KAYLA'S POV (Continuing):
By the time the movie ended, I was sprawled dramatically across the couch while Theo got up and started cleaning up.
He turned off the TV, stacked the empty snack bowls, folded the blanket I had kicked off three times, and started putting everything back in place.
I watched him for a moment.
Then he spoke, trying to sound casual.
"So…"
I glanced at him.
"What?"
He hesitated.
Then, almost hopefully, he asked, "What did you get from the movie?"
I didn't even need a second to answer.
"That we need a professor like Raj Aryan," I said seriously, "but in reality we only get our principal, who's basically Narayan in female form."
Theo stopped moving.
I continued.
"The only difference is that he changed at the end. Ours never will."
He slowly turned to look at me.
Then he closed his eyes.
Then he shook his head in pure disappointment.
I frowned.
"What?"
"That's what you got from the whole movie?"
"Yes."
He looked like he was reconsidering our entire friendship.
Then I added, "Also…"
He sighed. "There's more."
"How did none of the students realize their professor was mentally unstable?"
Theo blinked.
I sat up straighter.
"Like seriously. He was literally talking and dancing with his dead lover's ghost."
Theo stared.
"He was always around them," I continued, now fully invested. "How did nobody notice? Not one student? Not one?"
To my surprise, Theo actually paused.
Then he frowned.
"…You know what?"
I pointed at him dramatically. "Exactly."
He looked mildly disturbed now, as if the realization had just hit him too.
"I… don't know," he admitted.
I spread my hands. "See?! It makes no sense!"
"Maybe…" he said weakly, "they just never noticed?"
I stared at him like he had just confessed to having no brain.
"How can they not notice? He's always with them!"
"I don't know!" he snapped suddenly. "Don't ask me!"
And before I could say another word, he turned around and practically ran upstairs.
I blinked.
Then frowned.
Then shouted after him,
"Weirdo!"
Silence.
I leaned back into the couch and crossed my arms.
Honestly.
Boys were so strange.
All that emotional staring during the movie.
All those weird questions.
All that dramatic energy.
And then he ran away because I asked a perfectly reasonable question about ghost-related mental instability.
I shook my head.
Absolutely weird.
Then I looked at the now-black TV screen and sighed.
"…Still," I muttered to myself, "Raj Aryan can ruin my life."