Happily Ever After

-Am I Dreaming?-

I walk into the class and bam! There is a loud sound as I fall face down. The cold floor hits my jaw hard and my nose starts to bleed. I feel dizzy and cannot get up. Why me god? Why me? Why am I subjected to all this bullying? I reach out for a hand directed towards me. It was Rajat's and following him is Aarvi. They help me get up and walk me to the Infirmary. Now when I am going back to class, my jaw is swelled up and my nose is bandaged. As I enter, some of the students start laughing. Amidst the crowd, I spot Anika trying to control her laughter. Wow! I cannot believe she was the girl I fell for. She has changed so much.

I proposed to her in eighth grade. And believe me, it took me a lot of guts, but after Pratyush persuaded me, I finally confessed my feelings to her. And to my goodluck, she agreed. We were officially a couple!

We started dating. But for some reason, Anika never agreed on making it public. We were allowed to tell our best friends only. My friends were happy knowing this but Shubhit was a bit concerned. He was worried because Anika was popular, beautiful and I was an average- looking nerd. He feared of me getting heartbroken but nevertheless, he gave in.

Our relationship went smooth. We could not meet outside school much because our parents never allowed us to go out alone. We only met in school and in some common friends' birthday parties. We chatted throughout the day and talked about a lot of things.

One day, while we were talking, she mentioned about her wish to visit Venice with the love of her life. And I being an obedient boyfriend, made a mental note of it.

On our 3 month anniversary, I took her to a restaurant. Oh yes, I saved my pocket money just for this. We lied that it was a friend's birthday party and, we were off. It was our first official date and man, I was nervous. I was dressed up in a white shirt and black trousers, classy. While she wore a black knee-length dress, gorgeous as ever.

We reached there, sat, talked, and had lots of fun. A romantic song was playing and Anika pulled me onto the dance floor. Our first dance as a couple! I wondered how many firsts was I gonna have that day.

We danced hand in hand, her other hand on my shoulder and mine on her waist. It was beautiful. The moment seemed lovely as we swayed along the music. Soon after the dance ended, we paid the bill and left the restaurant. Our date ended with hs eating ice cream as I walked her to her home. It was a nice day. She hugged me goodbye and went in.

She was a lovely girl. She never forced me to do anything. I did not have any experience of relationships nor did she. So, we were contended with what we had amongst the two of us. Her presence in my life made me believe in fairytales. She was hardto hold and impossible to forget like a storm that falls through your hands to help others grow.

It was August. We would complete four months in a week. While I was moving towards my school bus to go back home, Anika along with her best friends, Naina and Shikha, called out for me as she walked my way.