Tenth Grade was Fun!

21. DRUNKEN RUINS

I sit there, trying to figure out if I'm hallucinating or some shit while I reply to DQ's question.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"You shouldn't be sitting alone with your hurt knees." She says in a monotonous voice but the slight worry is not lost on me.

"Mia just went to the restroom..." I tell her, still shocked at what was happening.

"Do you want any help to get back to class?" She asks, her neutral face breaking into a concerned one.

If I thought I couldn't be surprised anymore, I surely was wrong.

I look—gawk at her—surprise written all over my face.

You might as well wear a neon sign on your forehead.

I search her face for deception but all I see is pure, unadulterated concern.

And I am in its receiving end.

"Are you alright? You've seriously got something with sports." Nikhil rushes towards me.

Right when his voice reaches Shaina's ears and mine, just like an elastic snapping, her eyes turn cold, the neutral expression back on her face.

Whoa! You just called her 'Shaina'.

Reaching me, Nikhil gives me an onceover searching for injury.

"I'm good, I'm fine." I answer, momentarily forgetting that DQ was beside me.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here." He then turns towards Shai— DQ impassively while saying, "Thanks for that."

Sh— DQ nods stiffly before getting up and walking away without another word.

"You aren't coming to the ground anymore till your knees are completely healed." Nikhil commands and picks me up, eliciting a grunt of surprise from me while I throw my arms around his neck and hold on to him.

He takes me to the elevator—guess who got the principal's permission—and sets me down with a hand still on my waist while he closes the doors and presses the button to our floor.

And just before the door closes, I swear I see DQ's reflection—standing in a corner while watching us with a worried face—on the glass pane of the wall opposite to the elevator in the lobby.

***

A few days later, with better knees, in the evening after my phone call with Pa—with a surprisingly good mobile network—I go through my Physics notes to get a head start on the preparations for the upcoming exam which will be the last one before our finals.

My mom had been obnoxiously happy and my dad had sounded excited while talking to me.

Something fishy...

Tap, tap, tap.

I look around to see if anything had fallen down, but no.

Tap, tap.

I scrunch up my face and search again, my eyes skimming around the room slower this time.

Squat again.

Tap, tap, tap.

This time I turn towards the balcony and wait to see if the sound is coming from there, while rushing to pick up my Swiss army knife that I always keep underneath my pillow.

For safety purposes.

Yes, don't ask why.

Sure enough the tapping resonates again from the balcony door and I was not able to see what or who did it as the screen covered whatever was on the other side of the balcony doors.