ArShi FF- Whimsy: Chapter Four- Apologies (Page 9) - Page 5

"Piss off." Arnav growled at the two year 7s prodding at something with some sticks behind the teachers' parking building. One of them opened his mouth, as though to protest, then seeing the dangerous glint in Arnav's eyes thought better of it and ran off, his friend not far behind.

He looked back at Khushi, who had been squirming and cussing at him the entire way. He finally let her go.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She kicked him directly in the shin and Arnav gritted and hissed sharply through his teeth to keep from yelping.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Do you make a habit of abducting young women and taking them to dark, deserted areas? HELP! PREDATOR! KIDNAP!"

Arnav raised his hands in front of him. The sun shone brightly all around them. Heck, there weren't even any trees and those two year 7s from earlier kept peeking around the corner of the building to see if it was safe to come back and prod at the ground again.

Their school had roughly 300 people in every year, and since Khushi appeared to know NK, he assumed she was with him in Year 10. Arnav, being in year 11 with Aakash and Aman, wasn't surprised he hadn't met her before. He was, however, surprised he hadn't at least noticed her before.

No longer the dishevelled mess she had been yesterday, he noticed that she was really quite pretty. He saw a tiny fleck- a freckle- at the edge of her left eye which, now he noticed it, he couldn't stop staring at.

She snapped her fingers in front of his face, snapping him back to reality.

"No. I just..." he trailed off. Just what was he doing? Oh yeah. He remembered. He crossed his arms and scowled. "Apologise for throwing a clementine at me."

Khushi looked dumbstruck. "You... Did you seriously drag me all the way out here just to make me apologise?"

Arnav folded his arms, his signature smirk back on his face. "And if I did?"

"I'd say you're the one who's insane."

Arnav bent towards her, his gaze flicking first to the tiny mole and then down to her mouth. "Well you know what they say." He whispered, he saw her shiver as his breath brushed her skin.

"What do they say?" she whispered back, swallowing nervously.

Smirk deepening, he tilted his head forward, sharply bumping her forehead with his.

She shrieked and jumped backwards. "Ouch!" she rubbed furiously at her forehead. She opened her mouth, ready to yell at him.

And then seemed to think better of it.

Instead, she smiled, catching him completely off guard.

"I no longer have to apologise."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Well, think about it," she gave him a look as though she were explaining a complex physics theorem, "let's say- hypothetically- that it was me who got revenge on NK yesterday, I'd no longer expect him to apologise for whatever it was he did to precipitate it in the first place, right?"

"...Sure?"

"Well, same here. Since you wanted me to apologise for the clementine and instead you got your revenge by bumping me on the head, we're now even. No apology required." She grinned again, looking extremely smug with herself.

Arnav laughed. He couldn't help it. "Let me counter that. Even though you say I was justified with my head bump, how do we know for sure that we're even? Personally I think a clementine to the face hurts much more than a light bump on the forehead."

"Light bump on the- what are you the elephant man?! Well-" she thought about it. "I suppose I see your point. What do you propose then?"

"I think a sorry should even things out."

"But wouldn't that make us just as uneven as before? It's like x+apology and y+apology. If you take the apology as common, you're still left with the original hurt. And if x is bigger than y, it still doesn't even out."

Arnav wondered if this was the weirdest conversation he'd ever had.

Without doubt.

"In that case, we'll say that the function of an apology is different. It's like... like multiplying by 0."

"Hmmm." Khushi took a moment to absorb that. "Like wiping the slate clean?"

"Yes. I apologise for all that I did, and you apologise for all that you did, and by accepting the apology, we forgive and forget everything that the other person did."

"You know what, I think you're right. In that case, I'm extremely sorry for throwing a clementine at your head and any harm I may have unknowingly caused you- hypothetically- last night."

"I am also sorry for bumping foreheads with you and dragging you out to what even I have to admit, is kind of a creepy area to be alone with a guy you just met."

"LAAAMMMEEE!"

Khushi and Arnav both turned towards the voice, with Arnav whipping away to chase after NK as soon as he clocked that it was him. Khushi started giggling as she heard NK squealing for mercy moments later.

Payal ran up to her. "Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Er yeah, he... apologised."

"Arnav? Arnav apologised?" At the sound of Aakash's voice, Payal flushed scarlet but determinedly avoided looking towards him, keeping her gaze fixed on Khushi.

"Yes. He did. He doesn't do that often?"

"The last time I think was when he was trying on his grandmother's bangles and accidentally broke one."

"Wasn't he 7?" Aman glanced over his shoulder at Arnav and NK who seemed to be circling each other. NK was waving his arms around in front of him making "HIYAAAHHH!" and "HWAAH!" sounds in a terrible attempt to appear as though he knew martial arts.

"6." Aakash shook his head, baffled.

"What in heaven's name do you two think you're doing?" NK had just pounced on Arnav who had run forward with a guttural roar... just as Principal Chan appeared around the corner.

Without skipping a beat, Arnav spun NK around, put an arm around NK's waist and then dipped him. "We were practicing our ballroom dancing, Principal Chan. It's really quite relaxing."

Principal Chan did not look convinced. "And the screaming?"

Arnav shrugged. "NK stepped on my foot. He has giant monster feet, Principal. It hurt."

"Very well. Carry on. I look forward to seeing your performance."

Arnav waited until Principal Chan had turned the corner before very unceremoniously dropping NK onto the hard ground.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4VXRSzeuXY[/YOUTUBE]