CW: Usage of the word homosexuals in an implied derogatory manner
Sameera was staring out the window when the bus arrived at her stop. She wondered why Swara was so hurt by her stating the obvious. Indu was a predator and opportunist. And come on, a blind person could tell that Siddharth and Mirzab were... homosexuals. She was roused out of her reverie by the person beside her, who signalled to her that her stop was here. She picked her bag up and rushed down. Pushing her worries aside, she wondered what she would text Raghav about that day. She would probably talk to him about the practice...
At her own home, Indu was in deep thought. She had misjudged Swara. 'I thought that she was just someone who talked and did absolutely nothing to back her words up, but I'm pleasantly surprised.' She felt bad about judging Swara. It was not like she hadn't any reason to, however. Nobody had stood up for her in the past two years of her life. People either cussed at her at every given chance or completely ignored her existence. This was why finally graduating from 10th grade and going to a completely new school was such a boon for her. At least she could get through the day without people she barely knew giving her dirty looks.
'Don't get me wrong though - there's no way I'm becoming friends with her. Having friends is not a pleasant experience. Ever.' She looked at their group chat, where Archana ma'am had written that their next rehearsal would be in a couple of days and that she would pop in that day since she was free. The messages were interlaced with a generous amount of puppy gifs, in classic Archana ma'am style. Indu smiled and flopped onto the bed for her nap.
On the day of the next rehearsal, Siddhu and Mirzab decided to sit next to each other in class. It felt like a natural decision, since both of them, though very boisterous, had very few actual friends in the class. Both were smiling and laughing as they left for practice that day - though both were praying profusely, hoping that this rehearsal too, would not end in absolute disaster.
They were, for a change, the first ones in the class that day. They threw their bags down and animatedly started talking about the day when Sameera walked in. Siddhu gave her a huge smile and wave, while Mirzab gave her only a glance and went back to his conversation. Sameera chose not to respond to Siddhu. She sat down near a window and closed her eyes - trying to take a quick nap after the exhausting school day. Indu walked in a minute later and did the same. Archana ma'am and Swara entered at the same time and the others rose.
"Okay, kids! How was school today?" She asked, her exhaustion apparent.
"It was very tiring ma'am... Our Maths teacher decided to take 2 extra periods today" Sameera groaned.
"Oh, you poor things... Okay, take a small break and look over your scripts first. Have you memorized any scenes?"
"Ma'am we practised the first scene yesterday, but we weren't able to get it memorized." Siddhu quipped.
"Hmm... Did you look into the jatre scene? It's a very important one, so do that today, and do one thing - from now on, whenever you schedule practice, also set one or two scenes for that day. Let everyone memorize at least some key lines in that and come. You'll be wasting less time here."
Sameera stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Yes - as if she was going to delegate time in her day for this. She opened her script and began memorizing a couple of lines, but let her mind wander wherever it wished to go. Before she knew it, Archana ma'am called both her and Indu to the centre of the room.
Sameera and Indu stood at two separate points and pretended to shop around in the jatre market. Indu glances at Sameera, and is, according to the script, 'hit by a bolt of lightning. The result of Indu trying to emulate this expression, however, only led to her looking as if she was spaced out, her brain was stuffed with hay. As the scene progressed, Sameera missed most of her lines. Indu got all her lines correct but was so stiff while acting with Sameera, that nothing was conveyed. She would be much better if she wasn't playing with Sameera.
There was also the aspect of Indu being uncomfortable due to Sameera's discomfort. She knew that her co-lead thought that she was a pervert, and a creep - she had made no effort to hide it. Indu felt like she had to walk on eggshells around this girl, or she might just be reported to the teachers, and expelled. With all these thoughts, they went through five rounds of doing the same two-minute scene over and over again.
"You know what, let's have you two go outside to another room, and the rest can practice the scenes without you two in it. Sameera, the lines aren't too much, please practice them. And Indu, your facial emotions need a lot of change. You're making it look very artificial. Is that a good arrangement?" Archana ma'am desperately wanted to move on. The two nodded and went to a nearby classroom.
Sameera decided to take a break and sit down for a while. The silence was heavy, but not that uncomfortable. One might say that it was relatively comfortable as well. After a minute or two, Sameera broke it.
"Why are you putting so much effort into this?"
"Maybe because I do want to do it."
Sameera scoffed. She didn't believe it. "You do it because it's Archana ma'am, and she's probably your favourite teacher."
Indu had nothing to say. There was some truth to that statement, and she could not deny it. So she remained silent instead.
"I genuinely regret coming. Raghav only egged me to because you were there in it." Why was she venting to Indu out of all people? Indu too looked confused. After a few seconds of mulling the statement, she shrugged. Maybe it was her way of saying "Too bad for you."
A weird thought popped into Sameera's head. Maybe it was the silence and the weird calm between them at the moment, but she let it out.
"Is your name actually Indu?"
Indu raised her eyebrows and her hand went to her mouth to stop her laugh. "What did you think it was? Indumati or something?" Indu let go and laughed a genuine one. "Of course my name is Indu!" Sameera was flustered and embarrassed.
"I-... Well-"
"Wait... You actually thought it was Indumati?! All these years?" Indu's laugh grew wider.
Sameera's cheeks suddenly flushed. She could hardly pinpoint it, but Indu's laugh was beautiful. It sounded like a dolphin's laugh, and her face looked so different with those laugh lines near her mouth. Abruptly snapping herself out of her reverie, she said, "Well, either that or Indulekha. And let's be honest, nobody would admit to having those names!"
"I still can't believe, you thought Indu wasn't a name on its own." Indu's laugh had died down, but her smile was still present. Sameera had to shake herself again. "It's a dumb name either way. Okay, let's get started with this."
As they practised, Indu felt herself lighten up a little. Even though she was irritated at Sameera's persistent lack of care about the scene, she got the strength to power through. The others seemed to have enjoyed their time in the other room. Archana ma'am's notes on the scripts were so much about showing proper emotions while acting, that all the amateur actors there were exhausted.
Sameera and Indu walked into the room to see Swara crying on the floor, her hands covering most of her face. She stopped as soon as they walked in. The two girls did the whole scene once in front of ma'am, who was glowing with pride at their improvements. Sameera still needed help with a few lines, and Indu still felt very stiff and uncomfortable, but the improvement and effort were seen. With a large smile on her face, Archana ma'am dismissed them.
"I probably won't be able to attend most practice sessions, but I want this level of dedication even when I'm not there, understood?" The students assured her that they would practice, and left for the buses.
Sameera woke up from her desk and frantically checked the time. It was still 6:00 PM. Wiping the drool from her face, she stared blankly at the Computers program she was supposed to finish writing out that day. When two minutes of staring did nothing, she decided to beg for help. She called up Raghav.
"Yes, yes, the fifth question - did you do it? I'm not understanding the nested loop part." Sameera asked eyebrows scrunched together.
"Nope, couldn't do that one. You should ask Nur for all this, not me." Raghav's tone was incredibly flippant.
"Arrey dude, she's not taken Computers. She's a Psych student!! Bro ma'am will kill me if I don't submit this."
"Oi, nothing will happen - just say you didn't understand. Or copy off of someone in the morning. We have it in the second period anyway. You can sit and finish it during breakfast. Chill."
Sameera took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"By the way, how's that skit thing going?"
Raghav was asking her a question and moving the conversation along?! Sameera's happiness knew no bounds. "Much nicer today. At least they didn't pounce on me as if I was some great wrongdoer. Indu was also.... much better than usual?" Her surprise about the latter fact was still evident.
"Really? Do you think she might have changed?" Sameera's mood instantly soured. She could hear him sitting up straight in his chair, alert.
"Bro, it was one day of okay-ness. I don't think she's changed, cool?"
"But, just reconsider na? Maybe she's changed and you've just... not kept with it"
Sameera groaned. Why was he so intent on this?! "I'm looking out for you here, Raghav! Would it kill you to listen to me?"
"You're my friend, not my mom, Sam."
Sameera took a deep breath. "Do whatever you want then. Once you grow old, your closest female friend and wife will anyway be like a second mother to you. Learn to expect it from girls. It's in our nature."
With that, they hung up.
She couldn't believe that she ever thought that she might get along with Indu in the far future. And all it took was one single throwaway statement to get Raghav right back on track. Sameera flopped herself on her bed and cried. Liking someone was supposed to feel good. Then why was she this frustrated and angry at all times?
"Sameera!! Come here RIGHT now! I've been calling you for the past five minutes!!" She heard her mother scream from downstairs. "Yes, coming." She grumbled. Thankfully, it was Friday. She could relax after half-day school tomorrow and unwind from the incredibly awful week she had had. She wondered if the next week would be just as bad.
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