You'll be okay, Sharma! (bxb) ?

The day's over, and the three of us are walking toward the school gate, blending into the crowd of students spilling out of the building. The sun is already starting to dip, stretching long shadows across the pavement. Raj and Arya are ahead of me, locked in their usual back-and-forth, their voices carrying over the chatter around us.

"You're just mad because I got more votes than you, class chose me over you for the student council," Raj says smugly, giving Arya a light shove on the shoulder.

Arya scoffs, rolling her eyes. "More votes my ass. People felt pity for you. You're basically a charity case at this point."

They bicker like this often-loud, unserious, tangled in insults that somehow feel affectionate. It's familiar now. Almost comforting.

I trail behind them, half-listening. The cold's sharp today, cutting across the back of my neck. Or maybe that's just leftover static from earlier-Raj standing too still, Aman's jaw tightened, their fists clenched.

Their eyes didn't just meet. They clashed-No expression. No smirks. Just something sharp and brittle hanging between them like broken glass.

Raj hadn't joked. Hadn't even blinked.

And Aman? He didn't look scared. Just... empty.

Something about that silence stays with me. Sticks.

Raj's phone buzzes, and he glances at it before muttering, "Two minutes," and veering off toward the side gate without waiting for a response.

Arya and I keep walking. I hesitate, then-too curious, too unsettled.

"You know Aman?"

She snorts. "What, Robot Guy?"

I offer a half-shrug. "Does Raj... hate him?"

She doesn't answer right away. Her face shifts-not surprised. Not confused. Just... tired.

"Yeah," she says eventually. "Pretty sure they both do."

I glance at her. "Why?"

Another shrug. "No one really knows. They used to hang out. Not best friends or anything, but... there was a time. Then one day, something snapped. Aman turned into this cold, calculated, no-expression thing. And Raj stopped talking about it."

I frown. "That's it?"

Arya kicks at a pebble. "You'd think there was a fight. Or a fallout. Something loud. But no. One day they were in the same room. The next, they weren't. Just... silence."

That's what unsettles me the most. Not the fact that they hate each other. The fact that no one ever talks about why.

Not even Raj.

And knowing him-how loud he is, how he calls people out when they mess up-his silence feels like a secret. Like whatever happened wasn't just painful.

It was unforgivable.

***

Amit used to get into fights all the time. With his football team, with other guys, with random idiots who looked at him the wrong way. He was always on edge, like he had this endless reservoir of anger just waiting to spill over. Sometimes I wondered if he even needed a reason to fight, or if he was just looking for an excuse.

And then, every single time, I'd be the one helping him sneak into my room so he wouldn't have to go home and deal with the fallout.

I can still picture it-the way he'd climb in through the balcony, bruised knuckles, blood on his lip, his uniform torn at the collar. I'd be sitting on the floor, sorting through my first-aid kit while he flopped down next to me, stretching his legs out with a dramatic groan.