Neeti came back to school after a week. We put up a "Welcome Back" hoarding in front of the hostel building and held a party for her in the dining room.

She seemed happy and vivacious and it was even harder to believe that she had actually attempted suicide.

"Good to have you back", I said as I gave her a one armed hug.

"It's good to be back" she said, she then sighed and picked up a glass of orange juice from the counter. I followed suit.

I didn't want to bombard her. I was waiting for her to speak.

I was not disappointed. She finally took a deep breath and said, "You know Hina, I thought even if I died nobody would bother but here you all are fussing over me and throwing a party."

Ah! What a new story. We've never heard this before.

I heard a tingling noise and all of us turned around to see Naira holding a glass in one hand and a spoon in another.

"Everybody. I want to raise a toast to my sister who is back amongst all of us today. And luckily so. Neeti, today is a second birth for you. And this second birth is not just for you. It's for me too. I realise that for a fresh start, you don't need an auspicious time or a place. It can happen today. Now. Because there is nothing more auspicious than a person willing to start afresh. And sis, today we're going to start afresh. There's so much I shouldn't have done but so much more that I want to do now. So let's not take this second chance for granted. I don't take you for granted. Cheers!"

Everyone clapped loudly. I could never have imagined that the non stop chatty Naira could speak so much sense.

Neeti walked up to her sister and hugged her.

I turned to my side to see Kimayra wiping her eyes.

I was also overwhelmed. I hadn't seen such unbridled sibling love since, well, never.

But the Sharma family drama was soon terminated by the entry of our warden into the dining room.

"If the sentiment play is over, you all may go to bed. It's almost 11 pm, you know!"

The crowd in the dining room slowly dispersed and all of us went back upto our rooms. I was feeling a rush of positivism after Naira's little speech.

When I reached my room, I found a notice on my bedside table. I tore it open to find something..well, not very nice.

It said that the academic decathlon had been preponed from January 30 to January 24 and that official practice sessions would begin from the next day.

It was a matter of six days but somehow January 24 felt much closer than January 30. We had barely ten days left.

I was suddenly freaking out over it. My positivism resolutions seemed to have evaporated into air and I was reverting to constantly thinking about what a giant bucket of puke my life was.

I barely slept for the next few days. I looked up new topics on the web and started to learn them. The decathlon requires expert knowledge not just in academic fields like science, computer and commerce but also areas like music, art and literature.

The official practice sessions started the next day.

Ishaan gave me a startling news the next morning.

"You know I really tried to speak to him. He wouldn't even listen to me", he said.

I almost spat out my breakfast, "Ishaan! Are you telling me you went and begged Yuvan to get back with me?"

"I did not beg", said Ishaan dryly.

"Really? Then what did you do?" I asked sarcastically.

"I just patiently tried to explain to him that you really cared about him and that you valued his company and that he was such a bastard to ditch you like that and that he no class at all. But maybe, his decency level would slightly improve if he tried to make up with you", Ishaan said very calmly.

I stared him. He stared back at me.

"Ishaan! You shouldn't have!" I found myself saying the same thing, I had said to Yuvan in Rishikesh about two months ago when he had given me the saree. The Rishikesh episode seemed like a different lifetime now.

"Why not?" he asked looking genuinely concerned.

"Why? Because I said so!" I said imitating Tony Stark in Spiderman Homecoming.

"Don't you want him back?" asked Ishaan looking grave.

"No", I shook my head smiling. "I'm over the whole thing Ishaan. Trust me. I really appreciate your kindness but promise me you won't do something like that again".

Ishaan didn't open his mouth and say "I promise" but just nodded his head and we let it drift at that.

Meanwhile our teacher kept constantly warning us about maintaining discipline in the presence of the so called outsiders.

"So many students, faculty, judges and other dignitaries from so many places will be present. So for heavens sake behave properly. Don't show your horns to those people. They will certainly access the standard of our school", Ms Agnes said on the intercom for the fifth time that week.

On the day before the decathlon, we spent the whole day in the library, prepping for the competition.

Everyone was taking notes, looking up stuff on the internet and doing mock sessions for the next day's event.

I managed to answer a number of questions which were way beyond my usual level. I was quite thrilled and pleased. Of course there is the team spirit stuff according to which it didn't matter how much you do as an individual but only what your team does together, but inside my head I was hoping to answer at least one question the next day.

Finally around midnight, the librarian, came and chucked all of us out.

We went back to the hostel, hoping that we would win the trophy, the next day.

The next morning, at least twenty buses from other schools lined up in the main ground of the campus. So many different uniforms swarmed by.

The chief guest was an educationist from Delhi. All the students eagerly took their seats. In half an hour, our 3000 seater auditorium was full.

All of us, participants were ready. I was a total nervous wreck and I thought I was going to pee my pants.

The chief guest gave his speech and finally said, "I wish all the school's, good luck. I now officially declare, the Annual Academic Decathlon OPEN!"

The anchor announced the name of each school as the respective teams walked up to the stage.

"And next....Mira Residential Higher Secondary School".

There was loud cheering. Since we were the host school, we had the home crowd to support us. That made me slightly cheerful.

The competition began.

Each of us had a buzzer next to us and we had to press the buzzer to answer the question.

As we progressed into the competition, the tension slowly faded away and we gained focus. The initial rounds went smoothly. Mira easily cleared the first six rounds. I actually managed to answer three of four questions. Most of us lost our nervousness and the competition eventually picked up speed and fire.

As the rounds continued, we became more confident. The later rounds were slightly more difficult. All our prep was paying off. I was ecstatic.

Mira finally managed to clear the ninth round. It was almost afternoon by then. The final round was between Mira and another boarding academy called Mahaveer's.

Everyone was thrilled. The anxiety was thick in the air.

"Guys, we're one step away from the Cup. We gotta do this!" Harshad kept reminding us.

Not that we needed any reminder.