corner and read or go watch Lord of the Rings Type of a person."

"That sounds like fun of you have people to do it with!" He exclaimed. 

By now, the class was half full, and a majority of the girls were all staring at us. Obviously.