(🚨 Long chapter ahead 🚨)

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This day was turning worse by each passing second. I thought I had already used up all of my bad luck, but no. I was on a mission to annoy everyone who was coming in my way today.

First of all, I pissed off Surbhi when she found out that I was spying on Mahek. I had already covered up yesterday's incident but what made her angry now? Well, I wasn't just keeping an eye on Mahek in college but outside too.

Yes, you heard it right. I followed her after school hours but I didn't know that I was being followed too. Unfortunately, Mahek was just going to her dance classes and I thought she must be going to meet one of her boyfriends. So after waiting for her to do something that I could use against her, I gave up. She just went to her home after that. Nothing more.

But, I spotted Karthik while returning which meant Nikhil must be around somewhere too. So, I started following Karthik instead. Now you must be thinking, didn't I have other important things to take care of?

Yes, I didn't have anything else to do. I wasn't worried about the exams or assignments. Everything was done and I had a lot of free time on my hands.

So why not play my favourite game of spying on others? I knew it was unethical but meh. I was doing it for my friends and no matter how wrong my methods seemed-to others-I wasn't going to give up so easily.

I followed Karthik for about fifteen minutes and reached a shady area. What could he be doing here? He looked totally out of place. He stopped in front of a small house whose walls needed a new coat of painting. The roof was made of tin and rest of the houses and shops were also built like that.

Where was I?

I acted like buying something from a shop when he snapped his head in my direction. He waited for sometime and knocked the door. After few seconds, the door creaked open a bit and a man popped his head out.

After asking him about something like a password, he let Karthik in. I couldn't hear them from where I was standing but I read Karthik's lips.

The shopkeeper asked me if I really wanted to buy something or was just wasting his time. He was really irritated since I was just picking up things and putting them back. Other people eyed me suspiciously and I pulled my cap more down to cover my face.

As I was adjusting my goggles, a familiar figure went past me. Nikhil glanced around him and followed the same procedure as Karthik. But this time, he didn't get in. Instead the man inside that house, went away for few minutes and came back. He handed few brown and white packets to him and closed the door.

Nikhil put the packets in his cargo's pockets and took out his phone. He dialled something and started walking back. I was still standing at my spot, ignoring other customers' complaints. I turned my back as Nikhil went past me. He was talking to someone and I heard him saying that he had the package and now they could go to the party.

Now I was confused whether to go inside that house or follow Nikhil to wherever he was going. I must have looked like an idiot as I was taking a step forward towards that little shady house, then retreating it and taking a step in the opposite direction and again taking a step back.

It was like my mind couldn't decide which way to go. So I bought a Snickers from the shop, making that shopkeeper finally happy and sat down on the footpath thinking about what should I do. I guess my brain wasn't working properly since I was hungry. I had almost finished my bar when someone snatched it away from me.

What the hell?!

I looked up and was about to yell, but my words died down in my throat. I gulped and my brain had officially given up on me. Even my inner voice told me to fend for myself. Traitor.

Surbhi grabbed my arm and pulled me out of that place. She threw me inside her car and called up her mom to tell her that she would be late to reach home. She started the car and drove us to Tanya's place.

Shit!

I trailed behind Surbhi as we entered Tanya's house and got in her room. Surbhi made me sit on the sofa and sat in front of me as Tanya stood beside her. I didn't even get to say something in my defence as they fired at me.

Surbhi told me that I had crossed all limits this time. Really? Then what about Mahek? Why wasn't anyone questioning her? Oh right. They needed proof. Fuck with that. Why couldn't they just trust my word?

My best friend asked me what would I have done if I had gotten into a serious problem and what was I doing in that dark place if I was following Mahek. Shouldn't I have returned after I saw Mahek getting in her home? So, Surbhi didn't see Karthik.

I understood her concern but I was too stubborn to just sit back and do nothing. Aren't you supposed to help your friends when they are in trouble or something bad is happening to them? How can they expect me to not take any action?

When I said that Ved was manipulating Nikhil and turning him against me, Tanya exploded. She wasn't ready to take a single word against him. She told me that I was being paranoid and asked me why in the world would Ved do something like that.

Didn't she know already?

He hated me. Nikhil was his best friend. Though he didn't do anything till now, he must have finally ran out of his patience and told him about how I might hurt him if he kept his friendship with me. I knew very well how much he hated it when Nikhil spent more time with me.

I didn't want to listen to them telling me that I was wrong while Ved was right. I had been hearing that since I was a kid. I was tired of it now. Tanya told me that I needed to get my act together and she was really disappointed in me.

Was she acting like that because I was blaming Ved and she might still have feelings for him? Yeah, that could be the case. Or else why would she snap everytime I said a bad word for him? Since no one was taking my side, I just agreed to whatever they were saying.

I had realised that Surbhi wouldn't let me spy on Mahek now that she had caught me red-handed and Tanya wouldn't agree with me being accusing Ved for everything. So, I decided to give up convincing them about all of it. It seemed like I would have to solve this mess myself. All they did was reprimand and stop me from unveiling the truth.

So after a nice lecture about ethics and how to mind my own business, Surbhi dropped me off at my house since it had gotten late. When she left, I went to Nikhil's place to find out if his parents knew where he was. Once I got there, I met Lakshya bhaiyya.

He looked almost like his younger brother. He was dressed up in a white shirt and denims. His return was a surprise and I had a really nice time talking to him.

Nikhil was absent and Lakshya took me to the backyard when uncle and aunty were distracted. He asked me if I knew what was going on with Nikhil. I tried to change the topic but he told me that he found drug packets in Nikhil's room but hadn't told his parents since he didn't want to worry them.

Damn Nikhil. What the hell were you doing?

He should have been here instead of fooling around and making his brother worry. Lakshya had enough responsibilities as it is and he was even defending his younger brother.

I told Lakshya that he was not telling me what was troubling him too. We discussed about what could be the main reason for him to act like that.

Lakshya thanked me for helping Nikhil and even praised me for taking care of his parents. He was patting my shoulder when Nikhil came and stood in front of us. Lakshya instantly got up and hugged him. I smiled at them and excused myself.

After bidding goodbye to Uncle and aunty, I left for my home. I was really glad to see aunty beaming brightly now that her elder son had returned. Uncle was in a good mood too. I had just walked a little away from their house, when someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned around to see a scowling Nikhil. What was wrong with him now? Before I could ask him where he was, he started accusing me of telling his brother about the drugs.

What the actual fuck?!

I told him Lakshya found it out by himself but he wasn't buying it. I got angry and told him that he should have been more careful about it. It wasn't my fault that he was just careless.

I was already covering up for him and hadn't told his parents about it since I wanted him to do it himself and stop doing drugs for goodness sake but when has anyone listened to me? All they did was lecture me and prove me wrong.

I shouted at him for being a coward and not telling us what was the problem. I also asked him how he could make his brother worry sick for him.

He told me to keep out of his personal matter and that he was sufficient enough to care for his family but I bit back by saying that he had no right to say that to me. If he was so caring, he wouldn't resort to drugs and alcohol. He would speak up and tackle the situation head on.

I questioned him if Ved was influencing him and he blew up his fuse. Just like Tanya. He yelled at me for bringing Ved in this but finally, I got to know what Ved had told him. I was so red with rage as Nikhil told me how I was a selfish person and only knew how to use others. I only made friends to backstab them in the end. He told me how I was the main reason for Ayush being so closed off.

How I was responsible for why Nikhil himself was having a tough time living with his own parents. How I was turning his parents against him and now even his brother. He told me that I was just jealous of others doing well in their lives and even accused me of trying to spoil Shree and Mahek's relationship because I wasn't getting any attention.

Or what other reason there could be for me to be working so hard to prove Mahek guilty and humiliate her? I told him that I was just doing it for Shree. And no, it wasn't because I liked him or something. But because I was his friend. Friend!

I asked him why he didn't contact me directly if he had doubts about my loyalty and he answered that he trusted Ved more than me. He was sorry that he didn't listen to him when he befriended me. He was tired of the continuous comparison between me and him. If that was the case, then why won't he just talk with his parents?

Oh right, I forgot. He wouldn't because he was a coward!

He wasn't the only one with problems in his life and resorting to drugs was never a solution. It only made matters worse. I was telling him about how he was only damaging himself when his phone rang up. I snatched the phone from his hands when I saw the caller ID.

I lashed out on Ved before he could say anything. I told him if he had any problem with me, he should deal with me instead of hiding behind his friends.

I used up every curse word and he wasn't going easy on me too. We kept shouting at each other and at one point, we were not even making any sense. I cut off the call when I could no longer hear his annoying voice.

He called again and I threw Nikhil's phone at him. He talked to Ved and looked at me in... worry? He told Ved to cool off and I was just wondering what he was saying for Nikhil to tell him to keep calm. Weren't they on the same team?

Nikhil warned me that I shouldn't have pissed Ved off. Haha. Very funny. Just what the hell could he do? I told Nikhil I wasn't afraid of him. He could do whatever he wanted but I wasn't gonna let him walk all over me again. He should have kept his mouth shut instead of making Nikhil think bad of me. What was he gonna benefit from it?

I left Nikhil after he started yelling at me for badmouthing his bestie but no use. I would curse him till I felt satisfied. I regretted taking admission in my current college. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have to face Ved again. And, meet this idiot Nikhil also.

After going few metres away, I turned on my heels, reached Nikhil and kicked him on the shin. He was talking to Ved and didn't notice me.

He winced in pain and before he could catch me, I ran off. I was so angry at him. He wouldn't even listen to me. I was only taking his side but what was he doing? Asshole. I should have told his brother what he was doing today.

But I didn't!

I reached my home and went straight to my room. I opened up my laptop and began playing games. In the middle of the game, I received a notification of being tagged in a picture on facebook. I opened it up and cursed when I saw that Mahek had tagged me in a pic where she was kissing Shree on the cheek.

She did it on purpose.

I removed my tag and in a fury, messaged Shree to tell his girlfriend to not tag me in useless things. He started defending her and told me how she was being so nice to me even after she learned that I liked him. Oh come on! She was just saying that to turn the attention away from her.

I ended up arguing with Shree online and I knew he must be thinking of all the ways to kill me for speaking against Mahek. You know what? I would just let him get fooled by her and celebrate when he found out the truth. Why was my life filled with idiots?

I shut off my laptop and began reading a book. I read few pages and got bored. I couldn't concentrate at all. I kept thinking about how to make my friends understand that whatever I was doing was for them only. I wasn't messing around just for fun.

Ping!

I picked up my phone and checked the message. Who was in the mood to irritate me now? I read the message and almost threw my phone on the wall. Today could be the day I finally killed Ved.

He had messaged me telling me, no warning me, that if I tried anything to hurt Nikhil or Karthik or Shree or anyone that idiot knew, he will not keep quiet about it.

First of all, how the hell did he get my number? And wasn't he tired of always threatening me? Shouldn't he have realised by now that I never listened to him? He should focus on his basketball because that's the only thing he knew how to do. I refrained from replying to him and deleted his message.

I was annoying everyone else but he was making my nerves go haywire. Should I just corner him and finish this rivalry once and for all? We could even spar if he didn't want to settle the matter by talking. I was confident now to take him on and maybe kick his butt in the ring.

No Sandhya, that would be a bad idea. But you could do that if you didn't value your life.

That jerk knew martial arts too while I was just a beginner at it. The one to get their ass beaten up would be me and not the other way around. I huffed and started pacing around the room. Should I talk to him or not? Will he listen to me if I told him that he should mind his own business?

That would not be a good idea, right? Should I try being polite? Being that once won't hurt right? Who knows he might tell me why he still hated me? Honestly, I was tired of hating him and arguing with him everyday. He must be tired too, no? What was the use of all this hatred? I atleast, didn't want to die holding a grudge.

Okay. It was decided. Though I irritated almost everyone I met today, I would try to get Ved in a conversation tomorrow or maybe sometime soon so that we could both live in peace. Also, I so wanted to talk with Ayush again. In college, he always seemed closed off if he wasn't with Ved or few of his close friends. His attendance wasn't regular too.

I missed him. And teasing him. And annoying him to hell. I missed Shreyas too. I didn't notice him in school recently and just hoped that he was studying because I never saw him do that in school. What if he was a secret genius who didn't need to study but still aced the exams?

Oh whatever. I should better get some sleep before I annoy my inner voice with all the rambling and it might blow up on me for wasting its time by asking useless questions.

Goodnight everyone. I hope I didn't irritate you all with my nonsense blabbering. That's all for today.

Oh wait!

What was that password again? Damn it. Now I wouldn't be able to sleep till I remembered it. Think Sandhya, think. Stupid brain. Couldn't even retain such a single intel. So annoying!