WANDERERS OF STARS

(11)

• Jiya Mehta •

I slide down the wall and look at the pictures hanging on the opposite direction.

I don't know what to feel.

I robotically walk to a cupboard and open it wide. A stack of gold medals rain down.

“Ughh, I have to force them back in.”, I groan.

I get a hold of nearly ten of them and pack them in my bag.

How much will I get if I sell them?

Pretty much 10,000.

That shall be enough for the medications.

As I walk by, I see a poster hanging on the wall.

It's a boxing competition for students above 18.

Maybe, I could pretend to be nineteen. I can get a fake age ID.

The first prize is a gold medal and cash prize worth five thousands.

Alright! I am going to participate.

I walk through the small alley and reach to a small tattered store with broken sheds. If I hadn't known it better, I would have taken it as a homeless person's den.

“Hey Jiya. Long time, no see”, Sherry, the owner of the shop greets me.

“How much for these?”, I come straight to point.

I don't like small talks.

“They are worth...umm...15000”, he said examining each of them.

Sherry never cheats.

“Alright. Take these and give me the money”, I say,curtly.

I hear the noise of someone getting hit.

“Who's he?”, I ask him.

“He took a loan of 70,000 from me. Adding up the interest it is worth 1,20,000, and he hasn't paid me back. This is what he gets”, Sherry says looking up at the guy with disgust.

“Poor him”, I pity him and exchange the goods.

“I have asked you thousands of time and I will ask you this time too. People like to keep medals to show off their achievements. Why don't you?”, he asks.

“Because they are a waste of space to me”, I repeat my answer as I make my way out.

I hope I can make it home without any obstructions.

• Darshan Raval •

I try to tease Meera by pulling her hair while she flaps her arms in the air to prevent me from touching them.

“Why do you keep touching my hair?”, she whines.

“Do you want me to touch anything else?”, I make a lewd comment to which she blushes and hits me on the head.

“You perverted alien! You need some more of my smacks to tighten the screw of your head”, she says.

“That aside, I am taking a picture of you in your waitress costume”, I say and before she can process anything, I stand by her and take a selfie.

“This is going to be my home screen”, I say.

“No!”, she screeches. “You can't do that. I don't look good even”, she whines.

“Well, you look good to me in anything you do”, I say and smirk at her.

She blushes and turns away.

“Besides all your lovey-dovey talks, do you know where is Jiya nowadays? It has been five days since she last came”, the manager comes in and Meera stiffens.

“We don't know that yet”, she says.

Jiya. Who knows what goes on in that petty head of hers. She says she is a replica of mine, but I can't figure out what she is up to.

• Meera Patel •

As manager comes in and asks about Jiya, my body stiffens at the mention of her.

The last I talked to her, I ended up crying in front of Darshan.

Darshan has taken up her place for the time being and he seems to enjoy teasing me a lot.

“Want to go to her place, tonight?”, he asks all of a sudden and I am pulled out of my thoughts.

“I don't have her address”, I admit.

“Maybe, I do”, he says and passes me a smile.

“Why do you have her address?”, I ask. I know I sound like a nosey girlfriend, but I am not even his girlfriend and this feeling of irritation as he says that he has her address shouldn't crawl at the ends of my stomach, but heck!

“I don't have her address. I just figured out where she must be living”, he says.

“No, we can't take such a risk. If we get into someone else's house, we will be humiliated. Better, we talk to her in school”, I say chewing the ends of my cheeks.

Something unexpected happens.

He comes in front of me and gets me closer to his chest. He pats the top of my head and rubs my back.

“This is why I love you. Although she made you cry, you are worried for her”, he smiles and I feel my heart beat skip.

She made me cry... It sounds so weak to ears.

He makes me look like a four-year old child.

Then again, I haven't grown up yet.