Love Escape ✔️

Chapter 9 (pt. 2)

"Go, stand in the ring, Kim!" Yash shouted as he pushed me into the ring. Uh-oh! How do they play it here?  There were 3 people in the ring - me, Shanaya and Vivaan. "Kim, you look confused. Is it the rules?" Shanaya asked. "Uh yeah, I don't know how you play it..." 

"Easy there! See, we three," she said, waving her hands at the three in the ring, "we try to dodge the ball. The people forming the ring try to out us by throwing the ball at us. Whoever succeeds to out us takes our place here and we take their place. Okay?" I nodded in response. "You can also defend yourself with your hands," Vivaan added as an afterthought while positioning my hands in a defending position. What is he doing?

I withdrew from him and took my stance. He couldn't just give me the silent treatment and open his mouth whenever he liked. He knew I played dodgeball in the park. He had seen me there. The park way was similar to the New York way. This one, I decided, resembled more to a street dodgeball, especially the way they had modified it. "Call it the desi street dodgeball," Vivaan voiced my thoughts. I looked at him, confused. "I know you play in the park. I have seen you play when I took rounds on the walking track. Think I'm blind?" I shook my head. "I thought so," he said.

"Okay, start!" Yash shouted and aimed the ball at Shanaya. She dodged it and ran in the opposite direction. Priyanka caught the ball and threw it at me. I defended myself and ran. The game became a blur of hands and legs and the ball after that till Shanaya was outed by Yash. "Why do you always aim me?" she whined. "Because you're the easiest target," Yash smirked. 

"Aim at Kim! She'll be an easy target!" Manvir shouted. I glared daggers at him before focusing on the game. Twice, I barely missed. Once, when it looked like I would get out, Vivaan defended me, earning boos from his classmates. "Why did you do that?" I asked. "You're enjoying yourself, that's why," he simply replied. What does that mean?

***

After what seemed like a long time, Priyanka managed to out me. Unfortunately for her, I outed her a little while later but gave my chance in the ring to another girl. "Now why did you do that?" Vivaan asked me when he was outed by Manvir a little while later. "Do what?" I asked innocently. "Gave your chance to someone else? I thought you enjoyed being in the ring" "I do, Vivaan, but I thought it would be fair to give her a chance. Honestly, she could use the enjoyment too." 

"Next time you get the chance, you go in the ring," Vivaan said in a commanding tone. "And why would I do that?" "So I can out you." "Deal!" Soon enough, I aimed at Manvir and it was a bullseye. OUCH! I hit him where the sun doesn't shine...

"Wow! Did you aim for it?" Vivaan asked, half amused, half sarcastically. "Erm, no..." was all I managed to say before apologising to Manvir who was jumping and dancing in pain. I then took my place in the ring and Vivaan threw the ball at me. I easily dodged it and made a face. THWACK! In that moment of distraction, someone threw the ball at my head and the impact made me fall on the ground.

I think I lost consciousness at this point. I could hear a lot of commotion around me but I could focus on nothing. I just remember someone saying infirmary. 

***

After I woke up, Vivaan asked me if I was feeling fine. I rubbed my eyes and scanned my surroundings. "Am I at the infirmary?" I asked him. "Yes. And, um, your specs..." He gave me my now broken spectacles with an apologetic face. I took it from his hand and kept it on the bed. "What are you doing here?" I asked. "Well, someone had to take you back to your class from the infirmary, right?" he said with a slight smile. "Yeah, but why you?" "Maybe because I care about you?" he shrugged.

I hope that's true because I care about you too. "So, all this while, I just had to play dodgeball with you to find out that you had a tongue?" I asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Well, I know I didn't talk to you for a while and I'm sorry about it. I'm just - sorry, okay? I won't shut you out next time." "You won't have to, Vivaan, because I will." With that, I walked out of the infirmary with him chasing me.

"Kim, listen to me, KIM!" He pulled me into an empty classroom on the ground floor as I struggled in his grasp. "Hear me out!" "Let me go, Vivaan!" "No, you listen to me first." He let me go and walked towards me while I walked backwards, away from him. A few more steps and my back hit the whiteboard. He caged me between himself and the board with his arms against the wall.

I couldn't move anywhere without brushing against him. And I didn't want to do that. Not now. He looked down at me for a minute, his eyes staring at my eyes, cheeks and then my lips. If I could touch his lips... NO KIM YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I focused on the present and realised that we were standing too close to each other which was NOT OKAY. I coughed lightly to let him know I felt uncomfortable by our close proximity. "Erm, sorry," he said, jerking back into reality, and gave me some personal space before continuing. "Well, when I heard the rumour, I was shaken and you know..." "Cut the crap! I know you couldn't accept it. So why are you talking to me now?" 

"Listen to me! As you said, I couldn't accept it. And then I learnt it was just that - a rumour. I thought to approach you but I didn't know how. And you have so many admirers. So I figured it would be -" "Wait!" I made a timeout sign. "Admirers?" "Funny that you don't know of them, Kim! You're pretty, smart, talented - anyone would fall for you." I took a minute to let that sink in. Pretty? From what angle?

"Continue. Admirers. So?" "So I didn't know how to approach you without looking like a jerk especially after such a rumour. I didn't want to look like I was talking to you just to be with you or anything. I know you're not that type of girl." I looked at him, all confused. "Maybe you don't know what they say about you," he stated. "I don't," I agreed.

"Well, some boys, after that rumour, thought that you might be someone who would, you know, go into a relationship and indulge in -" "Got it! I got the idea!" I didn't need to hear that out loud. I look like a slut to these boys. What the actual fuck! "And so you stayed away?" I asked, my eyes gazing straight into his eyes. "For my sake. For your sake. I didn't want to make things awkward," he replied.

"They won't be awkward if you talk to me. So just talk, okay?" He nodded in response and then we left the classroom together and headed to our respective classrooms.

A/N: Sorry for the slow updates and not so good chapters. I swear, it will get better soon now that both are going to talk to each other. I am finally on the road to recovery so, yeah, my creative side will show up more prominently now (if that is something...) 

Okay, shower your love and comments and votes and make me happy : )