Page 59 of Born in Sin

“Virat!”

He stopped at the sound of the abrupt shout, his hands overloaded with a tower of books. The one on top wobbled precariously. He leant carefully to one side to compensate but it didn’t work, the entire pile crashed to the floor.

Virat sighed as he crouched to pick them up. Manohar, the boy who’d been calling out to him, dropped to his knees beside him to help.

“Chandrashekhar Sir is calling you to his office.”

Virat’s hand froze on the last book he’d picked up. He dropped it on top of the pile he’d created and nodded. “Sure.”

Manohar flashed him a quick smile and rose to his feet, hustling away now that his errand was done. Virat rose carefully to his feet, with the books once again in an orderly tower in his hands.

“Why are you being called to the Head of School’s office?” Amay’s voice from behind him startled him and the books went crashing to the floor again.

Virat sighed again, bending to start the whole process of picking them up, once more.

“Vir,” Amay grabbed half the books, stacking them haphazardly in his hands. “I asked you a question.”

“And I’ll know the answer when I go to his office,” Virat replied, rising and holding his hand out for the books Amay was holding hostage.

“I’ll help you take them to the teacher’s den.” Amay started walking, Virat forced to match his stride and follow along.

“I’m worried about Ishaan,” Amay said abruptly. “The wilderness camp fee isn’t covered in the scholarship.”

Virat grunted in acknowledgement, his mind already working to untangle the issue.

“If he’d just let us pay for it…”

“But he won’t.” Virat and Amay’s fathers were assholes, but they were assholes who’d given their unwanted sons generous bank accounts. Ishaan hadn’t been that lucky. He’d got the asshole and none of the money.

“He’s talking about skipping it.”

“He can’t.”

Ishaan was struggling in physical education, and the wilderness camp was his one chance to bring his grade up. Without that, his shot at the academic excellence trophy was shaky.

“Leave it with me,” Virat said, his mind picking through his mental archives where he stored every little bit of information he’d come across since arriving at Crestwood. When you swam with sharks, you couldn’t afford even a hint of blood in the water and Virat had been swimming since the day his feet first touched the grounds of Crestwood.

They dropped the books off at the teacher’s den and left before they could get caught running more errands.

“Vir.” Amay’s quiet voice was laced with a mix of pain and worry.

Virat turned around to follow his friend’s line of sight. Majid and Celina sat at one of the benches that lined the walkways on the school campus. She was laughing while Majid told her some story, his hands moving animatedly.

“You have to tell her-“

“I have,” Virat interrupted harshly. “She doesn’t see him the way we do. He’s her friend.”

“That lot are nobody’s friend, except each other’s to an extent.”

“I know, Ams,” he gritted out. “She doesn’t see it the same way.”

“Then you need to make her see it the same way.”

“How did that strategy work out for Dhrithi and you?” Virat snapped back, stress loosening his usually iron clad grip on his tongue.

Amay reared back like he’d been slapped.

“You didn’t actually go there.” Ishaan’s amused voice intruded on the tense silence that had fallen between them. “I thought we were never allowed to mention Dhrithi, ever again.”

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