Neel undid the buttons of his shirt and removed it. His neckline was covered with red paint,
"OH MY GOD! STOP STRIPPING!" Rhea shouted as he cleaned the paint with some toilet paper, "Shut up, help me," He threw a toilet paper roll at her.
"NO!" She shouted.

"I can't reach my back," He turned back, "Wipe it off,"
She looked at his back. He wasn't as tall as Ember and sheer opposite of him. She took the toilet paper and rubbed it on his brown skin. She looked at his black hair, curling up at his neck, with fragments of yellow paint sticking on them. He smelled of men's body spray and acrylic paint. He picked out the paint from the strands of his hair.

Acrylic paint was difficult to get rid of, it felt like an old bubblegum sticking on the hair. And it dried up pretty fast.

"So, you're in the art club?" She asked.
"Why else would I sit there unpacking canvas boards?" He said, grumpily. He did not like her. She noticed. 
"Well, do you like painting?"

"Why would I be in the art club if I didn't like painting?"
"Why are you so passive aggressive?" 
"Just shut up and get done with this already. Don't try to strike a conversation with me, I don't fucking like you,"

She felt her blood pressure rising, "Dude, it was a mistake. I apologized. Why are you still crying about that?"
"Why? You ruined my uniform and my hair, if this paint doesn't come off, I'll have to cut my hair. I have to go back to the class looking like a complete idiot and be bullied for it for the rest of the week, you ruined the brand new canvas boards I ordered from my personal money, and all the paint that Ms Monica bought me upon my continuous request. All of it, gone! Because of a stupid fucking bitch who does not know how to open a door like a civilized human being!"

"Well, if you are that "smart" then you shouldn't have sat right beside the door!"
"That is my workstation that I've been assigned. But bet your countryside ass wouldn't know of it because all you did was throw cow dung aside your entire life, you country bumpkin! You don't fit here!"

She took a step back while the school bell rang behind them.

"Just look at you, dude! You've got oil in your fuckin-braided hair like-Who even makes braids these days? Your clothes are a mess, you got a yellow stain on your skirt, your socks are loose and you stink of sweat! It's embarrassing to even be seen with you! Leave me alone for good!"
A few boys entered the bathroom, "OH MY-DID WE ENTER THE WRONG BATHROOM?"
"No, it is the boys bathroom. Dude, Neel is here with a girl!"
"He's shirtless too!"

Rhea turned back and left the bathroom. Neel looked into the mirror.
"Ohhhhh" The other boys howled. Since it was a short five minutes break between two periods, the halls were crowded. Rhea ran into people as she made her way to her class. And finally, walked into a wall. 

Everyone heard a whistle and the PT teacher entered the scene, "EVERYONE GO BACK TO YOUR CLASS! MADHO! STOP STANDING AT THE DOOR!" He slapped a ruler on Madho's butt and threw him inside the class.

Rhea walked inside her class. After a while, Neel entered the class.
"You will sit on the first seat," Mr Pranav said and Neel quietly sat on the first seat.
"Why you looking so shaggy?"
"Sir, you mean shabby-"
"Shut up!"

Neel looked away, "Some idiot threw paint on me,"
"Why you even go to the art room in the first place? Art has no future. Study well and take a government job,"
"I don't want a government job,"
"Why would you want one? Your dad is a politician. He must have enough to feed you for the rest of your life even if you don't do nothing," Mr Pranav said.

"My dad has got nothing to do with it,"
"Lo, why you talking back to your teacher, huh? Go and stand outside the class!"
He got up and went outside, slamming the door behind him.
"This boy got anger issues. Anyways, what did we do last class?"

Rhea looked at him through the glass door, standing outside the class and looking at the wall. She didn't know his dad was a politician. She looked into his eyes, he did not want to be there. Not outside the class, but not inside it either. 

The next class was PT. All the boys got up and ran towards the ground. Neel ran with themHalf of the class filled the boys bathroom, throwing duster on each other's shirt and gathering around the water tanks with empty water bottles,  "Oye, bhag be! Tejab aa raha hai!"
"Tn// Run! Mr. Tejab is coming!
Tejab means Acid. Used as a pun)

 
They heard a loud whistle, "MAKE A LINE! MADHO! WHERE IS YOUR TIE!?"
"Sorry sir! Bye sir!"
"COME HERE! I SAID COME HERE!"
But they all ran away and the PT teacher, Mr Tejab, ran after them.

Rhea sat on the huge stairs surrounding the basketball court, which were used as audience seats every time their school hosted some inter school competition. All other girls sat on the stairs, scattered in different directions, while the boys played under the burning sun. Usually, Rhea would join them, but that day she just didn't feel like doing anything. She wanted the school to be over as soon as possible and go home.

She looked at Neel. He was laughing with his friends. Friends.
He had a lot of friends.
He was always surrounded with people but at the art room, he was always alone.

As Rhea stared at Neel, she caught Nikki staring at her.
"I told you, Neel is mine," Nikki said.
"What?" Rhea looked at her.
"You developing a crush on him?"

"Me? Having a crush on Neel? Dude, I hate his guts," 
"You better! I like Neel more than anyone!" She said.
"Because he's rich?"
"...Yes and good looking?"
Rhea wanted to say something, but she didn't. She didn't want to lose another friend over a stupid argument. So, she just rolled her eyes and got up. She brushed her skirt and went back inside the building. Finally, school was over. She couldn't stop thinking about what he said to her.

His opinion shouldn't even matter,
But it did.
And she hated it.

She went home, changed and went to the crash course center. She sat quietly in her seat and stared at the board. Everyone was talking, the professor, AJ and Meenu. Ember sat beside Rhea and asked her for notes. But Rhea was in a different world, 

"Rhea?"
She blinked and looked at Ember, "Are you fine?"
She nodded, "I'm okay,"
He continued looking at her, "What?" She asked.

He smiled, "Nothing,"
She looked ahead, "Please don't bother me today,"
"Why? Was it a bad day?"
"Yes, it was an ugly day. Tell me something beautiful," Rhea said.

"Arorhea"
"What is it?"
"Something beautiful" Ember smiled.

She chuckled and a wide smile covered her face, "What?" She laughed shyly. It wasn't very loud, it was a whisper laugh, more of a smile.
"Isn't it wonderful?" Ember pressed his face over his palm.
"What is?"
"That we laugh because our bodies cannot contain the joy,"

"Yes, you're right," She smiled and looked down, "It's the little things that matter,"
"Always," He said.
"Always," She said.

Little things.

She stood before the art room again the next day, after school. The halls were empty and so were the classes. Everyone was going back home, but she stood there in front of the art room.
Just one little knock at the door, one more step. She wore a new skirt, new socks, she washed her hair and tied them up in a ponytail.
It's the little things that matter after all. They change the way you look.
And that changes the way the world perceives you.

She looked at Neel, sitting inside with a canvas board before him. Painting.

Everyone has that one thing
That makes them feel good.
That one thing makes life wonderful.

Even if it's something ordinary
You doing it,
Makes it special.
It makes you look forward to everyday.

Something more.
Something yours.
Your thing.

Neel stopped painting and turned back. There was no one standing at the door anymore. He shrugged and looked ahead again.

Rhea paddled back home.
"Why did I run away?" She thought.
Her legs felt weak. Maybe the summer heat was taking over her. She stopped near a Neem tree and stood under the shade. Suddenly, she saw a pair of brown boots and looked up,

"Rhea?" It was Ember. He held a Starbucks drink in his hand, "You're pretty early for the class today,"
"Class?"
He pointed at the mall before them, "...I don't even know when I came here," She looked dazzled.

Ember laughed, "You're an airhead,"
"Yeah," She smiled, "I'm an airhead...And a coward."
"Rhea?" Ember stopped smiling.
"Painting doesn't make me happy anymore, Ember. It makes me embarrassed because it shows me who I am. And I hate what I see. I see my reflection on that glass door and it overwhelms me...I couldn't go to the art room. I was afraid of looking him in the eyes,"

The floweriest wasn't there that day. Insects was singing on the trees. The sounds of summer were resonating around them.
He looked at her, "Did someone say something to you, Rhea?"
She looked at him, "There's this one dude in my class who really hates me. It's stupid, I know. His opinion shouldn't even matter but it does. It makes me go all...wickity wackity!"

Ember smiled and moved closer to her, "I want you to close your eyes," He whispered.
"Why?"
"There are some things that you can see only after you close your eyes,"

She closed her eyes,
"Now imagine, the world, all the people in it." Ember said, softly, "Everyone has different perspectives and ideas of good and bad. The world is full of people who no matter what you do, will point blank not like you. But it's okay. You are not for everyone and that's okay. You don't have to waste your time trying to convince them of your value, they won't ever want what you're selling. Don't convince them to walk alongside you. It will likely inflict unnecessary wounds. Sharing your path with someone is a sacred gift; don't cheapen it by rolling it in the wrong direction.

Because, the world is full of people who hate you. But, it is also filled with people who love you... Open your eyes," She opened her eyes and he smiled, "Next time, you feel scared, just tell yourself it's a dream,

The worse can happen, but when you wake up,
Everything will be okay,"

She looked into his eyes, 
She saw something, 
It was her reflection.

The refection she saw on that glass door of the art room.
She looked at her.
She looked at Neel standing at the same place again. His workstation.

She pressed her hand over her heart,

"This is just a dream," She whispered to herself as she closed her eyes. And as she closed her big, brown eyes, all she could see was Prussian blue eyes. She smiled and opened the door, "Hello, I am Arorhea Laghari. I'd like to join the club,"

It's a very powerful thing when someone sees you
as the person you wish you were.

-To be continued

Arorhea Laghari
Can't I Touch Your Heart?