Eight 'O' Clock

[3] Game

His hand curled into mine, giving me butterflies but I didn't push away. I never proposed to disappoint him but being the upper hand in this unexplained relationship, I often spoke like the boss.

 He would be the one to propose ideas with a shy touch onto my fingers, "Know what? Want a date?" or "You make me go crazy!", his eyes rolling back when he made out those words with a grin beaming his pale puckered face. I never dated by appearances, principally because I knew how handsome men ended up crushing wedding rings.

I never answered his exclamations, confessions, or ideas. Alona was watching when his fingers slowly traced my thighs, for a minute and there-he had pulled away. 

She would be gritting her baby teeth and mumbling how boys had their upper hands in every relation, making any girl go mad on talking nonsense about their lover. I never argued for she was one person who I didn't want to lose in my life. One personage without whom I would feel lonely enough to search for a blade.

The buses arrived, with much-welcomed whistles, stampeding of feet, and cheers from the teens. The teachers would laugh at the chaos and eventually grab their Gucci purses to get into the vehicles first. Mrs. Isha was nowhere to be seen, which meant she had gone to grab Mr. Yunas-the principal who ended up dozing off on such significant days.

The buses were crowded with each having a capacity of sixty, the inside was showered with DJ lights, faded a little by the sun outside which was scorching heat above our heads, seats luxurious and cushy and a TV of the Sony version, giving pleasure to a movieholic.

I took the second last seat for Alona had taken it. It was meant for two, and for a minute my heart sank on seeing him move to the back of the bus where the goofy and chaotic guys ended up. His gang of friends was unique, and exaggerated jerks who were actually on the other hand, nice and comprehending. I would always think of how the life of being a boy among those sixteen dudes would be. The answer undoubtedly would have been 'Fun'.

The bus took off after a long wait of fifteen minutes, where many homesick nerds shed tears at their parents who stood outside waving, while the others began to plan on what to play throughout the eight-hour journey. I was hoping I wouldn't be nauseated, and as a warning had opened my issues to Alona who shrugged and said,'Lets both pukes onto him", with her index pointing Inas. 

Inas. It was a name which had crossed my mind when I excitedly popped it out during a family dinner, as my personal opinionated name for the newly coming baby. My dad had gone head over heels at the great suggestion, and ever since then, he would be beaming after he felt a kick or shove from her swollen bellybutton. Little did the growing mass know he would be in some cemetery in a span of a week itself.

'A silent prayer. Everybody close your eyes~~~", her soft voice croaked after an 'Achoo!", after which she held those hands designed in thick golden bangles and bracelets, together as she prayed to the Lord she believed in. 

Everyone was quiet and silent, but nobody was praying after all. Some were kicking others or pinching their mate, while certain girls blew pecks to their boyfriends at back. Prayer call was simply a time pass. I prayed within a minute and was watching this hocus-pocus, with confusion.

Alona asked her query to me, the exact thing which had to trouble me,

"Isn't Mrs. Isha an atheist?"

I shrugged with a half-grin, and the bus had started off with a jerk., followed by furies thrown in dialects at the driver who had mistaken the cheers during the prayer, as a command to leave. It soon led to resolve with everything being okayed, and we moved to our seats after the strict orders of only dancing after we crossed the Seashore bridge where police patrolling was present.

Whistles boomed in the air.

And the air surged against my face, my eyes feeling the cool scent of the six o clock cool wind despite the pain in my head due to the sleepless night, while Alona shook her head to the beats of my music player, which was a new source of time pass for her. 

Throughout the first hour, there were annoying screams and screeches with every girl demanding hip hop music and the latest trendy music, while a few like me pleaded our own prayers for some silence. 

Eventually, the guide had to play the songs of the eighties which brought the typical "Boos" and clicking of tongues in frustration, while the headmaster snored and the teachers swiped through their iPhone 11's brought a week before to unquestionably boast and brag during this encounter with every freshie in our college.

Inas would eventually poke his head to see whether I was alright, to be dragged off by other boys who would mock his over care with a shrug and a punch,' Stop Dude, just stop"

I wasn't quite interested in either of the songs and slowly began to drift off to my own memories, where I would end up waking up to in a sweat and a pant. Memories I cherished in those deep holes of my sullen mind which expected no more humor.

 Picnics near the beach,  his soothing laughter, sixty seconds ecstatic airlift, grilled chicken homemade, board games at midnight-those were few hours where I had smiled to myself in gratitude. Those days which I never wanted to pass.

A sudden clash of my mother thrown to the wall in an "Argh!', her face beaten to a pulp when she refused to speak why she had grinned at Ramu, our milkman, my shivers every night which remained helpless and deprived for his arms, mom looking at those wedding photos with her fingers tracing every little part of his face, my growing sibling forced out of her womb making her shut herself up inside a room for a week. 

She should have known about a small, crying piece of mass who sobbed at the front of her closed door with a head on the folded knees, hoping she wouldn't stumble and fall in her own fears of someone creeping through the door without pants.

'How exactly would she play...?", the voice barged into my tiny ears, breaking my thoughts into shattered pieces of nothing. I flickered open my eyes, to see the curtains pulled down, and many girls standing beside Alona with their hands on their hips.

 Many faces I couldn't recognize were boring their eyes into me, their lips whispering gossips to another adjacent ear, maybe of someone they had just met a few minutes before.

Alona explained the request. It was a 'Truth or Dare' fun between girls and boys, and the winner who did the toughest challenge would be given any two favors asked for, at any time and place. I sighed which itself caught no attention, and I agreed when two grey cat eyes full of hopes stared into mine from behind. 

He was the only reason why I was gonna play.

The one and the only reason why I had dragged myself into another mess.

"Truth or Dare?",

 It was the twenty-second time it was uttered, every time by a new person for a new audacious challenge which sounded quite poor to me for I didn't find it as hilarious as I had heard from Alona who exaggerated with a "Ze Truth or Ze dare?".Her French accent made me laugh in a fit, which caught much-uninvited attention, making me stop instantly. 

However, she beamed at my reaction leaving me satisfied. So far, Alona had given the best dare of pouring pineapple juice into Mrs. Isha's breasts which popped out of her red Gucci full-sleeved top. Jason couldn't do it, especially when he was her pet which led to him being The Failure of All Times, which meant he had lost those girls who hate a coward.

 Jessy was raising her eyebrows and biting her lower lip, as she asked the question in a whisper to him. 

My eyes were on the chips packet he had handed me just seconds before, and I was halfway through my favorite potato flavored flakes when my head shot up at his name.

He was buffering indeed but he laughed it off when his friends tickled him. One of the guys winked at my peeking head which had raised behind me to take a look at his cheeks which had turned a little red then, that made me shrink back to my seat. 

He snickered when he heard the question for Truth.

"Who is the girl with whom you want to walk the rest of your life??":, it was asked in the sexy tone she had prepared herself for, namely a husky whisper. I never knew how that was sexy for the maid who cleaned Unisan's house usually had such a vocal cord, but she should be an exception to it.

I gulped a little, for so far he was one of the most sparkling and eye-catching pieces of art in our college. Standing in front of him make a girl forget her past and future. It would be strictly a feeling of a pounding heart that went 'Lub Dub Lub Dub" making him and the girl aware of the awkward romance, prowling in the air.

For some reason, my ears were eavesdropping beautifully and my butt was in the air, so to get a good listening.

His husky voice made bubbles pop.

'A girl with a pink bicycle."

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A follow will take you through the life of Inayat without any delays that might end up ruining your curiosity.