° FLASHBACK °

IT WAS ONLY DURING THE SOPHOMORE YEAR, that Virat realized how much of a rubbish his school Royal High was. Entertainment was in the form of humiliation for some students. And the ones who humiliated never paid back.

Virat's eyes glossed over the group of seniors who sat in the cafeteria - a constant smile flashing on their faces resembling the famous Cheshire cat's. He was with his friend Rohan; the constant friend he had since kindergarten.

Together they walked over to the corner spot in the cafeteria to go unnoticed. The sororities didn't care; they had much amusing things to do than troubling students for now. Virat saw the muscular figure of Gaurav slapping the shoulder of Amay, his best friend. Rohan suffered a lot last week; from disgusted looks to taunts on how he was too lean and fair to look manly enough. The seniors troubled the sophomore guys with no ends; beat them till they bled, made them wear trunks and dance at nights, forced them to drink. A rumour also floated that some rebels were forcefully made to snort crack to teach them a lesson.

On the other hand, for girls it wasn't easy either. They were called bitch, whore, troubled by the guys, taunted by the girls. Everyone had high expectations off girls; they were supposed to worship the sororities. Stare at them with adoration, and try to be like them. 

For Virat, staying in Royal High was hell. He could hardly stay away from the drama - and it was because of his abilities. The sororities were aware of his agility and his talent in sports - especially cricket. It was an absolute shame for them to lose against the tenth graders. And it was always because of one guy - Virat Kohli, who's one flick would make the ball soar high.

So to make his life difficult, the seniors started hurting him where it would hurt the most. Rohan. Every time Virat would play well, it was Rohanwho would pay back. And Rohan would go through everything because he truly considered Virat as his best friend. He knew playing well was important - especially when he was in the elite school on a scholarship.

On the contrary, Anushka's life was made easier in the school because of her friendship with Nikita. Nikita wasn't like the other girls. She was one of them, in spite of being in sophomore. She was unknowingly the part of the elite circles, and people around her admired her. She was beautiful, natural and most importantly, she was under the spotlight. A picture perfect model of charisma, grace and boldness.

Anushka, on the other hand, was the quiet one. Mostly invisible; she was too low to be noticed and too high to suffer like others. She was in the safest spot being Nikita's best friend. So it was good for her, staying away from the drama of high school. She had enough drama in her life after her parents' divorce, so the last thing she wanted in her life was a drama of her own. 

Virat saw Nikita and Anushka taking the table diagonally opposite to theirs. He knew Anushka because they were partners in Physics lab in the seventh grade. They had spent hours together, finding the Newton's rings and noting the readings of Photoelectric effect. It was rather amusing that the Physics lab was a dark room where all the experiments were conducted. For the first week, Virat and Anushka wouldn't even bother talking. But slowly, they started talking - well, mostly fighting. 

Virat was the only person to whom Anushka had opened up. Not really opened up, but she would find herself often smiling around him. For her, after Abeer and Nikita - it was Virat who was the closest. Abeer was Anushka's best friend, and the school believed that they were a thing, and if not, they were going to be a thing soon. Typical best friends to lovers kind of story was imprinted in their minds when they would see Abeer and Anushka together.

"That was the girl who helped me that day," Rohan pointed towards Nikita's table. "She gave me the t-shirt and trousers when I was almost naked and outside my locked dorm." Virat recollected the incident which Rohan narrated earlier; Rohan was forced to strip and was merely left in short elephant printed yellow trunks last night.

A  smile graced Virat's lips when he saw it was Nikita. He knew she was always the fearless one, she didn't care what the world thought. The girl who was the sun in their entire grade - who was bright and gravitating enough to make all the planets orbit around her.

***

IT HAPPENED AFTER VIRAT'S DAD DIED. Virat was constantly taunted for not caring enough to go to his funeral, and playing the match instead. He was often tagged selfish for not caring enough about the people around him.

Rohan. His dad.

It was breaking him from inside, every piece of him. He wanted to quit the school. Quit cricket. Quit everything in general.

"And here comes the I-think-only-about-myself guy. Three cheers for Virat for scoring a ton guys! I'm sure he made his dead father so proud." Gaurav gave him a plastic smile he has been passing to him since a year. A plastic smile which only revealed his frustration.

It was an ego issue; instead of being proud of the juniors, all he could do was act possessive because he craved for attention. And Virat made sure, his friends recieved none.

So he gritted his teeth, and then gave Rohan a diabolical smile. Rohan innately knew he was going to suffer again. Three months until Gaurav could leave the school forever after passing out.

Gaurav and Amay left their table. Rohan's shoulders relaxed slightly after they left. "Do you think it's about the New Year party? They're going to do something there, I'm pretty sure. We shouldn't go there." Virat told him, his eyes zigzagging the two guys.

"Are you crazy? You're going to be honoured today for representing Delhi in Ranji, Virat! It's such a huge day for you." Rohan shot back. Virat couldn't help but just look at him, wondering what exactly he was made of.

"At the cost of what? Losing my dad," Virat rolled his eyes at him. "I don't even feel like going there."

Rohan frowned at his answer. "Why do you pay heed to the bullshit they give you? You know there's nothing like that. Prem Uncle loves you-"

"Can we shut about this? I don't want to cry here, in the cafeteria." Virat was pissed. Pissed because no one knew what he felt from inside. No one knew the words he wanted to hear then. No one cared enough.

"Why? Because your favorite girl's here, isn't it?" Rohan's lips broke into a smile, looking at Anushka. He felt Virat had a thing for her. A serious thing for the girl who always preferred hiding under her best friend's shadow.

"I don't like her." Virat told him for the umpteenth time, and he meant it. All his life, his only focus has been cricket, and somehow getting into the Indian Cricket Team. Feeling the blue jersey was the purpose of his life.

"Sure, you don't." Rohan's lips tugged upwards for a smile. "I'll be standing at the aisle when you two would be getting married to each other."

"Pagal," Virat mumured, wrapping an arm around his neck. Rohan winced, which made Virat retract his hand. "Are you hurt there?" he touched the nape of his neck with his palm, and could feel it was slightly swollen.

He realized it was worse than he imagined. Virat wondered, what the group seeked after hitting the students. Was it the feeling of being powerful? Or was it some kind of inner-satisfaction after hurting people? What was it exactly?

The funniest part was that the president of the sororities would defend them - saying it was an important routine test to make sure that the students do well to enter the college fraternities in future. To him, it was as if going through hell pre-maturely would ease it for them in college.

"I'm not hurt anywhere, Virat." Rohan smiled at him. "I just slipped off the stairs the other day."

"You know that you don't lie well, don't you?" Virat rolled his eyes, looking away from him. He was hurt, sometimes he would think Rohan was better without his friendship. Better and most importantly... safe.

"Okay, whatever." Rohan looked at his plate, stabbing his fork on the sandwich. "I would be going to the party tonight, I don't really care if you come or not."

Virat had an amused smile on his lips. It was often girls who would speak this line to the guys who could be their potential romantic interests in future. But here, in his life which wasn't exactly the replica of the cliches, it was his best friend.

He couldn't help himself. He had to go to the party. Just to make sure, Rohan was safe.

***

THE PARTY WAS FULL OF SMILES AND MASKS. The ideas of mask delighted Anushka, somehow. It made her feel free from the obligations of being behind the shaodws. Even though, she was nothing but a mere shadow that night, she still felt different. So when a guy tried to get too close to her, and tried to hug her, she stamped on his poor feet. The guy was just trying to hug Anushka, but Anushka hated being hugged by anyone except her mother.

Hugs from the male counterparts only reminded her of the deceitful hugs his dad, Rahul Vaidya gave to her. It was just to hide his face, his breath which only smelled of liquor. She despised him, she hated him. She wished death upon that man who had ruined her childhood.

There was absolutely no one who could change her mind regarding Rahul.

The party wasn't as bad as Virat expected it to be, Rohan thought during the first hour. It was all because of the ballroom dance where no girl bothered to leave Rohan feel untouched in spite of the loser tag which was labelled on him.

It was only an hour later after Virat was called onto the stage that Rohan started shaking with fear. His best friend was there standing on the stage, while Rohan was among the crowd. Two boys sauntered close to him, and he knew they were Gaurav and Amay. Trouble aways came in pair, he knew.

He wasn't sure if it was Amay who held his wrist or Gaurav but he was being dragged to the corridor already. The corridor near the park was secluded and it had only Gaurav, Amay and a couple of two more guys from his gang. Four kings ruling over the other sixty batons of the school. And no queen.

It started with a punch in the gut. The punch was so strong that Rohan spat blood from his mouth, he was sure it was Amay - he was a natural kickboxer. His eyes felt heavy with that one punch, and he wasn't ready for another. He felt like a grotesque that moment, so weak without his best friend. 

Virat was still the centre of attraction of the crowd. His eyes looked only for one man there, but he couldn't find him. Every cell of his was high on alert, and he left the auditorium soon. He could hear them, the boys whistling and devouring joy over someone's pain. As soon as he saw Rohan's neck between the arms of Amay, he edged towards him - brutally stopped by Gaurav and his other two friends.

He could see a group of boys standing still at the other end of aisle, their faces reeling from shock. "Please, help him. Anybody?" Virat looked at the guys. No one stood. "Guys, please!"

Everyone knew who were the boys behind the mask. Surely, no one wanted to spoil their last three months of their second last grade in the college. Virat tried to fight the three guys. But three on one, and the fact that it wasn't a movie. Quite impossible.

It was an eerie silence when Virat heard the noise of someone's heels clicking. He hoped it was a teacher, but to his surprise, it was a student. A girl.

Amay was left puzzled when the girl threw a punch on his face. His instant reaction was catching her by her wrist. But then the rules of the sororities stopped him. He couldn't hit back a girl, especially when he was the vicey. So he just left Rohan.

Rohan was freed, as Amay stepped back. On the other hand, Amay just shot daggers at the girl. In spite of the mask, his nose was red and bleeding. The punch the girl threw was rock solid. Virat sighed when he was left. He secured his arms around Rohan, slightly shocked at how Rohan could stand on his feet. 

"I'm okay, Virat." Rohan told him, Virat felt like crying. He was the reason. It was always him, him, him. "I'm going to my dorm room-"

The girl felt out of place that moment, so she stepped back awkwardly and shrugged. "-I'm coming with you then." Virat suggested.

Rohan shook his head in disapproval. "I can go on my own."

"Right, but you couldn't fight against that asshole." The girl's voice erupted. "Why has God given you this six-feet long figure when you cannot even try saving yourself. A loser like trait, seriously."

Virat snapped his gaze at the girl, "You don't know him, okay? So stop giving him that label."

"Really? Everyone's going to label you, one day or another. It's about how you overcome those labels. That is what actually counts," she told Virat, her gaze now shifting towards Rohan. "And you, please try to step outside the person you are sometimes. Try to be the person you always wanted to be. He's not going to be your knight forever, you should really know that." Her eyes crinkled when she pointed a finger towards Virat.

Rohan couldn't help but agree with every word she spoke. Somehow, he was over-dependent on Virat. It was probably because of the immensely long amount of time they had known for each other, but somehow he felt like he was his walking shadow - following him everywhere.

"Thank you. And uh, Virat. I'll go on my own, okay? You chill at the party. I'm going to be fine." Rohan reassured Virat. Virat just gave a murderous gaze to the girl even though somewhere he knew her words were accurate.

"Just call me if something happens -"

"- okay, okay. Stop worrying about me always." Rohan's legs felt heavier, having gone through the weight of the entire world when Amay kicked them so hard. But nevertheless, he walked - alone this time.

"You should just give him some space to breath sometimes, your presence is too overbearing for him, you know?" the girl told him.

Virat looked at her, slightly appalled by her thoughts. "You're too intruding. But for your information, he has been my best friend since kindergarten. We're practically attached by hips since then."

"But-"

"-but I know, see what your friendship is doing to him? I'm scared too. Sometimes, I feel like he's going to end, and that would all be because of me. Someday, he's going to end like everything else in my life, and the real fear is the feeling that the someday is going to be today." Virat's jaw pulsed. He had no idea why he was talking to her, but he knew she had something inside her made him confide into her so easily.

"Virat," her voice was so soft. "That feeling has a name, and it's life. I know you think everyone hates you-"

"-think? Everyone do hate me! You hate me too. Rohan hates me too. My dad hates me too. My decision of not chosing them over others."

"The more you love your decision, the less you need others to love them." The girl said, her head tipping back. Virat just saw her eyes, and he believed they were the most beautiful ones he had ever seen.

He knew she was Nikita. He had seen her wearing the white gown without the mask earlier. She did have the guts to punch Amay on his face too, and he secretly appreciated them.

"And remember, your dad doesn't hate you. Honestly, I don't hate you either. When people hate you, just know they're jealous."

And all he remembered that night was that he had never found a girl so much beautiful before.