"Rashi, yaar. Please hear me out, na? I promise I wasn't the one who told your brother," I cried and grabbed her hand as she exited her class.

I had been trying to convince her and even called her multiple times yesterday but she didn't pick up any of my calls. I even messaged her but she didn't reply to any of them.

"I don't want any excuses, Sandhya and stop those crocodile tears." She glared.

"I am not lying. Please believe me. It is a misunderstanding."

"Will you just stop it? How could you be so shameless? First doing the mistake and then saying sorry?" She yanked her hand from my grip.

"Why don't you believe me?"

"What's there to believe, huh? You ruined everything. And what had you told me? That you will support me and I could ask for your help anytime? Is this your definition of helping? Backstabbing your friends?" she accused.

"Please don't say that. We are friends, right? Please give me a chance to explain myself," I begged.

"Explain what, Sandhya? Haven't you done enough already?" Tanya mocked as she came with Divya and distanced Rashi from me; like I was some disease.

"Tanya, please listen to-" I began but Tanya's warning tone cut me off.

"We don't want to. I think we have ample reasons to not trust you. After your plans didn't work out for Mahek, you targeted Rashi? Your own friend? Mahek told us how you blackmailed her to break up with Shree and you know what? She has evidences to prove herself."

"She is lying, Tanya. Why will you even-"

Tanya put her right palm up and I shut up. She glanced around her and continued.

"Look, Sandhya. I don't want to stretch this matter. You have already hurt Rashi and as for Mahek, I will appreciate if you don't bully her too. You call Shree your friend and that's how you treat his girlfriend? Jealousy also has some limits, you know."

I looked down and wiped a traitor tear as it slipped out from my right eye. It hurt to hear such harsh words from her mouth. She was the most gentle and caring girl I knew and I had managed to piss her off.

"But what to say? You yourself proved why we shouldn't be friends with people like you," she concluded and tears rolled down my cheeks like a waterfall.

"Don't you think you are talking too much?" Surbhi's voice cut through the thick air hanging around us.

She came and stood beside me. She glanced at Rashi and then settled her blazing gaze on Tanya who didn't like the tone in which Surbhi addressed her.

"Don't interfere, Surbhi," Tanya snapped.

"Why not? You are insulting my best friend and you think I will stay quiet?" Surbhi's voice raised at the end and Tanya scowled at her.

Both were in a heated staring contest for few minutes and I could feel the tension building up. It was not good.

"There is no way I will let you talk to Sandhya like that. I know she made some mistakes and didn't listen to us, but I believe her. I know she didn't inform Rashi's bhaiyya about her relationship," Surbhi stated.

"How can you be so sure?" Tanya asked and tilted her head.

"I believe in her," Surbhi replied proudly.

I thought she was angry with me but here she was, protecting me. I felt so blessed to have her by my side.

"Are you seriously joking right now?" Tanya laughed in mockery as she shifted her weight from one leg to another.

"You really want us to just trust her blindly? Sorry, but I think we can all see the result of that," she added and glanced at me.

"She is your friend too, Tanya. How can you be so harsh? Do you really think she will pull a stunt like that on us?" Surbhi argued but Tanya seemed to be in mood to listen to her.

"Are you her advocate?" Tanya asked sarcastically.

"Yes, I am. Got a problem with that?" Surbhi fisted her hands and took a protective stance.

"She is not our friend. After what she did, she doesn't deserve our friendship," Tanya growled.

"Oh yeah? I think you are the ones who don't deserve to be her friends," my bestie said through gritted teeth and crossed her arms across her chest.

"How dare you-"

"Guys, stop!" Divya stepped between them and acted as a barrier.

"Please, stop guys. Don't create a scene. Surbhi, please yaar. Don't fight," she pleaded.

"Why don't you tell Tanya the same?" Surbhi retorted.

Divya sighed and turned towards Tanya. She whispered something in her right ear and after few seconds, Tanya nodded her head and went beside Rashi who was standing in a corner silently with her head hung low. Tanya hugged her and both of them left after throwing a glance at us.

"I am sorry, Sandhya," Divya said.

"What? Why are you apologizing?" I asked and furrowed my eyebrows.

"For Tanya's behaviour. She was just being protective of Rashi and nothing else. She meant no harm."

"Why are you telling us all this? Tell your friend to behave properly," Surbhi grumbled and Divya pursed her lips.

"You are no different, Surbhi," she replied and Surbhi quirked up an eyebrow in question.

"Relax, I don't want to start a fight with you. I am all for peace. But just like you were siding with your best friend, she was doing the same for Rashi. So, I don't think anyone is at blame here," Divya explained and looked at me.

I put a hand on Surbhi's shoulder and she calmed down a bit. She took my hand in hers and wiped my cheeks which were stained with dry tears.

"Sorry, I don't want to sound rude but I will have to say it. I believe that you weren't the culprit, Sandhya but Rashi is my best friend too. I can't leave her in her difficult time," Divya said plaintively.

"I understand and thank you for trusting me." I gave her a small smile.

"Well..... I think I should get going now. See ya." She checked her watch and strode out.

Surbhi hugged me as soon as Divya left and it was a fucking bone-crushing hug. I think I heard a few bones crack.

After about a minute, she pulled away from me and punched me on the shoulder. I winced and she punched me again.

"Idiot, duffer, stupid, dumbo," she cursed as she hit me continuously. I let her do that. I deserved the beating.

It was better than her not talking to me at all. After she ran out of all the curse words and got tired of hitting me, she pulled me in a hug again. I patted her back and apologized for being a pain in the butt. She giggled and tightened her grip around my waist.

"You are crushing me, Sumo," I complained.

"You deserve it," she replied but pulled away from me.

She pouted and I pinched her cheeks. She swatted my hand away and we bickered like kids before we went to our favourite hanging out spot, The Banyan tree.

Fortunately it wasn't raining today and we sat under its shade as a comfortable silence surrounded us. We just sat beside each other, our backs touching the wooden surface; absorbing the good old mother nature's energy.

"I thought you wouldn't talk to me ever," I spoke up as I laid my head on her shoulder.

"In your dreams, girl," she replied and I curled up my lips in a smile.

"But don't think you are off the hook," she added and I tensed up a bit.

I knew what she meant. She had enough faith in me to know that I would not commit such a bad deed of spilling my friends' secrets when they have entrusted me with them, even though I fooled around a lot. She was my best friend and she deserved to know the truth.

I replayed all the events from the past two months in my mind and realised that I had created quite a big mess for myself. And I was not happy with it.

After gathering all the strength I had, I started recounting everything from the beginning. I told her how I found out about Nikhil doing drugs alongwith Karthik, his mom asking me to keep an eye on him and look after him in college.

How he misunderstood my intentions and lashed out on me for taking his family away from him. How I had even asked Ved for help and how he ignored me by saying that I was just framing his friends falsely out of desperation. How I lied to Nikhil's mom and tried to cover up for him when his brother came for holidays.

I explained in detail how I busted Nikhil and Karthik but got him grounded in the end and that was the reason why he avoided me nowadays. How I find out about Rashi and Faiyaz while I was spying on Mahek and that Rashi had made me promise her that I would not tell anyone about her boyfriend, even to our friends.

As I went on and on, tears pooled up in my eyes and I blinked to avoid them from falling down. I couldn't continue further.

"Why does everything I do turns out to be bad?" I wondered loudly and Surbhi placed her left hand on mine.

I knew she wanted to hit me for being so foolish and interfering in others' lives but she controlled herself. She had never liked this attitude of mine and always scolded me to mind my own business but I never listened to her.

She patted my head and let me cry. I was being such a crybaby today. If Ved had seen me, he would have surely made fun of me.

I quickly wiped my tears and drank some water. I cleaned my face with my handkerchief after splashing some water on it. Surbhi helped me and we ate some chips as our stomachs growled. We had been sitting here for over an hour now.

"I really want to kill you but we both are tired. So, let's go to the library and watch some movies. I have your favourite comedy film on my phone," she suggested and got up from her spot.

I followed the suit and after dusting ourselves, we started walking toward the library. I felt so good and relieved after sharing a bit of my load with her.

"What about Parth?" I voiced my worry when I remembered his crestfallen face from yesterday. I didn't see him today in classes too.

"Don't worry about him," Surbhi replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yup. And he will be joining your story session tomorrow. He also deserves to know what happened."

I nodded and once we reached the library, I messaged him; telling him that I would explain everything to him so that he didn't think I was neglecting him.

He was my first friend when I joined this college and I didn't want to lose him.

Just like you lost Ayush?

I muted my annoying inner voice and sat beside Surbhi who had set up her phone on the table. She gave me one earphone bud and started the movie.

We giggled as soon as Aamir Khan (an Indian actor) made his entry and we tried stifling our laughter to avoid scolding from the librarian.

As the movie, Andaaz Apna Apna played on the mobile screen, my mind played a sad theme in the background. My brain went into automatic mode and after playing all the incidents from the past on shuffle, it paused and highlighted one frame.

Faiyaz.