"Rishi..." I wheezed out of my siesta with a terrible nightmare, uttering the one name which I have grown to detest the most.

I dreamt I was being chased by a coyote through the school grounds with the face of that abominable human being. The coyote had already pinned me to the ground with his claws and was about to devour me whole with those fangs before his head distorted into the integral symbol and I woke up with a jolt.

It has been long since I had a dream about school.

Why him out of all the people?

I haven't had any solid interaction with him for the past two years. All we have done is sneer at each other while passing each other through the school corridor. We haven't even had a decent verbal fight in months.

I rubbed my eyes and stretched myself on the sofa while yawning.

Of course, it wouldn't be a good dream if Rishabh Singh Rathore is in it. I brushed the thought off by convincing myself that I might've been involuntarily thinking about him while solving my mathematics homework which I was honestly struggling with very bad.

He, on the other hand, was really good with equations.

He was good at everything, that jerk.

The thought was long forgotten and I had already sunk into the world of calculations before I could realise that the guy right then was just a block away from me at his best friend's house, enjoying his share of peace in the rainy weather in the neighborhood.

\*\*\*

The constant whistles of the pressure cooker almost jammed my senses, compelling me to bang my head repeatedly on the cushion. Cursing my Mom's bad timing to wash the clothes while setting the cooker on the highest flame—I managed to limp my way through the living room, out towards the kitchen.

My feet had gone numb from sitting in the same position for two straight hours and I whimpered as the blood came rushing back in my leg. I was used to this pain by then as I often forgot to change my sitting position, afraid of losing my focus on the book. I would sit around for hours, either reading a book or staring at nothing in particular if the mood was melancholy.

Turning the knob off, I walked back to the couch and settled down, huffing. I could have used that energy in solving the half solved equation, which had precisely eaten up two of my pages and is still eating up my brain. Math is hard. But not that hard if indulged in with proper concentration. And in no circumstance would I get the peace to indulge with concentration in that house. Peace was a luxury, you see.

I couldn't help but glance at my mother in awe who had two buckets full of washed clothes and was running hither and tither to manage a rope to hang those inside. The incessant rain wasn't helping us either.

Rains reminded me of those times when I was young and used to love the frequent pitter-pater. The black clouds in the sky would merry the heck out of me. A simile of peacock could be used for my state back then. I still remember the days when I used to come back from the swimming sessions late in the evening, watching the clouds circle overhead as my father drove his scooter as fast as possible and I clung to him with my head held high, as if I could reach the sky and touch the clouds.

Looking out the window, all I could think about was how the gloomy atmosphere would take me back to the world of Harry Potter-the dark sky, the smell of wet soil, the pattering of the leaves against each other and all the more, the ever so lasting thrill of the arrival of an unknown epoch. It still does make me feel certain things but the things will never be the same.

I turned over my phone to play Hedwig's theme which was always the background score of my life during monsoon. The rains induced me with the rush of going through all my favorite book scenarios.

He wouldn't arrive till the evening. I can peacefully soak in the pleasure till then. Till then.

My mother called me out while I was still daydreaming about the wizarding world. That must have had compelled Mom to put her work on hold and shake the daylights out of me because the next thing I noticed after zoning in was my Mom's angry face right before my nose.

"God! What's the problem Mom?" I chipped annoyingly, pushing her away a bit.

"Sanvi, Sanvi! What should I do with you? I have been calling you since God knows when! Where is your little head?" My mother shook her head and looked at me sternly.

"What is it?" I chipped, utterly disinterested and trying to shift the focus to the unsolved equation.

My mother knew, I wouldn't get up until I was being seriously triggered and the attention I seemed to be giving to the copy was, honestly, partly just to ignore her.

"You have studied enough since morning. If you don't have time for your mother, there's no meaning of studying so much." Mom poked at my guilty conscience, pulling the copy out of my grip and banging it close on the centre table.

Wow. Now I bet you don't hear that coming from normal mothers.

"Now get up and help me!" She ordered and I immediately frowned hard.

"But I just sat two hours ago!" I whined. Yeah, also bet you didn't usually hear this coming from any normal teenager. I had realized it way before that I needed to be different from other kids in order to survive this world. I had only my books to keep me company. They never go behind your back and you don't have to pretend to be interested in their boring jibber-jabber.

I didn't have the luxury to indulge in those shenanigans is what I used to say to convince myself a few years ago.

Finding no other option and considering that messing with Mom twice a day could be bad for my appetite, I resigned and started untying the rope.

"See, Mom this is why I told you that day not to let Rita off from work. You're burdened with enough work already. But you being the kindest person in the world had to give her a whole month off and that too paid!" I scoffed at her.

"If only that husband of hers came to her help, I would have gladly agreed. Why is she even getting so worried for that drunkard? He has ought to die one day if he keeps up with his drinking. People like him are worthless and manipulative! It doesn't matter if he is her husband or not! She has been suffering mute and carrying his worthless self as a burden. She should have left him to die alone." I was extremely annoyed at my mother for letting the maid go like that. Now, look, I loved my mother like anything, like any other loved kid out there with the sole company of her mother. Who would feel good to see their mother in stress?

"It's a life and death situation for her husband, Sanvi. Doesn't matter if he's a drunkard or the most responsible person in the world, he's still her husband. She married him because she loved him. At least one of them has to be reasonable in this situation. She'll be back in no time after her husband is released from the hospital and I don't have to work so much. Try to be a bit mature and understand the situation, doll.." Mom sighed and reasoned with me, ruffling my hair.

Wow. Now that thing sauntered into everything I did those days.

Well? Wasn't it a mature thing to look at situations practically? I most definitely thought it right to abandon people who become a burden at that point of time.

Rita wasn't going anywhere with her husband and she shouldn't have to selflessly give into her husband's whims just because the society has been brainwashed for it since ages.

I gulped down the immediate retort and put an end to the conversation. It always led to me getting proved as a completely immature girl in the end.

"Out of all the people, you are saying this, Mom? After going through the exact same scenario countless times since the past few years?" This is what I wanted to tell her but I couldn't. I was in no position to lecture her. She had already stated her reason through that discourse.

I silently kept on untying the rope and passing it to Mom.

This peace was indeed a luxury.

Rain, please rain, before the man returns.

Before the man returns.

I wondered if Rishabh had to bargain with the universe for his share of peaceful rainy nights?

Who was I kidding? Of course not.

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

To Be Continued.

...Sanvi's POV...

I groaned at the continuous noise, that was violating my right to drown into a good deep slumber after all those hours of hard studying.

It flashed 12:20 a.m. on my bedside digital clock.

For good heavens!

"Who the hell wants to get thrashed at this point of night?" I squinted my heavy eyes and searched for my ringing cellphone on the bed.

I only had a few hours to sleep before starting off early for school the next day and no one had tried to call me all the time I had stayed awake—which was a hell lot of time in the day.

Emergency? Hospital? Mom? Father? All the ideas swirled around my head, draining all the weariness out of me. I sprang up on the bed in the pitch dark room.

I had no idea where the heck I was scrounging for my phone. I had no idea if I was sleeping upside down. The only thing I cared for was to keep my eyes closed and sleep peacefully for the next few hours which seemed impossible with that thing blaring on in some corner of my bed.

Once in my grasp, I flipped the phone and without even glancing at the number, I answered the call. A loud scream shook the bed beneath me thereby draining the sleep off of me immediately.

I had a phone for my mother to check-in and sometimes for my namesake best friend to call and discuss about studies. All these years in St. Louis, no one had bothered to take notice of me, let alone ask for my number. So, midnight calls were pretty much rare for me and I was honestly glad it was that way until that night.

"Vee Vee.. Sannviiii... Vee Vee!" A girl slurred out loud against the loud thumping of the bass in the background.

Oh! Of course it had to be the nerd's crazy 'Miss-I-will-definitely-become-popular-in-highschool-oneday' best friend.

Typical? Try telling that to the thousands of rich Romance novelists.

She and I were weird kind of best friends. I was even kind of surprised that she managed to stay by my side all these years. The teacher made us bench mates in sixth standard when Veronica transferred from another state. Since I was the monitor of the class, she thought it better to make the new girl stay by my side since I was the only one in the class who actually preferred education over anything else.

Veronica was this clueless and lost little girl and I helped her with her studies. From then on, quite surprisingly, she stuck by my side. Although over the years, she did manage to make few more friends.

I didn't have any problem with her mingling with other students so long she didn't push me into joining her on 'friend hunting'. She respected my boundaries and I couldn't complain about her being sweet to me. I, at times, felt bad for her because somehow I felt like I was restraining her from socializing.

Moreover, me being the school nobody, I often wondered if that didn't affect her reputation in school. But the girl still stayed friends with me after all these years despite my very appalling idiosyncrasies. I had to give her that for her endurance. She was the closest I had to any friend, other than any fictional character (Sad, I know) so involuntarily, she became my 'best' friend.

Plus, she was absolutely crazy.

"What the effing heck is wrong with you Veronica? It's one in the morning for crying out loud!" I stood up on my bed with a jolt, hearing my best friend slurring out nonsense and the loud music in the background.

"Vee Vee! My bestieee!! You knoww.. Whatt?... I am so freaking happy!" Her overjoyed voice made me smack myself on the face, cursing myself for not stopping her from going to that party she mentioned on Friday in school. She was certainly having the best time of her life, judging by her voice.

"This is soooo awesome! The house is humongous! They have shrimp, bro. Shrimpppsss! But I miss you soooo much! You love shrimps right?" I cursed out loud and immediately clasped my mouth shut.

"You would've loved them. They were so tastyyy! Wait let me get you some, where's my shrimp purse? Why didn't you comeeee? Bad Vee Vee!" She was indeed badly drunk.

She had previously tried to convince me on joining her but a nerd's gotta do what a nerd's gotta do right? Remain antisocial and stay away from parties? I was doing my part in the narrative.

Honestly, I was least interested in mingling with anyone in that school, neither in any party outside and if I could, not even during the school hours. Heck I could have let myself homeschool in order to stay away from those people. All Veronica got from me was a stern look and she instantly backed off while rebuking me for being a 'party-pooper'.

St. Louis was filled with snobby little rich brats who threw parties every now and then. Veronica was a total people's person and loved to attend those parties even though she didn't know half of the students in our senior year. We had a minimum of a hundred students in each section, for crying out loud!

I heavily doubted if she herself was aware of where she had gone to and gotten mindlessly drunk like that. Which idiotic student even held a party on the last day of the weekend?

"Veronica! Stop this nonsense! Just tell me where in the hell are you? Is there anyone with you or did you go alone? Do you even know how late it is? How are you going to return home? What about your curfew? Uncle and Aunty are gonna be so mad at you! Tell me?" I barked the questions one after another not noticing that the line had already gone dead.

"Hello! Hello? Veronica? You there? Hellllooooo!"

The constant beeps of the cut line seemed to have induced a sudden worry in me. It didn't take me two seconds after that to realise that I was freaking out. Her highly strict parents probably had no idea that their precious little girl had snuck out of the house at night to visit some random party.

Veronica did make her share of troubles for me but she had never done that. I had managed to tolerate her visiting a few parties and then blabbering about how they went, all day long, quite a few times. But she hadn't gotten drunk in any of the previous ones and pulled any stunt like that. I had absolutely no idea of what I should have done right then. Obviously, she knew other people but I highly doubted they'd care enough to take her home in one piece.

Distressing situations started popping up in my head one by one, making me bite my nails in nervousness.

What if she got into some kind of trouble? What if she did something stupid? What if someone took advantage of her drunk self?

What should I do? Whom should I call to check on her? Why did she even switch her goddamned phone off? What bad deed did I do to be bothered by such a trouble?

I was pacing across the entire room in serious tension.

"Where even is this goddamned party?" I groaned, running my fingers through my dark brown hair.

I was trying really hard to think of someone I could call at that point.

If only I was a bit more sociable. I barely had fifteen contacts on my phone. I was the one to blame for my ineptness.

Suddenly something clicked in my mind.

Veronica did mention that she was going with a guy from the other section. A guy, I might have had actually known.

I hurriedly took my cellphone, tried searching his number. I might have saved or rather HAD to save for the combined physics project the year before. I just hoped that I didn't delete it afterwards.

I awkwardly whimpered at the short list contact list I had.

Sad? I didn't care.

After pushing the call button, I furiously paced around my room, careful enough not to wake Mom and that man sleeping downstairs.

Somehow, I knew what was coming for me and it made the adrenaline coarse violently through my veins. I would most definitely curse the decision of receiving her call in the coming days.

***********

To Be Continued.

...Sanvi's POV...

"Pavan!" I heaved a sigh of relief on hearing the same loud music banging against my ear from the other side.

I had perhaps never thought I'd ever be that happy to hear a batchmate's voice in my life.

Thank God, he was with Veronica!

He was, right?

"Hello? Yes! Who is this? Hello?" A manly voice bellowed through the phone. That dumbass should at least have had the courtesy of moving away from the music at that moment.

"Pavan? It's me, Sanvi! From section-A? Remember me? We did a physics project together last year." I bit my tongue hoping he would remember me.

The project was a combined work, yeah. But I divided it among both of us to do on our own. And I wasn't proud to say this but I was quite rude at it. I didn't really know him but then again, I had one excuse of a friend named Veronica.

I'd judge me too.

He might have deleted my number with a grudge against my misbehaviour. But hey, I was a bitch and I didn't care. I couldn't let myself care for what other people thought of me. Thinking in that house was a luxury, you see.

Silence.

I felt him move away from the music but he took his sweet time to reply. I patted my knee in fixation, hoping he wouldn't cut the call. He was probably taken aback at the sudden call.

"Oh, yes of course. Say, Sanvi? What made you call all of a sudden at this hour?" Pavan's voice sounded weirdly friendly but highly sober. But then what made my mad best friend get mad drunk like that? Wasn't he her date for the evening? Or did they go just as friends? I realised I should have had listened more when Veronica spoke! Was the even important right then?

"At this hour? I don't think I have disturbed your sleep considering the blaring music I am hearing emanating from the background, am I right?" I bit back from uttering even harsher retort at his question, at least not to the person I was going to directly ask a favour from right then.

"No, No. You're very much welcome to call...I guess and yes, I am at a party. But what exactly made you call me?"

"Well, it's a bit urgent. I need your help on one thing." I bit my lower lip nervously, choosing my words cautiously. How could I ask for help from a boy I had hardly interacted with?

"Help? From me? What a surprise! What kind of help?" He sounded genuinely surprised at my request. Why wouldn't he be? The last time we spoke, I had almost snatched his share of the project and asked him not to worry about anything from then on. Seriously, I needed to tone down this reclusive attitude of mine. People took it as a rude gesture. What they didn't get is that I was actually a wimp who wanted to stay away from any sort of human contact.

Pathetic. Poor Sanvi, no friends. Ugh.

I pondered a bit over the question of asking him to drop Veronica home right away. But then refrained myself from that considering how strict her parents actually were. They would legit flip if they saw their precious daughter drunk like that, being dropped home by a teenage boy in the middle of the night.

"Just that.. Um. Can you tell me where you are and is Veronica there with you? She just rang me up and she sounded awfully drunk. Please can you check in on her for a moment?" I sat on my bed, picking on my bed sheet and ardently hoping that he wouldn't turn out to be one of those guys who held grudges for life.

"Oh!"

Silence

I bit my tongue, cringing with awkwardness.

"Yes. She's here with us. Infact she came to the party as my date. You know how things go wild in these parties right?" I heard him chuckle a bit at his end.

No. I didn't know and I would never even want to know. I only wanted this trouble to subside from my knowledge.

"We were playing a few games and one thing led to another and right now she's dancing over a piano? What the ****?" Pavan's voice trailed away and my eyes widened at his tone. What on earth was happening?

"Pavan? Pavan? Hello? What's going on?"

"Veronica, get the **** down from that piano! Guys stop encouraging her! I said get down now!" I heard Pavan yelling on the other side.

I held onto the phone tightly when I heard him talk to me again.

"Um, Sanvi? Seems like she is totally wasted. I might have to drive her back home."

"NO! DON'T!" I screamed but the next instant slapped my palm on my mouth.

"Hey, don't worry! I didn't drink tonight. I can drive. I would take care of her and make sure she makes it safely inside her house." I heard him croak out in an assuring tone.

"No, it's not that. I know you surely would but I don't trust that crazy girl and surely not when she's that drunk. You have no idea what her parents would do to her if they find out about her midnight rendezvous with you guys and seeing you with her might enrage them more, believe me!" I spoke in an urgent tone.

Pavan was a decent guy. Not a pervert, that I could have attested to. I had gathered that by working with him on the project and I had the feeling that he wouldn't cross any line. But I wouldn't take the risk. I had to be the mature and responsible one when Veronica behaved crazy like that. We might not be like other best friends but I still liked that girl.

My thoughts were interrupted by Pavan's voice.

"So what are you suggesting? She's definitely not in the state to go home by herself."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and cursed the moment I decided to receive the call of the disaster.

"Text me the address.." I voiced out, feeling defeated.

"I'll come and pick her up."

"What? Sanvi, I don't think that's a good idea. I mean the party is on full swing and it's hella crammed with people. I hardly think you'll find us in this mad crowd. Besides I assume you must be completely new to this whole arena. Will you be able to manage all these at this late hour?"

Haha.

I appreciated his concern for me.

For the girl who was so rude to him.

But I had to see for myself that the girl was safe in her home.

I could at least do this for Veronica.

"Don't worry, I'll text you once I am outside the venue. You can just bring her to me. I won't go inside."

"Okay then. I am messaging you right away." Pavan surely was surprised at my bravado.

I cut the call and closed my eyes.

"Only if Veronica was a bit mature." I murmured annoyingly and hurried to the closet. I quickly changed into a simple jeans and my one and only decent Pokemon tee-shirt. I didn't even bother to have a look at the mirror because I was in a hurry. I hadn't ever imagined myself visiting a highschool party and definitely not in that absurd situation.

It was quite ironic that Mother was scolding me to be more mature and right then, I was going to rescue a girl who should have gotten herself stamped as an immature person in every possible scenario. Only if Mom knew that maturity had different implications for different people.

"It's gonna be a long night!" I sighed, clutching my scooty keys and tip-toeing out of my house, careful enough not to wake anyone up. I knew I'd be dead if I get caught but once I produce a crazy fixation over one problem, I wouldn't have peace until it is solved.

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

To Be Continued.