There were a lot of things Vikram disliked about his life. The mundane daily routine, his family in general, his freckles and the fact that he was probably the only one at school with them, his studies, hot summer days, having no aim in life and having only two friends- Mohit and Shruti. And having Mohit move out of the country because of one particular person, was what Vikram disliked the most.

Vikram didn't like coming to school early either, but he had no other choice, really. If only staying at home was something to his liking, he would spend his time easing into his breakfast while probably watching TV like his younger brother, Vaibhav did each morning.

But Vikram neither liked his family, breakfast nor watching TV.

So there he was at school, an hour earlier than normal time, sitting idle, peacefully waiting for everyone to arrive and the class to start.

But peace was something that rarely came by.

He cursed himself under his breath for deciding to come to his classroom rather than going to his clubroom at the end of the hall on the 5th floor where people rarely came by. If only he'd been there instead of here, he wouldn't have to talk to the teacher who had spotted him and was now walking into the class.

It was Mr. Jha, his class teacher who also taught English.

"What are you doing here so early, Vikram?"

Vikram looked around to justify his presence there but there was nothing he could pin this on.

"I had some homework pending." he said instead, pulling out his notebook from his bag.

"Always studying!" Mr. Jha said like was a bad thing to do.

Mr. Sunil Jha was probably the youngest teacher in school. He must not have been over thirty-five years old and he usually wore plaid shirts with jeans. He wasn't tall but he had a very well-proportioned face and Vikram had seen many girls from his school fawn over him.

"Studying too much isn't good for you, you know?"

Vikram raised an eyebrow and looked at Mr. Jha. What was he talking about? What kind of teacher gave such monumentally chaotic advice to a student from the 12th standard?

"I am okay with my routine." Vikram politely said. He did not want to argue with Mr. Jha. He knew the man had good intentions.

"You placed first in 11th finals, didn't you?"

Vikram curtly nodded. He should have been proud of the fact that he was top of the class, finally, and he probably would have, if the circumstances were different. But he didn't owe his achievement so much to his own performance as much as he did to someone else's lack of it.

"Being the best in studies is great, but don't you think you should also try and do some extracurricular activities?"

"I'm in the photography club." Vikram said.

"And you're the only one in it" Mr. Jha immediately retorted.

It was true. Vikram was the only member of the Photography Club, which he had also founded because this conversation with Mr. Jha was not something that was new. Since he was in 8th standard, teachers had counselled him on getting more involved in extracurricular activities and since photography was the only thing he was interested in, he decided to start a club. In the beginning, the school was against it but Vikram said that he would fund it himself so the school didn't really have any objections after.

Now, the photos provided for the monthly newsletters and the annual schoolbook were all shot by Vikram.

Not getting any reply from his student, Mr. Jha took a seat two desks away from Vikram.

Fuck, this is going to be long, Vikram thought.

"The student that you finally outranked, Aditya, do you know him?"

The finally part stung Vikram a little but he tried not to focus on it. Right now, even Mr. Jha was building up points to be among the things Vikram disliked.

But as far as knowing Aditya was concerned, of course, Vikram knew him. He not only knew Aditya, but he also hated him to the core of his existence for reasons he didn't care to explain to his teacher. Besides, it was kind of stupid for Mr. Jha to ask that question to begin with because the entire school knew Aditya or rather about him, and how he had finally lost it. It was not easy for Vikram to accept that the only reason he was able to place first in the class was because his archrival, Aditya Varma, had slacked in his exams.

"Look at how well he does in studies, despite being in the football team. I think he is involved in other activities as well."

"He only plays football." Vikram answered too quickly. "He's not in any other club"

If anyone asked Vikram how he knew about this, he would never be able to admit the fact that he had a very unhealthy obsession with Aditya and to outrank him in class since forever. This obsession required Vikram to know everything there was to know about Aditya and his schedules to even try and understand how he did it all. If there was any consolation that Vikram felt, it was because he had finally let go of the obsession when he had beaten Aditya as the class topper at 11th finals, after trying and failing for eight consecutive years.

"Is that right?" Mr. Jha asked, musing over it. "Nevertheless, he's still doing well for himself. Maybe you should join the football team too?"

Vikram gave out a short laugh, trying to sound anything but offended, which he was. First, he would never do something Aditya did just for the sake of it and second, he was sure he would murder Aditya before he even got to score his first goal.

"I'm not interested in sports." Vikram said instead, "Besides, it doesn't seem like he's doing well for himself. You can check his 11th results to know why."

"What about the book club?" Mr. Jha asked, completely ignoring what Vikram had just said.

"I don't read books"

"Then the music club?"

Vikram shook his head. "I can't play any instruments."

Mr. Jha sighed. "Is there something you're interested in?"

"Not really."

Mr. Jha let out a big sigh and leaned back. "All I am saying is that you should perhaps loosen up a little, have a little fun. This is the last year of your secondary school life. You don't have to stop studying, Vikram," he said, in a much strenuous voice, "but having extracurricular activities would look good on your resume in the future. I hope you have shortlisted the universities you want to get into."

Vikram had not, so he shook his head. "I haven't thought that far yet."

"But you know what you want to do, right?"

Did he? Vikram wasn't so sure. He hadn't really thought much about it. Normally, it would be his father who would plan these things out for him like he had planned Vikram's entire life so far, but that was far from possible now and he didn't want to admit that in front of his teachers. All he knew was that he didn't care where he went or what he studied. He would be fine with anything as long as one person was there with him- his only remaining friend, Shruti Chhabra.

Vikram opened his notebook and pressed on his pen to bring it to life. "I really have to get this homework done before class."

Knowing this conversation was not going anywhere, Mr. Jha resigned from his approach. "Just think about it, okay?"

Vikram nodded but made no promises. He forgot about the conversation the moment Mr. Jha walked out of the room.

Vikram had few solid reasons why he hated Aditya Varma. First and foremost of which, was of course the fact that since Vikram had known Aditya (approximately eight years now), Aditya had always topped the class. The natural enmity was obvious, and in a way healthy, but it was all but. The second reason was that Aditya hardly ever attended classes. He would either be out practising football, or bunking classes because he was exhausted because of football and yet, managed to get a perfect score, always! The third reason was that at the beginning of this school year, which was on 2nd February, Aditya had beaten Vikram's friend, Mohit to a pulp outside the school gate, which had led Mohit to study anywhere else in the world but here and it also led Aditya to be on a month-long suspension.

But these were not even close to the fourth and the most valid reason for hating him. Aditya had already taken one of Vikram's friends- Mohit away from him, and how he was planning to do the same with the only remaining friend Vikram had- Shruti.

The night before Aditya was supposed to return to school after suspension, Shruti called him.

"I have something to tell you." Shruti said, sounding unsure on the other end.

"Yeah," Vikram said, clutching the receiver in his hand. "Okay"

"I like someone." Shruti breathed out and Vikram held his breath for some reason. It was no secret that Vikram liked Shruti, and he had for a long time. A part of Vikram's brain told him that this was about him, that Shruti was finally telling him that she liked him back even if he had never expressed his own feelings to her, ever. But what he heard was not what he would have expected in a million years.

"Aditya and I are dating"

For the longest time, Vikram stood with the receiver stuck to his ears, trying to figure out what he had just heard. But Shruti repeated herself twice and Vikram didn't know what to do anymore. So he slammed the receiver back down loudly and thought about it for a long, long time. And the only solution he could think of was either for Shruti to dump Aditya or for Vikram to stop being her friend. The former option was the only one he had considered.

As Vikram approached the class the next day, he saw Shruti waiting for him at the door.

Without giving her any acknowledgement, Vikram headed straight for his seat, at the back of the class on the side that overlooked the fields and the mountains.

"Vikram..." he heard Shruti call out after him but he didn't care.

With a slump, he dropped on his seat and rested his head over his hands, facing the window.

Shruti followed and took the seat next to him. "Just listen to me once..."

"I don't have time for your stupid boyfriends, Shruti." Vikram said, interrupting her.

"I am telling you Viky, I believe it's serious this time."

Vikram's jaws clenched. He hated when she shortened his name. It was a habit she'd picked up from Mohit and for a second, Vikram wondered why he was friends with them in the first place. "You also believed in the end of the world when the new millennium began."

Shruti shook her head, dismissing what Vikram just said like it wasn't worth giving a thought. But it was. Because Shruti liked to believe in a lot of things; love the most frequent of all.

Vikram was vividly aware of her dating life and her track record with boys hadn't been too good. And that was only because her taste in boys sucked big time. Vikram never really understood why she chose to go for the 'bad boy' type when she clearly knew that they would ultimately break her heart.

In fact, Vikram could bet that if it wasn't for what went down between Mohit and Aditya, Shruti wouldn't even glance at Aditya's. The fight between Aditya and Mohit had caused a stir in the school and Vikram knew he should have been more attentive when a few days after the fight, Shruti began asking randomly weird questions about Aditya, wondering when he'd be back, who he hung out with, what his phone number was among many other things. It was like Shruti thought it was her mission to rescue these lost puppies except that these boys were neither lost, nor puppies.

Vikram was about to say it all out loud for Shruti to hear when the class suddenly turned silent and all eyes fell on the door. Vikram too turned his attention from Shruti to see what had been successful in shutting the class up.

And it was no surprise. Walking in was none other than Aditya himself as he scanned the room before walking in. Shruti beamed and immediately waved her hand to Aditya before she got up and slid into the seat right in front.

"Are you kidding me?" Vikram asked as he stared in disbelief when the feeling of betrayal crept into him. Shruti and Vikram had always sat together, since kindergarten. Sitting on the last bench of the class, next to Vikram, was a ritual that had been going on since they were kids and new to the school. These two always sat on the last bench and Mohit preferred sitting alone on the seat in front of them, which has been vacant for a month, only for it to be taken over by Aditya.

Aditya walked towards them and Vikram couldn't help but notice how magnetic his presence was that had captured the attention of everyone sitting there. His tall frame seemed overwhelming as he took his steps towards Shruti slowly.

Vikram was livid and watching Aditya walk up to take Mohit's seat twisted something inside of Vikram.

Now there was a fifth reason why Vikram hated him.

Aditya quietly took the seat next to Shruti, without even acknowledging Vikram's presence and Vikram couldn't help but feel something strange in his heart at the thought of his life being destroyed by Aditya in just a month. A part of him wondered if this was payback. Was Aditya doing this deliberately to get back at Vikram for finally outranking him?

Maybe, Vikram wasn't too sure but he was sure as hell that he'd find out. His eyes dug deeper into Aditya's back and if looks could kill, Vikram would be charged with homicide.

Of all the guys Shruti had dated, Aditya bothered Vikram the most. At least with all of the previous boyfriends, Vikram didn't have to witness the whole shit go down in front of him because none of them went to this school. They were either people Shruti knew from one of her coaching classes, or guys she knew as acquaintances or guys who were kids of her parent's acquaintances. Meaning Vikram had not actually seen or met any of her previous flings.

Right now, no matter how much Vikram hated her ex-boyfriends, he would do anything for one of them to show up and take her away from Aditya.

The shock of Shruti abandoning her usual seat was probably the same for all because Vikram found the whole class staring at Shruti and her new seat partner, and some eyes fell on Vikram too. He shifted on his seat, not quite comfortable with being noticed.

Shruti and Aditya didn't seem to care about others because Aditya seemed to be busy flipping pages of his book while Shruti asked him various questions that he only answered in 'hmm's. But Vikram was not okay with this. He liked the low-profile life that he led without being noticed or talked about by anyone.

Vikram and Aditya's rivalry was something the entire school knew about. And right now, it seemed like Vikram's friend had chosen his enemy over him and he was sure the entire class was thinking the same. Vikram's fist curled in anger as he saw his best friend try and chat up with the one person he hated with all his might. His jaw clenched at the thought of people pitying him over this. This would not work. Vikram knew he had to do something about it, and soon.