Chapter 2
"Sab samaan agaya?" Panchi asked one of the boys who had been helping her. He nodded and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maintaining the props for the stage had always been a stress for her. Though she always had help of other students, some voluntary and some asked by the teachers, she didn't like bothering them much. Since this whole business was very tiring.
God, she needed a chocolate badly.
"No Panchi, abhi nahin! Focus!" She took in deep breathes and continued working. Looking around the stage, she realized that it was completely empty apart from herself and two other boys who were standing in the corner, huffing. She looked at them, a feeling of guilt pinching her heart. They were asked by a teacher to help her. She knew that it was their free period and they were stuck with her in the mess of all these boxes when they would rather go out and have something cold to soothe them. The weather was exceptionally hot that day. Though clouds played hide and seek with the sun, the wind just refused to be a part of their game.
Wiping off some sweat off her forehead, she walked towards them. They just stood there fanning themselves with a thin card sheet.
"Guys, thank you so much for your help. Tum log jaana chaho tou jaa sakte ho."
One of the boys looked at her and blinked in surprise. The other however didn't even glance at her and started walking towards the exit. His friend started to follow her but stopped, "Are you sure?" He asked her and Panchi smiled. A wave of relief covered his face and he ran to catch up to his friend. Panchi sighed. Now she was all alone.
She looked at the stage. Boxes, sheets and plastic covered the whole stage. It was so messy. And it was up to her to clean this all up. Technically, some of the seniors were asked to do it but they just did some minor things and left most of the mess for her to clear up. If Ranveer knew about it, he would just scold her for being so obedient all the time.
Smiling at the thought, she looked at the mess determinedly. Her watch said she had more or less 40 minutes of break left. And in those 40 minutes, she had to clean this all up and give the report to their teacher in charge.
"Lag jaa kaam pe!"
Panchi was so busy in all the clearing up and arranging that she didn't realize someone else had joined her in the cleaning. She was at one end of the stage when she heard some voices behind her. She gave a fleeting glance backwards. A boy was at the other end of the stage, cleaning the mess and putting them in the boxes. Relieved, she smiled and continued. She had a feeling that he would deal with that end of the stage so she should concentrate on her end. And she did.
Minutes passed in silence. The work which seemed so hard for her to do alone, was almost finished in 25 minutes. That means she had some minutes to spare of this free time. A few moments ago, she had stopped listening to noises behind her back. That means either he had done his part of had left the job halfway. Whatever, as long as he had helped her even a little, she didn't bother.
Putting the last pieces of discarded plastic in the box, she got up and sighed. Brushing the dust off her hands, she looked at the large box at her feet and stretched her arms. The job had been tiring. Thankfully she was done.
"Thank God, hogaya!" She said out aloud to herself and bent to pick up the box. It wasn't much heavy so she picked it up quite easily.
"Ab bus ye rakh ke ma'am ko - OUCH!"
She turned around, talking to herself. Too lost in all this, she failed to noticed the boy standing behind her. She had collided into him because she didn't acknowledge his presence. The box fell down and some of the stuff tumbled away on the floor. But she didn't notice any of it.
KD was looking directly into her eyes and she couldn't blink. She felt like she had become of stone, she couldn't even move. He, although, bent down and picked the fallen stuff and put it in the box. Carrying it, he got up.
"Kahan rakhna hai?"
His voice made her blink. Absentmindedly, she pointed towards the corner. Without saying anything, he put her box in the destined location. Then, he picked his own box and put it beside hers. She stood there silently, watching him move. It was him who had been helping her. She sighed.
"Yahan kya kar rahe ho?"
"Cricket khel raha hun."
"Very funny."
"I know."
A bubble of laughter burst from her mouth and he smiled. Feeling relaxed now that she was back into her senses, she walked towards him.
"Thank you for your help."
"It's ok."
"Waise, help karne ke paise tou nahin lo ge na?"
"Tum janti ho main tumse kabhi paise nahin lunga."
She was just teasing him but his words wiped the smile off her face. An early memory started swirling in her mind.
"Ye maths kis ne banayi! It's so useless!"
She mumbled to herself and scratched the paper angrily. This algebra was literally driving her crazy. The questions were too hard and she couldn't find any solution to them no matter how much she tried. What was the point of all these questions anyway?
"Mummy!" Dejected, she put down her head on the table. Maybe by doing this the answers would come to her. But she wasn't too sure about this. Mid-terms were fast approaching and she was stuck on maths. Other subjects were not that hard for her but maths had been proving a real trouble for her.
She blinked. Some scribbling noises were coming very close to her. She looked up and saw KD writing on her notebook.
"Keshav!" She cried out but he didn't look up from the notebook. She leaned in and saw him solve the questions she had been having trouble with. She saw carefully and almost face-palmed herself.
"Ye aise hota hai! Mujhe tou samajh mein hi nahin araha tha." Just as silently as he had come and helped her, he silently moved the notebook towards her. Relief spread through her body as she saw the solved questions. She looked at them carefully and mentally compared her attempts with his solutions. She wasn't that off the mark, she had just made a few mistakes.
"Itna bhi hard nahin hai." He said and she looked at him. He wasn't looking at her but at the book. She frowned.
"Tum tou kaho ge hi, topper ho. Maths mein tou completely unbeatable ho."
"Kisi aur cheez mein help chaiye?" He completely ignored her remark and she made a thoughtful face. Glancing down at her notebook,she bit her lower lip nervously.
"Itna hard nahin hai, it's just a three step process. Bus formulas yaad hone chaiye." He said kindly and she looked up at him. There was something so helpless on her face that he sighed. Holding out his hand, he reached out for her pen and she handed him her notebook.
For the next 30 minutes, he tutored her and taught her all the basic tricks of the questions. His words were easy and he was very patient with her. Not that she was a complete klutz but she did get stuck at some points. By the time his session was over, she felt more confident in herself that she would solve the questions.
"Thank you so much Keshav!" She smiled brightly at him as she packed her things. He didn't say anything in return. Glancing at his watch, he just got up.
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
She hinted towards the money. He was just new to all this but she knew that he "helped" the fellow students in exchange for money. He had also helped her so she thought he would ask for it but watching him walk away silently made her say this.
He stopped in his tracks and looked at her. For the first time, he smiled mischievously at her.
"Kya kar sakti ho mere liye?"
She was caught off guard by his words. She searched for words to say in return but nothing came out. He chuckled and waved his hand.
"It's ok. For you, no charge."
The trail of memories stopped and she looked at him. He wasn't looking at her. She glanced at her watch. It told her to rush. She looked at soaked in sweat KD who wasn't paying much attention to her.
"Still, I should do something. Tum ne itni garmi mein meri help ki wo bhi bina kisi ke kahe, I owe you this one. After school, I'll give you a cola treat. Meet you outside the gate!"
She said in a hurry and rushed down the stairs and towards the exit. She didn't turn around to see his surprised face. He had been surprised by her offer. And she didn't even bother to wait for his reply. He instinct told her to refuse to her, bluntly. He didn't want any trouble with her best friend who hated the mere sight of him. But some part of him wanted him to act like a rebel. He had always been a rebel but when it came to the matters of personal choices, he always took the easy way out.
Guess, that won't be the case this time.
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Thank you all for your wonderful responses! Some major drama in the next chapter! Hope you liked this long chapter! 😃 Comments and likes are always appreciated! 😳
P.S - So in love with my avi 😍
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