The gates of Lachhmipur Valley High School were a chaotic symphony of honking Marutis and chattering students. Arjun Mehta coasted through the crowd on his mountain bike, jumping off just as he reached the rusty bike racks.
He hung his helmet on the handlebars and adjusted his backpack, the field hockey stick strapped to it knocking awkwardly against his leg.
The guttural roar of a high-performance engine cut through the noise. A sleek, silver BMW Z4 slid into the spot beside him. The door swung open, hitting Arjun squarely in the back.
"Oye! Watch the car!" snapped Rohan Raichand, the school's undisputed king, his voice dripping with entitlement as he stepped out.
Arjun shot him an offended look, but before he could retort, a voice called from across the lot. "Rohan, yaar, chalo!" (Rohan, man, let's go!)
Rohan flashed Arjun a final, contemptuous glare before striding away, the adoring crowd swallowing him whole.
"Pompous jerk," Arjun muttered under his breath.
He was found a moment later by Sid, who was buzzing with a nervous energy that had nothing to do with caffeine. "Okay, let's see it," Sid demanded, pulling Arjun aside by the main entrance.
With a reluctant sigh, Arjun lifted the hem of his school shirt. A square of gauze and medical tape was stuck to his right hip, a small, ominous spot of crimson seeping through the center.
"Ooh!" Sid winced, a mixture of horror and fascination on his face.
"Yeah..." Arjun sighed.
Sid reached out and prodded the bandage. Arjun flinched violently, slapping his hand away. "Don't!"
"Whoa! Okay, sorry!" Sid pulled back, his eyes wide. "So? What was it? A bear?"
Arjun pulled his shirt down as they started up the stone steps of the school. "It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf."
Sid stopped dead, his face a mask of pure disbelief. "A wolf bit you?"
"Uh-huh."
"No. Not a chance," Sid stated, shaking his head as if Arjun had claimed to see a dragon.
"I heard a wolf howling," Arjun insisted, frustration creeping into his voice.
"No, you didn't."
"What do you mean, 'No, I didn't?' How do you know what I heard?"
"Because, genius," Sid said, lowering his voice and turning to face him on the stairs, "the Indian wolf hasn't been seen in these parts for over fifty years. They're in Gujarat, Rajasthan... not here in the Himalayas. Not anymore."
Arjun's confidence faltered. "Really?"
"Yes, really. There are no wolves in Lachhmipur." Sid's tone was final.
"Alright. Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf," Arjun said, a new tension in his voice, "then you're definitely not gonna believe me when I tell you I found the body."
Sid's skepticism vanished, replaced by instant, gleeful shock. "You— are you kidding me?"
"No, man. I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month."
"Oh, god, that is freakin' awesome," Sid breathed, his eyes alight. "I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since—"
His sentence died mid-flow. His attention was hijacked by a vision walking up the stairs: Priya Sharma, the undisputed queen of Lachhmipur Valley High. Her laughter was like wind chimes, and she moved with a confidence that parted the student crowd like a sea.
"—Since the birth of Priya Sharma," Sid finished, his voice dreamy. "Hey, Priya! You look—"
Priya glided past him, her eyes looking through him as if he were a pane of glass.
"—Like you're gonna ignore me..." Sid muttered, his shoulders slumping. He turned back to Arjun, scowling. "You're the cause of this, you know."
Arjun rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh."
"Dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been... I've been scarlet-nerded by you."
---
Their first-period English class was taught by Mr. D'Souza, a man who believed in diving straight into the deep end. He began without a "good morning."
"As I'm sure you're all aware," Mr. D'Souza announced, his voice silencing the last of the murmurs, "a body was discovered in the reserve forest last night."
Arjun tensed. He shared a quick, wide-eyed look with Sid, who sat one row back and gave him a knowing, dramatic wink.
"And I am sure your eager little minds are concocting all sorts of macabre scenarios," Mr. D'Souza continued. "But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody. So, you can now give your undivided attention to the syllabus on your desks, which outlines our semester."
The class let out a collective groan of disappointment. As Arjun turned to face the front, a strange thing happened. A phone rang, so loud and clear it felt like it was right next to his ear. He frowned, looking around, but no one else in the class was reacting. They were all shuffling papers or staring blankly at the syllabus.
Then he heard a female voice, crisp and intimate. His gaze was drawn to the large windows overlooking the front lawn. There, sitting on a bench at the bottom of the entrance stairs, was a girl he'd never seen before.
A brunette with intelligent eyes, balancing a phone between her shoulder and her ear as she rummaged through a stylish leather satchel.
ALISHA: Mom, three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it.
...
ALISHA: I've got everything except a pen. Oh, my God, I actually forgot a pen. Okay, okay. I gotta go. Love you.
She hung up. Arjun stared, unnerved. He could hear her as if he were standing beside her. He watched, mesmerized, as the Vice Principal came out to greet her.
VICE PRINCIPAL: Sorry to keep you waiting. So, you were saying Mumbai isn't where you grew up?
ALISHA: No, but we lived there for more than a year, which is unusual in my family.
Arjun tracked her with his eyes as the Vice Principal led her into the school and down the hall, her voice a beacon he alone could follow.
VICE PRINCIPAL: Well, hopefully Lachhmipur will be your last stop for a while.
The classroom door opened. "Class, this is our new student, Alisha Fernandez. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."
Alisha offered a small, nervous smile. The only empty seat was directly behind Arjun and to the right of Sid, who immediately straightened up and offered her a stiff, awkward smile of his own.
As she sat down, Arjun's mind raced. She forgot a pen. Acting on an impulse he didn't understand, he grabbed a spare from his pouch and turned, offering it to her.
Alisha looked startled, then a genuine, grateful smile touched her lips. "Thanks," she whispered.
Arjun smiled back, a sudden, warm flutter in his chest, and quickly turned around before she could see him blush.
Mr. D'Souza cleared his throat, picking up a book.
"We'll begin with Kafka's Metamorphosis," he announced. "Page one-thirty-three."
But Arjun was already lost in his own transformation.