Chapter 5

Batool Imran

@nav_bat

Khushi smiled an evil smile to herself, as she waited by the door of the classroom, her body in mid way, between the inside of the class, and the outside of the grey corridor. She felt devilish at the moment, like a witch waiting to catch her black runaway cat. She had devised the perfect plan, to teach that ape Arnav Singh Raizada, a lesson. He had pushed her, stepped on her papers; it was because of him, that for the first time in her life, she had someone shout on her, it was the first time that she had disappointed someone, and all because of him. Him. She would not let him get away with it so easily, not until he paid for it as hard as she did.

She could hear the sound of his shoes, drawing closer towards the classroom. She hurried inside, so that he would not see her, at the edge of the door, and seeing him carrying a large pile of numerous encyclopedias in his hand, her smile widened even more. Now it would be even more fun to hurt him, to have things falling on him, to spoil his record of perfection like he had spoiled hers. As he approached closer, she got set on her position, and hearing him coming closer, carrying the heavy load in his hand, she moved her foot pointing towards the ceiling, and inched it forward, to be a obstacle in his path, and sure as hell, as she had planned, his vision was blocked by the books he was carrying making him unable to catch sight of her silly trick.

Books flew away in the air, half of them landing on his head, while the others found their way on the ground, making an alarmingly noisy sound as they hit the ground with a bang. His eyes were closed, and as he opened them, every part of his body shaking with anger, everything was blurry around him, his head throbbing, with the large books that had fallen on him, and he himself, rubbing his cheeks on the dirty sandy floor of the corridor.

"Gupta, you idiot, how could you?"Arnav looked at her, his eyes wanting to rip her apart, as her smile grew larger and larger by ever minute that his anger rose, as if they were directly proportional quantities to each other.

"Oh, Raizada, you on the ground?" Did I make you fall? Aww..I am so sorry I didn't mean too" she replied chirpily with a wide smile on her face, enjoying every moment of the hurt and anger sprouting from his eyes. Serves him right she thought to herself, and not giving another look at his miserable flat form which was trying to collect it self back groaning in pain, she skipped away from there, happy with the revenge she had accomplished.

************************************

Having had collected her things from the classroom, she skipped the rest of her way to the computer lab, and upon entering the lab greeted the Sir, and in her joy bumped into Purab who gave her a awful smile, making her feel uncomfortable. A confused, and uneasy look all over face, she went over to stand next to Vivek, after which next to her Purab stood, purposely rubbing his shoulder with hers.

Catching notice of Purab's disgusting actions, Vivek held Khushi by the arm and pulled her closer to himself, interchanging their positions, so that now he was standing next to Purab instead of Khushi. Doing this, he received a horrid frown, from Purab, who was highly annoyed with this action of his. Over the whole fiasco, Khushi just seemed confused, and the moment Vivek looked at her, she threw a questioning glance his way.

"This guy is fishy, just stay away from him"he told her protectively, trying to sound calm, but that action of Purab's had ignited the dormant anger in him. Whoever it maybe he could not tolerate such sickish behavior in school, and not at least with a girl, and that too now with Khushi, who had in a matter of hours become a really good friends of his.

She just nodded, and forgetting everything that had earlier happened, that joyful mischievous smile returned back to her face, her eyes sparkling with happiness. Vivek seeing that glad mischievous smile on her face knew that the little time he had left her, she had been up to something naughty, he just hoped she hadn't done something much wrong that would lead her to getting into serious trouble.

" Khushi what have you been up to?"he asked her curious to know what she had done in her absence, to cause her awful mood only earlier to turn into one this juvenile.

"Huh? What?" Khushi replied, an innocent look on her face, as if nothing had happened. Vivek gave her an 'I know you have been up to something'smile, to which she gave up her previous idea of not letting him know what had happened.

"Newton's third law states, to every action, there is always a equal or opposite reaction"she replied philosophically, causing Vivek to be lost into deep thinking, until he figured out the connection she was trying to hint him into making.

"You tripped him too?" he asked astounded, by the look of it, this was the only thing he could derive, and sure her smile getting even more wider, she furiously nodded, making him immediately excited.

"Huh? Haha. Khushi you are amazing. He must have been danm furious, I wish I was there, eee, I wanted to see that look of urgh-ness on his face too" Vivek whined, unhappy of having missed such an epic moment. Arnav Singh Raizada on the ground that would have been such a scene to witness.

Between constant giggles she replied him, " You have no idea, how pissed he was, he was like what the hell, and he couldn't even get up, all those books of his were on him, what a sight it was".

Karan seeing Khushi smile so widely, along with jibber jabbering with Vivek, he could faintly make out that they were talking about his best friend. Ya right. Where was he anyway? He said he would be coming, what was stopping him. A lump formed in his throat, considering her reaction, had she been up to something, had something happened to Arnav? Worried, he made an excuse to the Sir, who was busy briefing the student of their task, and walked out of the class, giving a last look at Khushi who didn't seem to have noticed, as he disappeared out and in the next few minutes was rushing down the stairs, making his way towards the classroom corridor.

As he walked the entire length of the classroom, he saw at a far distance exactly in front of their class, Arnav hurdled up on the ground, trying to collect him, and the books that lay spread all over the floor. Arnav tried to get up, but Karan seeing Arnav stumble in his steps, rushed to his best friends who was about to collapse to the ground, due to the severe pain that had shot through his entire body.

"Arnav are you fine?"Karan asked worriedly, holding Arnav stably by the arm, allowing him to stand upright with his own force.

"Do I look fine to you?"Arnav replied frustrated over his helpless state. He had never encountered such a situation, where he was even unable, to stand properly on his own.

"Did she do this?"Karan asked him seriously, to which Arnav just looked in his eyes surprisingly.

"Who else would do it? You still think she is 'nice'?

"I don't know, she did it for revenge, you didn't do the right thing with her either".

"Karan you are unbelievable. Here I stand hurt, and you still think that Gupta is not to blame? Whose side are you on, mine or her?"Arnav said angrily, shoving Karan's hand away from him, picking up the piled books from the ground, and limping back to the class, kept the books with a bang on his desk, packing up his bag.

"I wasn't supporting her Arnav for God sake, you think I would? I was just saying, *pause* Forget it, should I drop you to the gate?"Karan said running up to Arnav who was busy jamming in books in his school bag.

"No need. Go back to that 'nice' girl of yours, and let her know she did a great job."Arnav told him nonchalantly, forming a bit of a frustrated look on Karan's face.

"I am dropping you there; whether you like it or not, it's almost pack up time, Anji Di and AK Bhai would be there by the time we get there".Karan said as stubbornly as he could helping his friend out as he prepared to leave, without receiving Karan's assistance, who still insisted on helping until they were at the school gate, towards which Anjali and Aakash were approaching quickly towards. Seeing Arnav in such a condition, a little line of blood trickling from his forehead, and a perfectly visible limp in his right leg, Anjali and Aakash behind her walked towards their younger brother.

"Karan, What happened to Chotte?"Anjali questioned him worriedly, carrying her own school bag, as Aakash came from behind and stood next to Anjali.

"Di, how many times do I have to tell you, not to call me Chotte, in school"Arnav said irritated, to only he received an exasperated worried look from Anjali, and one of complete amusement from Aakash, while Karan only looked at the three crazy siblings, and turned to answer to Anjali's previous question which remained unanswered, as Arnav had intertwined in between complaining about his silly nickname.

"Anji Di actually Arnav lost footing and fell to the ground so his books fell on him, and eventually got hurt"Karan said, in the best possible manner to summarize the entire incident, without Anjali knowing that an external body was also involved.

"Karan seriously? You are still defending her? (looking at Anjali) Di, actually I didn't trip on my own, I was purposely made to trip, by that Gupta" Arnav cleared his position to his sister, while Aakash stood their amused expression on his face.

"Who is Gupta? It's a girl?" Anjali asked him back confused, whoever in the world named their daughter 'Gupta'?

"It's Khushi Kumari Gupta, Di, she just entered out class today"Karan replied to Anjali's query, throwing glare at Arnav, of referring to Khushi with her last name in front of his siblings too.

"So in short, she made you fall?"Aakash asked back cheekily, to which Arnav promptly nodded.

"Anji you heard that, that girl made him fall, made him fall, you know what that means, made him 'Fall'"Aakash piped in smiling away cheekily, as Arnav looked away an exasperated look on face, and a bit of a amused expression on Anjali's face drawing up too.

"Bhai that was not funny, you get it, that was not funny, cant you see I have actually fallen?"Arnav haughtily told Aakash, signaling Karan to help him out of the gate to where their car waited for them.

"So I said the same thing Arnav, you fell for her." Aakash replied back, stressing on the word fall now, enjoying every bit of teasing he was doing. Teasing Arnav was his best time pass, and seeing him getting irked was even more fun.

"Bhai please, stop with your craziness, I am not at all interested in your stupid theories"

"Of course CHOTTE, of course CHOTTE" Aakash called out loud as he and Anjali followed Arnav and Karan outside, calling the word'Chotte' in a annoyingly hard pitch, for everyone to hear, so that no Arnav's volcano of anger was about to erupt.

"Stop it Aakash, you know he gets irritated"Anjali said, while hitting Aakash on the shoulder pretty hard causing him to utter a loud 'Ouch'

"Ouch Anji! That was hard, you know how I love teasing Chotte, he gets ticked off so quickly" he said laughing away, rubbing his shoulder simultaneously causing Anjali to smile a bit, and then shake her head at her two crazy brothers.

*****************************

Khushi walked out of the gate, after having noticed that Arnav was apparently gone, gave an inward thumbs up sign to her, and a satisfied smile spread on her face. Serves him right for being so haughty, that will let him know, that I am no less, he was meddling with the wrong girl this time. Bidding goodbye to Vivek, she went towards the military jeep standing on the opposite lane of the school. She made face to herself, upon seeing the car, every time she would see that automobile, it would give her the jitters and make her remind of all the horrid stuff her father had done to her mother, which was obviously the main reason for her hard core behavior.

She walked in and propped herself in the car, her bag in her lap, and kept silent the entire ride back to home. Upon reaching home, she got out of the car without a word, and walked to her door step, rang the door bell, to which her mother promptly answered, smiling as she welcomed Khushi inside.

Tired, she threw her bag on the caramel colored couch, and jumped on the couch herself, resting her head against the couch, close to drowsing off to sleep.

"How was your day at school today?"Mrs. Aparna Gupta, asked her tired daughter, who was on the verge of closing her yes now then, and desperately tried to keep them opn to answer her mother.

"Horrible. My section got changed."Khushi said yawning now, longing to go to sleep, after her mom was done having her pep talk with her.

"Oh you told me about that yesterday, that new class of your is not good?"

"Not really, I don't know people in that class right now, except for someone, out of which one is the most horrible fellow ever, Arnav Singh Raizada."

"Now who is it this time that you have messed up with?"

"Ma, seriously you think I messed up with him? I did? He did. He is so rude, thinks so high of himself, as if he's the Prince of Persia, not even the Prince of Persia is that haughty. He's so full of himself, the high the mighty, urgh, he gives me the jitters."she said making an ugly face to herself, on which only her mother would laugh.

"Oh please, Khushi not again, you found someone here too? Last time you had some issues with some Rahul guy, and then before that some boy called Ted, and even before that,.."

With an irritated look, Khushi stood to her own self defense, "Ma, please stop over exaggerating it. That Rahul was a lost case, and Ted he kept hitting on me, how do you then expect me to not have problems with him, and then that other guy,.."

"Fine, Khushi, I know you are always right, the boys were the one who were at fault, how could my angel ever be wrong?, so what's with it this time, Arnav Singh Raizada, what defect does he hold?"Kriya asked her daughter, who made a real bad face, giving Kriya the impression that this year she had found the worst boy on earth to meddle with. Sigh. He was her daughter, what else would she expect from her then.

"Defect? Talk about what is perfect in him, from head to toe, all he does is boast and boast, of how arrogant he is, the mighty, unbeatable, blah, blah," Khushi said adding a bit of slat paper, to her previous held view against him, so that his mother was compelled to belief that she was right.

"Khushi instead of aggravating him against you, if he's that smart and all, you two just join hands together, and learn something from him"

"Learn something from Raizada? My foot! I would rather jump into the gutter, then talk with that high headed baboon"she almost shouted out loud, causing her mom to pull a sheepish expression on her face.

Saying this, she picked up her bag, and rushed away to her room, to freshen up, as her stomach was growling very badly, and she desperately needed a healthy supply of food, to stop the war that was about to erupt inside her alimentary canal.

*******************************

Regarding the Title:

DARK PATHS ' Another title that is not self explanatory, so I might as well explain why I chose it to be the Title of the second chapter of this FF. As you might have noticed, in this chapter many of the Characters from the Character sketch have been brought to light, with the exception of Arnav, Khushi, Vivek and Karan, who were mentioned in the previous update too. So throughout the update, one thing remains constant, Arnav and Khushi's fighting back spirit. They cannot stand the other winning over them, in there relationship itself, there is no light at all, and only feelings of intense hatred and dread prevail in the minds of Arnav and Khushi for each other. This title also suggests that Karan and Vivek, which have been a strike of positivity, along with them characters like Saloni and Purab are anything but dark, and so it shows, that life has all kinds of people, good and bad, it's only about you of how much importance you give to someone. Arnav even though denies it, needs Karan for his support, Khushi similarly denies it, but she has found her support in the form of Vivek. They are similar to each other in nature, they seem to share similar characteristic behavior, but by the end of the update for each other, they are still rivals, which as per philosophy itself depicts DARK. The title also suggest that there path of Love for them, is not easy, it's dark, and for light to prevail, the dark has to go, which will not fade in a matter of minutes, but will gradually clear out.

*********************************

Events In the Chapter:

This chapter was a bit more eventful than the previous one, and brought many characters to light, and the lead characters and their way of thinking and acting simultaneously was brought to a considerable amount of exposure. I hope all those who have read the Character Sketches, could connect the description with the story itself, and how every character seems to play a part of their own in the leads life. Parts that might appear as fillers like the Saloni act, or the Purab nonsense, was not apparently fillers, and was written for a reason, which will be clear in the next updates. I need to bring all the characters mentioned in the Character Sketches into action now, and this is just the beginning, it's only the second chapter, I hope for a long and eventful journey in the FF ahead.

*********************************

Precap:

Date: 12^thSeptember'2010

Day: Monday

Dear Diary,

Today I had a horrible day at school the worst one ever, I mean today what has never happened did come to happen; I met her, that new lady in our class Khushi Kumari Gupta. The moment I saw her, I fell so giddy about her seeing her, and you know what, I couldn't look away from her? Imagine me, me, couldn't look away from her. But when I did manage to, she kept looking at me, although I didn't even let her know that I knew that here eyes were on me, but a think that tall guy, her friend, was busy introducing me to her, no wonder she just kept noticing me all the time.

And you know diary, just to think, only earlier we were like a calm ocean, and later the two of us here are now on loggerheads, there is such a huge rift between us, its like the gap will never fill up. We both hate each other, and then I have every reason to hate her, she made me fall, I have this utterly gruesome pain in my right knee, it wont even move properly, I guess my hinge joints broken or something. So long for that girl, I bumped into her, and I swear it was not on purpose, fine I didn't help her pick up the papers, but why should I, she was the one jibber jabbering with that friend of hers, she should have looked where she walking. I wasn't even at fault, at all. Anyways, I would like to know more of her, because I think her entry means competition for me, and you know how much a I love competition, healthy competition. Haha, right, I know diary this competition isn't being healthy at all, we two are head on with each other, I can't let her win, and I'll make sure she knows how I am, so the next time she thinks of messing up with me, she thinks twice before even doing that.

She came home and said sorry, I shooed her off, if she ever thought that her sorry would make me feel good about her, and then she was so wrong. And AK bhai and Anji Di, urgh these two siblings of mine they are so crazy, you know that right? Remember that time they hid you somewhere to annoy me, and when I did find you, in all the snatching pieces of yew got torn. I was so furious back then, I even hit Bhai, but he kept laughing away mad. I am sure he's lost his marbles; I only wonder how he manages a straight A with that quirky behavior of his.

Diary, I am really tired, and I am feeling really sick too right now, will write to you tomorrow,

Bye,

Yours, Arnav.

Penning that down, he shut his diary, kept it safely in the drawer of his side table, closed his eyes, and dozed off to sleep.

**************************************

P.S: I am so sorry for the late update, and that is why I have decided to make the update a bit long, at parts it might sound boring, but that is just a desperate attempt to keep up with the continuity of the story.

Do comment and hit the like button, all those doing none of this, will be REMOVED from my buddy list that means no PM's for my updates for you guys then.

Love,

Batool😳