Mandy's Unusual Day

Mandy woke up with a start and threw the blanket away. She glanced at the clock. It read 7:30. She was going to be late, she realized. She jumped from her bed and ran to the bathroom. Took a quick shower, got dressed and went downstairs. Grabbed the jacket from the closet and was about to open the door when her Mum called her name.
‘Oh God,’ she sighed ‘Hurry up, mum! I’m going to be late’ she said as Mum appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands from the apron.
‘Late for what, Mandy?’ she asked, looking amused.
‘Late for school,’ she explained patiently.
‘Today is Saturday’ she said in a bewildered voice, ‘Are you okay?’ she put her hand on Mandy’s forehead.
‘No, it’s not! It’s Friday. I checked the calendar,’ she said pushing her hand away and ran outside. Her mum stood there at the doorway calling her name. But Mandy ignored her. Her school was at the walking distance. Usually she walked slowly enjoying the day but today wasn’t usual, she was late so she’d to run fastly. She loved the town where she lived, it was called Robbins Lane. She was sure that no one in this world will be able to find a place as beautiful as Robbins Lane. They say nothing is perfect but this town is, Mandy thought happily. The way the flowers bloom here, the way the birds chirp, such lovely people who’re always jolly, the river flowing down the bridge making beautiful splashing noises, the peace here and the most important the love for each other, nobody would find such peace and love all over the world.
‘Hello, young lady,’ Freddie waved at her from his window. She waved back. Even the old people here are always lively, she thought as she saw Mrs. Robert riding her bicycle like a young girl. She smiled at Julian, the hotdog guy. Debb the local dog came running to her and licked her hands. Debb was loved by all. Mandy patted Debb’s head and walked fastly with Debb on her feet, wagging her tail.
She looked for John, her best friend, but couldn’t find him anywhere. He must be in school, she told herself. She reached the school just five minutes before the first class. But something wasn’t right, she thought. She saw nobody outside the school. William, the school guard was nowhere to be seen. She walked towards the school gate which was usually wide open, it was locked.
‘Hello! Where’s everybody?’ She called out to no one in particular. Everything was unusually quiet. She couldn’t hear the birds chirping. She looked at trees; there were not a single bird. No birds flying on the sky either. No sound of car’s engine. Not a sound of people talking or laughing. No William humming his favorite songs. She slowly sat on the grass, it felt cold. The coldest thing she’d ever felt in her life, so unnatural. She took out her cell phone from the bag and tried to call John. No network coverage. She exhaled sharply. Something was wrong, really wrong. Mandy slowly stood up and walked around. The bridge was vacant, no cars, trucks, nothing. She walked on the bridge and watched the river, it was unnaturally calm. Her eyes searched for Freddie and Mrs. Robert. No sign of them. The sun looked grey; she squinted as she looked at the sky, no clouds passing through the sky. The town had suddenly become lifeless. Mandy couldn’t see a single being. She ran back to her home and opened up the door. Nothing.
‘Mum’ she said. She knew there’d be no reply. She slumped wearily into the couch which was, too, dead cold. What happened, she asked herself again and again. She was all alone in this town. She looked at the calendar. Her mum was right, today was Saturday. Then she’d this perfect idea. She ran upstairs. Set the alarm at 7:30 am, jumped into her bed, which was, surprisingly, not cold. Cuddling under the warm blanket she sighed happily and slept. Mandy dreamt of the town. She saw it alive, once again. The birds were chirping, the day was warm and sunny. Freddie was waving at her. Mrs. Robert was riding her bicycle. A delicious aroma came from the Hotdog Stand. Julian flipped the buns, whistling. Debb barked happily. The river splashed noisily. Horns, laughter, babies crying, mothers crooning. The town was alive….. She sang happily and everybody sang with her…..
‘Mandy! Wake up,’ her mum yelled at ‘you’re going to be late for school’
‘Late for school?’ she rubbed her eyes; sitting up ‘Today is Saturday Mum’ she exclaimed and went back to the land of dreams. Her mum stood there, speechless. Mandy didn’t move again…


P.S: I know this story doesn’t make sense at all. I just typed and typed and created this senseless thing. Hope you weren’t bored while reading this!

Emo; Hugs!

Crush Mania!

‘Crush: a strong, foolish and short-lived love for someone’ says my Longman Dictionary. Such a simple meaning! But not in my case, if someone asks me to define crush, I’d say ‘a sudden and strong love cycle which can alter your course of life making you a useless person until someone else comes in your life and then the cycle repeats itself’
…when I’m crushing on someone, it’s like nothing else is important except for the crushBoy. And also, unfortunately I crush a lot. Say, I’d be buying something in a store, a guy would come and I’d look at him and then the CrushAttack attacks! All day long I’d fantasize about him and during nights I’d ‘daydream’ about him, this’d go on until the next crushBoy comes along. Last year there was this guy I used to chat with. He was a big bore but on his display picture Jesse McCartney was flashing his cute smile, the type for which you can die for. So, I just imagined that the boy also looked like him but I never got to see his face as eventually Jesse McCartney was replaced by some wrestler, which put me off and I defriended the boy. Simple. No hard feelings. No crying, no sobbing. It was like I never knew the boy.
I never talk about my crushes to my friends, only sometimes when I’m crushing on some book character I’d tell them. I’m embarrassed to (Sana, stop smiling!). But writing all this is so much easier than telling someone face to face. You people, who’re reading this, don’t know me personally (only few of you do), so even if you’re laughing at me or saying things about me like what this silly girl is talking about, I wouldn’t care (ok, maybe a little bit) but it won’t make me a laughing stock!

Sometimes I wish I wouldn’t crush this much. Crushing on celebrities is harmless (for me it is!) but crushing on real people, I mean the people you see everyday, is way too dangerous for me! I try to avoid meeting people whom I can crush on but I meet those people a lot, anywhere at any moment (once I met the CrushBoy in a funeral! How weird is that?) , like this boy in the institute I’m going nowadays, I don’t even know his name and I’m sure he doesn’t even know that I exist but still I, like a big fool, sit in the last row so that I could watch him (Oh my! How embarrassing!). He has nice hair, a little curly and unruly like Nick Jonas, and he’s really thin like a match-stick, not too tall but neither short. He’s aquiline nose (the kind I like!) and he uses Sony Ericsson and well, he’s nice. He talks a lot (and a little too loudly) but he’s a nice voice, I bet he can sing too. So, anyways, I know I’ll, probably, never see this boy again after I leave this institute (and would forget him too) but nowadays he’s all I think about. In the class, when I should be listening to the chemistry sir who’s trying his best to explain what intermolecular forces are, I’m watching the boy! Oh I almost forgot to tell you one thing, the boy with his friends makes stupid remarks while sir is teaching and then they all look around to see if we’re laughing. Too bad we are, even sir is laughing! Maybe he’s too shallow to see that he’s being insulted or maybe he’s trying to be ‘I’m-jolly-n-funny-I’ve-pateince-too-I’m-your-chemistry-sir-too-good-to-be-true! I don’t usually like hooligan-type boys, I like quiet ones, but for now its ok, who knows I might I join this hooligan group too. In this way I’d get to meet my current CrushBoy!!

Apart from the CrushBoy, I'm in love with Zac Efron (which is quite harmless, believe me)
He's cute, right?? I know he's not looking too good in the pictures but that's camera's fault!

And sometimes, I like this guy, lucas, too

Sigh! Ok, that’s it for now! My brothers are really snoopy, you know, if they read this, they’d never let me hear the end of it. Hmm. And people if you’re wondering why I wrote this crushing story of life? Well, the answer is simple, I was bored, had nothing else to do. And guys, I’d to take my mind off the CrushBoy!

Holidays; This and That

‘You’re so cute! I hope you don’t miss your family too much’ Sk cooed to a glass jar ‘but you won’t miss them for too long, I’m gonna love you so much my dear Dan-Bug’ she hugged the jar.
‘Dan-Bug!’ I scoffed. Sk made a face at me. I put on my earphones and played my current favorite song ‘Our Song’ by Taylor Swift and closed my eyes. If Fat weren’t there, I’d have sung along, I might have even danced a little but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of her. I imagined myself singing the song on the stage; causing thousands of people a sheer delight. ‘Encore! Encore!’ they shouted when I was finished. I flashed my famous smile at them and sang the song in my beautiful voice again. The crowd went wild. Hmm. This’d be just too nice. But that is never gonna happen. My voice, if not horrible, isn’t ‘singing’ type. It’s too high-pitched. I erased the image of myself singing the song and handed the mike back to Taylor swift.
‘Sidrah!!!’ someone snatched my MP4 away from me, causing me to fall flat on my face,
‘What the ….’ I started but saw Somia excited expression and stopped myself.
‘What? What’s the news??’ I asked, grabbing her by shoulders. Blue sent us the note last night that we won’t be able to go to the tunnel trip. We were like OH-NO!!-NO-FUN!-LIFE-ISN’T-FAIR!
‘He said we’ll go on Thursday morning at four’ she said, pulling herself free of my grip.
‘On Thursday?’ I was agitated ‘at four? 4 am? That’s night. It’ll be so dark’ Somia was looking at me, confused.
‘And on Thursday?’ I repeated ‘We’re going back on that day! Ms. Orla would be watching us like a hawk watches its prey’ but I was talking to myself as nobody took notice of me. Somia, who looked indifferent, was applying a red nail-polish on her nails. Sk busy with Dan-Bug, Sana was engrossed in a book and Fat eating a chocolate (yummy!).
‘Guys?’ I stamped my foot loudly. They all looked up, impatient and annoyed , as I just intruded one of those most peaceful moments of life which you’re never, as in never ever, supposed to ruin. I sighed heavily and gave up. Once again I switched on my MP4 and got lost in my ‘Rock star –Pop Star’ world.


********************************************************************


It was dinner time. We were sitting on the wet grass waiting to get served. No waiters (of course!) but Sana and Somia would serve us. They’d gone to take food from the ‘kitchen’, which was also in a camp.
‘Thank God, we don’t have to make food here ourselves’ I tried to converse with Sk, who was busy watching her Dan-Bug ‘You know, like in books or movies where you hunt something and then roast it on the fire. That’d be gross. But roasting marshmallows is just so romantic’
‘Yeah’ Sk said absent mindedly and then ‘You know, I might give Dan-Bug to Dan’ a smile lighted her face ‘he’ll love it, won’t he!’
‘I don’t think so’ I was being harsh but I’d to say, ‘Dan is not responsible kind of person. He’d lose him or kill him. Dan-bug is okay with you’
Sk didn’t say anything but she knew I was right. She continued watching the bug. The other when we went to study insects, Sk found this lovely colorful bug and fell in love with it. We helped her to capture it. Actually Somia was the one who captured it, but Sana and I did all the yelling. We were cheerleaders and Somia was the player. Ms. Orla didn’t approve when she found out.
‘Living things should be free of all limits. They’re meant to be. This bug needs nature, don’t deprive it of its rights’ she spoke reprovingly; her face determined and her voice strong. Sk looked doubtful but she didn’t let go, she was too much in love to think about the rights of an insect.
‘I’m still itchy’ I heard Sana talking to Somia ‘but it’s getting better. Dr. Stitch is AWESOME! And that lotion was also AWESOME! I look okay now, right?’
‘Yup, you look fine’ Somia affirmed.
‘Hey’ Sana said to us and settled herself on the clean spot and gave each of us a box. I opened mine reluctantly knowing what’d be inside it. A little hopeful that tonight they’d cooked something else. No such luck. Boiled rice, stale bread and watery stew greeted me. And an apple!!! I cheered up when I saw a familiar greenish yellow fruit.

‘Yay! I got an apple’ I said, holding the apple like a prized possession.
‘So do I’ Sk said, showing her apple. Hers was larger. Sana and Somia took out their apples too.
‘Oh’ I said ‘Lucky us!’ I shrugged and ate my food quietly. As you know, dinner with friends is gossip time too. We gossiped about Fat, Ms. Orla, Mr. Sajid, Dan-boy, Dan-bug, Farhan and Blue.
‘Farhan is such a wannabe,’ Somia was telling us about her meeting with Farhan and Blue, ‘always telling jokes, which are not even funny. He tries too hard!’
‘Poor boy’ that was our Sk, always feeling sorry for others.
‘Sk, you still haven’t decided, have you? You coming with us or not?’ I said bringing up the subject of tunnel-trip.
She bit her lip. We waited impatiently watching her to say something. But when minutes passed by and she was still thinking, we cried out ‘Sk!’
‘Sorry, sorry’ she was back on earth ‘I was just thinking’
‘We guess’ Somia gave her usual lopsided grin which means that she’s being sarcastic.
‘Guys, I was thinking that ..that if I come who’d take care of Dan-bug?’ she took a deep breathe, then continued ‘And beside I think it’s not safe to go, what if we get lost? Nobody would know, we’d be rotting inside the tunnel and no one would know. No one’ she said darkly, in the dark her face looked white.
‘Don’t be silly’ said Sana, slapping Sk on her knee ‘we won’t get lost. Blue knows the way inside out. He went there on Monday 10 times!’
‘Yup, that’s right’ I said
‘C’mon Sk! Show us that fun-girl in you!’ Somia pleaded.
‘But what if Ms. Orla find out? Sk was serious ‘she’d tell our parents and that’d mean double trouble, and triple if we get lost! Sorry, but I’m not coming. I’d be happy if you guys don’t go too but if you’re I won’t tell on you’ she smiled tentatively.
Sk had made up her mind and now it’d be impossible to persuade her.
‘Okay’ Sana and I said in little voices.
‘What?’ Somia said in ‘THAT-IS-SO-UNBELIEVINGLY-RIDICULOUS’ style, ‘You’re not going to persuade her?’
‘She’s made up her mind. We can’t do anything now’, I said, defeated.
‘Yeah, you can try if you want to’ Sana said, eating her apple.
‘I’ll’ Somia grinned ‘I’ll make her come’
‘You bet?’ I challenged her.
‘Yes. I bet’ she nodded
‘You’re on’ we shook hands.
‘You two are mad’ said Sk, laughing.
***********************************************************************

Wednesday went by quickly. I asked Blue to change the time. He agreed and said 4:05 am would be great. The nerve of him! It was 3:45 am when Somia woke me up. I was so sleepy that I almost said that I wasn’t coming. Somehow I got up and got dressed. I was awfully drowsy.
‘I’m going to wash my face’ I whispered to Somia who was on her mission to wake Sana and Sk. I went out, it was dark as hell. I went to the lake and washed my face, singing a song.
‘Would you shut up?’ I glanced upwards and saw Fat’s furious face, her hands on her hips ‘You’ll wake everybody up in that horrible voice of yours’
‘Oh its you’ I said getting up and trying my best to ignore the insult ‘I forgot you were coming too’
‘You should let Dr Stitch check your head then, forgetting things so young’ she said, faking a concerned face.
‘Thanks for the tip, Fat’ I smiled sweetly ‘I might’
‘I’m not fat’ she said, indignantly
‘Oh Claudia!’ I put on my sympathizing voice ‘Don’t you know that! Everybody here calls you Fat because you’re! I’m so sorry. I thought you knew’ I patted on her back and went back to the camp, leaving behind a worried Fat, who was examining her waist.
‘Sk, Come on’ Somia was moaning ‘you’ve to come. Please!’
‘Somia, you can’t make her come’ Sana was telling her, ‘I’m telling you. Just come on’
‘She’s right’ I said cheerfully.
Somia pouted and let go of Sk’s hand.
‘I won’ I sang, and did a little dance, ‘you lost, I won’
‘Don’t push it’ Sana elbowed me. Ouch, I yelled silently, grabbing my ribs.
Blue was waiting for us when we went to Lunar Lake. He was wearing black clothes. To think of it, I said to myself, everybody is wearing dark clothes expect me. I felt awkward and silly in my bright pink shirt.
‘Where is Farhan?’ Somia asked Blue.
‘He chickened out,’ Blue remarked snidely 'where's Sk, your friend?' we all looked at each other.
‘Chickened out too?' He laughed. We shrugged.
'So ,what we’re waiting for? Let’s go!’ Blue winked.
Then we were on our way. I was excited but if I’d known what was waiting for me inside, I’d have never dared to go..

Emo - Dead Pet

I Am Me ...And i Love "Me"

When I was in ninth grade, there was a festival in our school. I came wearing a simple yellow T-shirt and jeans, a touch of lip gloss and my hair tied back in a pony tail. My mum said I looked good. When my classmates saw me, they squealed and told me that I looked like a kid of primary section. I’d an urge to run back home change my dress. All the time during the function, I’d this feeling that everybody is laughing at me. I saw my classmates wearing tight tops and loose baggy jeans held by silver belts, their streaked hair, cascading down their shoulders and tons of jewelry. I wished I could look like them, wishing that my mum would stop thinking I’m a kid. I was 13, for god sake! I’d real bad time and it was my own fault. I’m 17 now, but I still dress the same way, my hair are still natural brown and my mum still thinks that I’m a kid and some people even say I look like a kid. But I don’t feel so bad now. I might not look like those girls but in no way I’m less than them. Looking good is essential, of course. But why make it extravagant? Why become obsessed with fashion and always trying to look sexy? Why some people think using bad language and swearing make you look cool? Sometimes I have this sudden urge to dye my hair all blue and get a tattoo on my arm (I’d love being an EMO!!) but I fight it back. Now I love being me. I’m glad that my parents are strict with me, scolding me whenever I’d do something wrong, not letting me use internet all night long when I was in school, not letting me have my own TV and not giving me a cell phone until I was in college. I wanted to watch all those star plus soap operas the girls gossiped about in school, I’d argue with my mum allowing me to watch them and eventually she did. But they were not as special as my classmate had told me, I think Disney channel is way better (yeah, go and laugh, I still watch Disney and it ROCKS!)
So, guys if someone says you look like a baby, weird, odd or something equally like that don’t feel bad, if you think you’re good then you’re. Be yourself and don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. I’m happy that I was wearing that simple yellow T-shirt and jeans at the festival when I was in ninth grade.


P.S: I was inspired to write this when I read my friend, Sana’s post ‘Different is okay’!!

Holidays; Scratch

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. This time I didn’t bother to see who was being tortured by those merciless bugs. This dream trip was already turning into a nightmare. When dinner was served, we all became a little cheerful but our cheerfulness was short-lived, it evaporated as soon as we saw our plates, being filled with tasteless boiled rice, hot salty watery stew and hard rock bread. Even the water was weird; sweet and salty. I felt like we were serving in a prison. I think Ms. Orla lied to us when she said there were no fruits left. What could we do? She hated us! Somia murmured something in sleep. She was also in our group. We met her when our names were called out. Good thing, she isn’t a bit like Claudia. Yeah, you guess right, Claudia, Fat ..same person. But no way I’m gonna call her Claudia; it doesn’t suit her at all. Fat is perfect for her. Anyways, I was telling you about Somia. When we met her, we felt as if we’ve known her forever. We just hit it off. And she’s brave too, not afraid of spiders and lizards. She even killed one spider for us!

Scratch. Scratch. Oh God! Something is crawling on me, I screamed inside. I wanted to run away, free of insects, like crazy, jumping up and down. After dinner I’d almost said to Sk ‘I want my mummy’, see, I was this bad.
I couldn’t sleep. Whenever I closed my eyes I saw myself being eaten alive by a giant spider. I shuddered at the thought of it. I turned around restlessly and saw a mosquito dancing on my arm as if though my arm was its land. A sudden fear struck me. What if I got malaria? Or even worse, dengue? Mosquito repellent, you silly girl, Camper voice said in my head. I obeyed and reached for my bag, opened it and saw my precious stuff lying there. I’d brought my party dresses too, I laughed wearily when I saw my blue sequined dress. What was I thinking? Mosquito repellent was buried under my clothes. I took it out and sprayed all over me, hoping that it’d also protect me from lions and bears and giant spiders. It’s a nice scent, I sniffed. Scratch. Scratch. Poor Sana, I thought as I saw her scratching her cheek and I sprayed the repellent on her too. She stopped scratching immediately. I smiled triumphly and sprayed all over the tent, until the bottle was empty. I put the empty bottle in the bag and slept happily.
*********************************

‘AHHHHHHHH’
‘OH MY GOD! LOOK AT ME. THOSE BUGS HAVE EATEN ME ALIVE’

I opened my eyes and saw a red creature crying. Sk was sitting quietly in the corner, she’d had covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes squeezed shut as if couldn’t bear to look. I rubbed my eyes and peered closely at creature. I yelped when I realized it was Sana.
‘OMG! What the hell happened to you?’ I cried with shock.
‘I don’t know’ she sobbed, looked at mirror and cried loudly ‘they’ve ruined my face, I feel like I’m on fire’ she scratched on her cheek, then on her arm, again on her cheeks making them more scarlet.

‘Don’t do that’ a familiar voice said. I turned around and saw Fat, eating her gum.
‘What?’ Sana said scratching.
‘Don’t scratch!’ Fat said calmly ‘It’ll get worse’ I’d to agree with her. I shook my head when Sana raised her hand to scratch her forehead. She sighed and dropped her hand and cried. Sk slowly uncovered her face and opened her eyes. I looked at her helplessly.

‘Somia has gone to fetch Ms. Orla’ Fat assured us. I wondered why she was being so nice. Maybe she did something to Sana. I watched her suspiciously, trying to find a trace of guilt on her face. She saw me looking at her and smirked. We held each other gaze. It was like a competition, who’d turn away first, making other a winner. My eyes began to water but I didn’t blink. I was trying too hard. On the other hand, Fat was staring at me calmly, smirking at the same time. Thankfully Ms. Orla arrived with her paid servants; I mean the two boys and Somia. We both blinked at the same time and looked at Ms. Orla.

‘Good God! This batch is cursed, I think’ she muttered under breath but a bit too loudly. The two boys laughed. Ms. Orla glared at them.
‘What happened to you?’ Ms. Orla asked, checking Sana’s hands, which I noticed were also red and blotchy. Sana shrugged.
‘Farhan, Call Dr. Stitch’, now’ she shouted to one of boy. Farhan saluted her and ran off.
We waited for Dr. Stitch to come. I noticed the other boy, who’d winked at us, looked like Nick, one of those cute Jonas Brothers. He looked really cool in his black t-shirt and rugged grey jeans.
‘He’s cute, isn’t he?’ Somia giggled. I was surprised, Somia was a total tomboy, and she didn’t strike me as ‘crushing’ type girl. I nodded, both staring at him. He caught us looking and winked his oh-so-cute-and-famous-wink. We blushed and looked away. But no, I wasn’t crushing on him, if that’s what you’re thinking. He wasn’t my type, he wasn’t Zac Efron.
Farhan came back with Dr. Stitch. He was one hefty man. He was bald and shiny and dark. He was also grinning; his teeth were all white and clean, sparkling now and then. Maybe he used to work in toothpaste advertisement.
‘So, what have we got here, huh?’ he grinned at Sana but when he saw her crying he replaced it with a gentle smile.
‘Hmm’ he put on his glasses and examined her, ‘Did you use some perfume or anything which you’re allergic to?’ he asked.
‘No, I didn’t’ Sana said.
‘Are you allergic to something?’ He asked. Sana closed her eyes to think.
‘When I was six, I used a raspberry perfume. Same thing had happened’ Sana told him. Suddenly I’d a very bad feeling. I wanted to get away. I slowly stood up with my bag and crept away outside towards the lake, I splashed some water on my face. Took out the empty bottle and read the ingredients: alcohol, isopropyl myristate, blah, blah, blah and then my heart thumped loudly when I read the next word: raspberry flavored aqua. I dropped the bottle in the lake, hoping some big whale would eat it and cursed Summer Fun Classes. If I’d not joined those classes I would have never met Camper and his repellent. And then I wouldn’t have met Mrs. Habib, and I wouldn’t have come here and used this stupid repellent and Sana wouldn’t have got allergic. But why cry over spilt milk? All’s done now.
I’d a feeling that someone was watching me; I looked around and saw Nick-look alike grinning at me.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, dropping beside me.
I nodded. Why did he have to come now? Why wouldn’t he just go away and leave me alone?
‘You don’t look ok’ he said, concerned.
‘Why?’ I asked, annoyed.
‘You look like some mad person on runaway,’ he laughed ‘your hairs are sticking out from here and there. Your face is so pale like you haven’t seen the sun for ages’. I didn’t say anything. I was too tired to retort back.
‘Hey sorry, I was just joking’ he did sound sorry ‘you look fine’ when I still didn’t say anything he extended his hand to shake mine ‘I’m Blue’
‘Blue?’ my voice came out like a croak.
‘You need water?’ I began to say no, then changed my mind and nodded. He handed me a bottle. I took a big gulp. The sweet and salty water somehow tasted delicious.
‘Yeah, Blue’ he grinned ‘Nice isn’t it?’ I smiled.
‘And what’s your name? ’I told him mine. I wasn’t in a mood to talk. He started telling me about the lake and some train service. I tried my best to listen. He caught my attention when he said the word ‘lion’.
‘Sorry, what?’ I asked, alert.
‘I said there are no lions here. It’s not a big forest, you’ll find only a few wild cats and boars and some deer. And you see this lake? It’s called Lunar Lake. The boating is possible here, I tried to talk Mr. Sajid into it but he didn’t agree’
‘Mr. Sajid?’ I asked curiously.
‘He’s our incharge, a tough cookie’ he laughed ‘have you seen that cranky baldy man, that’s the one’
‘Yeah, I met him on the train, he was really ...’ I searched for the right word then gave up ‘cranky, as you said’
We remained silent for a moment then he said in this oh-so-serious voice ‘You know what, I’ve this feeling that I could trust you’ I raised an eyebrow.
‘I’m going to tell you a secret but don’t say a word, ok?’ I nodded solemnly even though I can’t keep a single secret. I’ve a big mouth, and sometimes while gossiping I exaggerate too.
‘When you guys will be going, I won’t join you. This is my home. I come here during every vacation but I’m not going to go back now. I’ll be a Tarzan’
‘Tarzan!’ I snorted and quickly changed into a cough. He looked hurt.
‘Everybody laughs at me when I tell them that I’m going to be a Tarzan of Changa Manga’ he sighed exasperatedly. Then back to his spunky manner, he said ‘and who knows I might find my Jane’ this time I laughed freely and he joined me too.
‘Hey, I almost forgot to tell you, I found this underground tunnel near those trees’ he pointed towards the tress who were swaying in the wind faraway ‘we are gonna get in there. Somia and Claudia agreed to come, would you join us too?’
I was tempted. ‘Can I ask my friends, too?’
‘Yes, of course. My friend, Farhan, might come too. But not a word to the teachers’
‘Yeah, it’s a deal’ we shook hands.
‘So be there tomorrow at 5am’ he said getting up ‘have to go now, or Baldy’ll be mad. Catch you tomorrow’
‘Yeah, sure. Bye’ I smiled. When he was gone I began to plan my apologizing- speech to Sana. I knew she’d forgive but I couldn’t help feeling bad. I got up and slowly walked towards our tent. I went inside, dreading the moment when i'd tell her that it was all my fault. Sana and Sk were alone. Sana was rubbing a lotion on her arms and face. Sk, reading a magazine.
‘It was the mosquito repellent’ I said to Sana, meekly.
‘Yeah, I noticed’ she smiled ‘Silly me’
‘What? You’re not mad at me?’ I asked, surprised.
‘Why should I be mad at you? You didn’t know I was allergic. And beside, I put on the spray myself’ then I remembered that I’d given the other two bottles to Sana and Sk. I told Sana and Sk about how I’d emptied the bottle on Sana the other night. We all laughed heartily. I didn’t tell them about tunnel-trip. I’d tell them later I thought, at the right moment.
Fat barged in suddenly and said ‘we’re gonna Insect study now, come you two’ she said to Sk and me ‘You can stay if you want’ she nodded to Sana.
We all looked at each other, when Fat was gone.
‘If you guys are going, I’ll come too’ Sana said. We three got up and got dressed in our most comfortable clothes and went to study insects.

A lot happened then! But my hands are tired now, so later! Cya!