Swara had returned from her evening out. After freshening up, Swara reluctantly put her head on the glossy white table and pulled a textbook towards her. She opened it on a random page and read the heading - "Formation of A Company". Head still on the table, she read the first page. Vaguely, she made sense of the words on the page. Then she smiled, her mind wandering. "This much is enough," she whispered to herself. Her mind was filled with moments from that evening. She had been pushed out of her cocoon this time. It usually was extremely depleting when in the company of her commerce friends, to the point where she constantly made excuses about not being to come. She pulled her phone out, and immediately changed her wallpaper to a picture they had taken that day.
She pressed the contacts app and took a few deep breaths. 'It's okay, you are close enough to call him. Siddhu won't mind if you call. If anything, he'll give his usual puppy squeal,' she calmly told herself before pressing that number on her dialer. Her heartbeat picked up the pace exponentially, especially since she had never called any of her new friends before. 'It's okay if he doesn't pick up. It's okay if he doesn't pick up. It's okay if he -'
"HEYYYYY!!! SWARA!!!"
Swara jumped from her seat and almost threw her phone away at the shout.
"Swara, what happened?!" she could hear her father from the hall.
"Nothing ma! Just my friend!!" She called back to her father and turned back to her phone
"Hey Siddhu, am I calling at an awkward time?"
"No No, don't you worry - I barely study properly anyways!"
"Liar! Mirzab told me about your first unit test marks! You get full marks in Economics? Economics?!! How on earth does that happen?"
"Hehe..." Siddhu giggled. "So, how come you're calling me today? Mirzab was busy?"
"Nah, just felt like calling you only" Swara reassured him.
"Aah... I got it. You feel too intimidated to call up Mirzab, right?"
"Pfft! Mirzab and intimidating? How do make that connection?" Swara laughed, but her voice gave her away.
"AHA! I don't know a lot of things, but I recognise emotions like the back of my hand!!" Swara could hear him thumping his pillow in victory and a distant shout from his mother for that.
"Rama Rama, there's nothing like that going on between me and Mirzab...."
"Yet." Siddhu guffawed. Swara sighed in exasperation.
"So... Do you want to know anything about him?" Siddhu asked, in a sly voice
"What?! No!! I want to talk to you! I'll find out about him from him only!"
"Ooooh, healthy communication! Siddhu, you have chosen wisely!" He said the last line in a deep voice, imitating someone narrating a prophecy. Swara laughed, her whole face now red.
"Did you have your dinner then, Siddhu?" asked Swara.
"Aah... Not really. I'm.... not hungry." Siddhu said, his tone changing completely.
"WHAT?! Not hungry? Go eat at least a little bit Siddhu - or else it will be hard to sleep through the night. I hope you are doing that at least?"
"Okay, okay, don't worry, MOM!" Siddhu was smiling again, Swara could feel it. She smiled, her heart content.
On the other hand, Indu did not have that sort of happiness in her heart. She had woken up exhausted from crying well into the night. Sameera had not taunted her that day but had completely ignored her. Sameera too was forced to sit alone in class during lunch, but due to another group of kids sitting in class that day, she didn't so much as glance at Indu while nibbling at her chapatis half-heartedly. Indu was planning to do the same anyway, so she convinced herself that this was good.
However, on entering the practice room, a surprise was waiting for her. Sameera was the first to notice her, and she flashed a small smile and waved at her. Indu was so shocked that she stood there for a solid ten seconds, wondering if it was meant for her. 'Is... Is Raghav behind me or something?'
She eventually made her way to the centre of the room, where they were to start practising their next scene. It was the balcony scene from the original play, but Ram was wooing Shanti while she watched from her window.
Sameera, as usual, had not memorized her lines, and she stuttered through all her dialogues. But there seemed to be a noticeable change in her demeanour. She didn't taunt Indu, nor did she throw her usual dirty looks. She seemed to be... friendly? Indu wondered if this new change was sole because of her sitting with Sameera through the soap opera that had taken place the previous evening.
She inched closer to Sameera, practising the scene for the fifth time. Sameera kept her hands on her chest, looked up to the sky and said, "Wherefore art thou, Ram? Though my... uh... mind is in conflict with my heart, I-I... Ah yes! - I'll let my heart's longings roam free for now," She stumbled through it, looking constantly at the other three, who were mouthing her lines to her.
"I am right by your side, fair Shanti. Look at me. I have come hither to, um... profess my love - I h-hope you shall hear it," Indu stuttered through hers. She internally cursed herself - she could do better than that. However, Sameera's cordiality was making her much more awkward than usual. She kept a good five feet between them. Sameera frowned on seeing Indu's discomfort, but simply shrugged it off. Mirzab shouted - "Indu! Oi, get closer to her! What will you do with that distance?"
Indu glared at him, then rolled her eyes. Mirzab laughed at this display. "It's alright. We all know how conservative our schools are. If I stand too close to her, they might expel us for homosexual activities," she said, drawing air quotes around the last two words. "And anyway, I'm tired of doing this scene over and over with..." She glanced at Sameera, but the taunt never came out. Siddhu was still staring at Indu, shocked by her words. His mind was racing at a million thoughts per second.
As Indu plopped herself on the ground, he came and sat right beside her. Indu gave him a small smile, and closed her eyes, wanting to avoid the conversation. Siddhu sat right there, smiling widely for no apparent reason.
Once they finished their work, half-done with the balcony scene. Sameera cautiously approached Indu while the latter was packing up. Indu picked up a new book from the depths of her bag, which fell immediately. Sameera lunged forward and picked it up for her.
"Here you go!" She flashed another smile. Indu was completely perplexed. Could Sameera's voice be that friendly? She frowned and took the book back. She averted her eyes, focusing intently on her zipper and mumbled, "Umm, thanks,"
"No problem!" Sameera said again, continuing to look at Indu, willing her to talk. When it produced no results, she tried again. "Hey, thanks yesterday for all you did on the metro train... It was quite embarrassing for me, to say the least..."
"Ya, uh sure. Not sure what I did though" Indu stammered, a flush creeping up her cheeks now.
"Ya... My mother means well, but she can be a bit... much at times, you know? All parents are like that, right?" Sameera smiled, though it seemed softer, and sadder this time around. Indu grinned, not sure what to say. Instead, she hurriedly muttered something about the buses and rushed out of the room.
Sameera sighed. She looked around the room - the other three were also in their buses now. She wondered for a second what it would feel like to sit here forever, never go out of this room. Groaning audibly, she picked her bag up and went on her way. Her father would have sent their family driver to pick her up. She passed by her bus while going to the car and saw Indu in the window seat. She walked up to her and waved, "Bye Bye! See you tomorrow?" Indu, who had sneaked her phone and earphones in, could not hear her. She completely ignored Sameera, until the latter gave up and went to her car.
On the car ride back home, Sameera was silent. Her mind, however, was anything but. Flashbacks of the hurtful insults thrown her way the previous night came back to force the tears out. But Sameera refused to succumb to them. She wasn't like one of those overly emotional people who cried at anything and everything. She was the level headed person whose friendship people craved. She was the person who a guy would look at, and fall head over heels for. I mean, how many guys had asked out till then? It had to speak for her goodness, did it not? The rain had started to pour.
She wondered about Indu, and the resolve she had built crumbled down, as the first tear ran down her cheek. Outside practice, she would not glance at her. But inside... She wanted to be Indu's friend so badly. Especially since the previous day. Indu was there for her when she felt flustered by her mother's outbreak in front of so many strangers. But today... Back to four walls up! She wished she could shake those shoulders of hers and ask her to be a little more open. Just like the last day. She touched her cheek and was surprised to find it completely wet. She looked at the driver's seat. He hadn't noticed anything - thank god.
Her home seemed empty and blank. She received no greetings from her mother, and the large walls seemed ever so constricting, forming a noose around her neck. She trudged up to her room to take a bath and hopefully relax. It seemed impossible, but if she said it to herself enough times, she would be fine.
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