Riya

No matter how positive I was about the new day, the new opportunity thing, even I had trouble getting up on Monday morning. Today was no different. Half of it can probably be blamed on the etymology rabbit hole of the word shampoo and how it was tied back to Hindi. Okay, not half but full.

I called Dhruv to see if he was home, but he left for college already, which made sense because, well, football. The only thing Dhruv was disciplined for was football.

"He had football practice," Chachi said on the other side of the phone.

"It's okay. I'll go by myself then." I said, putting my black jhumkas on while holding the phone between my cheek and shoulder.

"Chachu can drop you. Let me call him."

"No...I'll go. Let it be."

"Achha. Where's your mother? I needed to talk to her."

"She went to the temple." Where was my bindi?

"Achha. Just inform her that today some of our relatives will be coming to your place. They wanted to meet all of us." I stopped in my tracks. Not the relatives again.

"Haan. I'll tell them. Now I'm going. I'm getting late. Bye."

I was already dreading coming back home.

"Papa, would you drop me off at college?" I shouted while running down the stairs.

"How about you learn how to drive?" Aarush's voice rang from the kitchen. "Ohh wait!! You did but forgot." He came out of the kitchen laughing with a coffee mug in his hand.

"Shut up before I hit you." I looked around for Papa.

"How lame." He plopped down on the sofa.

I tried snatching the cup from him. I needed coffee.

"Go make your own. Churail," he screamed.

"I don't have time. Just give me one sip."

"NO!"

"Why are you both shouting? Always fighting like cats and dogs." Papa started his rant coming out of the washroom. Just look at my brother and I-"

"Yes, we know. You guys are Ram and Lakshman." Aarush cut him off, and I glared at him.

"Papa, can you drop me off at college? Dhruv's already gone."

"Freeloader. You've turned Dhruv bhaiya into a driver." I hit him on his head before he could spew some more bullshit.

"Papa!" he screamed.

"Riya, don't hit him."

"Why is he not at school?" I looked at Papa for an answer.

"There's some construction going on in his school." He picked up the key from the key-holder with a Ganesha statue engraved on it.

"Open the books sometimes. It's boards." I ordered him, and he rolled his eyes.

"Let's go."

Coping with the Monday blues, I was hoping the day would go easier on me. I was sitting in my first class, Indian classical literature, listening to the professor go on and on. Today, my focus was on jotting down the notes so I could revisit them later.

Coming out of the class, I thought of visiting the college cafeteria. I had a lot of time before my next lecture. I wanted to find a part-time job and had seen a help-wanted poster on the notice board.

The college had a lot of student-led spaces that provided us with opportunities to earn money. Even if Mount Mary was known as a place for people with money, a lot of us were scholarship students who needed money. Cafe was one such popular spot, both for working and hanging out.

Sun was at its peak. The sunlight usually did the trick of changing my mood. But today it felt irritating. I walked down the corridor, and that's when I noticed a fire truck in my peripheral vision.

My feet stopped mid-walk, and I took in the scene before me. There was a fire truck inside our college. Students were gathered around it, and a professor was shooing them away. Smoke was coming out from the basketball locker room.

My eyes fell on Abhay and his cousin Raghav in an intense stare-down. It all started making sense. Was there a pact between them that they would cause a mandatory ruckus every Monday? If there was, I admired the dedication.

I saw Dhruv standing behind Abhay, one hand in his pocket and the other typing away on his phone. Hypothesis A: Abhay might've started a fire, and my brother was a possible accomplice in this arson. There was a chance of him getting expelled. Hypothesis B: Dhruv was innocent in all this, which, from the recent events, seemed like a far-fetched thing.

For the first time in my life, I wanted to be proven wrong. But I decided to leave it be for a while. Everyone was telling me not to be overbearing and to give him space. And by everyone, I meant my two best friends.

I clutched my tote bag, ready to go back when Abhay's words from last week came to my mind.

"Let's see how many fights you jump in between."

My 'let him be' vanished as soon as his voice echoed in my brain. I marched towards them with a newfound anger. Raghav said something to Abhay, who had a neutral expression on his face. Did this guy ever feel something?

It was Dhruv who noticed me first, and his brows furrowed. He turned in my direction, and I stopped in front of them. The fire truck was a few feet away. The officer was talking to the professor, who was nodding away.

From the tone of the conversation, I realized they thought it was an accident. My anger spiked more.

"What happened here?" I faked a smile and looked at Dhruv. Abhay continued his eye contact with his brother.

"Someone lit up Raghav's jerseys, books, and spare clothes he kept in his locker," Dhruv said, looking at Raghav, who looked like he would spontaneously combust.

"You watch it," Raghav said and went back to his group standing a few feet away.

"You're committing arson now?" I looked at the retreating back of Raghav and him talking animatedly to his friends.

"It was a freak accident."

"You sure?" Abhay was still standing with his hands in the pockets of his dark green cargo with a navy shirt. Blue was his favorite, I guess.

"Why don't you go back to your class?" Dhruv sighed.

"So you can commit some other crime and get expelled." My voice held such calm that even I was taken aback.

I had told him I would not drag him away from the stuff, but that didn't mean I wouldn't eat his ear off.

"No one's getting expelled. Don't make a mountain out ofa  molehill." Dhruv was getting irritated.

"As if burning the things of random people down is a completely normal reaction."

"Can you just calm down?" Dhurv put his palm over his face and groaned.

At that moment, I realized that I could not mind my business when Dhruv was running around burning things down.

"And you-" I turned towards Abhay, who raised his one eyebrow as if questioning my audacity to even talk to him, and that pissed me off more. "What do you get from this? Didn't we talk about this?"

"What talk?" Dhruv asked.

"I should listen to you because?" Abhay's eyes narrowed.

"Watch your tone." Dhruv gritted his teeth at Abhay, who looked at him with the same expression.

"Then tell her to stop acting like a maniac."

"Dude, that's my sister. Language."

"Does your sister know the kind of language you use?" he stated calmly.

I looked at Abhay, done with his antics, but before I could say anything, Dhruv spoke to me, "Listen, Raghav started it. We were just answering him back." Dhruv spoke with confidence as if he had spewed out a completely logical thing.

I turned to Abhay in disbelief. "What is up between you two? Have you both gone crazy?"

"I'm going back to the gym. Talk to me when you don't have a vetaal hanging on your neck." Abhay turned to Dhruv, and then he was off.

"We talked about this. I didn't come to this college so you could spy on me." Frustration dripped from Dhruv's face.

"And why don't you understand that this will cost you a big time? Do you think burning stuff is fun? What happened to you?"

"You've become annoying like a fly." He snapped. "How about you make some friends and leave me alone." He said and walked in the same direction Abhay went, leaving me standing there unable to move.

My feet felt frozen on the ground. The voices around were growing louder and louder. I could hear the noise of the fire truck going away and the chatter of the students retreating. The sun suddenly became too much to handle. The person who was once my best friend had called me a fly. My nose started tingling, and embarrassment spread.

Maybe I should've left him on his own. At least, I wouldn't have to experience this hurt of the realization that maybe we had drifted apart. He had a new world that I wasn't a part of. Maybe I was forcing my existence on his. Maybe he was right. I was an annoying fly who couldn't make any friends of her own.

I could feel my eyes watering. I had no intention of having a public breakdown, so I decided to go to the washroom to wash my face. On my walk, I kept thinking how Abhay Raichand was an annoying piece of shit, and it was all happening because of him.