Sameera and Indu looked at each other, completely paralysed by shock. Indu found her voice first. "Ma'am, I'm extremely sorry, but I don't think I can act, much less for a competition..." Archana ma'am's face fell.
"Aah... I do understand, but could you think it over once more? The thing is ki, nobody is free. I don't know how much y'all put yourself through, but I could only find 7 - 8 people from your entire grade who were not fully immersed in their tuitions or competitive exams coaching."
Hesitantly, Sam asked, "Ma'am, what skit is it? Do we know the topic?..."
"Oh, the topic given is Romeo and Juliet, but we're making some changes to the original story! To be honest, I'm extremely excited about this" said Archana ma'am, her face bursting into a toothy smile.
Indu looked at her, confused. "Ma'am, so are the other two people you were talking about... Who are they?"
"Prakash and Swapna, from A section"
Both Sam and Indu looked at each other again, and then back at Archana ma'am.
"Ma'am... there are three girls and one boy..." said Sameera, speaking each word extremely slowly.
"Oh, I know honey! The casting is completely gender-blind. Not really by choice, to be honest, but yeah, you two may have to play alongside each other"
Both Indu's and Sameera's eyes widened in horror. Archana ma'am had to physically strain herself to control any laughter, inciting a drawling duet of "Ma'am!" from both girls.
"It isn't that bad girls..." she said, calming herself down. "I would love to make it completely sapphic, but I'm afraid of the consequences it might have on your school life in general... The story will still be heterosexual (quite, unfortunately, if I may add). So, if two girls are chosen, one of them will still be playing a guy"
Indu did not have the heart to tell her that her reasons for discomfort were completely different. She looked over at the girl beside her, biting her nail, deep in thought.
'Why should I do this when it won't help me at all? And playing a lead with a girl?! The whole class will be strife with rumours. And if Raghav hears those rumours... My chances are completely ruined!' As her train of thoughts went on, the lines on her forehead became more and more pronounced. Archana ma'am looked at her watch and gasped. "Sameera, Indu go get to your buses now, or you'll miss them, okay? Just... don't overthink it putta." The last sentence was obviously pointed more towards Sameera.
"Tomorrow, come to the high school seminar room in the 5th period before lunch, k?" Indu and Sameera both gave half-hearted nods and left the staff room.
Sameera and Indu ran into their bus, apologised to their bus teacher, and sat down at the back of the bus. Usually, they could just ignore the other even if they were seated right next to each other, but today, their eyes keep turning to each other for glances, and each person's mind was filled with a rush of thoughts about the other. Indu was mildly fuming inside. 'I get asked out by that idiot, and she confronts me?! Bringing up 9th grade too. I'm not working with her, no chance.' But then she remembered Archana ma'am's face as she asked them to try out for the role. She loved her English teacher, and she knew that Archana ma'am had searched and asked around a lot so that she could ask only those who had the time. She did not want to disappoint her. It left her with a lot of conflicting feelings.
At the far left side of the bus, Sameera was busy with her thoughts too. 'Why do I have to work with her, out of ALL the goddamn people in their section? She's annoyingly quiet, acts like she is above everyone else, and doesn't respect people's boundaries. Like, does Archana ma'am have any idea what she's getting into if she takes Indu?! I'm not going pa. Never in my life can I work with her' She too remembered Archana ma'am. She would have a hard time saying no to her... But, there was still a chance of getting the role of Juliet and maybe Prakash might get the role of Romeo? But the risk was much higher, and she would have nothing to gain from Prakash, he was well known to be quite the clown. She wouldn't join then. She was firm.
Sameera got off the bus an hour later and walked home, her heart still throbbing at that morning's incidents. She reached her home and entered it with a nonchalant "Hey Maa." and the customary, "Ya, school was okay" and went upstairs to her room immediately. She went downstairs to grab some snacks, went back up and called Raghav. As Raghav picked up the call, Sameera bit her nails, still burdened with the guilt of eavesdropping in the morning. After they exchanged pleasantries, Sameera told him about the skit.
"BRO, you should go!! I mean, Indu feels like she'd be a nice person no? And you'll be playing a heterosexual story only, what's the problem with you two being girls?"
"I don't know, I just don't like it... You've been acting very weird about that girl though..." She took a deep breath,
"Do you like Indu, Raghav?" The other end of the call went silent. Tears began to well up in Sameera's eyes.
"Um... Ya... How did you know?" Sam quickly wiped her tears, stabilized her voice and completely ignored his question.
"Why though? I've been her classmate since 5th grade, and I genuinely don't see anything in her. She tries too hard to be the "mysterious" type. She's not even that pretty, man." She stopped as her voice began to tremble again.
"I don't know, I still think she's pretty enough."
"Dude, give up. She's very annoying, okay?"
Raghav got defensive. "Look, I'm not the type to give up that easily. I want to date her means I want to. And I will!"
Sam sighed.
"Now that you know, could you do me a favour? Join this thing so that you could maybe get me and Indu closer? Pretty please Sam", begged the boy, completely oblivious to Sameera's feelings. Or he know and just wished to ignore it... Sameera rubbed her forehead and plopped on the bed. She was too exhausted to think any further, and there was no way she'd say no to that voice. "Mmkay" she mumbled, before cutting the call and falling asleep almost instantly.
Indu had also reached home. After washing her face, she went down to ask her mother for her opinion. "Amma, I swear, I don't know anything about how to handle the situation..." Her mother looked at her and took a sip of her evening coffee. She was a woman in her late forties, and always had perpetual worry lines on her face from all the work she did for her career, her house, her daughter and her husband.
The first thing she said was, "What about your studies? Won't they be affected if you do this thing?"
"Actually, not that much, Amma. We have a unit test in August for which my marks may be a little lower than usual, but the competition will be done by early September. I'm not sure of the exact date, but I know it's during that time."
Her mother thought for a minute. "Take it up. First of all, there's is no guarantee that you will get the role. On top of that, you won't be able to enjoy the rest of the year. Might as well finish it off now, and put full effort into studying later on. But even if you get the part you'll have to continue to study okay? Your marks should not drop by too much." She pointed a finger at her daughter, warning her. Indu gave a thumbs up, turned and rolled her eyes. Sighing, she went to her room, watched the kids playing in the small playground their apartment had, then plopped on her bed to get her daily afternoon nap of 30 minutes.
When she woke up, it was raining heavily, and drops of water fell on her face through the mesh of her open window. She sat there for a few minutes, her eyes closed, letting the rain wash away her turmoil. Getting back to her senses, she wiped her face and hair down and forced herself to get to her books.
The next day came sooner than Sameera wanted it to. She would be going to try out for that role so that she could be Raghav's wingman. How ironical. How painful. Putting on her bindi, she ran outside to catch her bus. Before she knew it, it was the fourth period and she was counting down the seconds to the bell. As the bell rang, she gave Raghav quick instructions on what to tell the next teacher if he asked about her absence. She got out of the classroom and headed for the seminar room. A little ways behind her, Indu followed. They entered the room and realised that they were the first ones to arrive.
Thankfully, Archana ma'am entered the class within two minutes, closely followed by Prakash and Swapna, relieving Indu from Sameera's scowling. 'Doesn't even bother to hide that she's shitty' She cursed Sameera internally. Archana ma'am gave her signature toothy smile to all and asked them to sit down. "Okay kids, I'll need you to take... this" She handed out 4 small sheets of paper. On them, two lines were written.
"You'll just need to read both those lines to me with proper body language, and it's done!"
"Ma'am, will we stay here the whole period?" Prakash asked, his eyes wide with anticipation of a positive answer. "Oy, no no! I'm not letting you four bunk the class. Did you come here only because of that Prakash?"
Swapna guffawed "Ma'am, you know him. He would never miss out on that opportunity!"
"Alright, as punishment, you will only go first Prakash!" said Archana ma'am, a smile on her face.
The auditions went relatively smoothly. Each person was asked to deliver both lines and ma'am looked pleased with each of them. Sam hated the way that Prakash and Swapna delivered their lines, but she was in no position to voice her opinions. She however begrudgingly accepted that Indu's performance was much better than theirs. But it was blatantly obvious that she was acting and did not give a damn about the characters' stories. They walked back to class and instantly separated. Ma'am said that she would let them know who would be the leads at the end of the day.
Sam hoped that she would not get the role, and didn't expect it either, since she had done such a lazy job of it. Her mind returned to earth when her Physics teacher called Indu's name out and started scolding her for staring out the window. Indu internally rolled her eyes and sat down on her seat as fast as she could. She had been pondering how she would handle the situation if she got selected. It would be relatively fine with either Prakash or Swapna. Swapna knew how to maintain distance, and Prakash would easily be shut down in a couple of days. With Sameera... She would have no choice but to give up. Especially with the recent events, she could neither handle being around Sameera nor risking the crazy idiot ruining her life here too.
Both passed the rest of the day ignoring each other, but the dreaded moment was approaching. Indu and Sameera prayed with all their hearts to not see Archana ma'am walk into their class and announce that they had been chosen. Handle each other? They could never.
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