It was after a sleepless night that she finally decided
she would face him-them-in the college. It had been a ghastly experience for
her, and she had started crying like an idiot, but now there would be no tears,
decided Pia firmly. After all, she had been through far worse, and to top it
all, there were more pressing problems at hand- like the slight undercurrent of
energy that crackled through her now, making her more uneasy than ever over
what was to come. She tied her hair into
a tight ponytail and wore the nerdiest, geekiest clothes she could find. Piashree
Jaiswal was back- and more battle-hardened than before.
"Hey Pia, where did you run off yesterday?" asked
Misha in her usual chirpy voice as Pia reached the college. Pia ignored her-
she hated the entire world right now save Dhruv, and she wasn't going to talk
to the spawn of the man who hadn't even bothered to know about her existence.
It was all Misha's party she'd lost it in the party, all her fault! "No,
it's not," said the voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Dhruv.
She shoved it away brutally, looking away from Misha- it was bad enough knowing
the hurt she'd given her, without having to see the look on her face. "Pia,
please say something," said Misha quietly, though Pia could sense her effort to
control her voice from trembling. "Pia, what's wrong?" asked Jeh sounding (and
feeling) worried. Pia pursed her mouth and didn't reply. She had something to
do, and she had to confront a certain someone.
She saw him easily, looking as carelessly handsome as
ever, accompanied by his sister, who had laughed and chatted with her what
seemed like a decade ago. Pia strode off in their direction.
Anvesha saw the hard face of Pia Jaiswal moving
closer, and felt a slight pity for her brother. It really was a pity she
couldn't stay to hear what she told her brother-by the look on her face, Pia
meant serious business. "I'll see you later Abhay, have to submit my assignment
early," she told him , hoping he could see her concern. Abhay made no reply-his
face held a similar tension-almost as if he was expecting to be attacked. She
bit back a laugh at the thought of her brother being intimidated by a human.
"Good luck," she murmured before setting off in the direction of the staff
room.
Abhay knew Pia wasn't going to take anything lying
down. He wondered if she would exert her powers again, in spite of her telling her
precious Dhruv she wouldn't, he thought scathingly, but this didn't do much
to dispel the tension in his mind. He had to apologise now, before things got
worse-
"If you even dare to tell anyone, anyone at all
, about my- abnormality, I will personally make sure the entire world knows
about yours," she said bitingly, without preamble. "And you must be
aware that I could convince people as well as you, if not better."
"Pia," began Abhay, only to be stopped with a furious
motion of her hand. He watched as she moved quickly towards the library,
feeling only a strange numbness. "Pia, why won't you speak to us?" he heard
Misha ask, her voice tinged with anguish. "What did I do wrong?" Pia never even
looked back, and Abhay felt obligated to cover up for her. "She's ill, Misha,"
he said quietly, moving across to her and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"That's why she's bad tempered," he continued, hoping to console her a bit.
Strangely, although Kabir looked troubled, he wasn't saying much.
Days passed, and to most of the college students, Pia
seemed normal. But not so to Misha or Abhay, both of whom - arguably - missed her the most. Abhay hated
himself for being the one who'd probably caused her to distance herself from
everyone. Pia had been fine till he'd stepped in. However noble his intentions
were, he wished for the thousandth time he had never looked into her mind. He
missed the way she used to move up slightly to the right when he'd entered the
class, as if she'd almost been saving the seat next to her for him. He missed
the cool way she'd add in a word or two into the notes he so carelessly took.
It was so different now- she would enter late, and walk out of the class just
as it ended. She'd sit in the corner, her bag kept protectively in the space
that was unoccupied. He missed her, and he could tell the whole group did.
Misha in particular seemed distraught without her. He smiled without humour ,
thinking what Misha would say if he told her the truth. Probably freak out and call him a lunatic.He smiled
ironically, thinking what Anvesha –who had been constantly nagging him to
apologise to her- would say if she knew how many times he had tried to talk to
her, only to see her walk off without a second glance. It was starting to get
on his nerves. Honestly, was the woman set in stone? How on earth was he
supposed to talk to her if she wouldn't listen?
Pia had taken to sitting alone in the canteen. She
could still hear the voices of the people she had started to like so much. The
past three days had been more difficult than she thought. She replayed a
particularly ugly scene in her head.
"Pia, Misha misses you," said Jeh as she tried to walk
fast down the corridor. " You were really special to her, it's not fair of you
to treat her like this. She doesn't deserve it, she never did any wrong to
you." Pia hissed in anger "Stop trying to be her representative, Jeh. Is
something the matter with that brain in your thick skull? I-do-not-want-to-talk!"
She'd walked right past him, trying to ignore the pain in her chest.
Pia felt her eyes burn. Gingerly, so that no one could
see , she dashed away the tear before it could fall. She could hear the
discussion from their table even though she'd tried to block them. "- but
honestly Misha, you know nothing about her!" exclaimed Kabir. "Honestly, maybe
she's an arrogant snob. Aren't you being a tad too over-dramatic? Just stop,
okay?" "Kabir, dude, try being a little
more sensitive will you?" asked Jeh. "It's not your fault, Misha, she'll come
back soon," said Anvesha.
Anvesha knew Pia was hurting too. She'd seen her wipe
her eyes when she thought no one was looking. Unfortunately, Pia tended to put
herself under VIP security in front of
someone from her year, and Anvesha had benefited, as she was not a first-year.
She knew that Pia and her brother were as stubborn as each other, and only if
they would talk would anything happen. She sighed, resigning herself to the
task of consoling Misha, Jeh and her brother. She wished something, anything
would happen.
It did.
A new guy had arrived at the college. Subconciously,
Anvesha found herself studying him. He was very good looking, she thought, with
a lean face, and a tall stature. He had light brown eyes, and he gave off an
air of confidence. Girls were exclaiming, much the same way as they had done
with her brother, but he seemed totally oblivious to it, instead looking at
something on his mobile phone. Anvesha turned to her friends, all of whom were
surprised to different degrees. Her eyes went to Pia, whose head was bowed over
her book. Suddenly, she seemed to look up directly in the direction of the guy,
who was looking at her now. And then Anvesha watched in shock as Pia stood up,
her mouth open in an expression of shock she had never seen before.
PS So sorry for the late update guys... Please forgive us😳😳
Edited by bookworm-ALS-- - 12 years ago
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