|Chapter Eight|

The canteen is packed with students and their chattering conversations which surround the air. Aisha's still trying to cope with the stares she earns every now and then by passers who know about yesterday's debacle and the whole virus prank on her desk.

"Ash," Veer calls from across the little table. "Cheer up, please?"

"I'm okay, Veer," Aisha forces a smile on her face.

"That's the liveliest smile ever," Payal states sarcastically.

"It's nothing, really," Aisha tries, resuming to her lunch. Internally, she's glad that Vivek isn't with them today. A science teacher had asked him to meet them at the break hour to discuss about some project so he was gone.

"Get out of your seat."

"What?" Aisha asks, glancing up at Payal confusedly.

"Just get up," Payal says, taking Aisha's arm in her grasp.

"What are you doing, Payal?" Aisha can't help but ask as Payal drags the latter with her to the front of the canteen. Standing next to Aisha, the girls face the entire cafeteria where the students are still busy with their conversations and lunch.

"Guys!" Payal yells at the top of her voice. "Listen up!"

The canteen turns silent in a few minutes as most heads turn to face the duo. Aisha shuffles over her feet, wondering what's up the spectacled girl's sleeves now.

"Look at this girl over here," Payal says, waving a casual hand at Aisha. The whole of the student body averts their eyes to Aisha, making her extremely uncomfortable. "What the hell are you doing?" she whispers to Payal but it all goes in vain.

"Whoever will be able to guess the place she's come from gets a free treat from me," Payal says.

"Manipur?" one girl guesses.

"Mizoram," another one estimates.

"Aizawl!" someone speaks.

"Idiot, Aizawl is in Mizoram anyway," someone else counters, making a chorus of laughter erupt from the tables around them.

"China," a voice echoes. Aisha narrows her eyes at Ayan who smirks at her with vehemence.

"India," some legendary kid decides to guess.

"That's very specific, my lord," Payal scoffs at the student, making Aisha giggle.

"Meghalaya!" someone else tries their luck.

"Anyone else wanna try?" Payal asks.

"Assam," a familiar voice hits Aisha's ears. Turning, she finds Vivek standing at the entrance of the canteen, smiling at her in his usual way, his hazel eyes bright.

"Bingo," Payal says to Vivek. "But you know her personally. So no treat for you since you cheated."

"But I really didn't know!" Vivek argues, not really bothered about losing a free treat but simply wanting to mess with Payal.

"You saw that, Aisha?" Payal asks. "While jerks like Ayan do exist, there is a bigger majority who knows and accepts the northeast as a part of their own country. They know the names and the capitals as well of the states, just like they know of Punjab and Haryana."

Aisha smiles a big smile at Payal. Stepping ahead, she hugs the girl in front of her dearly. "Thanks, Payal," she says, still hugging her.

Laughing, Payal hugs her back. "I did nothing, idiot," she tells Aisha as she pulls away. "Now let's get back to our lunch."

Reaching their table, Aisha can't help but laugh when she realizes that Payal's sandwich no longer sits on the plate, it vanished. "The stuffing was good, but a little mayonnaise would've been wonderful too," Veer says, grinning lazily at Payal who now glares at him with all her might.

"YOU HUNGRY MORON-" Payal begins and as she does so, Veer jumps into action, slipping out of his seat like a swift cat and dashing out of the canteen with Payal chasing after him.

"I agree with you now," Aisha says to Vivek who now sits beside her.

"On what?" he asks, grinning.

"That Veer is ten times worse than Nitya," Aisha ends up into another chain of laughs. Her giggles are so infectious that Vivek ends up chuckling and in no time, the two are laughing like maniacs. Vivek doesn't know when was the last time that he laughed this way, this carefree, but he's grateful for it.

_________

Shutting the door lock, Aisha turns to grin at Vivek who stands at the centre of the room rather awkwardly. "Don't smile at me that way, you're creeping me out," he mutters honestly when Aisha approaches him with that smile plastered on her face.

"I'm excited! Can you blame me for that?" Aisha squeals, her smile only growing wider.

"What do I do now?" he asks, genuinely clueless.

Aisha skips over to her wardrobe and grabs the stool, placing it at the centre of her bedroom, the way she used to do for Nitya. "Have a seat," she tells him.

Nodding, Vivek settles over the little stool, his arms crossed with uncertainty over his chest as he taps his foot.

"Lemme inspect your hair once," Aisha says, walking around and standing behind the seated boy. She runs her fingers through Vivek's brown, messy locks and immediately realizes that he's got really dense hair. The tresses are soft and light, smoothly brushing against her fingertips like soft feathers. Nitya's hair is long and Aisha's never handled short hair before, so the touch of Vivek's hair is foreign to her.

"I'll have to trim them a bit before working on the hairstyle," Aisha explains, making Vivek whip his head around to peer at her with horrified eyes.

"You said only hairstyles, no haircuts," he mutters.

"I know I did, but the style won't come out clean if I don't trim the ends a little," Aisha tries to comfort him. "Relax; I won't make you go bald."

"Fine..." Vivek mumbles with dread, turning back to his previous position.

"Besides, you'll look handsome with no hair as well," Aisha smirks.

"Aisha!" Vivek scowls from his seat, making her giggle at his worry.

"Don't worry, Vi," she says as she grabs the pair of scissors and a tail-comb. "I won't let anything go wrong." While Aisha can't view his face from where she stands, Vivek has a small smile gracing his lips at the new nickname he received from her.

About forty minutes later, Aisha sighs with contentedness as she steps back and looks down at Vivek. She has now trimmed his hair into layers, giving it an unnatural wave that looks terrific on him. His hazel eyes look back at her anxiously. "Can I see it?" he asks, a little bit worried.

"Just a minute," Aisha says, leaning over, closer to his face. Vivek keeps his eyes trained onto her mesmerising face as she goes on adjusting the few last locks over his forehead. Once she's done, she moves back with a smile.

"See for yourself now," Aisha says, waving a hand at the wardrobe mirror. Getting out of his seat, Vivek pulls off the towel from over his shoulders as he strolls over to the mirror.

"What the mother-" 

"Language!" Aisha reprimands, laughing as she watches Vivek gawk at his reflection.

"How did you do it?!" Vivek asks, glancing back at Aisha, still trying to process the new avatar. "I'm never going to the salon from now on," he adds, running a hand through his hair, trying to make himself believe the change.

"Thanks," Aisha smiles at him while cleaning off the hair trimmings from the floor and discarding them into the trash can silently.

"No, seriously though, have you considered this as a profession?" Vivek asks her after getting a final glimpse of himself on the mirror.

Aisha doesn't respond as she arranges for the brushes and hairspray, not really knowing how to answer Vivek's question. "Aisha?" he asks, now fully turned towards her.

"I don't know..." Aisha shrugs off, not meeting his eye as she grabs the towel and dumps it into the laundry basket at the corner; all the while Vivek trails her silently with his gaze.

"Why?" Vivek asks.

"We don't have much time, come on," Aisha dodges the question swiftly. "I need to record the hairstyle tutorial now."

Frowning at her response, Vivek nods silently, resuming to his seat at the centre of the room.

"You and I, both, will face our backs to the camera throughout the video, okay?" Aisha clears away.

"Why though?"

"How else are we supposed to keep the identity a secret?" Aisha asks back, placing her hands on her hips.

Vivek grins sheepishly at her. "Yeah, right." He then furrows his brows confusedly. "What about your voice? Won't that give away the identity?" he asks as Aisha places the camera and stands behind him.

"I don't speak, simple," Aisha explains.

"You're one hell of a tutor then," Vivek marvels as Aisha begins with the styling.

"Not as good a maths tutor as you, though," she tells him with a smile.

Later on in the night, Vivek is in his room, scrolling through his phone while lying over his bed, his free hand brushing his hair absent-mindedly, recalling the delicate way in which Aisha had brushed her fingers through them. She really is talented to have given Vivek such a makeover with just a pair of scissors and hairbrushes.

He wonders if Aisha's silence over his question about taking up hairstyling as a serious profession meant that she isn't even going to try. A frown tugs at his lips at that thought. Aisha has potential; she just doesn't know it yet.

"Vivek!" a voice booms into the room as a tall, lanky figure barges into the room.

Craning his neck up from where he is laying on his bed, Vivek glances at his brother. Veer has excitement flashing through his eyes with his one hand grasping onto his phone and his other arm wrapped around Popo who is pressed against his chest.

"For God's sake, stop choking Popo, he'd die someday," Vivek jokes, resuming to scrolling through social media.

"That's not the point!" Veer says, approaching Vivek's bed.

"Don't you dare plop your ass on my bed-"

But before Vivek finishes with his warning, Veer's already conquered half of the bed, nearly squishing his twin. Groaning out in disapproval, Vivek sighs as he gets sandwiched between his brother and the wall adjacent to the bed.

"There's this YouTuber who posts amazing videos on hairstyle tutorials," Veer begins. "But the problem was that she always posts tutorials on hairstyles for girls."

"Uh-huh," Vivek mumbles, clutching his phone tighter now.

"So I asked her in the comments if she could make a tutorial for guys about a few days back and she had replied in positive," Veer says, the grin ever so persistent on his lips. "Guess what?"

"What?" Vivek manages to ask, hoping he doesn't look like a reindeer in the headlights.

"She posted a video with a guy! It's a tutorial for boys!" Veer exclaims, showing the screen to his brother.

"That's great," Vivek tries to sound as if he's heard this news for the first time. He prays that Veer doesn't recognize him in the video.

"Ah, that dude has got his hair trimmed in layers," Veer sighs. "I'd have to make a trip to the salon if I want to try this one."

"Then get it done tomorrow," Vivek mumbles, trying to keep his calm. He's never been good enough with lying anyway.

"Yeah, I will," Veer nods. The brothers then engage into a conversation of random topics, with Vivek thankful that the video was no longer being discussed.

Soon enough, their mom calls for them to come and have dinner. Veer is already at the doorway with Vivek climbing out of the bed. When he raises his eyes, he pauses to find Veer gawking at him with a pout.

"What?" Vivek asks, throwing him a slightly freaked out look.

"You lucky brat," Veer sighs. "You already have the perfect cut to attempt that style."

Vivek laughs, or at least tries to, at that casual comment.

___________

Author's Note:-

Anyone here who is gifted with the ability to lie ever so smoothly? 

Coz I know I'm one heck of a liar, NOT. 

My voice tends to go an octave higher when trying to lie and I can't seem to hold eye-contact anymore. Yeah, it sucks. 

See y'all at the next update! 

*waves a goodbye*