Exams were over. Our exam results had come yesterday. I hadn't done as good as I had expected to do. Overall, I had secured 88.4% which was less than my expectation. I was hoping for my overall percentage to be more than 90. But my classmates were surprised by my score.
I was among the top 5 all of a sudden. I was giving the last year's class topper, Yash, a tough competition. I guess that is why he resented me and started spreading the rumours... about me having hooked up with Manvir.
Manvir was my classmate. He and I used to talk a lot mostly because we were in the same class and... because of Priya. Manvir had a huge crush on Priya. He felt shy to talk to her directly, so I was their mediator. And Yash mistook it to be something else.
"You had hooked up with Manvir in the girl's bathroom on 2nd floor?" Shanaya asked me, wide eyed. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I just sat frozen on my seat till Shanaya repeated her question. "No, of course not! Why would I? I mean... wait, from whom did you hear this?" She dodged my question and said, "It's a new rumour then, I guess. Everyone's talking about it!" Sure enough, when I looked around me, everyone was gossiping about it.
I just hid my face behind the books and pretended to study the whole day because I had no energy to face them. Not again.
***
"Kimora, is it true, what they are saying?" Vivaan asked me the moment he stepped into the bus. "What - what are you talking about?" I was surprised that Vivaan had heard about it. I guess I underestimated the speed at which news travelled here. "So it's true then?" he asked, with a look of disgust and... was it disappointment? Hurt? Anger? "I... can you please tell me what you are talking about, at least? A lot of things have been said about me today, so I don't know which one you're referring to!"
"Did you hook up with Manvir in the bathroom or not?" "I - I didn't. I wouldn't, I - " "It's fine, Kim. I got the message." With that, he slumped on his seat, removed the school bag that was slung over his shoulder and plopped it beside him. Before I could say anything, he shut me off. "I'm going to sleep." "I will wake you up when the stop comes." "No need! Bidaan will wake me up."
I felt hurt even though I knew I shouldn't feel like that. You barely know that guy. Why are you hurt by his silence? Maybe because he... mattered? Because I felt good around him? NO! PULL YOUR GUARDS UP!
***
"Where are ya goin' bitch?" a guy shouted in the corridor. When I looked at him, he smirked. I lost it when I heard it. I walked up to him, my body shaking with fury. If looks could kill, he would have been dead. "Slut!" He spat when I was standing close to him. Without thinking, I punched him hard and proceeded to disfigure his face forever. Shanaya and Yash had to restrain me from severely injuring him.
After that fight, Yash apologized for spreading the rumour and tried to help me with the studies. The entire class had started avoiding me except for Priya and Anish, an empathetic guy who had cried when I told him and Priya about that night. Priya hadn't taken it very seriously. Those two were the only people who knew why I had kept my guard up. I had to tell them about that incident only because I felt it necessary. I needed someone to understand why I feared a certain type of men and darkness and guns and swords and travelling late at night.
The entire class, save those two, just ignored my existence, so it seemed. They didn't talk to me much, so I had started reading novels in my spare time. In my zero period, during recess, on the bus - novels were my companion. I started reading Adventures Of Feluda by Satyajit Ray but once I was done with that, I switched over to Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. A guy, Daivit, had the entire series at home, so I borrowed those books missing from my collection. Being an avid reader, I finished them off in 3 to 4 days.
Vivaan had completely stopped talking to me after that rumour started. I talked to no one on the bus. I just slept or read on my journey home. His silence hurt me deeply.
The only people who made me feel good about myself were two boys from the park in my society. I liked playing games, so they invited me to play football with them. Unfortunately, the other boys thought that being a girl, I was not cut out for that game. So I proved myself by beating them in a match. Since then, my rivalry started with them. Dev and Rishi were the only people who defended me and encouraged to play on despite the others abusing me.
I couldn't share much with those two initially because I didn't trust them much. Slowly, though, I opened up to them and told them about everything - from the rumour to the night. They promised to protect me and give me company.
***
"Are you dating Dev?" "What?!" Dev was 3 years younger to me. It was absurd of anyone to think that I saw Dev as anyone other than my brother. "That's the new rumour, sis," Sapna said in her falsetto voice.
Not again. Please, I can't take this anymore.
QOTD: Have you ever been caught in a rumour? Was the person who spread it a friend or a foe?
YOU ARE READING
Love Escape ✔️
Teen Fiction"Were you scared?" she asked as our foreheads collided together. I shook my head no. I have to act brave and masculine, right? "No. You're lying," she said as she wiped tears off my cheeks and showed me her wet fingers. Wait, I was crying? "I didn'...
