Someone Else In The Dark

"So cute!" Harpreet exclaimed at her phone, making me look up from my textbook.

"Puppies? I guessed.

She shook her head with a weird smile on her face.

Something is surely up.

"Rohit Saraf?" I guessed. Harpreet shook her head again with the same creepy smile still lingering on her face.

"Then what?" I tilted my head.

"Your husband," she teased shoving the phone in my face. An instagram story with a selfie of me and my 'husband', displayed on the phone screen with caption 'I like me better when I'm with you'.

I heaved a sigh before saying, "Yeah, we are cute."

He isn't actually my husband by the way. I'm just 16, its illegal. She just meant he is my boyfriend... or at least that's what they think he is.

Harpreet smiled before moving on to show the picture to Palak. Pondering, I looked around the library. The school's library had been as silent as it always has. Our final exams are coming up so you could see literally every student, trying their best to score good marks.

'Oh wait, I should study too.'

"Hey, you guys are still going to the dance tonight, right?" Harpreet exclaimed like a small kid.

"I'm going if you guys are going," Palak stated, turning a page of her history book. I don't know why she is always in a such a serious mood. I mean, a smile here and there wouldn't kill her.

"Well, my husband is going so I too have to," I said but there was not even a pinch of excitement.

"Everything okay?" Palak asked but there was no emotion on her face. Typical.

"Yeah,"

"You are still thinking about your moving away." Palak did not ask, more like she stated.

It's been more than two years of us being friends and I'm yet to figure out if Palak is just a very good friend or if she can actually read minds. I mean, their is no better explanation for why she always happens to know what the other person is thinking. She has done this so many times that I don't even get surprised anymore.

"Kind of," I scrunched my nose.

"You're moving away?" I heard a voice full of surprise. "Why?"

I cocked my head up to find Sonal standing near our table with a surprised look on her face.

"Haven't you heard? The whole class knows it." Harpreet said.

"What? Then why don't I?" she looked so shocked.

"How would we know?" Harpreet asserted.

"Right," Sonal tightened her grip on the commercial studies book in her hand as she pondered. I eyed her as she looked around, as if looking for something. I watched her as she walked over to a table next to ours.

"Rohan? Mr. Mehta, is looking for you." she said standing beside the guy. I know him but have never talked. He is in the same class as us but in the science section.

"Why?" he questioned.

"I don't know. Go ask him yourself."

He seemed confused as he stood up and started picking up his stuff. As soon as he left his seat, Sonal pulled his chair to our table and sat between me and Palak.

"Why are you moving? Did you do something?" she looked at me suspiciously.

"What?! No." I frowned.

For some reason, Harpreet found this very amusing. She tried to control her giggle as she said, "Her mom got a job in San Francisco so she's sending her away to her sister's house."

"Isn't your mom a professor?" Sonal questioned.

"Yeah, so?"

"Nothing, just confirming. So, where is your aunts house?"

"Hazelynn."

"What?! That's too far. You'll have to travel at least two hours everyday to get to school. How are you gonna manage?"

"Seriously, Sonal? Are you really this stupid or you just messing with us?" Harpreet narrowed her eyes at Sonal. Sonal made a confused face. "It's clear. She's changing school."

"What?! It's even more difficult than managing travel." I sighed.

Sonal made a face as if she just remembered something. "Wait," she kept her hand on my shoulder. "Please tell me its Hazelynn High School."

I saw the glint in her eyes and I knew what her reaction was gonna be. "Yes."

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed making me flinch."That's basically the American high school of India. You're so lucky!"

"I would be more lucky if you guys were there with me too."

"It will be fine. We would come to visit you every weekend. And plus it's a beautiful town. You should consider yourself lucky that you are getting a chance to live there." Palak remarked.

"I know but... I'm scared." I confessed.

"I know." Palak stated.

'Of course, she does,'

"But think of it as a chance for you to move out of your comfort zone."

Sonal raised her hand as in telling to stop. "Wait, why aren't you moving to San Francisco with your mom again?"

"Seriously, are you drunk or something? Here I am stressing out about how I would manage in a school in India, and you think I would move to San Francisco? A whole different country?"

"Point."

I sighed. "I just wish my mom would let me stay in the hostel with you guys, but she said and I quote, 'Why live in a hostel when you can live with someone I trust,"

"It's okay. We too hate that you are leaving, but maybe it's for good. You would just need to make a few friends and you'll be sorted." Palak said.

"Yeah, friends make everything better by just being there." Harpreet smiled.

'I wish making friends was just as easy as that.'

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Plus, Hazelynn High School is the best school in our country. They don't have uniforms. They take you on trips. They organize carnivals." she counted on her fingers. "And, they have proms, like actual prom. And you can even kiss your partner in the campus without getting detention. Can you believe it? How cool is that. And who knows, maybe you find your Prince Charming," Harpreet cooed making me frown at her.

"You do realize that she has a boyfriend, right?" Palak said making me feel conscience-stricken.

"So what? Who knows, maybe he's not the one? Maybe, it's in her fate to go to Hazelynn. Maybe, her Prince Charming is waiting for her there!... Wow, sounds like a plot of a romantic movie!" Harpreet said, dreamily.

"Is murder involved in this movie?" Palak said.

"Probably," Harpreet shrugged.

"I would definitely watch this movie," Palak nodded her head.

"Me too," Sonal joined. I glanced between her and Harpreet, creasing my eyebrows.

"Why are you guys so filmy?... And no one is dying," I looked at Palak.

"Why? It's interesting." Palak said making me question her sanity. I don't know why the hell she is so obsessed with murders and serial killers. Sometimes I feel like she is a psychopath, which I'm sure she is not. Right?

I know that this happens only in novels and movies, but still, thinking about meeting my Prince Charming made me feel a little bit better. I am sure every girl wishes for it, even though a part of her always knows that its just a fantasy.

'I wish it actually happen with me,'

"By the way, is your husband still okay with long distance? I know that he said he was but is he still?" Harpreet questioned.

"We are--" I started but was never able to finish.

"You won't believe what just happened!" Karan said taking a seat with us on the table. Have you heard of, Gossip Girl? He is the gossip guy of our school. He kind of has an habit of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Not today, Karan. Get lost." Palak said sternly, as if threatening him.

"Geez, can you go a day without being rude to me?" Karan frowned.

"Can you go a day without interrupting our conversation?" Palak countered.

"Gossip?" he raised his eyebrows. "That's what I live for. Come on--" he tapped the table before looking at me. "--spill the beans,"

"You'll get some, pretty soon," I smiled.

☘ ☘ ☘

Along with Karma, destiny is a bitch too. At least to me. It has always made the most unexpected things happen to me, and definitely not in a good way. Being an introvert, I have always found meeting new people and leaving my comfort zone difficult than others. And, it takes me a lot of time to get familiar with a different environment. Hence, my destiny was again at playing another of its cruel game with me.

I was in the middle of my make up when a message chimed on my phone. Picking it up from the dressing table, I read the message.

*Hope you have rehearsed all the lines, can't wait to see you at the party!! Come soon!!*

Keeping the phone back on the dresser, I chewed my lower lip, looking at me reflection in the mirror. I got up and walked towards my study table before picking up a novel. Opening the book to a particular page, I took out the sheets of paper that I had hidden in between the novel pages. I stared deeply at it, taking in all the words written on it.

I slowly flipped through the sheets of paper as I rehearsed the lines before stopping at one that caught my eye. I smiled at myself as I read the contents of the paper, realizing how stupid it was of me to get involved into something like this.

RULES OF FAKE DATING was written in capital letters on the top of the sheet. The rules had been pretty simple to follow, but when everyone started gossiping about me dating the most popular guy in school, I realized how bizarre idea this was.

But it was too late for this realization, everyone already knew about it and according to rule number 7, I couldn't tell anyone that we were in a fake relationship, not even my best friends.

A chuckle left my lips as I glanced at our signatures at the bottom of the sheet. I remembered how we argued about the rules before finally cracking a deal which would benefit the both of us. Not to mention, some rules were actually taken from the movie To All The Boys I Have Loved Before.

What a great novel and movie.