Trust Fall(Complete ✅)

9. The pain beneath

Chapter track
Rainbow- Kacey Musgraves
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Bianca

"Hey, Bia."

"Yeah."

"Penzo took your phone number from me." Sia speaks airily.

"Okay. But, he sits right next to me, he should've asked me instead of you."

"Yes, darling, but that's Penzo. Don't expect anything normal from him." She lets out a dramatic sigh.

"I don't understand, Sia. What abnormal activity could he possibly do with my phone number?"

"Listen. I wasn't supposed to say this, but couldn't help it." She continues, holding me with both her hands by my shoulders. "See, he will text or call you, which is supposed to be 'normal', while the 'abnormal' thing about it is that, he's gonna pretend to be someone else. "

"What?" I scowl. "Why would he do that?"

"Well, he didn't tell me more about that. You'll know by yourself."

"He's certainly trying to mess with me with some silly pranks," I say with a shrug.

"That's Penzo. Pretend you don't know anything, just go with the flow. Let's see how far it goes."

"Alright."

I don't have any other options, do I?

****

I'm beginning to enjoy my new school. Most probably because I'm pretty much warming up with almost all my acquaintances, especially Neil, the awkwardness is slowly fading away and the small talks aren't as awkward as it used to be.

That night, after finally talking to my dad, I was having a bittersweet moment. As he desperately wanted me to return although he was proud of me at the same time. The emotional conversation put me into an overwhelming position, so I went into the balcony for some fresh air.

I was greeted by the melody of "Stairway to Heaven" on strings by Neil. I couldn't ignore but notice the invisible pain he was enduring. He looked sad. Totally trying to distract himself from something that was hurting him and it was deep, I could almost feel that.

Now, I had no idea about where I got the courage to talk to him like that, but I did and I was happy I did. At least our duet helped us to share the moment and forget the pain together. I don't know if that truly helped him, but that smile gave me a relief and as far as I thought, he might have been able to sleep well that night.

Yes, I care about him. No matter how much I deny, it's a fact that he is important to me.

He is my friend afterall.

The following day, Neil surprised us with his esteemed singing skills when he sang "Love of my life" by Queen, playing the piano at the same time. I knew he was good but never imagined that he could be that good.

It is now finalized that we are going to perform a duet song for the audition but the song is yet to be decided and we have Rohan for that.

I am getting pretty excited every morning just for the sake of going to school. Afterall, I'm busy most of the time with the things I love and I guess I'm getting better than I expected.

Penzo isn't done with his hilarious behaviour yet and hasn't ever missed a chance to flirt with me every once in a while but he is too naive to be taken seriously.

My cellphone buzzes. It's a text message from Penzo. I got his number from Sia, so I know it is him and now, its the time to play the prank with the prankster.