'You can't love me.' I screamed at her and pushed her back.

'Listen to me,' she cried and grabbed my arms but I shook her away. 'Please listen to me, Anirudh. I love you and now I can't help it. I just can't help it.'

'How do I make you believe me?' I shouted again. 'Yo-You can't--'

'You are just vey tensed, right now.' She said and placed her palm on my face. Whatever she did wasn't enough for me to stop crying. 'Please, baby, I know that you love me. We will face everything together. I-I'm with you.'

'I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP!' This time, I screamed really very loud. 'Can't you see that I'm not good for you? Can't you see that I'm bad for you?'

'No!' She screamed back at me. 'These are lies. You are the one for me. No one- mind you- no one can take your place in my life. Please give me my boyfriend back.'

She fell on her knees and begged me. I couldn't fall weak that time, and so, I wiped my tears and turned towards the door.

'If there's one thing that I've leant in the past few years, from writing stories, it's that fairy tales and true love exists only in books.'

***

Two years ago

***

It's not hard to live a perfect life. It's not hard to brag about it. It's even easier to look at others and mock them for not having a perfect life. But you know what's tougher? To build a perfect life- and believe me, it feels even better when you know that you are the one who has fabricated a perfect life from scratch.

Anirudh Sharma- the really confused and idiot guy who had managed to score well in his tenth standard exams and went for Science stream in eleventh. Well, I don't think that I did a good job in introducing myself, well, because...okay, I am confused. But yeah, I'm not an idiot- certainly, not an idiot. It's not easy getting a 10 CGPA or Class Grade Point Average in tenth standard and being a mathematics nerd. But maybe, I wasn't talking about academics when I called myself an idiot. Why did I call myself an idiot? You'll find out soon.

Since the first time I read a book, I wanted to be an author. I still remember the first book I read- Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. The amount of impact that an eight year old had after reading about the adventures of Percy Jackson and his friends was indescribable. Percy was a kid, like me, but with all the responsibilities, he somehow, had to grow up and become the hero everyone wanted him to be. I don't want to fight off monsters or save the world like him (or, possibly, I do) but what I want is to become the hero that I always wanted to be. I don't want to be the guy walking down the corridors without being noticed. I want people to look at me and tell me how I changed their lives. I want to be noticed. I want to be a writer but I want others to tell my story.

'Come down to earth, Annu.' Arjun said and passed me my Physics notebook. 'This is not the right time to daydream. First finish this assignment and then do whatever the hell you want to do.'

Arjun was my only and best friend since fourth standard. He had forgotten his homework and I helped him. Since that day we are best friends. Both of us are very unlikely pair of besties. He is the class stud and I am the class nerd. He fails and I top. No one had ever thought that we would end up as best friends for so long. Between you and me, whatever attention I get is all because of Arjun.

I took my register from his hands and looked it for a long-long time.

'It's easy,' I said and he finally gave a big smile. 'Take my assignment after the games period.'

'You always know how to make me shine in the eyes of the teachers.' He said. 'I want to kiss you, Annu. No girl has the ability to satisfy this thirst of me. Only you can do it, Annu—only you.'

'Fuck you, bastard.' I said and slapped my notebook on his chest. Others were laughing at us but it was a daily routine for us. 'Don't let the gay side of you wake up whenever I am around- ever. Because I am the only one who can make you pass your exams. Respect me, alright?'

'That's why I'm saying, let me kiss you.' He said and laughed in between the sentence. 'I promise that it would be the best feeling in the world.'

'Get lost, asshole.' I said and we broke out in laughter.

'Alright, babe,' he said and got up, 'I'm going to the basketball court. Please try and complete this assignment in this period, only.'

'Yeah.' I said and he went away.

'I seriously don't know how you have been putting up with that freak.' Sanjana said and sat next to me. 'You are a human and he, clearly, is an animal.'

'Chill, Sanju.' I said, 'He is my brother. More than a brother, actually. You and Arjun are the only ones that I've got with me and you guys make my life fun.'

'Only if people could know what an amazing person you are, we wouldn't be lucky enough to call you our best friend.' Sanju said and pulled my cheek. 'Besides that, I'm also jealous of you.'

'Why?' I asked baffled up.

'Because my boyfriend wants to kiss you more than he wants to kiss me.' She said and in a second, both of us were laughing like maniacs.

I wish I could say that my school life was as cool as my best friends, but no. It was very ordinary and I'm not saying this because I didn't have a girlfriend. In fact, I didn't want a girlfriend. I don't know how to say this but I had a very ordinary life.

'Heard that there are two new admissions in our section.' Arjun said and added with a mischievous smile, 'And I've also heard that both of them are girls.'

'Why are you so happy?' Sanju said and glared at him. And I forgot to tell you that Arjun isn't afraid of anything in the world- except for his girlfriend.

'I'm happy for Annu.' He said as quickly as possible. It was a good save. 'I'll do anything for him to get a girlfriend.'

'Wise choice of words, Mister.' Sanju said and he finally smiled. 'And our hero, here, needs a girlfriend.'

'Nope,' I said, 'I don't.'

'This means you want me to kiss you, right?' Arjun said hopefully, 'Or maybe something more than that?'

'Okay, I want a girlfriend.'

As the three of us continued laughing, the day at school came to an end.

I still hadn't met the girl who was about to change my perception on life. I had accepted my life the way it was and now it was about to change.