You Never Got Out Of My Heart

"I think we must seek help, Kristen. Walking around this corridor won't seem to help us in any way," I ventured when Kristen my best friend and I were not able to discover our classroom.

"You know what? I am also thinking the same," Kristen agreed in no time.

"There you go and ask..." I shoved her towards the group of boys standing near the window.

"What no way...? I am not going. Prisha, you are an expert in socializing with people you go..." she stepped behind me and started to push me.

"Fine, let's go together..." I gripped her wrist and tried to drag her with me.

But she hurriedly shrugged her hand. "No way, you go. My cheeks are already heated red like tomatoes. I don't want to embarrass myself going in front of them. Please! have mercy on me, my bestie."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, you drama queen always has to start drama in moments like this. You wait here. I am going..."

I paced towards the group, trembling inside. I was sensing my cheeks growing hot with every step I took towards them. When I finally approached them, taking a deep breath I patted the shoulder of a tall guy.

As he turned towards me with a charming smile on his face, I suddenly felt the world coming to halt. Slowly pulling my lips between my teeth, I got lost in his blue almond eyes. God damn! He was handsome like hell.

Fair complexion, high forehead, dark eyebrows, straight nose, thin lips, black hair groomed backward, height unknown but can say taller than me. He was truly a handsome gentleman. The plain white vest with black denim followed by white canvas on him was giving me the vibes of models I have seen on TV.

Never in my life, I had ever scanned any boy from top to bottom. And believe me, I was not feeling ashamed of it. I was just loving to stare at him, even if it was making him uncomfortable.

My heart was at ease and there was a strange feeling inside me. I wished I could have understood that feeling the very second I had seen him.

"Yes, may I help you," His voice was so melodious and blissful to hear, and was all enough to bring me back to life from that unknown world.

"Um... actually!" I tucked my hair behind my ear feeling shy and continued, "I and my friend are new here. We are not able to find our classroom. Can you help us out, please?"

He flashed his white teeth before speaking out. "Oh! That is the thing. That means you are in great trouble, right? Class may start any minute and you cannot afford to get late on your first day, right?" he shot me with a pile of questions at a time, and lowering my head, I nodded in response to his questions.

"Okay! I am ready to help you out but in one condition," as he said that all of a sudden, I sensed his melodious voice turning cold and intimated.

I lifted my head and encountered a sinister smile on his face. This is it, don't judge the book by its cover what it is said, right? That was literally going to come true.

I thought he was a gentleman seeing his appearance but no, he wasn't. He was definitely among those seniors who ragged and bullied new students.

"Are you going to rag us?" I asked in a low whispering tone.

Unexpectedly, he leaned his ear closer to me and said, "I didn't hear you..."

"Are you planning to rag us? Please don't give us a tough task," I whispered in his ear with fright.

"What?" he said out loud and began to laugh. He then turned towards his friends who had been looking at me for a long time. "She thinks I am about to rag her."

They all laughed out loud together which made me regret talking to them. I cleared my throat feeling embarrassed and they came to halt at once as if they had comprehended that I was not liking their laughs.

"Sorry!" he said in an apologetic tone.

I nodded in response, not meeting his eyes.

Then he added, "no, dear we are definitely not going to rag anyone. We don't like such activities. Anyway, the condition I was talking about was to have an introduction with you but you took it in another way."

"Oh!" I breathed in relief giving a smile of embarrassment. This happens when your mind works too much in unwanted situations.

"So, pretty damsel, let me start, my name is Aster Mellark. They are my friends. Would you like to know their name as well or you are okay if they don't introduce themselves to you..."

"Aster..." his friends mumbled in unison, giving clear hints that they were annoyed with his words.

Aster chuckled looking at me.

I nodded. "They can introduce themselves."

"Hi, my name is Denise Brown. Welcome to our school," said one stepping forward and waving his hand.

"Hello! there, I am Sam Mendes. Nice meeting you..." said another bowing in front of me.

"Good morning! pretty damsel, you can call me Riddle Salk, because I am Riddle Salk," said the third in a funny way which made me giggle.

He extended his hand towards me and hesitating I gave him my hand But the moment he took my hand and kissed it, I was bashful.

Riddle suddenly gave a mischievous smile, letting go of my hand. He glanced at Aster and said, "that look of jealousy is what I wanted to see in your face."

Denise and Sam laughed out loud but Aster rolled his eyes. "Shut up..."

I didn't get Riddle what he was saying so I absently stared at him.

"So you haven't given your introduction?" Aster stated.

I averted my gaze to Aster. "Oh! I am Prisha Everdeen and the girl over there is my best friend Kristen Swift." I pointed towards Kristen. But she hastily looked away.

"Oh! That means you got yourself a company," Aster claimed, waving his hand towards Kristen.

"Um, kind of. She and I have been best friends since our fourth grade," I replied shortly.

"That's impressive. Let's walk to your classroom then," suggested Aster.

"Okay, that's very kind of you," I said, gesturing to Kristen to come over.

After introducing them to one another, Aster questioned, "Okay! so which grade are you both in?"

Kristen was gripping my hand tight and when Aster spoke to us in his melodious voice, her grip grew tighter.

"Eleven,'" I replied, darting at Kristen in astonishment.

"We are your seniors," Aster said in a somewhat annoyed tone.

He then hiked the stairs followed by his friends. Kristen took the chance and leaned closer to my ear whispering, "I think we have landed on heaven, Prisha. So many handsome boys all around us. Especially that Aster... Did you see him? He is damn so handsome."

I rolled my eyes and was about to gesture her to stop, suddenly someone from behind said in a loud voice, "he is but don't get too excited. He is not the guy to fall for someone like you two."

Passing a surprising gaze to each other, we turned around in astonishment and saw a girl in short skirt and high heels before us. She was chewing gum and playing with her long hair. She was already so tall, still, she was wearing high heels which I felt so awkward.

"Why not?" asked Kristen, folding her arms.

"Because he never falls for one who falls for him. So, you just can drool on his handsomeness and dream about him," she replied, knitting her eyebrows.

Seeing her attitude deep inside I had a feeling that we for sure are not going to have a good bond in the upcoming days.

"Because he never falls for one who falls for him. So, you just can drool on his handsomeness and dream about him," she replied, knitting her eyebrows. Seeing her attitude deep inside I had a feeling that we for sure are not going to have a good bond in the upcoming days.

"Really? And who are you to say that?"

Hearing Kristen's tone I was sure she was going to get herself in trouble on the first day.

"Hey, you don't wanna attend the class," suddenly Sam looked downstairs and called us out.

"Let's go." I pulled Kristen's wrist.

"But wait! I want to give her a reply."

Kristen tried to pull back but I gripped her tight and dragged her upstairs.

"Leave me, Prisha. I need to give her..."

"Give it some other day," I interrupted her. "It's our first day and we shouldn't mess around. You have plenty of days to reply. So, for now, it is better if we get to our classroom in time."

"Everything alright?" questioned Aster, glancing at our hands as I was gripping Kristen's wrist so tight.

I hurriedly left her hand and nodded, "yeah..."

"So this is your class and for now we need to rush back to our class. So let's meet you during the break," said Aster and walked away along with his friends immediately.

"Aster!" I called him out and he immediately turned around.

"Thank you..." I said with a smile.

He smiled back at me stepping backward and popped his both thumbs up in the air. He then turned around and walked away. When he got out of my sight I suddenly recalled that I didn't ask for his class

"I will definitely ask when we will meet again," I mumbled underneath my breath and stepped inside my new classroom.

The class was filled with new faces who were probably my classmates. I scanned around the class which looked like a garden with different varieties of flowers.

One had curly bouncy hair looking cute, next was a boy with brown eyes, another was there with black long hair, another was there wearing Harry potter spectacles looking like he was going to be the topper of the class.

As I was trying to take the picture of everyone in my mind, suddenly my gaze stopped on a boy sitting at the corner table. His eyes were fixed on his book.

When he lifted his head and gave me a look, my heart started to throb out loud. His green eyes blinked twice looking at me before shifting his gaze back to his book. He was so handsome. His green eyes were deep and sparkling in which you can get easily lost. He was fair and pale white.

I didn't get to admire his handsomeness as he was spellbound by the book he was reading and was not ready to look at anyone for more than two seconds.

"He is so handsome..." I heard Kristen and instantly I replied, "yes, he is..."

"I wish I was in his class," Kristen mumbled again and I absently replied, "I wish that too... wait what?"

I averted my gaze at Kristen in confusion and found her gaze was not on the boy I was talking about.

"Kristen, who are you talking about?" I questioned in confusion.

"Obviously, about Aster," she replied, pointing towards the window.

As I followed her direction, I saw that Aster and his friends were settling down in the class which was just opposite to our class.

"But Kristen, I am not talking about him." I pulled her chin and made her glance at the boy I was talking about.

Kristen immediately rolled her eyes and muttered, "oh! Please don't fall for bookworms. They will never give you attention apart from their books. You better fall for Aster... he is damn so handsome."

She walked towards the empty seat near the window.

"What? But you like him, right?" I asked following her.

"Duh! I am just attracted to him seeing his personality. That doesn't mean I will date him. He is not my type. You are a perfect match for him, not me," she asserted, placing her bag on the desk before plunging on the bench.

"Please don't even go in that direction. You were about to mess around for him a while ago with a girl in the corridor remember." I plonked beside her.

"Um yes, so according to that girl he doesn't fall for one who falls for him, right? So in that case, you didn't fall for him. I am telling you he is definitely going to fall for you," she claimed gazing at me with her excited eyes.

I gave a witty laugh before saying, "come on, I have already fallen for that boy please don't taunt me with your useless prophecy which is never going to come true." I glanced back at the boy at the corner who was still busy with his book.

"No, way I am not giving you permission to date him." Kristen gripped my chin and pulled my face towards her.

"Why not?" I raised my hands in the air out of annoyance.

"Because till now I have not even seen his face and being your best friend I will not let you date the one who I haven't seen and check if he is capable enough to date you or not... I care for you the most, you know that, right?"

Wrapping my hand around her I replied, "aww! that's cute. I will not date until I get your permission. Happy?"

She nodded. "That's like my good girl. But I must say I am loving this school. There are so many handsome..."

Suddenly she paused and her expression began to change.

"What happened?" I questioned.

She gestured at me to look at the door. As I followed her gaze, I encountered the same awkward tall girl in high heels and a short skirt walking in.

"God, please, don't let her be our classmate, please! please! please..." I heard Kristen praying in a low tone.

But God didn't seem to be in the mood to listen to her prayers. The girl walked straight towards the boy who happened to be my crush, I mean the bookworm as said by Kristen, and to our surprise, she plonked beside him.

The boy glanced at her and passed his smile at her. I and Kristen glanced at each other in shock.

"I am telling you she is going to be a vamp in our life," said Kristen in disgust.

"Let's not judge the book by its cover. Maybe we are wrong, she might be nice," I state unzipping my bag.

"Maybe, maybe, maybe... duh!" Kristen muttered, grabbing her bag.

As we got ready for the class our class teacher entered. We all got up at once and greeted him. My eyes suddenly fell on the window and saw Aster looking at me.

He waved at me and I waved him back. I then hurriedly withdrew my gaze back to the teacher and looked around the classroom. Everyone was already in their seats.

Kristen hurriedly pulled my wrist. "What are you doing? Sit..."

"Sorry, I got distracted," I whispered while opening my book.

"What is the thing that distracted you? I know it is definitely not your new crush." She muttered in a sarcastic tone.

"I..."

Before I could tell her about Aster who distracted me, the teacher said out loud, "Good morning students, I am your class teacher, Ben Wizz. You can call me Mr. Wizz. So I teach math and at the start of the new session I see many new faces which is very nice..."

A smile was plastered on his face. I got excited that he was going to introduce everyone to one another.

But my eyes widened in shock when Mr. Wizz pulled out his book and announced, "So now let's go to today's lesson."

"But sir, it's the first day. Aren't we supposed to introduce each other?" a girl with curly hair sitting at the other end of the first row got up and ventured.

"We have a whole year to introduce," Mr.Wizz replied, flipping his book.

"He is so mean..." Kristen whispered. I glanced at her and nodded in response.

So this was it. Our first day passed out without having a proper introduction which was kind of lame but the interesting fact was every time I glanced outside the window Riddle and Denise who was seated beside Aster something.

This made me smile time and again. But in this whole process, Aster who was sitting just by the window didn't give one single glance and was so solemnly writing something.

"Honey is that you?" Mom called out from the kitchen, as soon as I entered the house.

"Yes, mom I am home," I replied, hiking the stairs with my heavy feet.

"Why are you home so early, honey?" Mom started her interrogation.

"Class ended early, mom," I gave a short reply.

"Oh! Okay then freshen up and come here I am preparing lunch. Can't wait to hear your story." I was sensing the excitement in her tone.

I always had the habit of sharing my new experience with my mom. I really liked sharing things with her. After Kristen, she was my best friend. I would say after Kristen and Nigel, my sister but at that moment she was no longer with me, as she was in the States for her further studies. Our conversation had decreased since then and I used to miss her a lot.

I threw my bag aside and plunged on my soft bed. I was exhausted, so lying on my back, I closed my eyes. As I took a deep breath suddenly green eyes appeared on my mind. That handsome face and that twice blink of green eyes made me blush.

For the first time in my life, I was having a crush on someone. God the feeling was so good and made me feel happy. As I was lost in deep thought about the boy reading books at the corner table, I was startled with my cell phone ring. I got up slothfully and retrieved my cell phone from my bag.

"Hello..." I said, pressing the phone against my ear and lied back on the bed.

"What are you doing?" Kristen was on the line.

"Nothing, just taking rest, why?" I said, twirling my hair.

"Don't tell me you were blushing thinking about that bookworm."

My jaw slacked in shock, hearing her. "God, how did she know that?" a question arose inside my heart.

"Second of silence means I am right, you were definitely thinking about him, right?" she chuckled.

"Kristen, please, stop teasing," I grumbled in annoyance.

"Okay, fine, fine. Anyway, I am home alone and bored. Can I come over?"

I was astounded to hear her. "Of course, since when have you started taking permission to come here?"

"I don't know. You know what? I have a feeling going to a new school, old Kristen is no more. She seems to be updated into a new version. I am also astonished to hear myself asking permission to come over... did I really do that?" she quipped giggling.

"Then I can't wait to have lunch with new Kristen," I mocked.

"Don't worry dear, you will soon get that opportunity. But before that, I would like to know what we are having for our lunch?"

Strolling out of my room, I took a glance downstairs before calling out, "mom, what is there for lunch?"

"Chowmein... honey," came her instant reply.

"Did I hear Chowmein?" asked Kristen joyfully.

"Yeah..." I replied before talking to mom again, "Kristen is also coming over, mom."

"Wow! That's great, it's her favorite, isn't it? Tell her to hurry up and come before it gets cold." My mom was more excited than me hearing about Kristen.

"I am on my way, Prisha," said Kristen and hurriedly hung up.

"Really?" mom exclaimed looking up from her plate.

"Yes, mom and he didn't let us have any introduction to anyone," I mumbled in between chewing.

"That is rude," mom said, picking up her glass.

"But one thing you know what, mom, there are so many handsome seniors and I have even paired one with Prisha. He is so handsome."

Hearing Kristen I choked out. I hurriedly grabbed the glass and gulped the water.

"Stop it, Kristen," I said in a grating voice, keeping the glass back at the table.

"Really? What is his name?" Mom raised a question out of curiosity.

"Mom, please don't start. She is just kidding." I tried to stop them because I clearly knew that once mom and Kristen start talking shit like those, they would not stop until pestering me like hell and making me shout at them.

"His name is Aster and he is so handsome, charming, dashing and I cannot explain what more. No word can fit his character. He is so polite and helpful. I am telling you he is the perfect match for our Prisha." Kristen didn't stop her blabbering even after seeing my gesture to stop.

"If he is that perfect then why don't you marry him and leave me alone for god sake." I was totally losing it all.

"Finally, I got my son-in-law. Invite him for lunch some other day, Prisha," mom said in excitement.

I rolled my eyes in disappointment, "Mom..."

"Did you just say leave you alone? Like really? Are you thinking of marrying your new crush, that bookworm without my permission?" Kirsten grumbled folding her arms.

I dropped my spoon and stared at Kristen with my wide eyes. "Why does she have to say that?"

"Crush? Who is it? Who is it?" Mom was growing more curious.

"I think I am done with my lunch. You two keep up with your chit-chat and enjoy it because I am going back to my room." I got on my feet.

But mom pulled my wrist and didn't allow me to move. "Okay, okay, sorry. Please finish your lunch first. We will not discuss anything."

"Yeah, at least finish it, Prisha. It is a bad habit to waste food, you know that, right?" Kristen said, giving me a witty smile. She was really enjoying pestering me.

I sat back glaring at her and ate my lunch hurriedly. As soon as I finished eating, I ran back to my room. My heart was simmering in anger due to Kristen and I had made up my mind that I was never going to talk with her.

I locked my room and plunged on my bed. In a while, there was a knock on the door. I didn't give any response and kept on scrolling through my phone. I thought she would knock again but there was no second knock. I felt strange.

"Did she return? This easily?" I thought deep inside and waited some time for the knock but still, she didn't knock nor did she call out.

"She is giving up this easily?" I was not able to digest this fact.

Slowly I climbed down the bed and waded to the door. I made sure not to make any noise so that Kristen wouldn't be alarmed by my move. I peeped through the keyhole but there was no one around. I grew more furious.

"How could she go away without apologizing? Not even making an effort."

I angrily pulled the door and suddenly she fell hard on the floor and hit her forehead.

"Ahh..." she got on her feet but suddenly she closed her eyes and passed out falling on the floor again.

I panicked and squatted in front of her. "Kristen, open your eyes. Kristen, wake up..." I called her out patting her cheeks but she was not opening her eyes nor was giving any response.