RosesHaveThorns#2(AR) Note: Page128 24th September - Page 78

Originally posted by: -Heart-Hacker-

Roses have Thorns And Zarqaa has proms🤣

Chapter 13

Armaan sat down on one of the benches where his friends were, taking his bag off his back.

But Armaan was too stuck in his own world to notice that. What else could he do to help him help her? How could he use that little, yet powerful, packet to help him? In what ways could he use it? And what could it help him with? He knew Riddhima was desperate for it, or else she wouldn't be doing all this for it, but what he couldn't understand was, why didn't she just take it off him? Why didn't she stay stubborn until he gave it to her? Why did she give in so easily? Didn't she show herself as a fighter, a person who never gives in? Then why had she done the complete opposite? Did she realise she did that, or did it just happen spontaneously? He wanted to ask her but he already knew the answer, which wouldn't be the truth. She was a pack of lies now, the way she was living was a lie, her make-up, clothes, her look was all a lie, her life was a lie. It wasn't her. He had to get her back, and the only way at that moment was by that packet. He found it funny how he was using the thing that was destroying her, to fix her. But it was only thing right now he could think of that he knew would work, heck he was lucky enough to get it! Anything else wouldn't have worked as easily as this, knowing that she wanted it so badly helped as well. He would have to get her back, even if it means sinking as low as using drugs as the weapon. He only wished he could do it without making her hate him even more, if that was possible. Even he had feelings. But for now they had to be put aside, Riddhima's emotions were the main focus right now. He had to be careful with his plans, he couldn't rush too fast in to it, he had to go step by step, slowly, not letting Riddhima realise what's changing within her. He wasn't exactly changing her, no he wasn't because this wasn't her, this was just a mask she put for everyone to believe it was her. It fooled him once but not again. He knew the real Riddhima, the one that had disappeared over that summer. He would have to start by changing the small things at first, like her look maybe. Changing her behaviour would be going too fast and she would never allow it, not that she would allow him changing her look either. So how was he going to do it?

She stood in front of the mirror and took out her eyeliner, she started putting it on when she heard the door open, a girl walked in and her face dropped seeing Riddhima there. She bit her lip as if she was thinking whether or not to risk coming in there, but before she could decide she already got what she didn't want."What?!" Riddhima snapped at her sharply noticing the girl staring. The girl jumped in fear and ran off, even bumping in to the door along the way.

Riddhima finished doing her make-up and looked up at herself in the mirror. She stared at the reflection and sighed. The school bell rang breaking her pool of thoughts and she groaned remembering she had to meet Armaan. "Let the fun begin," she mumbled.

She walked to the library and saw Armaan leaning against the wall with his arms crossed , whistling patiently. She frowned and walked up to him.

"Finally! What took you so long?" She glared at him, "Awww you could be a little happier to see me you know, not everyone is lucky to get tutored by me." She was about to retort but he interrupted "Now come on, why you wasting time for? Let's go."

He walked inside leaving Riddhima irritated and shocked. She grumbled and followed after him. They sat down and took the books out of their bags.

"Now now Riddhima, no need to thank me so much!" He said sarcastically, she just did what she did best, glare back at him. "Seriously, and enough with the smiling, you're making be blush."

"Listen Armaan-" she was interrupted yet again.

"No you listen Riddhima, I'm going to give you some names of some books and I need you to go fetch them from the Psychology section." He spoke getting out his notebook.

"Oh no! After last time I am so NOT doing that again." Armaan grinned remembering the incident from last time they were here. "Why can't you get them?"

"Because I'm teaching you plus it will familiarise you with what type of books help with what part of the course."

"But I-"

"Look do you want my help and knowledge or not?"

"NO!" she exclaimed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well too bad you're getting it. Now the longer you take to get the books, the longer you're going to have to put up with me." He grinned at her.

"Just give me the damn names."

"Aww no need to be all frowny Riddhima. Just for you I wrote them on a piece of paper so you won't forget them." He said in a baby voice. She snatched the piece of paper from his hand and went looking for the books leaving him to smirk in content.

She returned with the right books and they started their studying. Armaan started her from the basics from the beginning of the second year of which she had missed. He went slowly explaining every little detail because she needed to know everything to pass exams. That was the problem with Psychology; the smallest detail could make the biggest difference in the exam. Riddhima listened carefully and took notes on everything he said, she didn't complain and tried to make sense of everything that he said, it was difficult though, there was so much to learn in those few months she lost, she thought having some knowledge from 1^st year would help but it only helped in small parts of it.

They didn't realise how long they had been in there for until the lunch bell rang. Riddhima sat back in her seat and sighed in exhaustion.

"That's it, I need a break. My head is killing me, I have too much information for now and I still need to cram it all in my head." She complained.

Armaan started putting his books in his bag, "Well just like you I need a break too, all this talking has got me hungry." He looked up at her mischievously, "Wanna grab a bite?" He winked.

She scoffed, "You wish." She got up placing all her things in her bag.

"Your loss." She was about to walk out when he stopped her, "We still haven't finished and we have only done like 20% of what you need to know, so I suggest we continue this after the lecture. Let's say at your house? Yeah? Cool, I'll drive us there. See ya!"

"Wha-wait! Why can't we do it at your house?"

"Because I have guests over." He answered simply, she would never realise he was lying with that poker face. "Plus you can't say no because I have something of yours that you want, so if you want it back'"

He left it incomplete but she knew what he was talking about ' The drug. She sighed, "Yeah yeah I know, I have to do everything you say. But let me warn you now, this whole 'use the drug against me' plan won't work for long, I will find a way to get it back."

"But until then, I'm gonna keep using it." He grinned.

"Okay but why can't we come back to the library instead of going all the way to my house? It would waste less time."

"And repeat the incident of last time? No thanks! In case you forgot we got locked in, do you really want to risk that again? I'm not going to do that mistake again of being alone with you in here." He picked up his bag, and started walking out, facing her smirking at her.

Riddhima couldn't believe what he just said. He didn't want to be in the library with her, but where the f**k was they now? The roof?! Had he completely lost it? Did he even make sense of what he was saying?!

"But we-" She was interrupted yet again by him, did he have a habit of doing that?

"We will go straight after the lecture, so even think about bailing and running off." He shouted on his way out the door, turning to run to meet his friends.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to with you around." She mumbled grabbing her bag and making her way out.

She would've went to Vicky and the gang but she was really hungry and she needed to grab a bite now before she dropped, they would've probably just smoke to fill their appetite which she normally does but she was starving today. She headed out the school, making sure not to cross Vicky's path, and went to the first takeaway she could find to order some food. Surprisingly as she waited for her order to come, Armaan walked in to the same one as her.

"Why am I not surprised?" she muttered.

"Following me are you?" he asked smirking at her.

"I should be the one asking you that question since I was here first." He was about to reply back when her order came and she paid and left.

By the time she got back to the University, she had finished her meal and chucked it. She groaned hearing her name being called, she knew who it was.

"What do you want Armaan?"

He caught up to her and said, "Nothing just thought we walk to class together."

"Why? Can't you walk by yourself? Do you need mummy to hold your hand?"

"No I just thought it might be another opportunity to annoy you." He grinned as she frowned hearing that. She shook her head and started to walk in the direction of their lecture hall, listening to him babble on about things she didn't really care about. What she didn't realise was, someone wasn't really happy seeing them.

Vicky saw her walk in to the school grounds and was about to go up to her to ask her where she went, when he saw that guy once again with her. What was his name again? Something Mallik? Yeah that's what it was. Why was he always with her every opportunity he got? He felt like each day he was losing a bit of control he had over Ri. He aimed to get it back, but it was turning out to be impossible thanks to that Mallik guy. He was about to shout her name when he saw her enter the lecture hall and knew it was no use trying to talk to her, she would probably end up making an excuse. That's what really bugged him, the fact that she herself was pushing her away from him, making it more difficult for him to get in to her head. It was that entire Malliks fault, he was getting in to her mind and erasing everything he had made her, soon she would be her old self. He had to get them apart soon. He was actually afraid of what might happen if he didn't.

They were early so no one was in the lecture hall except from them. They took their seats next to one another, Riddhima knew it was no point of telling him to sit somewhere else because it would lead to a useless argument and him getting what he wants. Armaan was still babbling on, and Riddhima couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop!" Armaan stopped talking and looked at her confused, "Dude, how much can you speak? Jeez, I swear I was this close to banging your head against the desk." She said exasperated.

Armaan just chuckled, "You know if I was getting on your nerves, you could've just told me to stop ages ago."

"Like that would've stopped you."

"You're right, it wouldn't have."

"What are you both doing in here? The lecture hasn't begun yet." Their conversation was put on pause by their professor, who both of them couldn't remember the name of all of a sudden.

"Erm sir, we thought to come in here early and catch up on some work." Armaan lied.

"Well that's good. How's your catching up going?" He asked Riddhima.

"It's going steady, i still got a lot more to learn but for now it's okay."

"Don't worry; you will get the hang of things." He turned to Armaan, "So have you been helping Miss Gupta?"

"Yes sir, we've been revising together in the library and after school."

"That's great. Where are you both up to?"

"Erm the part on where depression can lead to any mental state that can make any person do whatever they feel is right." Armaan answered.

"Hmm, you still have a lot more to teach her. I suggest you both should study together more often so you can finish it soon, you have that test on Wednesday Miss Gupta and you need to know most things to pass. Why don't you both meet up every day or go to each other's houses?" He advised.

Armaan grinned hearing the last bit, making Riddhima want to bury her head in the sand. She cursed the professor under her breath for siding with Armaan unknowingly. The hall was starting to get filled now with students so the professor went back to his desk to start the lecture.

Armaan was about to speak when she interrupted him, "Don't." He chuckled at her annoyed, bossy tone and listened as the professor started the lecture, taking notes. They didn't talk during the lecture wanting to learn for once, and soon enough it was time to go.

They packed their things and started to head out, Riddhima could see Vicky from afar smoking with their friends, and a unknown feeling grew inside of her seeing them. She didn't want him to see her with Armaan because she knew he would be furious at that, and it would cause a fight. Armaan noticed her face drop and followed her gaze to Vicky.

"You know you don't want to be scared of him." He said.

"I'm not afraid of him; I just don't want to be seen with you by him." Armaan scoffed silently at her reply but knew not to push her in to actually admitting her true feelings. Instead he thought to help her get out of this dilemma of hers.

"Okay then since that's your problem, let's go the long way to my car." He made a left making Riddhima confused on which way he was going because she knew the car park was only outside the front entrance. She followed him and realised he was going out from the back entrance, they went all around the building and finally got to his car."There, see you didn't get caught. Happy?""No, I felt like I walked a mile." She huffed.

Anjali was just watching TV when she heard some yelling from outside. She got up and went to the door and heard the words properly and was shocked by the language used which should be censored, but she realised the words were coming out of a females voice and she didn't need to think twice on who that could be. She opened the door to see Riddhima with her back to the door, pointing her finger at Armaan and yelling at his face whilst Armaan was there, standing coolly with his arms crossed against his chest, snapping some words back at her.They heard the door open and turned to see Anjali standing there with a 'what the hell?' face. Armaan was the first one to react and pushed Riddhima out of the way and hugged Anjali shocking both girls.

"Hey Anjali!" He spoke enthusiastically with a grin on his face. "Erm hi." She replied unsurely, she looked at Riddhima to see her with her arms crossed against her chest, and glaring at Armaan and she huffed her way in to the house. Armaan chuckled and went in after her; only one thing came in to her mind. This was going to be a very interesting day.