Nidhi's POV

The next morning, I had two lectures, French and Microorganism study. I met Meera outside in the courtyard, after my lecture was over.

"Ugh, my arm cramped up from all the notes." I said.

"Ok, hurry. We don't have a lot of time. It's already one thirty. We have to be in the lab at 2:00." Meera said. We rushed to the dorms, had a quick lunch of noodles and ran to the lab, barely making it on time.

"I am glad everyone here is on time, especially after yesterday's warning. Now, the first challenge of the mock trials is this." he said, unveiling a covered object.

It was two sheets of paper?

"This is a scavenger hunt of sorts. There are clues hidden in the entire college. The person who finds the pen first will win the trial." he said, showing us a golden-colored pen. "You have exactly one hour. I will be splitting you in teams of five."

Team One: Meera, Neel, Nina, Jake and Joyce

Team Two: Randhir, Nidhi, Carter, Mason and Kate

"Your time starts now!" Mr. Derek said.

Randhir ran ahead of me and picked up the paper. All of us huddled around him.

The clue had a picture of a clock which had the number 2 on it. It vaguely looked like the clock in the..

"Library!" Randhir and I said at the same time. We tore off running for it.  I found the library clock and took out the piece of paper.

'You will find the next clue, where people go if they have the flu.' Randhir read out.

"Infirmary." said Kate and we took off running. But we were halted by a nurse.

"You can't go inside."

"It's for a project Nurse." Carter said.

"Please let us in!" Mason pleaded.

"I don't care. I cannot allow any student to casually come in here for a project and disturb the resting students." she said.

"Where is Nurse Lila?" I asked the large and scary looking nurse.

"She is on leave. I am the nurse here until them and you are not allowed in here." she said and closed the door on us.

"What are we going to do?" Mason asked worriedly.

"I have a badge that I could use but I'm only allowed to use it when I am working here once a week." I said.

"We have only one option guys: faking an illness." Randhir said.

"Then who's gonna go in?" Carter asked, his baby blue eyes looking at me.

"It's gonna have to be either Kate or Nidhi." Mason said.

"I think I should go." I said. "Fainting in 3...2...1..."

I fell only to be protected by a strong hand. Kate and Mason began to act.

"Oh My God! Nidhi! WAKE UP!" Mason yelled.

"Nidhi? What happened?" Kate said shaking me violently. It look all my willpower not to kick her. I said to act, not to OVERact!

 Then the nurse stepped out. "What is happening here?"

"Nurse, she hasn't eaten anything from the morning. She has only been working for the Aspire team project. Can we come in now?" Carter said.

"Come in." she said. Then the person who held me, picked me up bridal style. I held on to him because he walked so violently, it was like being in an earthquake in the air!

"Ugh...Fatty" Randhir said. So he was the one holding me?

I hissed, my eyes still closed. "You are going to get it from me once this mock trial is done."

Randhir put me on the bed. The nurse inserted a drip inside me. Meanwhile, Carter distracted her when Randhir searched the entire room for the clue.

Mason said "Try the AED machine!" from outside. Randhir found it and opened it. Inside lay the last clue to our destination. I sat up on the bed, carefully removing the drip inserted in me. Randhir sat next to me on the bed and we both read the last clue.

'Sitting in the pew is the last clue'

"The pew...That's it!" I realized.

"The Chapel!" Randhir said. We ran for it, the nurse screaming behind us. The group members followed us. I could see Meera's team running for the chapel as well. We reached there and frantically began searching for the pen.

Randhir and I grabbed the same book and the pen fell out. He picked it up.

"Yes! We found it!" He said in joy. Meera's team got there and began to whine. We ran back to Prof. Derek's office and placed the pen on his desk.

"Well done Team One." Professor Derek said. "There will be round two of the Mock Trials tomorrow at 5:00 pm. We are meeting in the woodworking classroom." Professor Derek said and dismissed us.

Meera came over to me. "Congrats! We got delayed when we went off campus to the Horse farm."

"Horse farm? Why?" I asked.

"Because the clue read 'Wherever the horse goes to the loo, you will find the clue.'"

"Ewww...you should probably go and take a shower. Even I need to freshen up!" I said.

We went back to the dorms and I freshened up, changing into a black kurti with pink leggings. I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and decided to let it free.

Meera and I walked to the auditorium where Neel was setting up things.

"Hey Neel, I am here." I said.

"Hi Meera!" He said brightly. "Oh and hi Nidhi." he said.

Then Randhir walked over. "What is she doing here?"

"Neel, I thought you told him?" I asked.

"Told me what?" Randhir asked me.

"That I am the female singer of this band." I said smugly.

"NEEL? IS IT TRUE?" Randhir asked, angrily.

"Uh...ya.." Neel said.

"I can't work with her! I mean, have you seen how arrogant she acts? No respect for men at all."

"Hello, I only respect people who deserve to be respected. And you certainly don't fit under that category."

"You!" he said, lunging towards me. But Neel stopped him and took him away. After a good five minutes, He was back with a sullen Randhir.

"We are ready Nidhi. We are going over a new song for the school's Culture Fair in March." Neel said. I went and stood on stage next to Randhir. Neel began the keyboard when another guy began playing the guitar.

Suddenly feelings of guilt rolled in me. My parents used to make me feel guilty whenever I sang, saying that I was not giving Naina a chance to shine. I felt vulnerable and scared because I felt that I wasn't going to sing well. Naina, Mom and Dad always insulted the ways I sang and attempted to ruin every moment that I sang in a function. That's why I had ever left singing. But I was snapped out of all the Ill thoughts when I heard Randhir sing.

He had the most mesmerizing voice I had ever heard that came close to my favorite singer ever in Bollywood. We went through the entire song and I could see Randhir enjoying himself when he sang. It was the only time he let himself loose and smile freely.

After we finished Randhir turned over to me. "Not Bad." he said.

"Thanks and you too." I said.

We both shared the briefest of smiles.  Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

"And by the way, what I said before was true, Fatty." he said, referring to the incident this afternoon.

And there he goes again and ruins my impression over him.

Kurti: Upper garment for men and women, originating in South Asia, with regional variations of form.