Strangers Meet Fate

Chapter : 4

I don't care if people stop caring about me.

4 | A Tough Nut to Break |

               Very inelegantly, Finn sprayed out the black coke he was sipping from his mouth, nearly drenching Ashley. But Ashley didn't react to that at all, rather she accompanied the other four to exclaim at Misha,

" What did you say you did? "

Finn had choked badly, so he could only cough. His eyes had turned red and teary, looking very miserable.

" Okay, I get it. You don't have to react like that. You are making things look like I just signed out my death warrant ", Misha waved her hand nonchalantly.

" So you did, my dear ", Dylan's face looked like he could run away at any moment.

" Ahaha, looks like I've become your ticket to death way before I met you- my bad. "

" No, it's fine ", Samantha perked up at the scent of the newest gossip, forgetting her impending death she had predicted in hands of Demon MoonCross, " Misha, won't you tell us what happened between you two? "

Before Misha could reply, she saw the others on the table stiffen. Their expressions varied from shock to different degrees of terror. The best part was Mateo though. He directly ducked under the table they were sitting at.

Two hands loudly thumped on the table, caging Misha between them from behind. A familiar voice rung from behind, the person's lips uncomfortably close to her ear, " Do dare tell, Misha Sehgal? "

Samantha, Ashley and others were also surrounded by a huge group of boys and girls from different years. Seeing the cluster of Demon MoonCross's lackeys gathered at one table, the other diners silently lit a candle for the table in their minds.

Misha snapped her neck to see the perpetrator at her side. Her gaze collided with burning sapphire blue eyes, the shade seemingly darker than she had seen in the morning. Their faces were close, close enough to let others misunderstand their exchange.

" I remember telling you to keep your paws off. "

" And I'm doing exactly that, mutt. Otherwise I would have loved to snap a bone or two of yours. Of your legs to be exact. They really are too daring for my liking. "

" So what if they are? You remember how you behaved, right? Try getting what you did to me done to yourself someday, I'd love to see how you react. And, whether my legs are of your liking or not has nothing to do with me. There are plenty of other girls in the school, why don't you go try their legs? "

" It seems that you don't want to study anymore. "

" Oh? What makes you say that? "

Damien's hands on the table turned into tight fists, so tight that his nails started piercing in his palms. For a second perhaps Misha felt like she saw his canines elongate, which she blamed on hallucinations. A person like him, it wouldn't be too absurd if he physically resembled an animal too.

He closed his eyes and took a deep whiff before speaking, his tone heavy in warning, " Misha Sehgal - "

But before he could finish, Misha taunted, " Again, this sniffing of yours. Are you a dog? "

But her statement was overshadowed as Damien's voice boomed just by her ear, making her flinch as if he had hit her, " Misha! Sehgal! Listen to me, and listen well, I don't repeat my warnings. Don't try to act above your station, otherwise, I won't mind showing you your place. And trust me, you won't like my methods, at all. "

However, Misha didn't seem to pay any heed to his words. She rubbed the ear at which Damien had shouted, and somewhat helplessly said, " My eardrums - got torn off perhaps ", in hindi, making Damien scrunch his brows, " What did you say? "

" How about I pull out your ear scream my answer inside, hmm? What's wrong with your throat? You nearly turned me deaf earlier. "

" Mutt, you don't have any idea what will happen to you if you keep speaking like that. "

" I really don't understand what your problem is. It was you who came up to me to talk nonsense, which was still tolerable if you hadn't gotten so touchy. And now again you are howling and shouting at me like I've offended you ", she pushed him away as she stood up to face him, crossing her arms, " Let me ask you, what would you do to me? Like, I'm dead serious about this. This is a school, not your house where you can prance around acting like you own the place. Let me guess, you'll pour cockroaches in my locker? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not afraid of cockroaches. Trip me in the hallway? My reflexes are pretty good. Lock me in the toilet? I don't believe in ghosts. But yes, only beating me up with your gang or perhaps attacking me with dirty water can come out as successful. "

" Actually, you know what, you don't have any reason to get so worked up for. You are a senior, right? So, won't it be beneath your station to bicker with juniors like us? ", she tapped his shoulder which was too high up for her to reach, " You look very petty, immature and unreasonable when you fight with kids. "

With that said, she left.

Damien gnashed his teeth, unable to return her words with a proper comeback. Silently fuming, he looked across the faces of the six boys and girls who were having lunch with her.

" You are marked ", Caden pointed at their noses, speaking up, translating Damien's meaningful silence.

Everyone cowered in fear except Finn, who snorted under his breath, maintaining a disinterested cold face.

However, seeing the fear in them, the hard lines on Damien's face eased a bit. He took his lackeys with him out of the cafe.

                After the main actors were gone, the sidekicks, aka Samantha, Ashley, Lisa, Dylan, Finn and Mateo let out the breaths they didn't know they were holding all this time. Everyone except Samantha and Finn collapsed on their chairs looking dead.

Ashley patted her chest lightly to let herself breathe more normally and spoke, " That was dangerous. "

However, Lisa had started weeping in fear, " If I knew she would provoke that Demon this badly, I would never have talked to her in the first place! Now that they have marked us, I don't know what is going to happen to us. "

" What would happen, didn't Misha already list that out for your convenience? ", Dylan chuckled at Lisa's crying face.

" Whoa, wait. Are they really going to do something like that? Well, they never give empty threats though ", Mateo rubbed his arms, just thinking about that Demon's methods brought him chills.

" I think we should just stop interacting with her further, maybe we might get mercy ", Lisa kept sniffling.

" Oh c'mon Lisa! Don't act like a baby now ", Finn coldly retorted.

" Yeah, do you think they will let you go just because you stopped talking with her? Wake up Missy, use your brain! They enjoy what they do to scare us. Do you really think they will let us go? ", Ashley joined him.

" Then, what will happen to us? ", Samantha too had fear sketched on her face.

" I don't know. But I surely know that we need more Mishas here. Like, just look at how she made him speechless! If you are too chickened, you are welcome to leave, but I'll stick to Misha ", Finn gave everyone a deep probing look after he finished talking.

" I'll be here (Me too.) ", Ashley and Dylan followed.

Mateo hesitated for a bit, then took sides with Finn, Dylan and Ashley.

That left Lisa and Samantha twisting and fidgeting on the other side. Even after the other four stared at them heatedly for a long time, they responded with lowered heads and even more nervous fiddling.

Finn, Dylan, Ashley and Mateo took their leaves.

They had been together since last year, but they had no idea that they would have to separate ways so soon.

              Returning home that day, Misha opened Skype after dinner and sat chatting with James, Ruchika, Rehan and Sammy.

" Hey hey hey! Look who's here! Come on, tell us! How was the new school? ", Rehan began.

" Were there many handsome guys? ", Ruchika's eyes shone.

" The last time I checked, Ruchika you still had a crush on my elder brother. Cheh! What a licentious woman you are becoming, tsk tsk ", Rehan quickly poured water on her enthusiasm.

" I think you should just tell your brother not to put his nose inside the office desk and actually get a life. Then Ruchi wouldn't have to look around for others ",

" Shut it James! ", Ruchika butted in with a red face.

" The photos you posted in f*******: were very good ", Sammy slowly spoke up to Misha, his shining eyes lowered as usual in shyness, " But you should have also adjust the angle to get a better focal point. Otherwise, the photos were nice. "

Sammy's passion was photography and videography. He even took courses and was opting to study cinematography in the future.

His comment brought the other three back into the original conversation. James, Rehan and Ruchika jumped in front of their camaras with their individual questions,

" Was the school bigger than ours? "

" Did you make any friends? "

" Were the photos taken from around the place you live? "

" Alright babes, let me speak now ", Misha raised her hands to let them calm down, " The school, sadly, is bigger than yours. I kind of joined a new bunch, but after what happened today I doubt they will contact me anymore. The photos, yes. They were taken around our new house. And Ruchi, most of the boys here look pretty good, but that's the end of it, their personality traits are inversely proportional with their looks I reckon. Although, there are a few exceptions, the boys and girls I was about to get ganged up with. "

" What did you do to suddenly make them stop interacting with you? Or, was it really your fault? ", James the musclehead rolled up his sleeves.

" Calm down, calm down, I'll tell you ", Misha pulled a cushion in her lap and reaccounted the incident from school, not missing any detail.

" He dared? You should also have kicked his balls, Mimi! ", If possible James could have pounced on the jerk through the laptop itself.

" What does he take our Mimi as? Are the likes of him worthy of even cleaning her shoes? Let us come over and teach that brat a lesson! ", Rehan bared his teeth at the camera, ready to tear people into shreds.

" Whatever he had to say, he shouldn't have used such, what should I say — he would just have avoided you if he didn't like you or planned to date you, why taking such nonsensical method? ", Sammy  quietly settled in the talk.

" He ruined that handsome face of his, I'm not interested in American boys anymore! "

" Babes, don't be upset. They don't like me, I don't like them, so well just steer clear from each other. It's their last year in the school anyway. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Oh yes, one more thing. "

They all looked back at her with worried eyes, anticipating that she might have more bad news.

" I miss you. I really, really do. "

They all turned sad, lowering their heads like scolded puppies.

" We miss you too ", they muttered back at her.

               Unknown to Misha, someone was now checking out her f*******: account.

Dylan laid lazily on his bed, holding his phone up, " Misha Sehgal — found you. Although I wasn't expecting much — "

He stared at the profile photo, as if entranced. It had half of her face with shadow patches produced by a straw hat that covered the other half of her face. Her catlike cognac eyes looked bigger, widened in mischief, the beams of setting sun lit up her eye in a prettier shade if possible. The picture credit was given to a guy named Sammy de Silva.

In the cover, there was a photo taken a small living room during Halloween. An elderly who had similar eyes as Misha and another middle aged woman was seated at the centre surrounded by five boys and girls decked up for Halloween. Their outfits were pretty tame and he easily spotted Misha dressed as a vampire, her eyes shining in the dim light, really made her look very much otherworldly.

As for her posts, there weren't many. The account was about a year old. The last post were photos taken from here. Upon looking closely, they seemed to be taken from the lanes of the road that took off to the forest. He suddenly started chuckling, as if he remembered something funny. The other posts were of her photo holding lamps, beautiful scenaries of sea, hills and forests she had gone on adventure trips to. Needless to say, all of them were beautiful, but the credits were always given to this Sammy de Silva. It seemed that he was the photographer of their five-people group.

Damien went on to check her friends' profiles too. James Barbosa was a crazy bodybuilder, Rehan Chauhan was bike enthusiast, and there was his older brother Ranvir Chauhan too. Ruchika Kalra looked like she could live her whole life with cats. She even had a fluffy white cat which had similar eyes as Misha and she made them take photos together. Lastly, Sammy de Silva was a fragile looking albino with thick glasses and was already a professional photographer. Other than that, she had her family members on the list and had liked some pages for bike and hiking enthusiasts, music lovers and Goa tourism.

Her profile lacked activities, and friends too. But her posts definitely were very beautiful, he reluctantly agreed under Xavier's continuous pressure, she herself was very pretty too.

[ It's you Xavier, who is being such a pathetically emotional dog. ]

[ Keep deceiving yourself, a****le. ]