When Two Worlds Collide//Arvi FF//Ch. 5, Pg. 14 - Page 3

Waking up, Purvi realized that she still had Arjun's jacket. A feeling in her gut gave her the idea that this jacket might be important to him. Memories of last night flashed before her eyes, making Purvi feel the need to pinch herself to make sure this wasn't all just one long dream. She took off Arjun's jacket and put it neatly into her dance bag with plans of returning it after school.

As she was walking out the door, as always, her father's voice stopped her.

"Do you have your phone baby?"

That's when Purvi realized that she never got her phone back from Arjun. The memory of Arjun's caring voice as he asked her about her condition played vividly in her mind. She didn't know it until later, but Purvi's face developed a rosy glow.

"Purvi, stop thinking about Onir and answer your father!" Purvi's mother said with a laugh, as if everything was just fine and dandy.

"Right' um' actually' I let Esha borrow it to call her parents and I never got it back last night' so uh'." Purvi trailed off, fidgeting with her fingers.

"'use Onir's phone to call?" her father suggested.

Purvi forced a smile and replied with a "sure" in a low voice. "I can't wait until you all see Onir's true colors." Purvi thought to herself.

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When Purvi entered the changing room, she felt the heat of the eyes that were on her. She rolled her eyes and went straight to changing into her practice attire.

"Wow, you had the nerve to come back," said a girl whom Purvi found to be completely irrelevant.

"Well of course, I am! I'm a part of this team after all and I'm one of the leaders," Purvi said with a hint of sarcasm.

At the end of Purvi's rebuttal, the girl decided to go back to snickering with other team mates. After Purvi finished changing, one her teammates decided to knock over her dance bag, spilling all the contents. In response, Purvi just gave a smile, but as they turned and walked away, she formed her hand into a fist while having it placed directly behind the girl's head and rolled her eyes.

"Deshmukh, that's not going to help anything," chirped the shrill voice of Ovi ' the nicest 'enemy' Purvi has ever had.

Purvi let out a sigh. "God knows what they'd do if I actually hit them."

"As if you could," Ovi spat out with a giggle.

Thoughts of Arjun and Teju fluttered into her mind along with imaginations of them teaching her how to fight. With a genuine smile, Purvi responded with, "I have some people that could teach me how."

Ovi rolled her eyes and mumbled what seemed to be a "whatever."

As Purvi went out, there was no sight of Onir or coach, so she felt the need to say a silent prayer.

"PURVI! Every time I turn around and look at you, you're always doing some weird crap!" Ovi yelled from across the field.

However, Purvi didn't care about anything Ovi had to say. What caught her eye in the region she was in was the police officer that Ovi was previously in a conversation with. She bit her lip as she decided whether or whether not to ask about Arjun or Teju ' Purvi knew that at heart they were good people, there was something dark about them that her thoughts were not letting go of. Purvi could have sworn that she heard Ovi and the police officer talking about Darbangha, so she slyly walked closer to the area, hiding behind a tree.

"..but they're in a GANG, so why can't you arrest them?" Ovi asked, as Purvi rolled her eyes and made a mental note to pray for her ignorance.

"There's no proof dear," the police officer said with a sigh.

"Can't you just arrest them for something they've done in the past?"

"When I win the lottery and I'm willing to lose my job."

"But I saw one of the guys! Someone called him Kirloskar or something and he tried to FIGHT one of my dad's workers!"

"Well kiddo, maybe if your daddy wasn't tearing down a school to build his new project ' people wouldn't need to fight."

Purvi didn't know why, but she felt like just going over there and hugging the police man. It helped clear all doubts she had on Arjun and Teju. She knew in her heart that if they were in a gang, that it was for a good reason.. "and that wouldn't be wrong right? To fight for something that's right?" Purvi asked herself.

As Ovi stormed away from the officer, Purvi ran out from behind the tree and grabbed hold of her arm.

"Deshmukh, are you spying on me now?" Ovi asked with a roll of eyes. "Can you make this quick? I'm leaving practice."

"Why was that officer on campus?" Purvi asked bluntly, catching Ovi off guard.

"He had to question me. Some stupid gang tried ruining my dad's project in Darbhanga." Ovi repeated with a roll of eyes.

"What gang? Do you know what they look like? Do you have pictures? Did they have like a leader named Arjun? Girl named Teju?" Purvi shot out, question after question ' not even thinking about what she was asking.

"Purvi, CALM DOWN! I don't know' their leader was like A. Kirloskar or something' and there was a girl' um.. my height I think? Brown eyes, brown hair' but they're pretty tough.. don't know if they'd let you join." Ovi said, answering as many of Purvi's questions as she could with a giggle.

Purvi flushed and replied with, "do you know the name? Of um' the gang? Not planning on joining or anything' um' I just have a research paper for uh, Carpenter?"

"What research paper? We didn't have one'" Ovi replied, giving Purvi a weird, yet concerned look.

"Um' HAHA.. did I say Carpenter? I meant for Mr. Singh' for the essay about um' how we can improve India!" Purvi said, scratching the back of her head and hoping Ovi would just stop asking questions on all of this.

"Purvi, have I ever told you how weird you are?" Ovi remarked while tossing some of her hair back.

"Gee thanks," Purvi said scornfully.

"Anyways, do you want me to find out more on this gang for you or'?" Ovi asked with a roll of eyes.

"That'd be amazing!" Purvi exclaimed. "What's the catch?"

"No catch. I kind of owe you one from that one time you volunteered to present in Biology so I didn't have to go. BUT, don't expect any more nice deeds from me!" Ovi said, pretending as if she didn't care about Purvi and that this was all one big deal involving some emotional blackmailing.

"Guess I have to volunteer more often," Purvi began with a laugh. "Okay um' one more quick favor ' do you think you could find out the name of the gang and first name of the Kirloskar guy?"

"Okay fine. After this, then no more favors!" Ovi said as she began to walk off.

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This time, practice felt like it took 5 years. After practice was over, she was well on her way to Darbhanga. God knows where she got so much courage from. A week ago, Purvi was screaming over seeing a cockroach in the bathroom, now she was walking alone to Darbhanga. However, Purvi secretly knew why she was going ' to see Arjun. Normally, she wouldn't even be so head-over-heels for some sketchy gangster guy that she just met a day before, but Arjun was different. There was something about him that just made Purvi go crazy ' she wasn't sure whether it was because it seemed that it was the only guy she knew who was sweet and hasn't disrespected her or whether it was because she was just attracted to him and if this was all just lust. Someone bumped into her, interrupting Purvi's thoughts.

"I'm so sorry!" Purvi exclaimed. She didn't even bother to see the person's face and kept on walking until a hand grabbed her wrist, causing Purvi to stop. She turned around and her jaw dropped at what she saw. "TEJU?"

"You!" Teju shouted. She held onto Purvi's wrist tighter and dragged her to what Purvi assumed to be her house. "Listen Barbie doll, what are you doing here again? Did Arjun not warn you about what a dangerous place this is?"

"We're in Darbhanga?" Purvi asked innocently, stunned by how quickly she reached there.

"Did someone offer you a brownie or something to drink along the way?" Teju asked while trying to hold in her laughter.

"NO! I know better!" Purvi protested.

"Oh yeah? And did Arjun just teach you all of this last night or what?" Teju teased, letting Purvi be exposed to her loud and outgoing side.

Purvi blushed and stared in the ground as she followed behind Teju. Before she knew it, she was walking inside of a stranger's (sort of) home and she wasn't even protesting!

"ARJUN!" Teju shouted, signaling him to come welcome Purvi.

Purvi looked around and observed her surroundings. She saw a guy sitting on the couch and a girl fighting with him for what seems to be the remote control for the TV, but stopped staring and turned away as she didn't want to seem impolite.

"Um' if Arjun's busy, then I could just come ba-" Purvi began in a dejected tone, but was cut off by Teju urging her to come upstairs with her. Purvi followed behind, not knowing what to expect or where Teju was taking her.

"Arjun, my goodness ' this kid literally risks her life to meet you and you can't come down to meet her!" Teju scolded while dragging Purvi into the room Arjun was in.

Purvi was beyond surprise at what was in her sight ' a shirtless Arjun. Actually, a HOT shirtless Arjun. She couldn't stop herself from blushing furiously, so she covered her face with her hands. That's when she realized that she forgot his jacket in her locker in the changing room.

"Purvi' what are you doing here?" Arjun asked in a concerned and worried tone of voice.

"Um' well' I came to return your jacket' but I kinda forgot it'" Purvi said sheepishly.

"Arjun, why would you give her the jacket?" Teju asked, dumbfounded. Purvi took note of how Teju referred to 'the jacket' instead of 'your jacket'.

Arjun ignored Teju's question and focused on Purvi. "Come on, I'll take you home."

"Why is that whenever I come to see you or run into you, you always want to take me home?!" Purvi burst out, not thinking her words through.

Arjun was taken aback. He responded with, "because this isn't a safe place for you!"

For me, Purvi thought to herself. It's not a safe place for ME.

"But you guys are so fun and nice... why can't I just come and visit every day? I got here safely on my own!" Purvi protested like a little 5-year-old.

"Safely," Teju snorted. "I don't think you saw those pedos licking their lips at you."

Arjun got angry after hearing Teju's statement and put one hand on Purvi's shoulder. That's when he noticed Purvi looking nervous and biting her lower lip ' making Arjun amused. "So' why do you want to visit so often?" he asked in his husky voice, stepping closer to Purvi.

Purvi squealed causing Arjun to chuckle. "Um' because you guys are really cool and stuff'" Come on Purvi! ' she thought to herself ' because they're cool and stuff?

"Ew' you may be beautiful, but you have horrible taste. What makes you think Arjun is cool?" a man said to Purvi.

Purvi turned around and what stood in front of her was the guy from downstairs. Purvi blushed and whispered a "thank you" ' well for the beautiful part.

"Can you not scare away the only guest we'll probably ever have besides the police?" Teju said to the guy, placing her hands on his chest and pushing him. In an instant, the guy held onto Teju's wrist and whispered something inaudible to her, which made Teju smile.

Purvi smiled as she studied the guy and Teju. Now, her mind paired the guy and Teju together.

"That's Sunny' don't mind him and the girl downstairs was Zoya' I apologize in advance for these imbeciles I live with," Arjun said with a roll of eyes.

Purvi giggled and responded with, "that's okay."

"Okay, back to my safety lesson," Arjun began while flashing a grin, making me smile in return. "I don't mind you coming here, but NEVER come here alone. I don't want anything happening to you." Arjun finished while pushing a piece of Purvi's hair behind her ear and gazing into her eyes.

Purvi nodded, being mesmerized by his touch.

"I stop paying attention for 5 seconds and you're hypnotizing the girl!" Teju scolded, making Arjun chuckle in response.

As Purvi recovered from Arjun's touch, she looked up at Arjun and spat out, "I want to invite you guys somewhere!"

Teju and Arjun exchanged glances then looked at Purvi.

"My college is having a festival to celebrate the end of the dance season and winter sports and there's rides and stuff and it's not going to be completely filled with preps and you guys should come!" Purvi exclaimed, speaking fast. Arjun saw the excitement in Purvi's eyes and tone of voice and couldn't refuse.

"Sounds like fun," Arjun commented. "We'll be there."

Purvi was shocked that he actually agreed. "REALLY?!" Purvi exclaimed while grinning as wide as she could.

"Yeah, why not? This is the second time you've come here ' we'll go to you for once." Arjun said with a smile.

"Okay, I promise you guys that you'll have a great time okay? Feel free to shove cake in my face or something if you don't!" Purvi said, failing at controlling her excitement.

Teju and Arjun both smiled at how crazy and excited Purvi was. The fact that she went through so much just to meet them and the fact that she's willing to invite them to her school made them both feel warm inside.

Arjun quickly put a shirt on as he got a message on his phone. "Okay well Sunny and I have to go, but I'll have Zoya and Teju take you home."

"Wait!"

"What?"

"My phone?"

Arjun put his hand in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out her phone. Purvi blushed at the fact that he kept it with him, not just hidden away in a closet or drawer. She smiled as she thanked him and took her phone back, keeping it secure in her back pocket. As Arjun left, Purvi looked at Teju.

"Come on hun, let's try to get there in one piece." Teju said with a chuckle.

As they walked, Purvi got to know about Zoya and her crazy antics. Teju even addressed her as the non-scary version of Zoya. She didn't know why she was going so fast with Arjun, she didn't know why she was quickly accepting these people as her friends, and she didn't know why she was sad as she left Darbhanga. All Purvi knew was that this is how her heart was feeling and she didn't mind it at all.

Next chapter:

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