New AvNeil SS: The Challenge | CHAPTER 7- PG 17 |April 04 - Page 2

And I untightened next the tress

About her neck; her cheek once more

Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:

I propped her head up as before,

Only, this time my shoulder bore

.

A sudden lull adorned the ambiance as Professor Montgomery enunciated the lines from the text book, giving analysis of each stanza as he went on, finally reaching the penultimate one. The explanation brought many to the edge of their seats as their brains tried to figure the gravity of the lines of the Robert Browning poem in their combined English class.

Her head, which droops upon it still:

The smiling rosy little head,

So glad it has its utmost will,

That all it scorned at once is fled,

And I, its love, am gained instead!

Many "Awwws" and "Whoas!" were heard in mere murmurs from the females of the class while the males sat silently, switching glances between their textbooks and the English professor who dramatically went on to enunciate the lines from the ancient poem.

What was this poetry?

Romance or Violence?

Many thought to themselves.

.

Porphyria's love: she guessed not how

Her darling one wish would be heard.

And thus we sit together now,

And all night long we have not stirred,

And yet God has not said a word!

And the final stanza was done with that, Prof. Montgomery explaining the last lines in modern English, so that the students could comprehend better.

"And that, dear students, was the end of Browning's poem: Porphyria's Lover."

He said as he closed the book slowly, letting out a deep sigh, as if himself affected by the dramatic impact of the intense poem.

He expected the class to be back in their monkey-business mode, but to his utter surprise they remained quiet. Relieved, and at the same time surprised, he asked-

"Any questions, students?"

He thought his query would go unanswered making him think for a moment, were his students really taking a literature lesson seriously for a change? But his delusion was short-lived as he heard someone speak,

"No questions sir! But this Browning dude seems to be a psycho for writing such a poem! Who kills his lady love by strangling her with her own hair?! This guy gives me the creeps!"

Vidyut said with a weird expression etched to his face as many murmurs and nods of compliance followed soon after.

"Silence, class!"

The professor ordered, irked by the sudden noises that echoed in the lecture theatre. The noise diminished by one unit, before Rhea spoke,

"I totally agree with Vidyut, sir. Gosh! I feel bad for his poor girlfriend Porphyria, who he killed! I mean this guy is a total psychooo!"

She dramatically stretched the O phonetic of the last word as she spoke.

"That reminds me of someone!"

Neil chanted in an extremely low tone, audible only to the people in a puny diameter, which fortunately (or unfortunately) included Avni's seat as she sat adjacent to Neil.

"Bite me!"

She muttered to herself on hearing him, while Neil chuckled at that remark, carefully lip syncing with a smirk, the words, "Would love to!" so that only Avni could see this act of his.

Her mouth flung open at his flirtatious gesture before she turned her face away from him and spoke in a louder tone addressing the professor, so that everyone could hear--

"Sir, the guy wasn't a psycho as some people here are deeming him to be."

She deliberately stressed on "some people" garnering the attention of Vidyut, Rhea, as well as her boyfriend in an alternate universe but rival in front of all, Neil.

"Since the poem was written in 1836, not many were aware of psychological conditions in that era. He might have had this condition called histrionic personality disorder, wherein he would have loved Porphyria truly, but his alter ego might have been the volatile, obsessive person with killer instincts resulting in the first-degree murder of his girlfriend."

She spoke, as usual, backing up her words with her subject axioms, making the other fellows from her stream nod and say "yeah" and "yes" before a mock laughter rung in the air, and Neil spoke,

"Yeah, right! Miss. Mehta, according to psychologists, every effing human being on the planet has a psychological condition that needs medical attention! In that case, we should acquit all the prisoners charged with homicide, isn't it?"

Vidyut high-fived him as he said that, as Rhea followed suit and almost every soul from the science stream laughed out loud, making Avni clench her fists, and the next chain of words pretty instantaneously escaped her mouth on their own accord,

"Oh yeah, Khanna! You must be knowing a lot about psychological disorders! Given that you have an alter-ego too, I believe!"

Neil's laughter died a sudden death at her rant, his mind knowing very well what she was indicating and how. Before he could retort, he heard her continue,

"On a different note though, do you know, self-obsession is a psychological disorder too? Narcissistic Personality Disorder, as it's called, categorically. Say what? Start getting treated pronto, or who knows you will need a counsellor when you turn 40 something, with none of your minions (she pointed at the science students) there to boost your self-confidence?"

Neil stared at her in shock, his jaw clenched at her furious sentences.

'Again. Why am I dating her exactly?'
.

His mind popped the question!

'You love her!'

'Oh yeah!'

He reminded himself, trying to calm his senses when he heard Rhea speak,

"Shut it Mehta! Our Neil doesn't need any counseling. He is the best and will always be!"
.

'Their Neil?!?'

'How dare she? Bloody bimbo! Was Neil their property or something?!'

Avni berated Rhea in her mind as she rolled her eyes, feeling jealous as well as disappointed at Rhea's prefix for Neil.

.

Neil could very easily sense Avni's discomfort at Rhea's mushy words for Neil and that vision made him gloat for some reason.

'Jealous, much, my wild cat? Good! Nature's punishment for the no-touching clause!'

He recited inside his head.

Making optimum use of the opportunity, he decided to play a little more with the green-eyed monster of jealousy in her eyes, and averred,

"Chuck it, Lav! Science and logic go hand in hand, doesn't mean other subjects too are an accomplice of logic."
.
.

'He did not just say that!'

'He... DID NOT just.say.that!'

'He did NOT just call Rhea, LOVE!'

Avni felt the voices scream in a screeching pitch inside her head as she looked at Neil with a shocked, followed by hurt, followed by a furious expression.

Neil looked at her with a mocking guise, which was soon replaced by a look of baffled query as he saw her furiously penetrating gaze, and some tiny voice uttered at the back of his head,

'Uh-oh!'

Little did Avni know, that Neil addressed Rhea as Lav, and not love, because Rhea's nickname was Lavu and all her friends called her either that or Lav.

English phonetics, man! There's a reason it is called a crazy language at times.

Avni's best friend Sunehri, who was sitting behind her patted her back, telling her to relax her temper while Avni only pursed her lips, feeling like breaking anything and everything at that moment.

The bell rang, and the class was over, making Mr. Montgomery sigh in relief as he walked towards the door, thanking his stars like he did every single day for helping him survive the most deadly and dysfunctional hour from his everyday schedule.

"Monkeys!"

He muttered to himself as he finally left the class.

..

As soon as the professor left, all nuances of literature were forgotten as the routine hullabaloo over nothing relevant reverberated in the lecture theater.

"Okay, okay guys!"

DD said in a leading tone as he walked out of his seating area and stood near the podium where Mr. Montgomery was five minutes ago.

"May Porphyria's soul rest in peace as well as her lover's. Now back to the 21^st century people! We have a BIG event to plan!"

Whistles and hoots followed his statement from his fellow science mates while the psychology students only rolled their eyes and waited for him to continue.

Clearing his throat, he went on, "So as you all know, that our dearest classmate and college heartthrob Neil, had yesterday suggested in the post lunch discussion that it is legit to give everyone a fair chance and hence, we will be having an inter-departmental combat, wherein, students will compete in cultural, artistic, as well as literary segments."

Another round of hoots from the crowd broke out as DD said that, regulating the cauldron of anger in Avni's head due to the previous moments, to some extent.

Neil tried to find some calm in Avni's hyper-tensed face at DD's words, but to his disappointment, he found none. Instead, he found her blatantly ignoring his gaze.

'Why is she avoiding me?'

'And, why does she look SO angry?'

He asked himself.
.

'Was she PMSing?'

He chuckled at that thought.
.

"So, since other departments are not really interested, or rather unwilling to go for the West-Gala, it is only Science department vs. Psychology department. We have 10 days guys! Let's play fair and may the best team win! After all, at the end of the day, the trophy has to be in the name of Hillridge International!"

DD spoke like a true leader. This time, students from both the departments clapped at his fair words, and Avni only sighed.

"Very well, then. We should get going. Since today is day 1, we will start with the literary segment. So, all those who want to volunteer for extempore, debate, and the writing contests, please submit your names to Miss. Sanders before lunch. The competition will be held after 6th period in the Grace Rodge Hall." He concluded.

Soon after, the class got busy as incessant discussions over who would participate, what topics should they prepare for, and other agendas to talk about came to fore. Avni got up from the seat, taking her books, fixing her sling bag when her gaze fell on Sunehri, who was still glued to her seat, staring at nothing in particular.

Avni clicked her fingers in front of her eyes, bringing her out of trance, as she stared at her best friend's dazzled face before she said:

"Earth calling, Sunehri! Where the hell are you lost?"

Sunehri immediately got up, fixing her top, as she clutched her books closer to her chest and said in a hurried tone, "Nothing Avni! Was just thinking.. DD is a great orator."

Avni rolled her eyes at that. She couldn't deny that what Sunehri spoke was actually quite true, but the rebellious competitor in her wouldn't let her budge.

"Yeah Sunehri! But don't worry, we have many good orators on our team, so I'm sure we are going to win this." She stated in a confident tone, making Sunehri only smile faintly.

Finally, the two of them left the classroom together, as Ali followed suit, leaving many discussing about the upcoming inter-departmental combat, including Neil Khanna. He glanced sideways amidst his discussion with his batch mates, looking at the retreating back of his girlfriend, who today appeared to be in an ultra-angry mood.

*

Avni walked at a fast pace towards the parking lot of the college, where her precious 18th birthday gift from her parents was parked: Her Volkswagen Polo.

She had attended two back to back classes and somehow felt the desperate need of fresh air after whatever happened in the English class. She was glad that it was lunch time, the perfect scope for her me-time.

Normally, she wouldn't let any event make her ponder over it for so long, but strangely, a certain voice that enunciated 'Love' for someone, was making unwarranted knots in her stomach.

It was an unprecedented league altogether for her.

"Jealousy is a negative thought, Avni."

"Jealousy is a negative thought."

She reminded herself.

"Calm down, calm down. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out."

She comforted herself in her mind, simultaneously chiding her thought process that brought her to a negative connotation like jealousy in life.

Was this really her?

'Neil will be the death of me!'

She thought.

.

Her thoughts were broken when she accidentally dropped one of books and immediately bent down to pick it up.

She got up with the book and resumed walking towards her car once again, the same frown etched on her face. She neared her car and fastened her pace only to accidentally drop something once again. This time, it was her car keys.

"Damn!"

She muttered, angry at herself for her clumsiness and bent down to pick it up when a voice from behind halted her in motion.

"Someone seems distracted."

His mocking tone accentuated the already out of control anger in Avni's head as she picked up her car keys, and immediately turned to face him.

.

"Whoa! You seem to be so, so ANGRY!"

Neil exclaimed, with an expression blended with shock and a sheepish smile.

Her nostrils flared with annoyance at his mocking and she gritted her teeth and clicked the button of the remote key of the car and it immediately got unlocked.

"Hey, whoa! Avni! Wait! What's wrong?"

Neil urgently stepped towards her, his tone etched with seriousness and concern as she looked away from him, making him flinch at her ignorance.

Normally, she would retort with some bitter statements going by her verbal graph, but what happened to her today?

"Avni.. I'm asking you something.. I-"

"None of your business!"

She broke his sentence midway with her harsh words.

'Okay, something was definitely wrong with her.'

Neil confirmed in his head.

"Umm, okay. Fine. Where are you going by the way? The debates and other stuff are going to happen after the 6th period and-"

He stopped as he looked at her uninterested face that still avoided his gaze. The universe knew that ignoring Neil Khanna's face or words meant hell breaking loose for the person who dared to do so, but for an exception, this petite, feisty, extraordinarily beautiful girl in front of him, came carved with the audacity of breaking all rules when it came to the mighty Neil Khanna.

He tried changing the course of his words as an attempt to garner her interest as he spoke,

"So, tell me, which segment are you participating in? Music? Dance? Volleyball? Glass paint-"

"Stop it Neil!"

And Neil was taken aback by her loud voice.

She really was angry. Very, very angry.

But why?

His baffled querying expression got an immediate answer as she looked at him with a conspicuously dangerous look and spat,

"Why are you bothered about what thing I participate in, anyway? You should bother about the love of your life, your precious LOVE, Rhea Mehra instead!"

She mockingly stressed on the word Love, making Neil's eyes widen in shock at her accusatory tone. The shock was soon replaced by anger as his hands fisted into balls and he dangerously took a step closer to her, making her step back earnestly.

Her back now remained pressed against her car while Neil gazed at her intently, angry, concerned, making her breathless for a moment.

"What. The. Hell. Do you mean by that?"

He spoke, in a rather rude way as Avni stared at him questioningly.

"Don't act innocent, Neil. You very well know where I'm coming from!"

He frowned as he still didn't fathom anything that was probably going in his psycho girlfriend's head. Before he could even frame his next words, he heard her speak,

"If you want to publicly profess your love for Rhea, by addressing her as LOVE in front of the entire class in English period, then I believe currently you should be whispering sweet nothings into her ears rather than asking me what I'm planning to participate in!"

"WHAT THE F?!"

He spat immediately as he heard her accuse him of something he had no clue about when suddenly the big fat lava lamp of realization dawned in his head.

'She did not just think-'

Whoa!

The thought itself was way too overwhelming for him.

Seriously, as well as humorously.

She did not just misinterpret his pronunciation, did she?

"Av-"

He couldn't help the playful smile that now adorned his lips at that realization as he halted before continuing further, and finally spoke-

"Avni! I didn't say LOVE, I said LAV, L-A-V! Rhea's nickname is Lavu!"

He enunciated the spelling of Lav, to pinpoint where he was coming from at this, while Avni's brows furrowed in confusion at the whole ambiguity.

"You know L for London, A for America, and V for-"

He deliberately went ahead with acronym demonstration before stopping right there, smiling, at the same time not wanting to nudge with the tigress in front of him.

"That's her pet name since childhood Avni. You can ask anyone!"

He said sincerely, while she now depicted a relatively easier expression on her face replacing the stern one that made her look like Lady Hitler up until now.

"Blame the homophones, Avni. It messed with your brains, not me!"

He said jokingly, making a faint smile appear on her face as she mentally berated herself for this whole fuss over the silly thing.

But she was Avni Mehta. Admitting fallacies wasn't really a natural in her expertise. Not finding anything to pick up at, she said with a raised eyebrow-

"You didn't need to demonstrate your alphabets you know, with that typical smirk of yours! Totally gives away what you were actually thinking with those alphabets, mentally coating the words, L for luscious lips, A for amazing b**bs and V for-"

A wicked smile appeared on Neil's face, hearing those bold connotations escape her mouth.

Bold and beautiful, eh!

"I wasn't really thinking of those, but now that you said it, well..."

He paused at that as he lustfully looked at her from head to toe, making her wish that the ground she was standing on would just split into two halves and she would dive inside, deep, deep, inside Earth's crust.

Damn, Avni! Soch samajhke bola kar (Think before you speak!). This self-obsessed boyfriend of yours is a PRO at trapping people in their own words!'

Avni mentally slapped herself with that, while Neil only continued to amusingly stare at her, enjoying every bit of her nervous demeanour.

She nervously looked at different directions, trying to curb the embarrassment that she felt from within when suddenly she spotted him taking a step towards her. She immediately lifted her gaze from the ground and looked at him oblivious to what he was trying to do.

"Well. So now I guess, someone deserves to be punished for misunderstanding me, and treating me really bad, without any logical reason."

Neil said in a dangerously playful tone, making Avni straighten up and bite the insides of her cheeks in nervousness.

Before she could say something, she saw Neil's hand come towards her and she immediately flinched and began to speak,

"I.. You, uh- the challenge- you can't-"

.

"Relax! I know the rules. I'm not touching you. Yet."

He shut her up as he lifted a heavy bunch of thick strands from her waist-length hair in his fists and she looked at him perplexed.

"Well, science deems the ends of human hair as dead cells. So, technically, I'm not touching you."

She felt her heart beat pace up as he played with the ends of her hair, beating the bragging-logic-princess in her verbally with his logic.

He very well knew the effect he created in her as he observed her hands fisting the sides of her floral dress, a gesture that instantly brought a smirk on his face, satisfaction in his heart, and pride in his mind.

She sensed her nervousness crossing perimeters by heaps and bounds when suddenly she found him wrapping her long hair around her neck.

The feeling made her breathless, not literally, but literally.

"Wha-What are you-"

"Ssshhh.."

He shushed her as he made two wraps on her neck with her lustrous long dark brown wavy hair, being extremely cautious to not suffocate her.

Still holding the ends of her hair in his fist as the rest remained wrapped around her small neck, he stood behind her, planting a kiss on her neck, which was covered with her hair technically; playing by the rules but still breaking it.

Paradox, paradox!

The feeling of his lips and the proximity of his body so close to her made Avni's legs transform into jelly as she felt all her resilience evanescing into thin air, but she tried, desperately, to keep herself grounded and not give in to his expert ministrations.

Trying to avoid the constriction in her lungs that wasn't due to the apparent strangling but because of this insanely handsome man's proximity to her, she managed to speak,

"Wha- What do you think you are doing?"
.

She didn't know about Robert Browning's write-ups anymore. But if the ancient Greek God was to be dressed up in an attire of blue jeans and black denim-shirts in the 21st century, he would probably look like the guy in front of her right now.

Neil continued to kiss her neck the same way, before he whispered in a dangerous tone in her ear, making his hot breath fan the sensitive area below it,

"I'm a science freak, remember? We believe in practical experiments rather than theoretical sh*t. So, was trying to illustrate Browning's poem and be Porphyria's psychotic lover, you see."

Avni gasped at his sentence, making him chuckle instantaneously.

God, it was priceless to see her all flustered, scared, and irked.

He thought to himself, when she broke his little self-chat,

"Well, I was right about your psychological disorder then! You should seriously get medical attention. PRONTO."

"Hmph!"

He sighed as he finally let go of her hair, letting the silky, smooth strands fall back to their length as he came in front of her and spoke with the signature smirk etched on his face,

"Well, you are right! I think I should get a counsellor to speak to."

Avni looked at him as he spoke the words intently and awaited the next lines.

"So, when are you gonna be free?"

"For?" She replied in a blink.

"For counselling me!"

He said as a matter of factly, making her pout and look at him.

She did not just POUT!

God, this girl was hell bent on testing his patience. Her pout looks like an open invitation to kiss those luscious pink lips senseless and perhaps even bite them a bit.

No, no, not bite them. A bit maybe, yeah. A bit. That sounds fine.

Neil chided himself mentally for the satanic hormonal verses ringing in his head.

"Dream on, Khanna!"

She said arrogantly, while he gave her a really, Avni? look, making her heart melt instantaneously.

"To think of it, I actually find this proposition productive. Since you do think I suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, why not you become my counsellor and we have some really, really productive sessions together, and make it a win-win situation for both of us, hmm?"

He spoke in a seductive tone making Avni's breath hitch as she tried to maintain her balance so that his words don't completely turn her feet wobbly.

"I'm not a practicing psychologist, Neil. Get a professional." She averred making him roll his eyes, before he remarked-

"Practice begins at home and practice makes perfect. So, brace yourself and let's make this a mutual benefit for the both of us now, shall we?"

She very well knew Neil had a post doctorate degree when it came to teasing her, but even with simple wordplays he had the maneuver of leaving her breathless. He didn't even need to touch her physically.

God, what was this guy? Some alien from the planet of Asgard?

Avni thought.

In that brief moment she forgot why was she even standing in the parking lot next to her car, the need for fresh air not needful anymore as they stared at each other intently, a small smile adorning both of their lips.

Healthy flirting was really healthy, huh? Positivity is contagious.

Her smile widened as he gestured her with his eyes to get back inside the building, while she nodded and accompanied him.

Porphyria's Lover might have been an obsessed soul with a histrionic personality disorder, but her boyfriend was definitely a sexy, flirty, yet extremely lovable beast with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

She chuckled at that thought mentally.

"The proposal is still open, by the way."

His voice echoed in a soft murmur as they finally stood at the crossroads of the dark corridor that demarcated the different departments, before she muttered a "Shut up!" and headed towards the library, leaving him contently smiling to himself.

**

Originally posted by: paayaal

This is sooo gonna be fun!!

I can't wait for the not-yet fully mature AvNeil to battle it out! Their public challange to each other now has a personal flavor now that Avni has upped the stakes with a 'No Touching' rule!

But m wondering who'll be more affected by it; Avni or Neil😆

The twist of them being a secret couple was such a pleasent surprise after them ready to go at each other physically, at least Avni was!

Daily updates?? Yes please!!