Rishabh and Alice walked to the train station, still holding hands as they admired the sunset they could see at the horizon of the vast field in front of them. The red and orange bled into the green grass.
As they got into the train, sitting next to each other, Rishabh kissed Alice's forehead every few minutes while she talked to him about her holidays. She tried and failed to describe the beauty of the waterfalls she had seen on their boat ride, the gushing sound of the falling water hitting the river in which they were riding. The fright it gave her as their boat edged closer to the waterfalls. She showed him pictures of the hills and grasslands that did not quite capture their vastness. Such that she was quite disappointed by the end, "It doesn't sound as impressive as it felt when I was there, does it?" she asked Rishabh.
"It sounds wonderful!" replied Rishabh with a genuinely awestruck look on his face.
"I've been yapping on about my own holidays for goodness knows how long!" Alice realised suddenly. "Why don't you tell me about yours?" she asked.
"Umm... I..." hesitated Rishabh, "my holidays haven't been as adventurous as yours, I'm afraid." He said after a sigh, "I have just been staying at home with my family."
"Aww, that's nice." said Alice. "I never did ask you!" she remembered suddenly, "What did you get as your predicted grades? All A*s, I'm guessing..."
"Not quite," said Rishabh, trying to dodge the question, "why don't you tell me about yours first and then I'll tell you about mine." He said, hoping that the conversation would lead off to another tangent once she started talking about her grades. "I haven't got the chance to ask you either, with your extremely bad network during the holidays."
"Oh, I got all A*s," she squealed, "except in Biology, where I got an A. You know whose fault that is." she said, while giving him playfully accusing side glances.
"Oh, that's great!" said Rishabh, "thats really great. Congratulations! You desevered all of it." He said, taking her hand in his.
"And you?" she asked again.
"I... umm..." Rishabh heaved a huge sigh, "I haven't told anyone yet, but I got an A and 3 Bs."
Alice pulled her hand away from his. "What?!" she cried, "How?!"
"I don't know," Rishabh answered, "a combination of things, I suppose."
"Is it a combination," she asked bitterly, "or is it just the plain simple fact that you are just not as smart as you made me believe you were?"
Rishabh looked at her with furrowed eyebrows and asked, "What?"
"You told me all that rubbish about doing medicine." she accused. "How do you intend to do medicine with those grades?" she asked.
"I know," confessed Rishabh, "it's what I've been wondering for the last few days as well."
"Oh!" cried Alice. "My dreams! My dreams for us are shattered!" The dream of Rishabh and Alice arm-in-arm studying medicine at university together danced mockingly in front of her eyes as she tried to erase it from her mind only to find it taking a clearer and starker form.
Just then, the announcement of the arrival of Leigh-on-Sea echoed throughout the train.
Alice clutched her bag and made way for the door. Rishabh tried to follow her, opening his mouth to say something to sooth her but closing it again as he failed to find the words. She turned back and snapped, "Stay away from me, you filthy idiot!" before leaving the train while leaving Rishabh hanging by the doors.