"M-Meera Ganesh?", someone read her name.

"Yes?", Meera turned, startled at the crowd of boys standing, all looking at her.

"You are Meera?", the first boy asked again.

"Yes?", Meera answered, her tone cutting off any doubts that they seemed to have.

"Leah's friend whose coming on the hiking trip, right.", he asked again.

Meera nodded.

"OK, so we are the organizers. Can we sit?", he asked, gesturing to the empty seats around the circular cafeteria table.

"Sure.", she shrugged, going back to picking her food from her lunch box.

"Hey listen! A few things will be made clear now. Please don't come later saying we didn't tell you about it." Meera nodded.

"So Karthik..., oh wait! You don't know any of our names, huh?", the boy realized with a a start.

Meera shook her head.

"So this is Karthik.", he pointed at a boy with carefully gelled hair, who flashed her a smirk. "This is Omkar.", he pointed at a boy with an expensive backpack, who lifted his hand in acknowledgement and let it fall back again. "This is Deepak.", he pointed at a guy with a book in his hand, who nodded at her before going back to the book. "Pankaj." he pointed at a guy with nerdy glasses, with a sandwich, who waved the sandwich at her, smiling. "Aayush!", he yelled, when he couldn't see where the boy was, but the boy in question had just bent down to pick up the fallen sheets and when he came up at the mention of his name, his hands were full and he just nodded his head at her, a slight half-grin on his face, showing a cute dimple. "And myself Arun.", the boy finally finished the introductions, indicating his leadership of this group of 6 boys.

"Nice to meet you all!", Meera finally smiled at them, after a moment's hesitation.

"So back to the hiking trip, you have to fill up this form here.", Arun gestured at the sheet that Aayush passed from his hand.

"You come and submit the form when you finish to either me or Pankaj.", he told her.

"Ok wait! This says we are not responsible for any untoward incidents before, during, or after the hiking!", Meera said, eyeing the fine print.

"Yeah, obviously! It's not their fault if you don't know how to walk properly and end up tripping and falling.", Omkar shrugged.

"Stop scaring her, Om. Nothing will actually happen and I assure you, that no one will be hurt. We will all have proper gear, a few training sessions, and a guide to help us. So you'll be fine Meera.", Arun said.

"Ok! Thank you!", Meera nodded, her eyes canning every inch of the paper.

"We will be on our way. You can ask anyone of the seniors to know which class we will be in when you are ready to give the filled form. Don't forget to get your parent's signature!", Arun yelled as all the boys took their leave, except for one.

"You not leaving?", Meera looked up from her form and asked Karthik sitting in the opposite chair, smirking at, well, everything in his vicinity.

"How can I leave such a beautiful girl to sit and have lunch all alone?", he smirked at her.

"Sorry brother, but I am not falling for that.", Meera said.

"Brother? You mean like soul brother?", he asked.

"No. I meant like bhaiyya brother. You are a year older than me, hence the term of respect, bhaiyya.", Meera replied, annoyed at the boy in front of her.

"Come on Meera! Don't Bhai-zone me!", Karthik said, anguish clear from his tone.

Suddenly, Deepak and Pankaj appeared. "Come on Karthik, it's time for Physics.", Deepak called him.

"But I want to talk to her.", Karthik wailed, pouting, which made Meera laugh at his childish antics.

Between the two, Pankaj and Deepak somehow managed to convince Karthik to go with them to class.

Just when they were going, both Pankaj and Deepak turned to look at Meera, who mouthed them both a 'Thank you'. Deepak just nodded at her, a slight smile on his face as he turned, while Pankaj through her a discreet wave, before the bunch walked out of the cafeteria.

Meera sank back to her chair, a grin on her face. If this was her company, while on the hiking trip, then she was definitely in for some interesting times....................

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Glossary:

Bhaiyya/Bhai- Means brother in Hindi. i don't think much explanation was required for this.

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Q) What do named chapters denote?

ans: Progress!

If you don't remember this, go back to the previous named chapter and you'll see.

Anyways, what do you think of the not 1, not 2, not 3.............., but the 6 boys that I introduced in this chapter?

OMG! There are all awesome in their own ways! Awwww!

Did you notice, that this was the first chapter that I didn't mention about Shaitan at all?

Or did I..................................................