Friendship Has No Goodbye

Chapter 21

Everything seemed to be going fine with everyone and November was here and along with it, the planning for Alisha's birthday. Naisha, Gary, Jack, and Jiya together set out in Gary's car to go to the Colaba market to get some good decor for the birthday. It was a fun trip with songs, laughs, and pictures. They had breakfast at McDonald's and then bought the decor. It took a lot of searching to get the right kind of decor which they had in mind. When they were done and happy with what they got, they went home and finalized all the plans.

On the day of the birthday, everyone reached Alisha's place by afternoon while she was in class. They blew loads of balloons and hung pictures of her on fairy lights. It was a beautiful sight. Alisha was delighted as she walked in. She looked around at each everything they did. While she got ready and went for mass, the guys went out to pick up the cake. It was a beautiful two-tier pink cake. She cut the cake and then took pictures with everyone. Everyone had dinner together and then went home.

The group immediately started planning for Jack's birthday which was in less than a week. Naisha, Gary, and Jiya took a train in the morning to Churchgate to get decor for his birthday. With the birthday plan in mind, Jiya took Jack out for a movie while the rest of the group set up his place. When they reached back home, Jiya joined the group and as he entered his place he was attacked with party poppers and snow sprays. His cake had a cute picture of Jack with Bolt as a puppy. After the cake cutting, Jack happily went around giving everyone a sip of the champagne which he had bought. Most of the people headed home after that. And in this way, though the decor part was kind of stressful, the day ended on a good note.

On December 8th, Jack and Jiya decided to give the group their birthday treat together since their birthdays were so close (Jiya's being on December 2nd). Gary had picked up everyone in his car and they then headed to Jughead's. Alisha was running a bit late since she was taking a student's tuitions. The group ordered their meals, talked a while, took pictures, and were having a good time. Jiya's mother who was a little old school traditional asked to bring her back soon. Alisha, who had reached just a few minutes before the call, had just begun eating.

Soon the tension built up in the group, with Jack getting agitated about the fact that Alisha was late and that Jiya's mom was calling. They left the restaurant in a hurry and a huge fight began in between Alisha and Jack. Akansha (Alisha's sister) was trying to defend her sister everyone agreed to drop Jiya back home. The car ride to her home was filled with shouts and awkward silences. They dropped her home, talked to her mother, and headed back to their own homes. Somehow this small fight ended up being a reason for a separation of the group. Communication amidst the group halted to a stop.

As Christmas was right around the corner, the youth group together worked to plan their Christmas Social. It was a fun formal event a few days before Christmas filled with dances, good food, and drinks. They put their full efforts to arrange for a beautiful event. Ash and Jack attended the event together. Alisha did not partake in the festivities. Selene was a bit distant with Ash and was not talking as much as they usually do. She declined to dance with him and instead chose to dance with Ben (Quite some things had changed in these last few months).

This put Ash in a saddened mood. Looking at him, even Jack lost the enthusiasm to party. By the time Christmas arrived, Ash had grown closer to John, and they both together ignored Jack during the festival. They grew distant from him. The yearly parties together had changed to each of them partying separately. Jack went clubbing with his childhood friends, John at Michael's place, and Ash hung out at the Youth President's house for the Christmas party. New Years was just as depressing as Christmas. Jack went from front to wish both of them 'Happy New Year'. New year was spent apart too. And as the months passed, the group indeed just drifted away.