ff-The Substitute - PART 6 pg 19

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Ridz slowly trudged towards the stairs leading to her sweet home where she lived. She tightened her grip on the towel that was draped around her shoulders, shivering. Anjali was kind enough to lend her a towel after knowing how she ended up covered in muddy water. 'Maybe that wasn't such smart thing to do,' she mumbled to herself, recalling the incident earlier with Armaan. 'Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.' She repeated to herself. She was going to get it tomorrow. She had this feeling Armaan was conjuring something horrible. Nobody had ever tried to stand up to him, maybe besides his closest friends, so she knew she was in trouble.

'I shouldn't have let my temper get the better of me,' she continued. One part of her told her he deserved it, but looking back at it now, with the threat of Armaan's retaliation, it was not worth it.

New characters; Ridz's nani, her mom and her cute 7 year brother, Aashish(ashu)

Ridz grunted in reply and marched towards her room. 'Pucho mat. Bahut lambu kahani hai.'

Ashu- 'Aap itni geelli aur muddy kyun ho. Kisi puddle mein gir gayi kya.' He snickered.

'No,' Ridz replied flatly. Hand it to little brothers not to listen.

Ashu- 'Somebody pushed you into a puddle?'

'No,' Ridz repeated, climbing up the stairs towards her bedroom. 'Aren't you busy playing Halo 3 or something?' She wanted Ashu to stop pestering her with questions.

Her brother still wasn't listening. 'Some car splashed you with the puddle on the side of the road?' Ashu continued, making Ridz pop a vein. Her brother was going to get it now.

Ridz turned around to face her little brother, dark aura flaring behind her. She was about to give him a piece of her mind when she suddenly decided against it. She had had enough yelling for one day. 'Aisa hi kuch,' she replied wearily. Ashu, who was expecting a tirade, jumped back a little. Her sister was so unpredictable at times it was scary.

Ridz turned around to open the door to her room. 'Mom aagi kya?'

'Nope,' Ashu answered. 'Aur nani garden mein hai, if you're looking for her too'aap thik to ho na di?' He added a little hesitantly.

'Haan, fikar mat karo,' her older sister nodded. 'I'll be in the bathroom if you need me.' She shut the door.

Ridz vigorously rubbed her wet hair with a towel. She let out a relieved sigh, happy to finally get rid of all that mud and dirt.

As she was about to step out of the bathroom, she passed by the mirror perched above the sink. After hesitating a little, she wiped the moisture from the steam of her hot bath off the mirror with the palm of her hand.

Was she really that revoltingly ugly? She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Well, she was not drop dead gorgeous, that was for sure. Her wet hair was still in clumps since she had not combed it yet. Ridz sighed. Maybe she really was what Armaan said she was.

She pouted. 'To kya hua?' She said to nobody in particular. 'At least I'm not an obnoxious and psychotic moron.'

She grabbed her glasses, wiped the moisture off the lens and exited the bathroom. She really didn't care if she was the homeliest schoolgirl on the face of the planet. Heck, she did not even care if she was the homeliest girl in the entire universe. But when an insult like that came from the likes of Armaan, she could not help but feel more than a little irritated. Deciding to spare herself from premature frown lines, she let the matter drop and dressed up for dinner.

Ridz finished blow-drying her hair. She parted her hair and braided the right half before going on to the left. After all that was said and done, she skipped off to dinner, forcing herself to think of cheerful thoughts instead of the events that occurred earlier that day.

She headed to the kitchen to see her mother preparing dinner. 'Mama!' She greeted, giving her mother a peck on the cheek.

Padma gave her a smile. 'Aapka din kaisa tha beta? Ashu ne bataya[told] ki tumhe kisi monster truck ne puddle se splash kar diya.'

Ridz's eyes slanted. Her mother did not actually belief that exaggeration Ashu gave her now, did she? Ridz swore she was going to have a little talk with her brother about stretching the truth a little bit too much.'Nah,' she replied pleasantly. 'In fact, aaj ka din to acha gusra.' Yeah, right.

Padma nodded and then proceeded preparing dinner. 'Acha, Shenaz Bi dinner pe aa rahi hai.'

Bi was one of their closest family friends. 'Really?' Ridz inquired, looking slightly surprised. 'Aaj aisi kya baat hai?' It was not that Bi rarely visited them. But since she ran a small noodle restaurant, she did not visit very often.

'Tumhe yaad nahi?' Padma blinked at her with surprise. 'Aaj nani ka birthday hai.'

Ridz slapped her forehead. How could she forget that of all things? The events in school earlier completely wiped it off her mind. 'Ah, shoot,' she mumbled under her breath. 'Main to present khreedna hi bhoolgi.'

'Chinta mat karo,' Padma assured her. 'Nani won't mind.'

Ridz gave a thankful smile to her mother and proceeded setting the table for dinner. Maybe she should just give her nani an 'I owe you'.

'I want some cake!' Ashu cried, finishing his dinner. 'Aap phele cake kyun nahi leki aayi, Ma?'

'Kyunki phir tumhara dinner spoil ho jata,' Ridz answered for her mom. 'Aur vaise bhi humhe dar tha ki tum sara kha jaonge as you complained earlier that you were so hungry you could eat an elephant.'

'Oi, I said horse,' Ashu replied, a little peeved. 'I wasn't that hungry.'

Ridz- 'And you said I got splashed by puddle by a monster truck.'

Ashu blinked innocently. 'Didn't you? Anyways, aap ne to baataya nahi ki kis kind ka vehicle tha.'

Ridz-'Don't you know exaggerating can get you in trouble?'

Padma suddenly cleared her throat and motioned Ridz to the kitchen, saying she needed help on the cake. Ridz followed, looking back to see Ashu talking animatedly to nani and Bi about his video games.

'And I beheaded the big boss just like that,' Ashu narrated, making a slashing move as Bi and nani listened. 'And...'

Bi had probably asked what he had been doing these couple of days to make Ashu talk about video games. Ridz smiled and shook her head. Ashu could be annoying at times but he was still her little brother, after all. She then proceeded to the kitchen. She saw Padma sticking a single candle at the very middle of the cake, which they had made late last evening. The circular cake had white icing and lined with strawberries and other sorts of pastry decorations. Their mother had warned Ashu not to eat it for midnight snack or for any other snack for that matter or risk losing his Play Station.

'Ek hi candle kyun, Mom?' ridz asked. 'Isn't nani a little over sixty?'

'Well, agar hum 60 candles use karenge to itni jagha nahi hai na?' Padma answered.

Ridz was imagining what a cake with more than sixty plus candles would look like. Needless to say it would look more like a candle porcupine than a birthday cake.

Padma wiped her hands on her apron. 'Please darwaze ko zara kholna, Ridz.'

Ridz obliged and while she held the door open, she noticed a folded piece of paper on the floor where her mother had been preparing the cake. She quickly headed over and picked it up. It was a letter addressed to her mother. But before she could read it, Ashu barged into the kitchen.

'Didi!' He called, sounding impatient. 'kya kar rahi ho? Nani candle blow karne wali hai.'

'Aa rahi hoon!' ridz responded, tucking the letter into her pocket and scurrying over to the dining area.

Ridz's mind was whirling. She had just read the contents of the letter a few minutes ago and now she wished that she had not read it at all.

Ridz swallowed hard. That line kept repeating in her head like a never-ending echo. Her mother got fired from her job. That was enough to completely squash the party spirit out of Riddhima.

Like the events of the whole day wasn't bad enough already. But this seemed like the climax to a day filled with nothing but rotten luck. 'Someone must really hate me up there'' Ridz mused.

She turned when she heard laughter coming from the living room from her family and Bi. An idea began to form in her head. She eyed Bi with keen interest.

'Itna bura idea to nahi hai,' Ridz thought. 'Aur vaise bhi, what have I got to loose?'

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                                     PART 4    Hit And Run

Armaan smirked. Looking at his side mirror, he saw a livid Riddhima, dripping from head to foot with muddy water, waving a fist angrily at him. 'Armaan!'

'You stupid jerk! Main tumhe nahi'!' Man, he was already some distance away from the girl and yet he could still hear her screaming' Scary.

He pushed a clump of his sticky bangs back. Ugh. Having orange soda on your hair and on your shirt uniform was not pleasant, to say the least. Oh well, at least she did not dump glue on him, or stuck chewed gum on his hair. That was something to be thankful for. Armaan shuddered at the thought of having bald patches on his head where the glue or gum could not be washed off.

Armaan sighed. 'Aaj mera din nahi hai,' he muttered, sighing tiredly. His eyes slanted as he counted off all the rotten things that happened that day. 'Let's see. Maya dumps me today of all days, I get stuck at the rooftop, aur woh butt-ugly dumps orange soda on me. Oh, screw my life.'

Deciding that he needed to wash the sticky soda of his hair, not to mention he needed time to brood, he headed home. He turned his car stereo on full volume and stepped on the gas. He swerved in and out of traffic, not caring if he had the other motorists frantically veering out of the way to avoid a major collision with his Ferrari.

Armaan slammed on the brakes, turned the engine off and stepped out his car, feeling a little better. Nothing beats a good drive at downtown Mumbai to relieve some of your anger.

Twirling the key chain on his index finger, he headed out the garage while sliding his other hand on the hoods of the other cars that he passed by on the way out.

Kaka, their family's head butler and his guardian, greeted him on the mansion lobby. His parents were almost always away on business trips so Kaka was assigned to watch over him.

'Armaan tumhe kya hua? Kya halat banayi hai?' Kaka  asked, crossing his arms on his chest.

'It's a long story, Kaka,' Armaan  muttered darkly, walking past him. 'Pucho mat.'

'Tumne kisi ladki se batmeezi ki?'

Armaan whipped around and glared at him. If looks could kill, the butler/guardian would have dropped dead that instant.

'to kya hua?' Armaan growled defensively. 'She deserved it anyway! Rooftop pe band kar diya, that chipkali!'

'Par shayad tum knob galt taraf[direction] ghuma rahe ho gaye . Tum kabhi kabar aisa karte ho jab tum gussa hote ho.'

'I was not!' Armaan  retorted hotly, his cheeks turning red. 'Main aapko fire kar doonga.'

'Lekin, tum aisa nahi kar sakte,' Kaka responded calmly. He was used to Armaan temper. After all, he had been taking care of him since he was seven. 'Sirf tumhare parents mujhe fire kar sakte hai.'

 'Aur mujhe us ladki ka shukriya karna chahiye jisne tunhari yeh halat ki. It's good to see somebody stand up against you from time to time.'

Armaan's hands were itching to lay a hand on his butler. 'Why you kaka!'

A hammer suddenly materialized on Kaka's hand, which he used to hit Armaan on the head.

'Aap ko'!' Inuyasha rubbed the bump on his head before pouncing on his butler. Armaan was in the middle of giving him a headlock when somebody cleared his throat. He looked up to see his father descending the staircase, a folder tucked under his arm and a cell phone on his other hand.

'Aap yahan kya kar rahe hain?' Armaan demanded, releasing the butler from his grip.

'Mein phone par hoon, isleya tum apna yeh bachpana lekar kahi aur chale jao,' Mr.Malik replied.

Armaan rolled his eyes. Their house was one of the largest in Mumbai. Armaan wanted to tell him to go to some other part of their vast mansion to do his calls where not even dust bunnies could interrupt him. But then again, this was probably his dad's way of showing his dislike.

Armaan gave him an I-hope-you-die-painfully look before marching up the stairs, his shoulder brushing slightly against his dad's on his way up. Reaching his bedroom, he slammed the door violently, making one of the paintings in the hallway fall to the carpeted floor with a soft thud.

Armaan flopped on his bed. He had just finished washing the soda off.

'I hate my life,' he thought, staring at his four-poster bed's canopy.

Like his day wasn't bad enough already, his dad suddenly decides to show up. And every time he came to visit, he stayed for dinner. And there was no way Armaan was going to eat with him, especially now. He'd probably puke right at his dad's face. Hey, wait, that wasn't such a bad idea'

'Maybe I should call Rahul.,' he mumbled, eyeing the cell phone an arm's reach away to his right. He then hesitated. 'Nah, woh ladkion ke saath busy ho ga.'

Seeing his car keys at his study table, he stood up and grabbed them. Maybe another drive will do him wonders.

Ridz fidgeted as she tried to get the right words out. She and Bi were walking towards the bus stop. Ridz had volunteered to accompany her there.

'Bi, you know we barely got by with my mama's previous pay, par woh aaj fire hogi. To main soch rahi thi ki agar mujhe aapke reaturant mein ek job mil jati,' Ridz practiced in her head. Okay, that sounded good enough. She took a deep breath. Here goes.

'Um, Bi,' Ridz started timidly, twiddling her index fingers. 'Hum kab se ek doosre ko jaante hai'well, I'you see'' Ridz was starting to feel stupid. So much for that practice speech in her head.

'Kya yeh padma aur uski naukri ke bare mein hai?'

Ridz snapped her head towards Bi so fast it was amazing her neck did not break. 'Aap ko kaise pata?'

'Meri use phone pe baat huyi thi, yahan aane se pehle,' Bi answered. 'Woh tumhari nani ki party ko cancel karna chati thi lekin maine use rok diya. Phir woh maan gi aur kaha ki woh tum logo ko baad mein baata degi.'  

They had arrived at the bus stop and the waiting shed was empty, which Ridz found a little strange. It was not that late.

Bi sat down and motioned Ridz to sit beside her.

'Lekin tumhe kaise pata chala?' Bi asked Ridz as she sat down.

Ridz plucked the letter from her coat pocket. 'Mujhe yeh kitchen floor par payi mili,' she said, a little embarrassed. Ridz knew it was wrong to read other people's letters without their permission, but hey, curiosity got the better of her.

 'To kya mujhe aapke restaurant main job mil sakti hai?' Ridz squeaked. 'Main poori koshish karungi. You can make me scrub the floor if you want, Bi. I'll do anything.'

'Well,' Bi smiled at her, 'hamare paas ek waitress ki kami hai. Tum us position se khush ho na? Aur hamare pass ek uniform tumhare size ki hai.'

Ridz brightened up. 'Thank you, Bi!' She hugged the old woman tightly. At least there was one good thing that happened today. 'Kab shuru karu?' She asked, releasing Bi.

On cue, the bus arrived. 'Kal. Apni classes ke baad,' Bi responded, turning to Ridz before climbing the bus. 'phir kal milenge.'

Ridz nodded. 'Theek hai' She waved at Bi as the bus drove off.

Feeling too happy to go home yet, she lingered at the deserted waiting shed, grinning to herself, not caring if she looked like a lunatic doing that. 'Well, at least my fortune today isn't so bad. Speaking of which'' She dug into her pocket and extracted a fortune cookie. Bi had distributed it earlier, but Ridz had saved it for later since she was feeling low after reading her mother's letter. Ashu on the other hand, kept opening fortune cookies one after the other, laughing at the fortunes they got.

Ridz cracked the cookie open and read her fortune.

You will meet your soul mate on three different occasions today.

Ridz looked amused. Where did Bi get this one? 'Yeah right,' she smiled, tucking the strip of paper into her pocket and standing up to cross the road.

Armaan put the pedal to the metal. He liked driving at the roads near the outskirts of Mumbai since there were hardly any vehicles on the road even if it was still early in the evening.

Deciding that he would rather have peace and quiet right now, he bent down a little and turned his car stereo off, which was at full blast. Fixing his gaze back to the road again, he only had a few seconds to react as a pedestrian suddenly crossed the road.

Armaan slammed on the brakes.

Ridz was unable to move as she saw a car speeding towards her. She froze and closed her eyes. She braced for impact, raising an arm to shield herself, but it never came. The car screeched to a halt just an inch away from her. Ridz opened an eye, and seeing she was not kissing the pavement, sighed with relief. Now that she knew she was safe, anger replaced fear and she was ready to give this reckless driver a piece of her mind.

'Oidekh kar nahi chala sakte!' Ridz shouted angrily, slamming her hands on the car hood. She couldn't see the driver because of the bright headlights. 'You could have killed somebody, you reckless asshole!'

'Oh yeah?' the driver retorted, stepping out of his car to take a better look at the person he nearly ran over. 'You just crossed the road without even looking, moron! Mujhe blame mat'' He fell silent as he recognized the person he was talking to.

Ridz eyes focused on the driver, her eyes bugging out when she recognized who it was.

'YOU AGAIN!' They screamed in unison, each pointing an accusatory finger at the other.

'Oh my god!' Ridz exploded, looking up to the heavens. 'Aur kitne baar dekhu tumhe! Someone must really hate me up there since I keep bumping into the biggest jerk on the face of the planet!'

'Aur main bhi tumhe dekh kar bahut khush hoon,' Armaan shot back sarcastically. 'You just complete my day, butt-ugly.'

'Don't flatter yourself!' Ridz retorted, poking him with a finger on the chest. 'Tum itne handsome nahi ho jitna samajhte ho! If it weren't for the money, tum aaj popular nahi hote! And besides, I'd rather be ugly than be a moron like you!'

'Oh really?' Armaan raised a brow. He never laid a hand on a girl, but his one was just asking for it. 'Then I should have just ran over you and saved myself this confrontation! No one would miss a nobody like you anyway! You know what, you're not only butt-ugly, you have a loud mouth!'

'Well, I'm only like this to people who are obnoxious and conceited like you!' Ridz was so ready to scrape his eyes out of their sockets. 'Psychotic jerk!'

'Chipkali!'

'Machar!'

'Behenji!'

'Kya tumhe maut pasand hai, Malik?!'

'Bring it on, butt-ugly!'

'Well,yahan kya ho raha hai?' An unfamiliar voice cut in.

Ridz and Armaan, whose livid faces were just inches apart due to their name-calling contest, turned around to see two female traffic officers leaning on the hood of their car, looking at them, amused.