RED ♥️

19

Widening the playful, smugly grin on his lips, Arnav concluded that it was fun to get under his friend's skin and irritate her .

It was Arnav and Khushi's literature class an elective subject which Khushi find interesting and Arnav find boring .

Gazing around, Arnav noticed that there were only a few empty seats left in the class. He also silently thanked whatever god was watching over him when he noticed there were three seats in the unoccupied row at the far back—a place that he had marked as his territory in the previous year.

"Alright." There teacher clapped her hands together as she put on her unnatural smile again. It was rather obvious that she was trying to get on with the day. "I could start the day with a lecture on how important this year is to many of you, and how stressful it is going to be, but I'm not going to do that."

Surveying the room for students' reactions, she went on. "Your parents probably have already touched basis on those important things, such as trying your best on the university acceptance exams that you're all going to be writing at the end of this year. So I'm going to start the stressful year with something fun." There was a mischievous glint glimmering in her eyes, as her lips twisted into a strange smile which made the students gulp slightly.

"You guys know my rules. I always start with the topic today we are going to do something new , In-class essays." She was forced to pause as loud groans filled the room temporarily, upon hearing the most dreadful news ever: in-class essays.

Raising her hands into the air defensively, "hold on. Hold on. Let me finish my sentence first." The stirred class quieted down, with a few intelligible grumbles from the corners ending the commotion.

"But I have changed my mind this year." An exhilarated grin curved on her red, glossed lips as she announced with growing excitements, "you guys are going to write me a poem in 20 minutes about your goals, dreams, using all the literature devices taught to you from the previous years."

A ghastly silence followed as the words traveled through the vibrant air. Her gaze swept across the shocked students who were either gawking at her as if she had grown two heads or doubting the stability of her current mental state.

"Get out your notebook and start writing. The assignment is to be handed in and marked." There teacher said with finality, dismissing the students groans in a cheerful singing voice while an overly saccharine smile stretched across her lips, with sarcastic sweetness dripping off it like honey.

Khushi pulled out a piece of paper from her notebook and stared down at it. The pale blue lines divided the sections into strips, and she realized that those lines were there for her to transform her feelings into words. Tightening her grip around her pencil to a point that any excess force applied to the thin plastic material outer layer would cause it to shatter into small shards.

She ran the topic through her mind again, attempting to find the inspiration for writing that was no where to be found. Khushi was the writing kind of person. like the poets, her preferred method of expression was writing and singing. The flow of words and her mind  seemed to click, as if they were made for each other.

Life… and dreams… the thought rambled off her mind as she gnawed at the corner of her mouth, furrowing her eyebrows in contemplation. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, her life was dissembled and she wasn't even sure how to put it back together again. The various events occurred in the course of her recent life were something she never wanted to think about. They were better off locked away in the maze of her mind.

Dreams… such word had already lost its meaning and value to her. She didn't dare to dream anymore because they could only bring her pain. All that she had was nightmares, haunting memories put on repeat and a mental shock that she never really got over. Despite the fact that it's been a year since her mother's demise , she is still at the  same place she left her.