;..Twilight..; ❤️'The Khanna's' p17 - Page 9

Charlie was an absolute sweetheart. After surprising me with the truck, he gave me a hundred dollars for personal expenses.

Believe it or not I wasn't spoiled; my mom wouldn't let me be. Even though she was now a rich lady, married to a wealthy pro-ball player, she still kept me on a strict allowance. I guess it had to do with the fact that she went through rough times and didn't want me to be dependent on money. Whatever the reason was, I was at a loss. What I wanted, I had to earn. And that's why this old rusty truck was so valued by me. Plus it was the perfect car for a klutz like me- old and tough.

Anyways, after thanking Charlie profusely I got into my truck for the first time. I knew Charlie had tried to clean it up, because it smelled like cigarette smoke and car freshener mixed together. Thankfully the ignition, which I was worried about, started quite easily but made an awful lot of noise. I shrugged; I could deal with that at least. I buckled my seatbelt and wearily tried to turn the radio on; sure it wasn't going to work. But I was wrong- it worked. Not well, but it worked.

Finding the school wasn't difficult. Like most of the things in Ludhi, the school was off the highway. It wasn't obvious it was a school, and a diminutive sign that said "Ludhi High School" made me stop. The school was surprisingly made of numerous matching houses, built with maroon-colored bricks. To someone just passing by, it would seem like anything but a school. Greenery was all around the place, blocking my view of more than half the buildings.

I parked in front of the front building, which according to the words painted on the building was the Main Office. I was pretty sure that the parking lot in front of the main office was off-limits for student cars, but I didn't want to roam around looking for a parking spot like an idiot, so I decided to take my chances and move when I got some directions. Reluctantly I got out of my toasty truck and ran to the front door, and quickly went inside. The room was warm and quite cozy. The carpeted floor stood under the long counter and the three desks. Behind one of the desks a large lady with red hair and a purple shirt looked who at me expectantly.

"Hello. Im Kripa Lucas"

I saw immediate awareness light her eyes. I was sure that I would be a topic of discussion in this small town- daughter of Charlie the foreigner's, flighty ex-wife Sonali, coming home at last.

"Of course. Welcome to Ludhi High" she said. I smiled as convincingly as I could, trying to hide my aguish.

She went over my schedule and told me the best ways to get around. She also told me all the school rules and guidelines and all that good stuff. This school was way different than the one in Cali. One really major difference? This one sucked.

I ran out of the building, and managed to get into the truck without getting soaked. After turning the heat back on, I studied the map, trying to memorize it. I didn't want to walk around the whole day with it stuck in my face. Soon I started to see students arrive. Looking at the time I realized I should get going. Gunning the thunderous engine I headed into what was marked the "Student Lot". Most of the cars were your average-run of the mill Indian cars- Hondas, Mitsubishis, Marutis ect. One car stood out however; it was a red Porsche Correre GT. Pretty sick.

I wanted to admire it, but looking at the time and the flow of cars, I decided it would be wise to just grab the parking spot closest to me. I found one located by building three. After I parked, I turned of the engine so that the loud noise wouldn't attract any attention to me, and looked at my schedule.

Huh, my first class was LA in building three. Sweet. I wouldn't have to walk and get soaked. I put my schedule back in my back and slung it over my shoulder. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and headed towards building three.

I followed two girls into the door, my breathing creeping towards hyperventilation. I could do this, I feebly told myself.

The girls took out their coats and hung it on rows of hooks before heading into the room marked Language 4, and I did the same. I walked inside and headed to the front desk. A stout man looked up at me expectantly. I gave him my pass and he gawked at my name-not an encouraging response. Of course, I flushed bright red. Thank god that he sent me to a desk in the back of the room. I thought it would be harder for the people to stare at me when I was seated in the back, but somehow they managed. I kept blushing and looked down at the reading list the teacher had given me. It was fairly basic: Bronte, Shakespeare, Faulkner, Chaucer, ect. Of course, id read everything already. That was comforting…..and boring.

I tuned out the teacher's nasal droning and thought about the different ways I could convince my mom I was happy in Ludhi. When the bell finally rang, a shortish guy with a bad case of acne and oily hair walked up to me. He looked like those overly-helpful, chess kid kinds.

"You're Kripa Lucas right?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yes I am" everyone within a three mile radius of me stared at me.

"What's your next class?" he asked.

I had to refer to my schedule. "Um, government with Shah in building six."

"Well Im going to building four, ill drop you off."

Definitely over-helpful. I smiled vaguely and followed him out the door. As we walked, he introduced himself as Prithvi and tried to talk to me; I just replied with yes, no, or a nod. Finally we arrived at building 6. He stopped outside.

"Well here it is"

No duh, I wanted to say. Instead I just nodded. He looked at me for a few more minutes. "I hope we have more classes together." I smiled at him distantly and walked inside with a wave.

The rest of the day passed by and I began to recognize several faces. It was now time for lunch and a girl with wild curly hair, whose name I forgot, kept chattering as we walked to the cafeteria. I didn't pay attention and just kept walking; trying not to be too obvious to the stares I was receiving.

We sat at a table full with people and she introduced me to every one of them; of course, I forgot their names within a second. The boy from language, Prithvi I think his name was, said hi to me and I smiled a small smile at him.

It was there sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.

They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from everyone else as possible. There were five of them, and they weren't talking or eating; their full tray of food was left untouched.

Thankfully, they weren't gawking at me like everyone else, so it was safe to stare. They didn't look anything alike. Of the three boys, one was a heavy muscled guy, handsome, but kinda scary. Another was a taller and leaner, but still well muscled. The last one was lanky, less bulky, but still defined, with perfectly tousled hair; hair which looked untouched, but still perfect. He looked more boyish than the rest of the boys, who looked like they could be teachers here, instead of students.

Sitting at the table with them were two girls. One was a stunning beauty, with model-like features, and hair that would make everyone envy. When she stood to throw away her food, I saw that she also had a body that any model would die for.

The other girl was small. Short and petite. Her face was pretty, but kind of vague.

They were all so different and yet at the same time, they were so alike. Every one of them was pale. Paler than most Indians. Paler than most whites. Paler than me.

Although their skin color was so light, their eyes were dark, with purplish shadows under the eyes; as if they didn't get enough sleep. Like they had got in a fist fight and had a black eye and a broken nose.

But their noses, as well as all other features were straight, perfect, angular.

But all this wasn't why I could look away.

I stared becuase their unique faces were so devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They looked like faces you saw in airbrushed magazine photos; not in a sucky school in some rainy town in India. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful- the perfect looking girl, or the lean, boyish guy.

"Who are they?" I asked the girl, who walked with me to lunch.

As she looked up to see who I was talking about (although I suspected she already knew from my tone), the boyish one looked up at her for just a fraction of second. Then, suddenly, his dark eyes flicked to mine.

He looked away quickly; more quickly than could, though in a flush of embarrassment I dropped my eyes at once.

That's the part. Its long for my standards. I hated it. Sorry. I plan on continuing this ff once a week, with long parts. I hope that works. You will notice that as the part kept going, the writing got worse and worse. That's my fault, im tired. I apologize. The next part will be more about the strange kids, and you'll be introduced to them. Any guesses as to who they might be? (Hint- Angad, Kavya, Neev, Prachi, and Anjali are the only names). I will also need some Indian names. And Suhit will be added to this ff as well. I think that's all for now. Please comment! I will reply to them. Promise. I need at least 15 good comments to continue. Thank you!

x3 Prakriti