AUTHOR'S POV

AGE - 15 YEARS

It's said that student life is a golden life. Well the 6 friends found it absolutely true. All of them had become emotionally and mentally attached to each other though Megha and Yuvraj always had their conflicts.

The group were now ready to write their board exams in a few days and all of them were scared, sad and excited at the same time.

Scared because of their board exams. Sad to leave their school life and go on different paths and excited for their farewell.

While the girls were excited looking at the sarees and jewellery which they were going to wear for farewell, Megha was in her own world.

The guys sat there doing their own work and commenting now and then.

"This will look so good on me don't you think?" Nithya asked as she put the saree on her shoulder and turned to show it to everyone.

"Ewww.... It looks so bad. That colour is not even looking good on you. You'll look like a monkey." Dhruv said just to annoy Nithya.

Nithya's face immediately feel. Seeing her face fall someone's heart clenched.

"He's just trying to annoy you babe. You'll look stunning in it." Veena said as she gave her a side hug.

"It looks really pretty Nithya." Yuvraj said and then he glanced at Megha who was lost in her own world.

She was quite moody from few days. Yuvraj noticed this when he came back from his family trip. He found Megha quieter and lost most of the time.

But he didn't care. He hates her, that's what he said and moved on.

"Megha this will look good on you." Nithya said taking a glittered saree in her hand.

But Megha was still lost. She came back to her senses only after Dhruv put some water on her.

"What the......" She was about to yell when she saw everyones eyes on her.

"What's wrong with you? You look lost." Vineet commented.

"Looks like princess had a fight with her boyfriend." Yuvraj said to just annoy Megha.

Megha who was in no mood to argue just kept quiet which shocked everyone.

"I'll be back." She said and walked out of the room.

Everyone looked at each other and were blank because it was the first time Megha was so quiet and seemed to be not interested and the most shocking part was that she didn't answer back to Yuvraj.

"I think something is wrong with her she's not herself." Veena said.

"Yeah..... It's not at all like her. She was the one who was so excited about farewell." Dhruv said.

"Guys you all are just overthinking. I think she's on her periods and we all know how she gets moody on those days." Yuvraj said and everyone nodded.

But deep down even Yuvraj knew that something was wrong with her.

It was the farewell day and Megha was getting ready when someone barged in her room.

She turned back and signed in relief after seeing Veena and Nithya.

"OMG ....... Look at you." Veena said admiring Megha.

"I told you that this would look so good on you. You look so beautiful..... Shourya is going to go nuts after seeing you." Nithya said.

But as soon as Megha heard Shourya's name her face fell.

Shourya was her boyfriend whom she's dating from 9th grade.

"Actually......I am thinking of breaking up with him." She said looking down.

"Why??????" Both Veena and Nithya were shocked hearing this.

They thought everything was perfect between them and they both were really happy. So they were shocked to hear this.

"I want a break. I don't want to date right now. I think I am going off track... you know from my studies. So I thought of breaking up with him." She said looking at them.

Though both of them knew that's not the reason they didn't tell a single word because they knew if Megha wanted to share something she would do without anyone asking her.

They hugged her.

"If that's what you want then we are fine with it." Nithya said.

"Yes babe if that's what makes you happy then we are with you." Veena said.

"I love you guys and you guys are looking really beautiful." Megha said and all of a sudden they became emotional.

One by one everyone started crying.

"Guys I think it's better we stop crying. I wasted 2 hours to get ready." Nithya said breaking the hug and taking a tissue.

The three of them looked at each other and laughed walking out of their room.

The three girls went to the venue and were busy taking photos when the guys approached them.

"Woww... You look so beautiful Nithya." Vineet said looking at Nithya without blinking good eyes.

Nithya who heard his words was now blushing and looked down shyly.

"Thank you." She said as her cheeks became red.

Everyone in the group knew that Nithya and Vineet have a crush on each other but God know why they never confessed to each other.

"We know Megha is looking extraordinary today Yuvraj you need not prove it by staring at her." Veena said bringing everyone's attention towards Megha and Yuvraj.

Megha smirked whereas Yuvraj shook his head looking down.

"You are mistaken Veena. I was wondering that how come such a beautiful saree is wrapped around a person like her. Just because of her the beauty of the saree is getting degraded." Yuvraj said looking at Megha.

"Well if you don't understand how to admire beautiful things then it's not my problem. I bet every single person here thinks I am looking good except you. So there are only two possibilities either you are lying or something's wrong with your eyes." With that Megha turned and started walking away.

Yuvraj stood rooted to his place and looked at her.

"Guys come on we need to go." Veena said looking at the group.

"You guys go I'll join you in a second." Yuvraj said and walked away.

The group found Megha sitting in the auditorium and joined her all of them were busy speaking but Megha felt that someone was looking at her when she turned to look around she found no one.

Her heart started beating fast and her palms started sweeting. She managed to look normal and had a smile on her face. That's when she heard a camera shutter and she immediately snapped her head towards the source but found nothing.

"I'll use the washroom and come." Megha said to Veena who was sitting beside her and got up and walked fast.

As soon as she reached the washroom she entered and locked the door.

Her breathing became uneven, her heart started beating fast and she started sweeting. It felt like someone was choking, her tears rolled from her eyes.

She tried to control.....she tried to steady herself but it was not working. Something was happening with her. A strange feeling was happening within herself. A feeling that was making her heart pain. She felt fear and anger and she broke down completely.

She had got her first panic attack and here she was locked in a washroom and crying like a lost kid.

After 10 minutes she came out and stood in front of the mirror. She thanked God as there was no one in the washroom to look at her terrible condition.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was a mess. Her kajal and mascara completely spoiled and smudged. Her eyes read and her face looked puffed and dull.

She opened her bag and started fixing her makeup. Once she was done she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled.

She didn't want anyone to know what had happened here minutes back. So she put on a fake smile and left the washroom.

When she was on her way she found Nithya coming towards her.

"Where were you? What took you so long?" She asked Megha.

"Ughhh... Don't even ask me...my saree came out and I had to fix it." She said and Nithya looked at her trying to read the truth between her lines.

"If that's what happened then ok." She said and they both moved towards the auditorium.

♡♡♡♡

The program went really well. Everyone were busy taking photos. Megha walked towards Shourya.

"Hey..." He said walking towards her.

"Hi!"

"Your looking really pretty." He said holding her hand.

"Thank you." She said putting on a fake smile.

"I wanted to speak to you from morning. Come let's click a picture." He said and dragged Megha towards his friends who were clicking photos.

Megha stopped in her track and Shourya looked at her.

"What happened?" He asked getting tensed.

"I need to tell you something." She said looking at him in his eyes.

"Is it important?" He asked and she nodded.

"I can't do this. I need a break. A break from relationships and dating and all of that. It's just effecting my studies. So...."

"You want to break up with me?" Shourya completed her line and was lost in his thoughts.

"Do you just want a break like do you want to continue after boards or you want to just end this forever?" He asked and she looked at him with her eyes.... holding guilt?

"I want to end this forever." She said looking at him.

"Why? Did I do something wrong?" He asked feeling heartbroken.

"No. You didnt. But I don't want to be in a relationship." She said which angered Shourya.

"I am asking you for a reason and not an excuse." He yelled gaining some people's attention.

Yuvraj was one of them.

Nithya and Veena had an idea what was going on but the guys were blank.

Yuvraj turned towards Nithya and lifted his eyebrows asking her what was going on.

"She's breaking up with him." She said and turned to look at Megha.

Yuvraj was shocked.

"You need not shout and make a scene. I said right I dont want to date right now. So why dont you understand." Megha said still keeping her voice low.

"Don't beat around the bush Megha tell me the reason." Shourya yelled not minding the attention they were getting.

Megha lost her patience. She was speaking to him calmly and he was not even understanding her.

"You know what.... I thought of having a peaceful break up and I didnt want any drama but because you are so keen on picking up a fight go ahead do whatever you want. I dont care. I told you my point of view and now its upto you. I dont want to sit and speak to you until you are convinced with my answer." She said with her voice high.

All her friends were shocked. The Megha they knew always avoided unnecessary attention and always thought about other people's feelings. She never tried to hurt anyone unintentionally also. but the Megha they saw today yelled at a person in front of everyone and that to it was Shourya.

Though her friends never knew if Megha loved Shourya or not but they knew that she respected him a lot. Seeing her yell at him and speak so harshly was something which shocked them.

Yuvraj was now sure that something was definitely wrong. But he was not close to her to go and ask her and why would he? he hated her right?

Megha left the place. Her eyes red and face red.

That day when she walked out of the crowd she left her old self behind. She walked away with a new personality. A person who was rude and cared about no one. She completely turned opposite to what she was before and the reason why she became like that was something no one knew.

......................................................................