Chapter 1
“Saket and Akanksha, this is my last warning to you children, stop fighting right this second or I am going to call the principal right-away.“Despite the many threats delivered by the science teacher Miss Manjulata, these two were at each other’s neck again and her warnings were as always met with the deaf ears. After watching the dynamics of these two for the past six years Miss Manjulata was well aware of their shenanigans but still got surprised and victimised in their childish ploys each time.
“Akanksha I swear if you start crying right now ma’am will be distracted by your tears soon enough for our plan to be a success.” Looking at now a very furious Miss Manjulata, Saket whispered to Akanksha conspiratorially.
“And I swear if you dare touch even an inch of my hair then you’ll surely be bestowed upon my wrath” Akanksha whispered back “...or my silence for a whole month this time” she added quietly while glowering at him.
“Oh don’t be so over dramatic now Akku” replied Saket looking distracted by Miss Manjulata’s movements as she was fast approaching them now.
“Be ready on the count of 3...“he said without looking at her.
“Don’t you dare you monkey... Aaaah.” She had no intention to cry this time and play the victim card but the searing pain at her scalp made her eyes blurry. Looking at the amount of hair in his hands now made her fake crying real as her sobs broke out from her chest. He too looked stupefied for a second and the moment he realised his mistake his face contorted into grimace. He looked into her eyes and mouthed ‘I am sorry’ but the pain kept her from forgiving him this time.
As Miss Manjulata reached her now crying dear pupil she tried to console her and calm her down while Saket started walking towards the back of the class, drawing out the lab book from the bag and noting down the correct time stamps for the practical test. When he came back to the crime scene and saw the crumpled face of Akanksha his own sweats broke down but pulling himself together and trusting her acting skills he signaled her to stop the act now. When that didn’t work he came beside Miss Manjulata and started apologizing to her, slowly her hiccups subsided and she started throwing daggers at him again, politely she asked Miss Manjulata for the permission of washroom break and took Shalini with her too.
Walking out of the chemistry lab they could smell the pungent smell of their ongoing lab experiment and crossing the watercooler point they were met with the strong chlorine smell but they didn’t say anything to each other although Shalini kept glancing toward her friend waiting for the volcanic eruption that she was sure was long due. Keeping a straight face Akanksha didn’t say anything till they reached the girl’s washroom where she just washed her hands and face.Looking at the mirror she noted that some of her hair strands were now out of the pigtails that took her fifteen minutes in the morning to get perfect. She pointed her index finger to her plaits and silently asked her friend to re-do them.
Chewing on his bottom lips and tapping his fingers on the lab table Saket kept waiting for his best friend to return from the washroom, while he was smirking to his other friends, he couldn’t stop but worrying about his best friend’s last warning. Although he was sure he could persuade her again like other times but all those time he hadn’t seen the big fat tears from those beautiful fish eyes.
Returning back to the class Akanksha swept a glance to the whole class and found that no one paid attention to her absence except Saket.
When Akanksha entered the class, his whole attention moved from the flask in his hands to her but except for one meek glance toward him she didn’t give any indication about her mood.He saw that she whispered something in Shalini’s ear but couldn't understand anything at the time. When she started walking towards him he was relieved that everything must be alright but when she moved past him and stood next to Divyesh he was sure he isn't safe from her anger this time. He looked towards Shalini and furrowed his brows followed by a quick eye movement towards Akanksha with a head bob in question but she just shrugged her shoulder and moved her head in negation.
Clearing her throat Miss Manjulata announced her presence to the class and tapped her watch twice indicating that there was only ten minutes left to submit the answer sheets.
When Saket noticed that Akanksha didn't take her answer sheets with her he started filling her sheets with an eye roll towards her.He had just finished writing on her sheets when the end ring bell sounded off. Happy with his work he asked Shalini to swap her sheets with Akanksha who seemed to be in another dimension right this insant.
With a promise to leave her alone for sometime he took his bags and moved out of the classroom to the next class.
A/N: Sorry!! Short chapter I know but I will change the narration mode from next chapters and give the story from individual perspective. Please ping for any errors and I will try to improve the same.Thank you and see u next time.
