|Chapter Twelve|

"Come on, Aisha!"

"Just give me a second!"

"Second's over!"

"VEER!?" Aisha glares at the brown-eyed boy whining at her bedroom's doorway.

"What?!" he asks back with equal ferocity. Aisha resists the urge to throw her bag on his face.

"Take your time," Vivek interrupts his brother, pulling Veer off the doorway. "It's just that he's excited."

"Tell him to keep shut," Aisha tells Vivek, stuffing the last book into her bag. "Ma will find it shady if we leave for school with this level of euphoria."

Never in her life has Aisha ever bunked school, so the thought itself is nerve-wrecking for her. What if authorities contact my parents, enquiring about my absence? What if Ma and Deuta find out? What if we meet someone on the way who would tell my parents about me wandering the streets of Mumbai when I should be at school?

'What ifs' seem to have become the highlight of her day now.

"You're right." Vivek nods. Turning to his twin, he smacks a hand on his head, causing Veer to yelp like a hurt puppy.

"What was that for?!" he asks Vivek, rubbing the spot on his head with a frown.

"One hit for every time you howl," Vivek tells him.

"Ugh," Veer groans but when Vivek raises his hand for a second smack, he puts a finger on his lip expressively.

Once done with the packing, Aisha slings the bag over her shoulder before heading out of her room with the boys. Nitya rushes to her sister with a big smile, her bag dangling over her shoulders.

"Ma, we'll get going," Aisha tells her mother who's in the kitchen.

"Enjoy your day!" Tulika responds from there.

Taking Nitya's hand, Aisha heads down the stairs of the building with the twins following up behind. Their first stop is going to be school, for Aisha needs to drop Nitya at the campus first. It makes her guilty that Nitya, her closest soul, is kept in the dark about this whole contest. But telling an eleven-year-old about the plan isn't a very wise move. Nitya would hardly keep the plan to herself.

"I know my way," Nitya tells Aisha when they enter the campus corridors. Slipping her hand out of her sister's grasp, the little girl ambles off to her class.

"Okay," Aisha says, turning to look at Veer and Vivek. "Now what?"

"Now we head back out of campus," Veer directs, turning on his heel and taking a lead.

As hazardous as it sounds, Veer is the one who has drawn the whole strategy up. He's the only one who knows what exactly they are supposed to be doing. Aisha's asked him for a million times to disclose the plan to her and Vivek but the brown-eyed boy seems to be enjoying the aura of mystery that he gets to carry with the clandestineness of the plan, meaning he hasn't shared a word about their escape to anyone.

Since the warning bell is yet to go off, they are easily allowed out of the campus by the guard who seems to be engrossed in watching a repeat telecast of some cricket match.

"Who's batting now, Kumar ji?" Veer asks nonchalantly to the guard.

Aisha panics at the stupid move. Why does Veer need to make conversation now? The guard will simply remember their faces now!

"Rishav Neil," the guard answers. "About to make a century now."

"Delhi's gonna win this one then," Veer muses with a nod.

"I guess so," the man agrees, resuming to the match.

Veer then heads out of the campus with Aisha and Vivek following up. When they reach the other side of the street, Aisha glares at him.

"Are you out of your mind?" Aisha asks him. "The guard would know that we three had left and if anyone enquires about us, he's gonna remember us!"

"Relax, Ash," Veer tells her with a smile. "I often go out of campus to grab some snacks or for some fresh air and, every time I go, I make a little conversation with that guard. So if this time I'd have left without a word then that would've been shadier."

Blinking at the brown-eyed boy, she wonders whether to appreciate his intellect or not.

"Now?" Vivek asks his brother.

"Now we wait for a white Renault," Veer tells them, scanning the street up and down. "There it is," he grins, pointing a hand at an SUV heading down the street towards them.

"Who is he?" Aisha asks when the car crawls to a halt beside them and a guy climbs out of the driving seat.

"Yash Desai," Vivek answers her, more like addresses the guy. The fellow is dressed in a casual black jacket and jeans, matched with a pair of sneakers. Aisha assumes him to not be any older than his mid-twenties.

"Hey guys," he smiles at them.

"Payal's brother?" Aisha asks Veer.

"Yeah, that's me," Yash responds with a grin. "So you're Aisha Medhi?"

"Yeah," Aisha nods, "How did you know already?"

"Are you kidding me?" Yash asks. "With the amount of time I've spent listening about you from Payal and Veer, I feel like I know you since ages."

Aisha shakes her head at Veer who shrugs sheepishly at her. "Let's get you to Bandra East now," Yash says, clapping his hands before climbing back into the car.

Aisha climbs into the backseat with Veer and Vivek. Once the trio has settled, Aisha's startled by the presence of a fifth person in the Renault, seated on the shotgun.

"Hi, Ashie!"

"Payal?" the three passengers utter at the same moment.

"Aw, look how happy you three are at the sight of me!" Payal says, her voice breaking a little at the end.

"You're having a cold," Aisha says. "You should've stayed at home, dumbo!"

"Who's having a cold?" Payal asks, wiping her nose with a tissue hastily.

"Really now?" Vivek asks, narrowing his eyes at Payal.

"I'm all healthy now!" Payal whines, "Right, Yash?"

Yash sighs, steering through the busy roads. "I've grown tired of persuading her to sleep and get some rest," he tells the trio. "So the last option I had was to take her along."

"That's so what Payal would do," Veer sighs, earning a tissue box thrown on his head by Payal. "Ow!" he yelps when the box hits him square on the head. "What's it with people hitting me on my poor head today!?"

"You welcome," Payal grins.

"So how far is it?" Aisha asks Yash.

"Not too far," he responds. "It's probably gonna take about a ten-fifteen minute drive."

Nodding, Aisha sits back on the seat, her arm brushing against Vivek's who is sitting in between her and Veer.

"You excited?" Vivek asks her quietly.

"Maybe," Aisha tries and smiles at him to conceal the anxiety rising in her chest.

"Hey, Veer?" Payal asks from the shotgun.

"What?" he asks back with annoyance.

"Can I get the tissue box back?" she asks sheepishly. "My nose is crying again."

_____________

If Aisha needs to describe the L'Oreal Hairstyling Harmony in one word, then it would be astounding. The streets around the building are jam-packed with traffic and it appears as if the whole of Mumbai has showed up to witness the preliminary round. Afraid of running late, the group decides to walk their way to the event while Yash would bring the car in with the crawling traffic.

"Oh no, no, no," Aisha shakes her head at Payal who is about to climb out of the Renault and join the trio.

"What?" Payal asks with a little sniff.

"You're sick, so stay with Yash and join us relaxingly," Aisha tells the spectacled girl. Scowling, Payal crosses her arms and settles over the shotgun with offended resignation.

"Let's go," Vivek says, taking Aisha's arm lightly. Nodding, she starts navigating through the heavy traffic until she and the twins are on the sidewalk. Adjusting her bag, Aisha takes a deep breath before heading for the huge glass-panelled building.

"Holy Kurkure!" Veer exclaims when he spots the crowd at the entrance.

"Kurkure?" Aisha asks, giggling at his choice of snack.

"People say Doritos, so why can't I give it a desi twist?" Veer shrugs.

"Okay," Vivek sighs. "The crowd is thick, so we better hurry."

Nodding, Aisha heads for the massive doors which are left wide open but are obstructed with black and silver chains, forcing the people to form a queue. Guards are standing on both ends, maintaining decorum.

"You got this," Vivek whispers to her when Aisha hesitates with stepping forth. Smiling shakily at him, she waits in the queue like all the others. Half an hour later, Aisha's got herself a participant number pasted on her white school shirt. To avoid heavy crowding inside the building, only one person is allowed in with every participant. This led to quite a debate between the twins.

At last, the decision was made with a rock, paper, and scissor match. Vivek won.

"I think you should get your blazer off," Vivek tells her when they are sitting in the waiting area with all the other participants.

"Why?"

"Otherwise it's more obvious that you're from some school, you know,"

"Yeah, right," Aisha nods, slipping out of the grey blazer which she hands over to the hazel-eyed boy.

The prelims were being carried out in batches, each batch having fifteen participants. About two batches were done with their prelims and with every passing minute, Aisha was turning more and more nervy.

"Batch three," a crewman calls from the list. "Participant numbers 045 to 060 are asked to head over to the hall."

"That's your call," Vivek tells her with a smile.

"I can't do this."

"What...?" Vivek asks her, his brows furrowing with concern at the sight of Aisha's pale face.

"I...can't, Vi..." Aisha mumbles. "Making a tutorial video in front of a camera...all alone in my room and... performing a hairstyle in front of world-class hairstylists are two totally different situations..."

"Aisha," Vivek sighs.

"Back in my room, if I messed up with something...it wasn't a big deal because I could always edit the video but...here, no mistakes can be afforded..." she mutters, feeling her hands turn cold and stiff.

"Aisha-"

"Let's just get out of here and go back to school...You can attend your sprinting practice...Veer can go back and work with Payal on this week's paper and I'll be back to my science class-"

"Aisha." This time, she shuts up when a warm hand slips into her smaller one, entwining her fingers with his, Vivek looks at her softly. Gulping anxiously, Aisha bites her lip, trying her best and resisting the urge to flee from this place.

"Look at me," Vivek says. Raising her head, she peers at him uncertainly through her lashes to find him smiling a small smile at her.

"You're right," he speaks. "Making a tutorial video in front of a camera is far from performing in front of hairstylists who will judge your work. And this difference is going to be the beginning of something terrific. Trust me."

Aisha keeps looking into those hazel hues mutely.

"I have seen the light which you possess, Aisha," he tells her. "It's time for you to go and discover your potential."

In that moment, Aisha feels a weird sort of warmth in Vivek's touch; a good weird, she means. His presence seems to be the solution to every problem and before she realizes it, her heart's stopped pounding crazily over her chest.

"Go and discover," Vivek whispers to her with a reassuring smile.

Smiling back a genuine smile this time, Aisha raises from the seat before heading for the hall. Deep inside, she feels that now, she can do it.

___________

Author's Note:

I wish I had a motivator like Vivek in times of need.

All I get when I'm downright nervous and anxious about something is my over-impulsive consciousness which seems to make matters only worse than they already are!

Oh, and did you guys like the little cameo of our cricketer, Mr Neil? ;)

See y'all at the next update!
xoxo