Friendship Has No Goodbye

Chapter 5

Days passed while the group chilled and awaited the next youth event which was in Marol, Youth Utsav, and was just a week away. The group divided themselves and went in two ricks as they couldn't get an Uber. Alisha's mood wasn't that great but she ended up having a good time at the fest too. They all had great fun. Someone took a video of Jack dancing to YMCA, edited the video such that he was dancing to a sad song ‘Taare Zameen Par’. It was so hilarious that it went viral among his friends. As Ash was in a hurry to go home, he went in the first auto, along with Leo and Jack.

The rest of the group who were supposed to go by another rick decided to go walking. Well imagine a group of teenagers just enjoying a nice walk home; obviously, it’s going to be more than just a simple walk home. They laughed jokes around, took a soda break in between. Jack who had a bit of FOMO (Fear of missing out) issues, was mad at them for walking home. He just felt a little disappointed about not being able to be there with them. It was a bit melodramatic but I guess he still couldn’t accept the fact that you can't always be everywhere at the same time. Sometimes you just have to accept the situation. Well, we all learn from our mistakes.

His level of anger increased though when John lied they didn't have money for the rick even though his Instagram Stories showed them all enjoying soft drinks together. That midnight he left all their WhatsApp groups leaving everyone confused. Jack ignored the whole group for a week and gave all his gifts back to Ash and Leo in college. Ash was so affected by that, he thought of throwing the gifts right out the window but Leo keeping a calm mind kept the gifts sadly in his bag. 

Jack giving the gifts back hurt Alisha too because she had made her gift with a lot of care and effort. One week later, he felt guilty along with that pain of absence because he missed everyone. While trying Alisha's cell, her mom picked up once and talked some sense into him. Alisha and Jack met later on and sorted it and everything was back to how it was. All was good and they went back to fooling around and having fun.

The best time of the year was finally here, Christmas! They went to the midnight Christmas mass together. After that, they joined their youth group for the Secret Santa (Where people gift each other things without the other person knowing who their giver is). Luckily Ash got Jack’s name and since he knew Jack needed earphones desperately, he could give him the perfect gift. Everyone exchanged their gifts and then the group took pictures together. It truly felt like the Christmas spirit was in the air. After this good Christmas, the youth group planned a trip to Mahad for the next day.

From the group, Leo, Jack, and Ash went. Jack missed Alisha’s presence as she was not able to make it for the trip. The trip turned out to be fun and exciting. The weather in Mahad was pleasant and gave good vibes. While exploring the caves, the youth group had taken pictures together and saw some beautiful sights. At night, while they spent the night in an orphanage, there was something wrong in Leo’s group pictures. In a few of the photos, there was a shadow of a lady with a knife behind the group. Spooky! I agree.

They all first dismissed it as a joke but after a discussion with the Youth President and the Father, they agreed that everyone should delete the pictures and stop speaking about it. Later on, just to calm a few scared minds, they declared it as a prank. Was it actually a prank? We’ll never know. Leo, on the other hand, was totally spooked and couldn't sleep. He finally managed to fall asleep on Jack’s lap (It was quite a cute moment). But the next day, everyone got past it and continued to have a good trip.