"Where are we going?" Mayur asked.
And that's exactly what I was wondering about. I couldn't leave him at home, the children would soon find out that there's something wrong. I had to take him out with me, but I can't take him to school.
'What the hell should I do?'
I'll worry about it later, but right now, I have to think how to get him out of here unnoticed.
I went down and saw that everyone was having breakfast, as usual. The path to the door seemed clear. I signalled Mayur to come down slowly, without making any noise. Once Mayur was out, I moved to follow him.
"Why are you going so early?"
My heart almost jumped to my throat. I turned back and saw Sharron standing there.
"I... had some important work at school and so I'm going early." I lied.
"But won't you even have breakfast?" she asked. "I made garlic bread."
Ohhh...Sharon's garlic breads are the best in the world. 'YES, YES, YES, I'd like to have four plates to begin with.' my soul was screaming to say yes.
"No thank you. I'll eat at the school cafeteria." I said, crushing my soul's voice. I slapped myself in my thoughts.
"And...Sharron, please tell grandma that I'll come home late today."
With that, I walked out of the house and saw Mayur standing at the gate.
He wore the full sleeved black shirt that I found in my Dad's belongings (supposedly my Dad, 'cause I ain't her daughter to being with. It's just that this is how everyone here remembers me and so I have to play along.) Coupled with beige pants. His semi-wet medium length hair that reached his cheeks and the back of his neck. Though unkept and uncombed, his hair looked cool as hell. His face illuminated the moment the sunrays touched his skin.
Looking at him, I had a hard time believing that he wasn't one of the boys out there who was just about to leave for school. He looked completely normal. I totally forgot that it was just yesterday when I saw him immersed in a fluid inside a container like a fish.
"Let's go." I walked to him and said.
We took the path I usually walked while going to school. I decided to take him with me and somehow sneak him in. For today, he can pretend to be a student here.
"What's all this?" He asked, pointing towards the shops that lined our way.
"These are called shops. They sell stuff."
"Why do they sell it?"he asked.
"Well...they need money to live. Or else how will they live and enjoy their life."
"So, you need money to be happy?"
"Not precisely money, but...you see, you won't have anything without money and having nothing can't give you happiness. Like these clothes we are wearing, they have been bought with money. And that money was earned by doing work, you understand?"
I was having a hard time answering his questions. Still, he kept on asking me all the way until we reached school.
"Will they allow me in. Yesterday you said that you have to get admission in schools to be able to study there, but I haven't taken any admission." He looked at me with confused eyes.
"I will sneak you in and you will have to pretend to be one of the student here, okay? And for God's sake don't go around telling people that you woke up just yesterday. Promise me you won't create a scene."
I extended my hand towards him, for him to seal the promise, but he kept on staring at my hand. Finally, he held my hand with his and made my hand touch his forehead and said,
"I promise."
Huh? That was a pretty new way of making a promise. Anyways, as long as he understands what I meant, I don't care.
"Let's get in."
I noticed Chester heading inside and he noticed me too. He came running towards me and saw Mayur.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked and added, "Who's he?" scanning Mayur from head to toe.
"I'm Mayur." Mayur replied, rather confidently.
"He's...um..." I thought about what to tell Chester, but I had run out of excuses. To be honest, the lies and excuses I've made in the last twenty four hours are more than the cumulative of excuses I've made in the two months of my stay in this world.
"I'm here for visitation." Mayur said. "My parents transferred here last week and I'm here to visit the school."
I stared at Mayur dumbfoundedly. Wow! That's a total upgrade from a boy who didn't know what shops were.
"Oh...really? That's great. I'm the tour guide for our school. I'll show you the campus. Come on in." Chester seemed delighted. This would be the first time he'll be able to show someone around ever since he took the duty of tour guide.
We walked in and went to our lockers to put our things there.
"Did you hear about Becky?" Chester questioned.
My body froze as I recalled the horrors of yesterday. Did they come to know?
"What about her?" I asked, feigning ignorance.
Chester came closer to whisper as if he was about to tell me some massive secret and Mayur came closer to hear, too.
"She's left this country yesterday." he said, "It happened overnight and her parents left in such a hurry that people are suspecting that their business went bankrupt."
What? What's this new nonsense. She clearly vanished yesterday right before my eyes. So what is he talking about?
"Who's Becky?" Mayur asked and I remembered that I hadn't told him about how I accidentally found him.
"Oh, she's a student here, but Arya and her never got along, right Arya?" Chester looked at me teasingly.
"What? It's not like I wanted to fight with her every alternate day. It was you who was head over heels for her."
His face reddened like a ripe tomato. "I wasn't!"
The bell rang and we hurried to our classes. "Will Mayur come with us?" I asked Chester.
"Yes because I can't skip this French lecture. Mayur can you wait for 45 minutes?" He looked at Mayur and he nodded.
"Great then, I'll see you in 45 minutes." Chester ran off to his French class, leaving me and Mayur standing at the corridor.
"Where will we go?" Mayur asked.
"Well...my first lecture is Physics. Come let me introduce you to Mr. Mark"
And with that, we hurried to the Physics class.