Facing the World

Chapter 20

The next day I had to go collage on my own. Sharon was busy trying to find internships so she dropped me off at the front gates. I was scared as hell. I was like a chicken without it's head when Sharon wasn't around. I held on the hope that one of my friends would be in my marketing class today but it struck to me that Radz doesn't even do marketing! Then the thought of Maya popped up. What if she's in my class? I kept thinking off all the worst situations that could happen today. If Sharon was around, it would have been easier. I wouldn't be walking alone in this busy hallway. I wouldn't have to find a seat,Sharon did all those things. I just followed.

Well today, I have to find a spot where no one would bother to sit next tome. Five minutes later, people started to storm in. The lecture room was slowly getting packed. So far, no one had bothered to sit next tome. I began to feel happy. All the worrying was for nothing. No one is going to bother me.

I flexed my nerves, and started to get my books out of my bag, when suddenly someone came and sat next to me. I was afraid to look next to me, scared it was Maya. From behind, I felt a hand tapping my shoulder. Great! It's two of the bullies.

"Hey Simi!", I jumped on my seat and looked to my right.

"Woah there! You look terrified. Are we that frightening"

"Oh!Thank God! It's you Sammi! I thought it must have been one of Maya's minions", I gave out a relieved sign .

Wait if the person seated next to me is Sammi, then whose behind me? I quickly looked behind and saw Rey waving his hand at me. "Hi Simi! Hope we didn't scare you". Both the boys started to laugh,they must think I get easily scared, even though I was ready to fight Maya a day ago.

The lecture started and at first the three of us were quite. Thirty minutes into the class suddenly three boys walked half way while the lecturer was still talking. Rey poked my shoulder again from behind and came closer towards my ears. "That's Vicky Khan, Maya's boyfriend".

"That's he guy that created all this mess?", I turned around in shock upon asking my question but was electrified when I was only inches away from Rey's face. He hadn't moved from his position. We both were looking eye in eye at each other. I quickly backed my head and cleared my throat. He relaxed back to his lazy leaning posture and pointed with his pen towards the lecturer.

Sammi was shooting laser beams at Vicky, as he walked around to find empty seats .Vicky's character seemed hard to understand. Either he was trying too hard to act cool or he was just weird the way he looked.He had blonde highlights in his spiky hair and he wore torn out jeans, with a tight fitted black t-shirt that showed his flexed muscles. What was with all these guys in MUB wanting to look like magazine models?

"Ass turns up late, and now this lecture will go on for another half an hour!" Sammi leaned towards me and whispered. He looked pissed.From the far end, Vicky was also starring at us. He lifted his hand up and pointed his middle finger at Sammi and Rey. Both the boys were almost on the edge of their seats, about to stand up and yell at him."Sammi, Rey! Calm down. His just trying to pick a fight. You'll be the ones getting in trouble at the end." They quietly sat down and I saw Vicky and his friends were laughing at us.

After the lecture, we waited till Vicky left and then we exited the room.

"What do you have now Simi?", Sammi asked whilst keeping his eye out for Vicky.

"Nothing at the moment. I have a break and then a class."

Sammi still was distracted, but he kept talking to me. Rey on the other hand was just following us from behind listening to our conversation."I have a class now, why don't you and Rey head to the Cafe, and I'll meet you guys there after an hour."

"Sounds good to me", Rey spoke from behind. Me alone with Rey. This guy hardly talks, but when he does his always so sweet and I always get distracted by his face and body. I need to make an excuse and try to escape this, "Ah, Sammi, I have to go to the library to pick some books up"

"Nope!We have been given orders to make sure you don't leave or go anywhere without Rey or me with you. Maya and the gang will take advantage if they find you on your own". Guess there was no escape, He was right. I couldn't just be on my own today. If Sharon finds out Maya tried to mess with me, she'll be mad. I decided I'd quietly follow Rey to the Cafe. Before we left, Sammi grabbed Rey's shoulder, "Keep her in sight".

They sounded so over protective. I felt like the president's daughter being followed by my two bodyguards. Rey quickly walked towards me and motioned his hand forward letting me know we should go to the Cafe. "So are you guys always so over-protective?".

Rey looked at me and smiled. But I could still tell his attention was more towards Maya and Vicky who were seated at the 'Dark Side', their usual spot. "Simi, when it comes to Maya, we could seriously do anything. Don't want your stay in Mumbai to turn out horrible now, do we?". We both took our seat and he kept looking at me. He was smiling at me. But it wasn't just because he was nice, he had a different glint in his eyes.

He ordered me lunch and we ate, making small conversations.

"So I heard you had to lie and create drama to get to Mumbai", he looked up from his food and smiled at me, raising his eyebrows.

"And I guess you heard that from Sharon?", I did exactly the same and smiled back at him.

"Come on, I'm your friend now, so you need to tell me the story".

I laughed "My friend? Well I don't tell all my friends my secrets,only close friends".

"I can work on that. Become your close friend, that's not that hard".

"Oh trust me it's hard", I tried to play around with him.

He laughed and looked me in the eyes. His eyes were so innocent. It showed his true self, nice, innocent and honest.

I hadn't realised I was looking in his eyes as well, suddenly a hand came in between us and the person flicked his fingers.

"HELLO! When I said to look after Simi, I didn't mean that you stare eye in eye with her". It was Sammi. I started to warm up and knew I'd be blushing. Rey smiled at me and we both got up to go for our next class.