Promises To Keep Chapter 2 (Part 5)

Part 5: Upcoming Chaos
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Sayohn motioned us to come closer, and all four of us stood up and leaned on the table until our heads were all in the center of the table. Then he whispered the plan to us. Maya and Ashwin looked very excited about the plan and they believed it was going to work. I looked at them. Then I said, “This isn’t gonna work, I know Lakshi, she is not the type who would go give the person their money back”. I said. Ashwin and Sayohn nodded, but then Maya said, “wait, I’ll just tell her that if you find money on the floor and give it to the office, you get money.”, Maya said. “She’ll get suspicious, it’s random”, I said. “She would get suspicious if YOU said it to her, but if I said it to her, she wouldn’t even suspect a thing.” She said. Then I looked at Sayohn and Ashwin and we all had a similar smile on our face. “Okay, let’s get this plan going”, Ashwin said enthusiastically, and that’s when we all high-fived each other. “You have no idea what’s coming Lakshi”, I thought.
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As Lakshi walked from her fourth period class, she saw Ashwin talking to two girls, and they were all giggling. “Wow… he seems happy”, Lakshi thought. She stopped and watched him. Then he saw her. As the other girls around him giggled and chatted, he stared at Lakshi and noticed her watching him. He didn’t know what to do, because obviously him talking to other girls and laughing seemed wrong to Lakshi. They stared at each other for about ten seconds, then Lakshi quickly got back to reality. She looked down, ran her hand through her bangs, looked up at him again, and then continued to walk away. Ashwin watched her leave, and he was ashamed. “It’s all for the best”, Ashwin thought, and then he continue talking to the girls.
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Aadhi looked at me as if I was crazy. “SHE WILL MURDER US!”, he said terrified. “Okay okay, stop screaming!”, I whispered loudly. We just came out of our last class and we were standing at my locker. Aadhi left when Sayohn told us his plan, so I was explaining it to him, and it did not go well. “I don’t wanna get on Lakshi’s bad side”, he said. “Trust me, her bad side isn’t that bad, I’ve dealt with it my entire life”, I said to him assuringly. “THAT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE USED TO IT!”, he yelled. “Shhhhh”, I said, and that’s when he took a deep breath. “Do you really think this is going to work?”, he said. I saw disbelief and fear in his eyes when he asked me this, but then I stiffened myself. “It will work, trust me”, I said. And that’s when he lightly smiled and nodded. Right then Lakshi came, and opened her locker. “Yo Aadhi.” Lakshi said. “Don’t hurt me!” Aadhi yelled.
“…Are you Ashwin?” Lakshi questioned Aadhi. “No.” He responded. “Then you may stay alive.” Lakshi smiled and Aadhi laughed, and then she quickly shut her locker. “Okay, let’s go”, she said. So all three of us walked downstairs as we laughed about our day.
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Niru picked us up and we talked about our family friend’s party next weekend that we were all invited to. Then we got home and sat down at the table, like always, and ate our after- school snacks as we talked about ur day. “Lakshi, we need to go back to school at five, I need to help these girls in my bio class with our project”, I said as I chewed an apple slice. “Why do I need to come?”, Lakshi asked as she looked up at me. “I wanna come!”, Krish said. “Of course you do….”, Lakshi said as she rolled her eyes. “Krish, it’s late… and I think Niru wanted to play your new video game you got last week”, I said, then I looked at Niru. Niru smiled at me and gave me a ‘fine, I’ll do it’ look, and I smiled at him. “YAY!”, Krish yelled, then he continued to chew his apple slice with his mouth open. “Lakshi… you gotta come because I’m scared to be alone”, I said. Lakshi glared at me. “Yup, you will never change”, she said, and then she got up and washed her bowl in the sink. “I’m gonna finish my math homework, then I’ll get ready”, she said, as she ran upstairs. “Hopefully this works out”, I thought, and then I cleaned Krish’s plate, and Niru’s because I owed him for agreeing to play with Krish, and then I cleaned my own plate. This better work out, because if it doesn’t, then I wasted my life cleaning these plates.
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We finally got to the school, and my heart was beating twice as fast. I felt like my heart would stop, as soon as Ashwin made eye contact with Lakshi. That’s when I saw the two girls straight ahead, just like Ashwin said. “Lakshi go sit on the steps.” I said to her. “I need to go talk to those girls.” Lakshi gave me a blank look, and then she walked over to the steps and sat down.

“Aren’t those the girls who were talking to Ashwin earlier…?”, Lakshi thought. She stared at the girls, and watched her sister talk to them.

“Ready?” I whispered to the two girls. They both nodded at me. I quickly walked away from the girls and I headed towards the opposite direction. The girls walked towards the ‘EXIT’ door and dropped a $50 bill on the floor carefully, so Lakshi wouldn’t notice. I waited a long time, and finally Lakshi got up to look for me. As she got up, she noticed the $50 bill. She looked at it with a confused look on her face. “What the…?”, Lakshi thought. She picked up the bill and looked around. I was waiting for her next move, until she put the bill in her pocket. “I knew it!”, I thought. Sayohn and the gang thought Lakshi would actually try to return the bill, but obviously she would not. I sighed and realized that it was my time to pitch in. “Hey Lakshi…!” I said, putting on a fake smile. Lakshi looked at me. “I saw you picking up something. What was it?”, I asked as if I didn’t know. “It’s a $50 bill. I was going to return it to the office, but it’s closed right now so I was going to do it tomorrow morning.” She responded. I looked at her, shocked. “She actually did want to return it.”, I thought. That’s when I pointed out the muddy footprints on the floor. “Those could be anyone’s footprints,” Lakshi replied. “Well obviously someone is here, so let’s ask around.” I said, and with that we followed the footprints.
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“I think they’re coming!” Maya said. “What? Really?!” Ashwin asked nervously. “It will be fine,” Maya said to him with a gentle smile. “Come on Maya, let’s go hide!” Sayohn said. Sayohn motioned a thumbs up at Aadhi, and Aadhi did the same. “Ok here we go…” Ashwin said calmly.
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We entered the gym as we followed the footprints. Ashwin’s back was facing us in the far corner of the gym. “I think it’s his,” I whispered to Lakshi, while pointing at Ashwin. Lakshi nodded and walked towards Ashwin, as I stood there watching. I turned my head and saw Maya and Sayohn behind the gym curtain. “Hey.” Lakshi said. Ashwin turned around. Lakshi was shocked, she wasn’t expecting it to be him. She stared at him. Then she put her hand out, with the bill in it. Ashwin took the bill and Lakshi turned around to walk away, until Ashwin stopped her. “Wait Lakshi. I’m sorry for what I did. I was upset and I didn’t know what to do.” Ashwin said to Lakshi. Lakshi turned around to face Ashwin. “You really thought I would have done something like that Ashwin?!” She asked angrily. “What do you expect me to do?!” Ashwin yelled. The sudden burst of anger from Ashwin surprised me. I felt my heart skip a beat. I looked at Sayohn and Maya and we all shared a terrified look. We all did not expect this. I understood both their opinions and I found them both reasonable. What do I do? That’s when I remembered what Aadhi said to me earlier. “but Lakshi would’ve stood up for us.” “You’re right aadhi”, I thought, and though I couldn’t see him, I knew he was watching.

“ASHWIN, LAKSHI!”, I yelled, as they both turned around. I glanced at Maya and Sayohn and they made a ‘what are you doing face’. “Listen”, I said, then I looked at Lakshi, because I knew she would get upset if I said it, but I did anyways. “I have a confession to make. Ethan did this, and Lakshi and I know Ethan from before.”, I said calmly. Maya and Sayohn looked at each other and Ashwin’s eyes widened. “He was in our old school, and we share a history… actually.”, I said, as I looked to the floor. I knew Lakshi was there, wishing I would stop but I saw her lean against the wall from the corner of my eye. She slid down the wall and sat, hugging her knees with her head down. “Here I go”, I thought.
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Next Part: Forever’s Truth (Chapter 2, Part 5)