The day had arrived. Jam 2015. All of us were nervous, but pumped up to do our best. The first three rounds were easy to get through, or at least that's what we'd heard. Surprisingly, we breezed through all three rounds easily. They were also pretty organized. Only 20 teams audition per day, on a first-come-first-serve basis. So we had a fixed day on which we would play each round. They awarded marks, and the highest would get through.

Only 20 bands would get into the actual rounds of Jam 2015, that is, the next three rounds. Yes, it was intensive, but it was worth it. The one million we would get if we won was also pretty cool. Cooler yet was the chance to make a name and do a collab with HYSTERIA (THE IT rock-band)!! So the process was something like this, millions of bands to slightly less than a million to way less than a million to 20 to 5 and ba-dum-tiss! to the top three.

We played the three songs we'd discussed. Abhi hadn't faltered even once, and he was feeling kind of cocky after we were done. "See? I told you we'd do it." He said smugly. Ken and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes. Just this morning, Abhi was whimpering, "Oh my God. What if we don't get through any of the rounds? What'll we do? What'll we do?" Aryan gave him a well-deserved smack on the head because he was freaking out the other band members as well.

Krishi, on the other hand, had different problems before the first round began. "Ana! I don't know how to dance, what do I do?" All of us blinked at her and she blushed, "I just thought I should dance because you guys are playing on stage. You're all almost like celebs!" For most Indians, meeting celebs is a HUGE thing, like I-will-sell-my-kidneys-and-liver-to-meet-you huge. If a celeb dies, be prepared for a bandh (day when everything is closed and no one ventures out for fear of getting pelted with stones), for broken windows, vandalized shops and general mourning. Excluding, of course, the students, because we're the ones who check the news everyday for hope that a politician or celeb has died. We get a holiday, so it's justified.

Krishi's comment made us all grin, until Viha went, "Not yet. First get through the first round." "Right little ball of sunshine, aren't you?" Asked Jeremiah, and Viha gave a malicious smile. "Do I have to dance?" Whined Krishi suddenly. Viha placed her hands on her shoulder, looking right into her eyes, "Yes. We must encourage these idiots. At least until they begin playing. If they suck, we can just claim that we don't know them and walk away." "Heeeyyy!" the five of us in the band indignantly whined. "I know Bharathnatyam (Indian dance form)." Replied Krishi thoughtfully, only for Viha, Ayan and me to look at her with a how-do-I-tell-her-she-can't-dance-bharathnatyam-at-a-rock-show look. "But I guess I can't exactly do that." She continued, and all of us sighed in relief.

At that moment, I remembered what had happened in engineering. We were trying to make a friend of ours dance since he was the only one standing with his arms crossed, and another one of friends said, "See. When you're dancing to EDM or rock, you have to wash the car." That brought about mass confusion, until he continued with, "Raise both your hands and wipe the tops, but the car's roof is pretty high, so you've gotta jump. That's how you dance." It took a few tries to get it right, but it worked. I relayed this to Krishi, and everyone burst out laughing except her. She looked at me thoughtfully and gave it a try. "Angle your hands such that you're wiping the edges. And you can do it one hand too" I instructed, and it worked! I glared at the others with a I-told-you-so expression, making them shut up.

After the second round, Aryan went, "Hey guys. So there's a printer, and it's named Bob Marley. Why?" This week was Aryan's 'ask lame questions' week. He did a new thing every week, depending on what caught his fancy. His 'I don't wanna get jalapeno business, but do you wanna taco'bout it?' text was because it was his 'lame puns' week.

All of us sighed when he asked us the question, "Because it's always jammin'" We said simultaneously, making him grin. I could never understand why he would get so happy when people laughed at his PJs (Poor Jokes), puns, and stuff. It wasn't like they were original.

His 'lame puns' week had stuff like, 'When I get naked in the bathroom, the shower usually gets turned on' and 'How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it' and then he would laugh. By himself. I had no clue why I tolerated him. Oh wait. I do know. Urgh. Why, oh why must he be so adorable? It's like God is up there, eating popcorn and laughing at me. For good measure, I glared up at the sky, thinking 'Not funny, God!'. Yes, I'm supposed to be an agnostic, but you just can't ignore what you've been taught from the time you're born. Most of the time, I even prayed before I slept, mainly because I couldn't sleep if I didn't. I would get this weird feeling, something that basically tells me that I must pray. And so I do. Krishi also had a few idols along with her, so it just reinforced the fact that I should pray or something bad would happen. In fact, she brought three idols to the competition, promising that she would pray for us to win. I couldn't help but touch the idols in prayer, having the feeling that we wouldn't get through the rounds if I didn't.

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I was in the computer lab, along with Aryan, with whom I was arguing, when we got news that the results for the Jam was out.

"Why isn't the damn code working?" "How am I supposed to know?" "You typed it!" "It's not like I can predict what errors would occur!" "You should have checked each part as you typed." "You were sitting right next to me! You should have done it!" "I was streaming the next episode of Black Bulter! You asked me to!" "Streaming doesn't take all your attention. You just have to open the site and let the WiFi do the work!" "There was some error with it!" "Really? Then why were you muttering 'No. Go that way, you ass' and 'No. Attack Attack!'?" He gulped at that, "I... Uh... You know..." "Yeah? What do I know?" I asked, glaring furiously back. "No, I mean..." "Yes?" "You know what, I should look for errors." He said, smiling blandly. "You should." I agreed firmly, still glaring at him. Just as I was about to pass the laptop to him, Abhi came running in, "Aaanaaaaa!" He yelled, startling me. "What happened?" I asked urgently, only to have him huff in response. I was about to slap him to get answers when he began with, "Jam.... Results." "Whaaaaat?" I squealed, pushing Aryan aside to check the results.

After a very tense 2 minutes, I closed the laptop, looking at Abhi, who was seated, with a serious expression. I gave a sad look and shook my head like one of those Doctors who have to give bad news in TV serials. Abhi burst out crying. I freaked, "Oh my God! Calm down! We got through!!" Abhi looked up at me with something akin to fury, though the effect was diluted because of the tears on his face, and picked up a book that was on the desk next to his seat to chuck at me.

Unfortunately for Aryan, who was seated behind me on one of those turnable seats, the book sailed over me as I ducked, and hit his extremely surprised face with a TWHACK!

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-QuirkyKatana :-P