Chapter 12 : Shift

This chapter,

Is so very important to me,

for this was when everything changed.

The month of December went by quick soon after the Feast day.

Christmas, the day I was supposed to confess my feelings to her, was merely just like attending any other mass sessions at church with my family.

I didn't see her. At all.

At times I even hallucinated seeing her presence in between the vast crowd outside/inside the church compound.

But I never saw her.

January, the month for new beginnings, was nothing but me, struggling to get done with the tasks at hand, which in this case, were model exams, AKA pre-final exams. They had started on the exact day my winter break got over, so I had to focus REAL hard.

Forgetting her seemed like an impossible task but giving the phone away definitely helped big time.

Those exams lasted for a WHOLE MONTH.

I did nothing but

Going to school,

Studying,

Writing exams,

Coming back home,

Studying,

Sleeping,

Waking up and studying again,

AND IT JUST GOES ON AND ON.

I couldn't go out. At all. Since I was still grounded.

The whole month was extremely stressful.

The cold weather made me wanna NEVER leave my blanket in the early mornings, but I had no choice.

On the last day of my model exams, something REALLY unusual happened.

After coming home from writing my last paper I borrowed my phone from Mom for the upcoming farewell party in school, which was going to be in a few days.

And as soon as the WiFi got connected, a whole stream of notifications kept popping up the screen, along with texts over messenger.

Was all normal until I see one chat head, and paused.

Rose texted me.

"Heyy xD"

For the first time.

In my whole life.

A gush of thoughts followed my mind,

"Why would she text me?"

"Did she miss me?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

We texted for some time, she spoke about her exams which were about to start, while mine got over.

But then I decided, this one weird incident shouldn't be a distraction for me.

I'll just give my phone away after farewell again.

Farewell party at school was also pretty lame, but the least I could do to appreciate the Juniors efforts was to attend it. I tried my best to enjoy, but then food was the only best thing that happened there.

My board exams started.

It was hell.

But then I made it through.

When my exams were over I was so FREE.

I went to play football, swim, guitar sessions, and overall, I had fun.

I decided to cut off everything between me and Rose.

So I never texted her. Ever.

She kinda did the same.

And I thought ,

   "okay well, I guess this is how it should be. I can finally move on."

Or could I?

Friday(8th April 2016).

Apparently after catechism classes, were something called youth classes or "Life Teen"

So my mom forced me to go there, rather than wasting time at home.

Chances of Rose coming there were pretty high, since she is the popular girl amongst the whole teen community.

What was I supposed to do?

Ignore her that's all.

Pretty simple right?

I set out for the church after waking up a little late.

The youth timings were at 10:45 am.

And I reached the church by 10:55 am.

When I entered the church compound.

I didn't even wait to look if she's present there or not, and barged my way straight downstairs to the parish hall.

As I entered the parish hall, standing at the entrance, all the teens were already making their way to the seats.

And so I started walking to the place where I usually seated.

Time slowed down as I looked straight ahead the path I was walking in.

Because.

At the end of that path, I saw a familiar figure, that somehow made my heart melt.

Rose.

I stopped.

I couldn't move a muscle.

Standing just a few tiles away from me wearing a black dress, talking with her friends as she moved along them to find a seat.

(Funny, I was in black as well)

There was no force in the whole universe at THAT MOMENT, to take my eyes off of her.

But when she saw me,

I immediately turned my gaze away, to do what I was supposed to do.

Ignore her.

But it was too late.

She had already seen me looking at her.

So I had no other choice but to look back at her.....again.

I smiled as best as I could.

She starts walking towards me.

And I don't know how, or why, but my legs start moving too.

We were so close to each other that I just had to put my hand forward for a handshake.

And it was really weird that her hands suddenly turn away from mine....

I kept searching for her hand...... because it took me some time to realize.....

That her hands were wide open.......

I really dunno why.......my hands went wide open too......

It happened so fast.

She Was Already In My Arms.

She Hugged Me.