ArHi: Kiss And Don't Tell

#1: Because friends are the reason most of you crushes get crushed miserably. Hail, friends!

Chapter One: K I S S M E

Nothing lasts forever. So live it up, drink it down, laugh it off, take chances and never have regrets because at one point everything that you did was exactly what you wanted. - Marilyn Monroe

"And this is where we end this chapter. I expect an essay analyzing the short story in not more than two full-scap pages by next class."

Khushi Gupta rolled her eyes. Trust Miss Rodriguez to be a perfect bore. Just because the woman had nothing exceptionally good to do in life didn't mean that the rest of them suffered from the same misfortune. Unplugging her ears and dropping her hoodie Khushi lightly kicked the chair in front of her.

"Lavanya, yaar. This class was such a drab; the canteen's serving Aloo Paratha's today. Let's go na, please."

She closed her eyes as she folded her hands, sending her best friend her best pout.

"Now? It's lunch now anyways you fool. Get your lazy as off that stupid chair. The bench warmer you are."

"Speak for yourself. I top this batch. Not Mr. Singh or Miss Jaiswal over there."

"Plot twist. You have dreams of topping this class."

"You know I would, if only Dhruv liked smart girls. That he prefers them dumb,"

"And so you purposely decrease your percentile, that's extremely stupid of you."

"Isn't too. I've been extremely busy these days. You have no clue of the torture I've been put up to while you kids have all the fun."

"Torture. Kids. Khushi Gupta. What has gotten into you. She things she's all that just because she just turned 17," Nalini turned over to join them, placing either arm on each of thir shoulder. Khushi rolled her eyes all over again.This girl. The dumbest of the lot. And not to forget, the strongest contender in her fight for Dhruv.

"Let's skip classes after lunch today. Play practices. And I am not staying back here for any more time then needed."

Khushi stared in awe of Dhruv. Dhruv. Dhruv Khanna. Her hero. Dhruv Khanna. Class Representative. Sports Captain. Smart. Good looking. Athletic. Popular. What more did a high schooler want in a boyfriend?

"Sure," she found herself whispering.

"Dhruv , Khushi agrees. How about the both of y'all getting together? You know, skip lunch and hit the adda, do the dirty and we'll meet y'all there." Viren shot sending everyone into squeals of laughter as Dhruv looked away. Khushi wished for the ground to open up and swallow her alive. Didn't that happen in Power Rangers? The first Red Ranger? She wasn't sure.

"Khushi, Dhruv said he likes you. Ask him out. Oh, come on. I swear he did."

Khushi picked up the tray containing her lunch. Shooting the guys a glare she slammed her tray against the table resulting in several 'ooos' followed by silence.

"So how was summer?" Dhruv turned away from the crowd as he seated himself besides Khushi .

"Visited my hometown." Nalini piped up, eager to be the first t answer Dhruv 's question.

"Nothing much. Vacationed with a moron." Khushi found herself whispering as she played with the spaghetti placed on her plate. Why the heck did she buy spaghetti when there were Alloo Parathas available? Well, because she was an absolute moron.

"Dated anyone, Khushi." Lavs piped in enthusiasm.

"Dated, no. But made out with this totally hot dude only to realize he was Veer's best friend. Talk about awkward. And not to forget he had stalker-ish tendencies. Creepy." Khushi rambled unaware of the effect at the table.

"Base."

"What base?"

"Which base were you'll on?"

Khushi just raised her eyebrows alternately in response. Grinning as she walked past them, finally deciding not to have any spaghetti thus successfully avoiding any unwanted scenes later at home.

"Come one, don't leave out the juicy details. Which base?"

"You shouldn't know."

"You're mean."

"I'm aware," Khushi giggled.

"You're just making this up to make Dhruv jealous, right,"

"Maybe. You never know," Khushi puckered her lips as she walked past her best friend and walked towards the washroom.

"Why do you even like him?" her best friend asked her.

"I never said I liked him,"

"Oh, please. You know you do. We all know you do. Don't you dare try to deny it. "

"Maybe, okay. Okay."

"He isn't even good. Like totally blah."

Khushi signed the log, then proceeding to run her fingers through her naturally straight hair. She grinned at Lavs.

She had met Lavanya back in kindergarten and they had just clicked. Like click? And the rest was history. If Khushi were to be Lucifer personified then Lavanya would be Azazel; Khushi 's best friend and right hand woman.

The driver held the door open for the both of them as Khushi and Lavanya stepped into the vehicle.

"So how did meeting your brother go?" Lavanya asked, being the first and only one to know more into Khushi 's personal life. Khushi 's personal life wasn't something she liked to divulge in. It was messed up, per se.

"It went okay. He's really cool, you know."

"You're his only little sister, obviously he'll be really cool." Lavanya laughed away.

"Same can't be said about yours though, right Lavs."

"Don't mention that twerp. He needs to be boiled in hot oil and skinned later. Like that guy who was boiled in hot, as shown on Discovery Channel or was it Animal Planet?"

"I guess the former. Can't be the latter."

"I beg to differ,"

"I would really appreciate if you let go of your phone."

"It's just Nandini informing us to meet her at the cafe right ahead."

"It's afternoon and that place is crowded not to mention really sunny, Khushi. I am not going there."

"You have no choice, kid." Khushi threatened Lavanya with a gun make out of folded fingers as Lavanya feigned fear.

They burst out laughing a second later.

"Khuuussshhh. We have a mission for you," Neil screamed the minute Khushi got out of the vehicle.

"Neeelluuu, I am not taking that up," Khushi faked excitement that could top his as she smacked him on the backside of his head. This dope.

"But Khush, if you don't then Nalini will and it's just a simple dare,"

"I don't remember losing a dare to you,"

"You did lose a bet though and this is compensation,"

Khushi felt her eyes roll all over again, while her head bobbed in agreement. A dare? This better be good.

"What's the dare?"

"See the guy there? Black tee, black jeans, Nike', perfectly gelled hair and glares."

"Where?"

"That dude, tapping into his phone."

"Okay. Him? Now?"

"Pass your phone,"

"Wait, why?"

"Just do,"

"Okay,"

"Why are you calling yourself from my phone? I'm right here, you oaf!"

"Well, we need proof,"

"What proof?"

"You need to ask him out!"

What. The. f**k.

"I ain't asking no random bloke up, yo. Just no,"

"Khush. Do we need to get started on this?"

"No," Khush grimaced.

Khushi stopped short as she collected her thoughts. It's not like she was going to date this random dude. She had to just ask him out. And then tell him it was a dare. Don't people prank each other all the time? And to think how awesome it'd be to have Dhruv deal with the fact that a random stranger agreed to go out with her. He'd totally know what he was missing out on, Khushi grinned.

Khushi crossed the street as she walked over to the guy. He looked great. His t-shirt clung to his well chiseled abdomen so well as his pants hung to butt. He bit his lips, grinning as he messaged someone or just looked his phone; his glares protecting his eyes from her. He has hazel brown eyes, a voice at the back of her mind screamed. What? Wait, what?

This wasn't happening.

Khushi took a 180 degree turn. She was going to go back to her circle friends and face any kind of torture but not give this guy the pleasure of having her ask him. No. Karma, what kind of Karma was this? It wasn't even fair. Looking ahead found her self staring at her overly excited group of friends, a skeptical Neil, an overly excited Lavanya, a grim Nalini and a somber Dhruv walking towards her friends.

There was hell on either side. Choose one, the less painful one. And, Khushi found herself choosing the stranger in black as she took tiny steps walking towards him. This was the end. She was never going to hear the end of this.

Parking herself right in front of the stranger, she kicked him on his shin. He looked up and stared at her, clearly amused. He had an crooked grin as he raised an eyebrow. She just glared at him, quickly changing it into an adorable smile and she turned him around so that his back faced her friends. Looking down as her phone she mumbled the six words that would seal her doom.

"Would you go out with me?"

He looked at her, now clearly amused if he wasn't before.

"Repeat that."

"Would you go out with me?"

"Well, now that you ask so sweetly.."

Khushi 's eyes widened in anticipation as his gaze locked with her and then followed towards her lips. She felt him bend towards her, aiming for a kiss. The sad thing was that he stopped midway as he continued, "I think I'll oblige, girlfriend."

And in that moment as cheesy as it would sound Khushi felt her heart fluttering. She gulped down her own spit. She was staring into the eyes of Arnav Singh Raizada. The atrocious Arnav Singh Raizada, her brother best friend. And as wrong as this should be and as wrong he should have been, Khushi swore she felt butterflies in her stomach as she was pushed from the back. In a millisecond, she felt herself turn around as her arms locked around this stranger as she made up for the distance between them. His arms wrapped around her waist securing her from a fall backwards and her lips on his. Khushi felt her eyes close as she felt herself being transported to the first time they kissed.

Veer would kill the both of them, Khushi mentally noted to call Amaya the first thing the minute she got home.

She felt Arnav deepen the kiss and, and he said earlier, she obliged, the world long forgotten.

This must've been confusing as heck but honestly I can't stare at the screen any longer. This is a rough draft. Will/might edit it later. And as usual not edited. Leave behind your thoughts.

This was originally posted as an IshRa fanfiction but I have issues and I'm so in love with ArHi fan-fictions that I wanted to try writing one of my own.

Please comment to keep this up in the first few pages. :)