Promises To Keep (Part 8)

Part 8: Moon Light
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I finally checked off the last thing on my list. I grabbed some snacks (chocolates, cookies, marshmallows, popcorn), and I placed my bag near the entrance right beside Lakshi’s. We were both wearing sweatpants that were very soft, and a flowy lace top. We packed another outfit in our bags for the next day, since the school was going to serve lunch for us the next day. Lakshi was very excited, especially because she actually got along well with Maya. Grandma and Niru finally approached us at the entrance and Krish was just watching. “Bye”, I said to grandma, giving her a hug, and I gave a quick hug to Krish too. Lakshi gave grandma a hug, glared at Krish, and then felt bad for him and decided to give him a hug too. Then we put our bags on our backs and followed Niru to the car. As soon as we got on to the road Niru kept ranting on and on about what we will do for certain emergencies and situations. “Let the teacher know if you’re leaving the room, take a friend with you when you leave the room, eat the dinner they give you and do not take too much food if you know you’re not going to be able to finish it, if a boy follows you or creeps you out yell as loud as possible…”, his list never ended. We finally got to the school and he lastly said, “Call me tonight before you go to sleep, I wanna say good night.” Lakshi and I looked at each other, and then back at him. Niru was different compared to most guys these days, and I was glad. We both gave him one last hug. “We’ll only be gone for a day, everything will be fine”, Lakshi said smiling. He nodded and then we closed the car door and headed towards the school. We looked back at him and he waved goodbye. Then we watched the car leave. “Hopefully I won’t regret this”, I thought.
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We walked to the gym and Maya was there with Sayohn. Sayohn was helping her set up the tent, it was bigger than I expected. “Woah, cool tent”, I said. “Hey!”, she said, Sayohn looked up and smiled too. We put our bags down and then we helped put up the tent. “There, all done”, Sayohn said. “Thanks Sayohn”, Maya said. Then he went to the other side of the gym. Lakeview’s gym was huge. There was a long curtain in the middle of the gym. The boys were on one side and the girls on the other. Luckily when I walked in I didn’t see Aadhi, and as long as we were separated, I don’t have to worry about seeing his face. Lakshi and I put our bags inside the tent and we sat inside. Maya joined us. We gossiped about some other girls, talked about our dreams, laughed at Lakshi’s stories about Ashwin and Maya’s stories about Sayohn… we had a blast. I felt bad that I didn’t have any stories to tell about Aadhi… more like I didn’t want to though. Maya seemed so delighted to be our friend, and Lakshi and I were definitely very happy too. Maya was the perky, cool one, Lakshi was the tough, fierce one, and I was the… I really didn’t know. But together we seemed like the right group. It was finally ten o’clock in the night and we were still chatting in our tents. We decided to go to bed early though so we could wake up early and go on a nature walk together. So we set up our sleeping bags and grabbed our teddy bears and Lakshi and Maya lied down into their sleeping bags. I needed to go to the bathroom, so I went into the hallways. That’s when I remembered how Niru told me to take someone with me. “We’re in school Abi, no one’s going to attack you”, I convinced myself. Maya and Lakshi were very tired, so I wasn’t going to bother Lakshi or Maya.

As I came back from the bathroom, I saw a shadow. I hid behind an open door. My heart was pounding, very fast. I could feel myself sweating. Then the shadow disappeared. That’s when I tried to speed walk back to the gym until I bumped into someone. It was Ethan. “You didn’t think I was gonna leave you alone because of Ashwin did you?”, he asked. “Ashwin… wha what are you talking about?”, I asked. “Don’t pretend to be all innocent”, he said pushing me backwards. That’s when I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Knock it off bruh”, the voice said. “Especially at this hour, you would be done with if I told”, he said. I couldn’t recognize the voice, but it seemed very familiar. It was so dark, but I knew Ethan disappeared because he didn’t say anything after. “Abi, it’s me, Sayohn”, he said quietly. “Oh my god Sayohn! Thank you!” I said, as we walked near the gym. One light was still on in the gym, so we could see the light from three meters away. “No problem Abi, I don’t know what that was about, but I’m not gonna ask. Get to your tent quick”, he said as he held my hand and guided me into the gym.

From a couple meters away Aadhi was watching. He couldn’t believe what he saw, Abi holding Sayohn’s hand. He took a deep breath and went back to his side of the gym.
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At about midnight Lakshi walked outside. The teachers were asleep, so they didn’t catch her leaving. “It’s weird being at school with no Ashwin around”, she thought. She walked outside and stood near the school’s garden with her arms crossed because it was cold. She gazed at the bright moon over her. Just looking at the beauty of the light from the moon gave her the shivers, but in a good way. She took a deep breath and whispered “Good night Ashwin”, as she looked at the moon. She then turned around to head back inside and that’s when she froze. She turned around and Ashwin was standing about five meters in front of her, looking at the moon. “Ashwin?”, Lakshi asked. Ashwin looked at Lakshi and they just stared at each other. They were both very thrilled to see each other, but they couldn’t see the expression on each other’s faces because they were standing far away from each other. They walked closer and looked at each other in the eyes. “Are you crazy?! Why are you outside right now?”, Ashwin asked Lakshi worriedly. “I was just about to ask you the same thing”, Lakshi replied. They stared at each other. Ashwin took off his jacket and put it on Lakshi after noticing how cold she was. Lakshi looked at him. “What about…”, she started to ask, but then Ashwin interrupted. “Let’s go inside”, he said. So Lakshi followed Ashwin back to the gym. Then she took of his jacket and gave it back to him. They looked at each other and said, “good night”. Then they went back inside to their side of the gym.
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The next day Maya, Lakshi and I woke up super early so we didn’t have to wait in line to go brush our teeth in the bathroom and so we could go on the nature walk. We brushed our teeth in the bathroom and headed back to the tent. That’s when Maya took out her thermos container. “What’s that?”, I asked Maya curiously. “You’ll see”, she said, chuckling. She opened her huge thermos and she had scrambled eggs and squared pieces of chicken. It looked SO good! “Woah!”, Lakshi said shocked. “Did you bring this for us?”, I asked her. She nodded. Then she took out some paper plates, plastic forks and plastic knives. She also took out some bread that was buttered and wrapped in an aluminum foil.”Oh my god, thank you so much”, I said to her. “You guys are my new friends, and you’re so nice to me, I had to do something”, she said with a smile. We all ate our food and it was very delicious. Then we went out for a nature walk and it was incredible.
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I sat on the floor in the hallway writing in my diary. I always wrote things about school, family… and Aadhi. I wrote about how I missed being his friend, but also how I didn’t want to be used.

Aadhi was watching from a long distance away, I could see him from the corner of my eye. He was with a friend, but I didn’t notice him. I kept writing in my diary and when I was done, I closed my diary, put it on the floor, and took a deep breath. “LOCKDOWN!” a teacher yelled. “EVERYONE GET INTO THE GYM, WE ARE IN A LOCKDOWN!” I ran into the gym. Aadhi then picked up my diary I had forgotten, and walked into the gym quickly as well.

We were in a lockdown, which meant something bad was happening and we couldn’t leave the gym. The curtain between the boys and the girls was now gone. Sayohn came and sat in the tent with us, and we were taking turns guessing why we were having a lockdown. That’s when I remembered… where was my diary?
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Next Part: Gone Alone (Part 9)