“Cuz,” Rahul nodded at him in greeting, coming to halt in front of him as Vihaan slapped the dirt off his pants.
“Hey.”
“I just picked up my new phone from Dad,” Rahul informed him, showing off his shiny new iPhone 4.
“Hmm,” Vihaan nodded, noting Rahul’s gaze slide to the right, where Vihaan’s phone rested nearby.
An iPhone 4.
Rahul’s smug smile dropped.
“When did you get that?” he demanded. “They’ve been out of stock everywhere.”
“I’ve had it since release, man. No big deal. It’s just a phone.”
Rahul looked like he was about to grumble some more when suddenly, his stance relaxed. “I was just at Reed & Co.’s offices, you know, getting myself a snack. And something really interesting happened.”
Vihaan nodded, indifferent to whatever it was that his cousin was insinuating.
“Ask me what,” Rahul prompted.
“Really rather not. You have an ‘I-fucked-my-fathers-secretary’ face on. I don’t want the details.”
“Jealous?”
“Of what?”
“I’m getting pussy and you’re not.”
Vihaan scoffed, gathering his bag before rising to his feet. He had no patience for Rahul’s nonsense when he had much more important things to focus on. Like his future with Vera.
“Congratulations,” he drawled. “You had sex. Hope you lasted more than a minute.”
Rahul’s skin grew mottled at Vihaan’s insult, his jaw tightening in anger. “Shut up.”
“You’re the one who started this inane conversation. I don’t give a shit where you stick your dick.”
With a careless shrug, Vihaan spun on his heels and began crossing the lawn when Rahul called out from behind him.
“What happened, Cuz? Was your dad’s money not enough to get you laid? Is that why you’re in such a bad mood?”
Vihaan stopped in his tracks.
“The hell are you talking about?” he spat in irritation, hating the spiteful gleam that lit up his cousin’s eyes when they faced each other again.
“Look,” Rahul hissed, flashing his phone in Vihaan’s face. He zoomed in without warning, and through the pixelated screen, Vihaan saw Vera and his father together. At Reed & Co.’s offices.
Was that. . . money? Vihaan’s brows knit as he shook his head lightly, blinking again. The image did not change. Vera was holding a wad of cash, standing across from his father. The fuck?
“You think I’m too stupid to notice you’ve been buzzing like a bee wanting honey around Vera Talwar, the girl everyguy in this school has been trying to fuck for years?” Rahul snorted derisively, taking the phone back from a stunned Vihaan. “What did you do? Ask Daddy to pay the ice princess money so she’d drop her panties for you?”
Vihaan’s fist went flying, ripping through the air with a speed that had both boys rolling around the grass like two rabid dogs in a street fight.
“Don’t talk about her, you pathetic pig!”
“Screw you,” Rahul yelled, elbowing Vihaan in the stomach. “I’m not scared of a loser like you who needed his father to find him some pussy!”
Vihaan tried to launch himself at Rahul with a furious roar, finding his path blocked when multiple other students intervened, holding the two feuding cousins apart. From a distance, he could hear someone yelling for a teacher. But all Vihaan could focus on was his weaselly cousin and the filthy lies he was spewing.