Chapter 11

shazia

@xarmaanx

Had she done something?

armaan raised his eyebrows at the frantic looks on atul and rahuls faces. They gestured wildly at armaan and ridz, then at their phones. ridzs friends, muskaan and angie stared into ridz's eyes, obviously communicating with their eyes. armaan chuckled. Girls, couldn't they just talk to each other? His smile slowly faded as ridz's eyes widened, confused and horrified. She whipped around to find the entire female student body glaring fiercely at her. They pointed at her, rolling their eyes. ridz could feel the tears burning at the back of her throat. armaan looked at her worriedly.

"What is it, ridz? Morning sickness?"

ridz shook her head, her eyes boring into angie and muskaans's. After ten years of being friends, the three had perfected the art of reading each other's minds. angie bit her lip as she stared back at ridz, before nodding gravely. ridz clapped her hand to her mouth, her shining eyes darting to the disgusted glares of the girls around her. armaan blinked, his brows knitting together in confusion.

"What's going on ridz?" he asked nervously, almost afraid to know the answer.

ridz looked at him in the eyes, horror and despair lacing her words.

"The whole college knows"

It all happened too fast. The catcalls and the jeering began, crude remarks thrown across the courtyard at ridz and armaan. ridz blinked back tears at the humiliation.

"Slut!"

"Whore"

"Pregnant bitch!"

"Keep it in your goddamn pants for once!"

"I bet they did it in a random classroom!"

"I bet the baby isn't even his!"

Tears welled up in ridz's eyes as the yelling grew louder and ruder. Her hand moved to cover her stomach protectively. The only person that wasn't eyeing her like she was a piece of trash was  angad, who wore a confused and sympathetic expression on his kind face. armaan cursed under his breath. How did this happen? Which sick bas***d had found out about him and ridz and told the whole collge about them? He curled his hand into an angry fist. When he found out who had leaked the gossip to the collge, he was going to hunt them down and-

"armaan? Can we please go?" ridz's desperate voice broke through armaan's murderous thoughts.

armaan's dangerously dark expression softened at the look of despair on ridz's face. It was like the yelling and taunting had been drowned out by one simple look. He threw a dirty glare to the rest of the mob as he grabbed ridz's hand, leading her away from the crowd. ridz ignored the fluttering in her stomach, concentrating only on how to get away as fast as possible from her hissing and murmuring classmates. She was faintly aware of angie , muskaan . atul and rahul following them.

She was faintly aware of a piercing glare boring a hole in her back.

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The girl's eyes narrowed as she saw armaan lead ridz away from the almost hysterical crowd. Girls whispered bitchily about ridz, pointing at their phones disgustedly. A slow smirk spread across her face. She never thought ruining both armaan's playboy and ridz good girl images would be so fun! That would teach armaan to mess with me, she thought snottily. All she had to do now was sit back and watch everything fall apart. The girl let out a loud laugh.

"What's so funny, nikki?" dia  asked, gently nudging her.

nikki  bit back the malicious retort she had for her air-headed follower. She smiled falsely, tossing her bleached hair over her shoulder.

"Nothing you would understand, dia. Urgh, can you believe the nerve of that slut? Making everyone believe she was a smart little nerd, while all she wanted was to get into armaan's pants. I bet she got knocked up on purpose" she spitefully ranted,

Let's just see how armaan recovers from this scandal now.

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ridz hiccupped uncontrollably. armaan dutifully patted her back as silent, shocked tears streamed down her face. Sunlight streamed through the science lab as six friends hunched over a table, wondering how things ever got so out of hand. muskaan was the first to speak.

"What the hell happened out there?"

armaan closed his eyes, breathing out of his nose. Who could've done it? The people in the room were the only people who knew it, and armaan trusted them enough to know they wouldn't blurt it out to the whole  college.

So which psychotic son of a bitch did it?

angie wrapped ridz in a comforting hug, pulling her away from armaans grasp. atul and rahul punched armaan on the arm lightly, letting him know they were on his side.

"Don't worry man, when we find out who did this, they won't be seeing any Jonas Brothers concerts anytime soon" rahul joked lightly.

muskaan  rolled her eyes, a smile playing on her lips. rahul winked cheekily at her. ridz smiled through her tears. atul rolled his eyes.

"Not the time to be flirting, guys" he chuckled.

raul  glared. muskaan stuck out her tongue.

"Go make googly eyes with angie "

angie  flushed a deep red and threw a dirty glare at muskaan. ridz giggled, her eyes still red. armaan cleared his throat.

"Hello? Biggest scandal that ever hit college here and you people are flirting? Some friends you guys are" he muttered darkly.

ridz groaned, propping her head on her hand.

"What are we going to do? I can't go out without getting called a 'pregnant whore', I look like a whale and I've just skipped class for the first time. Ever. Oh my God, my life is falling apart" she groaned..

armaan inwardly rolled his eyes. Pregnant women these days. The room fell silent. Nobody knew what to do next.  atul tapped a finger on his chin, deep in thought. angie nudged him, her brown eyes flashing quizzically.

"What is it?"

atul  looked up, chewing on his lip.

"I think I know who did it"