Chapter 31: How dare you, loser. Trying to hit on Priya.

Now, every passing moment in the class felt like Himanshu was stuck in a weird whirlpool of happiness and anxiety. His eyes, completely out of his control, kept darting back to her every two seconds—Priya.

​She looked somewhat different today, like she was the most special person in that whole crowd. Himanshu had never felt this way in any class in his entire school life. But today... today it felt like there was actually someone in this class he was desperately waiting to turn around and look at him.

​This feeling was like a very sweet dream for him, one he didn’t want to break at all. Today’s classes felt like a ’time escape’. Hours were flying by like minutes, and minutes like seconds.

​But as time passed, the anxiety of the questions rising inside Himanshu kept growing. And as the final moments of the last class were coming to an end, his legs started shaking even faster under the desk out of sheer nervousness. Pretending to look at the teacher teaching on the blackboard, he was just staring at Priya from the corner of his eyes.

​And one more thing... almost all the guys sitting around in the class were glaring at Himanshu. He could very well feel their piercing, burning gazes right on his back.

​Ring... Ring...

​The moment the final bell rang, Himanshu instantly slung his bag over his shoulders and stood up from his seat.

​But as soon as he looked ahead, his feet stopped right there. Priya was walking out of the class, talking with her friend Monica. He just stood there watching them until she walked out the door and completely disappeared from his sight.

​’Maybe I just overthought the whole thing.’

Taking a deep sigh of disappointment, he moved his frozen steps toward the door.

​But right then, the front door of the class got blocked from his view. Because all the guys in the class had stood up and surrounded him like a solid wall.

​Some of the guys had their arms crossed over their chests, and some were cracking their knuckles while rubbing their necks. Their puffing chests and heavy breathing clearly showed what was going on in their heads.

​Himanshu just stood there with one strap of his bag on his shoulder. He was just quietly staring into their eyes without even blinking.

​A situation like this had happened to Himanshu for the first time in class.

Even though he always tolerated their bullying and insults because he thought he deserved it. But maybe these guys mistook his habit of getting low marks and taking any kind of insult quietly as his weakness.

​But those idiots forgot that Himanshu had been alone since childhood. Other than his mom, he had faced everything alone. Whether it was tolerating the world’s crap or fighting back.

​Just then, a guy from the front of the group stepped up and suddenly grabbed Himanshu’s collar. Trying to pull him toward himself with all his strength, he growled,

​"How dare you, loser. Trying to hit on Priya."

​It was Dhruv, the same guy who called him a ’loser’ in front of everyone when Himanshu got low marks. Dhruv was among the coolest and i that made people think he was worthy of being Priya’s partner. But the reality was that Priya had already rejected him twice in front of everyone... or maybe three times. That’s what the flying rumors around them said, but honestly, who knows how many times Priya had actually rejected him.

​And Himanshu remembered very well that he tried to stay away from this Dhruv the most in school.

​All the guys standing in the circle knew what was going to happen now. They were just waiting for Himanshu to get scared and beg for mercy, waiting to see how he reacts to this.

​But what Himanshu did, absolutely no one saw it coming.

​A second later, Himanshu suddenly started laughing like a maniac.

He was laughing so hard that his laughter was the only thing echoing in the empty class. One of his hands was clutching his stomach from laughing too much, and with the other hand, he was trying to wipe the tears of laughter from his eyes.

​"Did you seriously think that?"

Gripping a nearby desk tightly, Himanshu tilted his head down, looked at Dhruv’s shoes, and said while laughing,

"Man, look at her and look at me."

​All the students standing around were completely dumbfounded, just looking at each other’s faces.

This was the first time Himanshu laughed like this in class. It was exactly like a person who was mute since birth suddenly started speaking at the top of his lungs.

​But it was honestly hard to ignore what Himanshu just said. Because of this, some guys standing in the back also started chuckling a bit. Even they started feeling that thinking like this about a girl like Priya and Himanshu was pure stupidity.

​But Dhruv’s face standing in front remained as strict and stone-cold as before. As if he didn’t just consider Himanshu a loser, but a cunning guy.

​"It’s better for you if you stay away from her."

​Hearing this, Himanshu controlled his laughter and took a step forward. He placed both his hands on Dhruv’s shoulders and said.

But this time, there was no fear in his laugh; instead, there was a hidden, sly smirk.

​"Do you honestly think Priya would give a damn about a loser like me?" Himanshu said in a very calm and piercing tone. "Thanks for thinking I even have that much worth."

​Removing his hands from Dhruv, he looked at the guy standing next to Dhruv and said in a very normal tone,

"Could you step aside a bit now?"

​As soon as he said that, the guy next to him gave way in confusion and under a weird kind of pressure.

​Giving that guy a slight smile, Himanshu quietly walked past them. There was absolutely no trembling in his steps, like anyone else would have in this situation.

​But little did anyone know... how terrified his mind was from the inside!

​’Please... please... please...’

Himanshu looked calm on the outside, but inside, he was just hoping and praying that no one would put a hand on his shoulder from behind.

​And the moment he stepped out of the class...

Only the sound of Himanshu’s fast-running footsteps echoed through the entire empty corridor.

​He didn’t stop until he was completely out of the school building.

As soon as he reached the boundary wall, he rested one hand against the wall, put the other on his knee, and started panting heavily.

​""Oh my God... I survived. I actually survived," he thought, trying to calm his pounding heart.

"I was seriously scared shitless today."

​Taking a deep sigh of relief, he muttered,

"Good thing I’ve got a clever brother like Shyam."

​Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Himanshu took long strides toward the cycle stand. Taking his cycle and walking out of the school, he kept looking hopefully at every single girl walking out from behind. His mind knew very well that she must have left by now, but still, Himanshu’s eyes just wouldn’t stop searching for her.

​But after scanning everywhere outside the main gate when he couldn’t see Priya anywhere, Himanshu sat on his cycle’s seat, took a deep breath, and pushed his first pedal.

​"Maybe I was right when I told him that. Where do I stand, and where does she."

​On the way, while thinking about today’s school memories, Himanshu suddenly remembered those words from Priya.

"My favorite character is the Demon Queen."

​The moment these words echoed in his mind, he remembered that real walking disaster sitting in his house.

"Oh crap! I need to get home as soon as possible. Who knows what kind of mess she might have created."

​Just thinking about this, Himanshu started pedaling with all his strength in a panic. The fast clack-clack-clack sound of the cycle chain was keeping pace with his racing heartbeat.

​But as soon as Himanshu increased his cycle’s speed...

He saw a girl wearing his own school’s uniform right ahead.

​She was standing all alone by the side of the road. She had one hand raised forward, like she was asking someone for a lift. It was hard to tell who it was from a distance. Her hair was blowing in the wind, and she was waiting for someone on that lonely road.

​But looking at her, only one name was popping up in Himanshu’s mind.