|Chapter Ten|

"My neighbour is famous."

"You've said it nearly a fifty times now," Aisha sighs, gazing up at the ceiling.

"Seriously, man, over thousands of people adore you."

"Veer," Aisha says with warning lacing her voice.

Shrugging, he goes back to scrolling through his phone, checking for any new updates on social media. They both are lying over Aisha's bed, next to each other with their legs dangling off the edge lazily.

"Aren't you gonna leave?" Aisha asks him. Payal has left long back and it's about seven in the evening now.

Veer gasps; glancing to his left he shoots a look of hurt at Aisha. "You want riddance from me already?"

"Just saying," Aisha shrugs, staring back up at the ceiling.

"Vivek is no fun when it comes to time-pass," Veer says, resuming to his phone. "I'm better off with you."

"Don't you have any girlfriends to annoy?" Aisha says, rolling her eyes.

"I have you."

"Cheesy and yuck," Aisha gags.

"No, I meant it in a genuine way," Veer laughs. "A girl who is my friend, girl-friend, you see?"

"Smart one," Aisha smirks.

Shrugging, Veer puts his phone away, joining Aisha in the staring fest. "What's so special about the ceiling that you don't even look away from it?" he asks when he gets bored of it.

"It's lifeless and silent," Aisha says. "The nothingness catches my eye. I like trying to paint a vivid picture of something out of this vacancy, you know."

"Deep and out of my capability to understand," Veer nods.

"I know," Aisha giggles.

"You asked me if I had any girlfriends, right?" Veer asks.

"Yep."

"Girlfriends? Plural?" Veer asks again, gaping at her from where he's laying over the bed.

"I mean, why not?" Aisha says. "With your bubbly attitude and that ridiculous smile, you're one heck of a charmer."

"Thanks," Veer grins. "But nope, I don't have any girlfriends as of now."

"How do you think about Payal?" Aisha asks. It's true, though. The two of them spend a lot of time considering that they are co-editors of the school's weekly paper. Moreover, they two seem to understand each other a lot.

"Payal?" Veer says. "She's good."

"So you like her?" Aisha asks.

"Um..." Veer scrunches his nose thoughtfully. "She punches like a dude, yes. But in spite of that she's a good friend."

"Just a friend?" Aisha pushes, furrowing her brows. "Aren't you even a bit interested in her?"

"What?" Veer asks, finally getting the point as he glances at her with wide eyes. "Ew, no." he quickly shakes his head.

"So you don't have any crush?" Aisha asks, her tone lacing disbelief.

"Um... Not that I know of," Veer admits it. "I never found any girl worth that spot in my heart, you know? Friends are okay, but nobody to 'love', in all honesty."

"Wow," Aisha says, turning back to glance at the wall.

"What about you?" Veer asks, smirking at her.

"I do like him but...Don't know if the feelings will reciprocate ever," Aisha shrugs, smiling a sad smile at the ceiling. Those brown eyes fill her mind as she wonders about him.

___________

Okay, Aisha admits it reluctantly; I don't hate Bandra all that much.

It's been a whole week since she moved into the new home, away from her relatives, cousins and friends, and though she misses her home quite often, Aisha can't deny the fact that Bombay's given her equal reasons to smile and laugh.

The identical brunettes being the biggest reasons.

"Can you please walk sometimes?" Aisha asks, glaring at Vivek's back.

"No, can't hear ya," Veer tells her when Vivek doesn't even turn to acknowledge her words.

"You know what? He's gonna get run down by some car if he keeps wearing those earphones on his way to school every day," Aisha grumbles, offended at the idea of being unheeded by Vivek. Though he ain't doing it intentionally, it's still ignorance.

"Nobody's hurting my Easter Bunny," Nitya announces haughtily.

"Aw, thanks Ni," Vivek says, still jogging three feet ahead of them.

"YOU CAN HEAR WHAT WE'RE SAYING?!" Aisha exclaims at Vivek.

Stumbling over his steps, Vivek throws a slightly nervous glance at a fuming Aisha. Before she reaches out and strangles him, the hazel-eyed boy dashes ahead, running into the campus and disappearing amid the crowded halls.

"No worries," Aisha tells herself with reassurance. "I'll kill him in the canteen later."

Dropping Nitya off at the stairs that lead to the fifth standard classrooms, Aisha and Veer head off to the first class of the day. Entering the classroom, Aisha glances around the place confusedly when she spots all the seats vacant. Though it is well past the scheduled timing, there's no teacher at sight.

"Yes!" Veer cheers with a grin.

"Where's everybody?" Aisha asks when he grabs hold of her hand and leads her out of the class, rushing through the scarcely occupied corridors.

"When teachers turn up sick and don't come for classes, the students can either utilize that half hour to work on their pending assignments, or they can head off to the playground to kill the time," Veer explains as he leads the way. "And all of us being hopeless morons, we abandon the class and hangout at the grounds."

"Impressive," comments Aisha with a smirk. "But why are you in such a hurry to reach the playground?"

"That's because-" Veer begins.

"Because he wants to avoid me."

The duo halt out of the blue when the spectacled creature stands in front of them, her arms crossed on her chest with a smirk gracing her lips.

"Hey Payal!" Aisha greets, waving happily.

"Damn it," Veer mutters under his breath with a scowl.

"I was looking for you anyway," Payal grins slyly at Veer. "Since you've got a free class, we better use that time to proofread the articles to be published for Friday."

So that's what the hurry was all about, Aisha thinks.

"Okay madam," Veer makes a face before following Payal.

"Oh, and Ashie," Payal says, glancing at the raven-haired girl. "You too can come along and see how we work, if you want to."

"I'd love to," Aisha beams, following them closely.

Passing through the halls, the trio ascend the stairs to the third floor. Another minute into navigating through the corridors, they enter a cabin. While Veer and Payal get engaged with their usual work, Aisha takes a moment to glance around the place.

The editor's cabin is small but comfy with beige walls and motivational quotes covering one of the walls. A rack holds various stacks of papers and the latest edition of the monthly magazine is stuck up on the soft-board. A large table occupies the centre of the room with chairs strewn around.

"It's such a sweet little place!" Aisha exclaims, pulling out an old monthly magazine to flip through it.

"If only the work wasn't always this akin," Veer sighs, skimming through an article.

"Deshmukh here always wants something new and happening," Payal states to Aisha.

"An editors' post probably isn't the best choice then," Aisha says, glancing at the brown-eyed guy who shrugs with a sheepish look.

"Oops," Veer mumbles when a peach leaflet slips out of the many pending articles and lands somewhere near Payal's feet.

"I'll get it," she murmurs before crouching over and picking the paper up.

"So when are you making a tutorial featuring me?" Veer asks, throwing a grin at Aisha.

The raven-haired girl groans out in annoyance. "Like I said, no videos until next two weeks," Aisha says. "I don't want to upload too many at a time and then run out of the zeal, you know?"

Veer pouts in silent protest. Their stare-off is interrupted by a loud shriek from Payal who was reading that leaflet.

"OH MY GOD! AISHA, YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!"

_____________

"No."

"But why?!" Payal asks, puzzled.

"It's a superb platform, Ash," Veer backs Payal up.

"I don't know guys..." Aisha mumbles, skimming through that peach leaflet for the tenth time.

The group is in the canteen now, on their usual table, with Veer and Payal trying their level best to persuade Aisha into the offer. Vivek, meanwhile, is observing everything intently.

"What?" Veer asks, tilting his head confusedly.

"This whole hairstyling competition and stuff is okay but..." Aisha trails off. "I don't know if mum and dad will agree to it."

"Of course they will!" Veer says.

Aisha throws him a pointed look. "For starters, they don't even know about my YouTube tutorials, so that means they won't like the idea in the first place," she tells her friends.

Throwing his hands in frustration, Veer pushes himself out of his seat before striding out of the place, his steps furious. Aisha resists the urge to run after him and make him understand.

Payal opens her mouth to speak when she is interrupted by a Garima, a fellow student. "Just think about it, Ashie," Payal tells Aisha before walking away to the girl at the entrance of the canteen.

With two people gone, the table turns silent and awkward for Aisha. Vivek's been deviously mute throughout the argument and Aisha can't help but wonder why. A minute more into this soundless arrangement and she gives up.

"Won't you tell me anything?" she asks Vivek. The latter seems throws off-guard with the sudden question. Looking up at the caramel-eyed girl, he studies her face for a moment.

"Don't you want the topic to be left off?" he asks. "You yourself said that it's a bad idea."

"I know what I said," Aisha sighs and rolls her eyes. "I wanna know what you think about it."

"Will my opinion matter if you've made up your mind already?" Vivek asks softly, looking at Aisha. Silence is all that comes as a response to him. Smiling wryly, the hazel-eyed boy goes back to finishing his lunch.

"You should participate in it, Aisha," he speaks after a moment.

Looking up, she glances at Vivek's face for a brief while, contemplating over her options and weighing everything. Sighing, she bites her lip in thought. "Okay," Aisha speaks with a nod. "I'll take part in the contest."

______________

Author's Note:-

Like Vivek, is there anyone in here who's a music addict as well?

Coz I am one heck of a listener! My all-time favourite artists include Arijit Singh, Louis Tomlinson, Shreya Ghoshal, Harry Styles and Armaan Malik.

Oh, wait! Johnny Orlando and Jason Derulo are also love!!

Lemme know in the comments about your fave ones ;)

OML WAIT!!! HOW TF CAN I FORGET ANNE MARIE!? Oh, and ED SHEERAN!!!

.....

My list is pretty long... Discussing music in my A/N was a bad idea after all.

See y'all at the next update!
Buh-bye!!!
*waves a goodbye*