It is freezing cold (it is December) but that doesn't stop Eli from sweating profusely as the white polyester t-shirt he is wearing clings to his body.

He decided to play a tennis match with a ninth- grader today, that too the junior sports captain, and he is already regretting his decision.

He curses under his breath as his shot hits the net.

"Ooh, someone's getting his ass kicked." Tariq, Eli's friend, laughs.

"Chup kar Tariq, I'm trying to play here." he says.

"You are failing miserably at it, then." mocks the eighth-grader, Arya.

Eli just scowls and tries to hit the ball harder. It hits the net again.

He ends up losing in straight sets.

Arya pats his back after the match. "Don't be a sore loser, Das. You are good enough for your age, just keep playing. I can give you practice lessons when I'm free, if you are willing." he says.

Eli finds himself grinning uncontrollably. "Really?! Thank you!"

When he exits the court, Tariq is standing impatiently. "Took you long enough" he grumbles.

Tariq and his infamous mood swings.

Eli still has no idea how he ended up being friends with Tariq Ahsan.

He remembers the day he met Tariq.

It had been almost more than a month since he had joined the school and he still did not have any friends. It was the week after he had finally gathered the courage to talk to Shiloh before she had practically run away from him. He had not tried talking to her since, he was afraid she would run away again and Eli wasn't sure he could suffer the embarrassment twice.

He was sitting on the first seat, head buried in his French textbook (he loved French) when someone had hit him with a paper plane.

He had immediately glanced back.

A boy with a curly light-brown mess for hair, a lopsided smile and green-brown eyes framed by thick black glasses stared back at him.

"Uh, sorry. Wrong target." He had smiled nervously, his cheeks red.

"No, it's fine." Eli had said, giving the paper plane back to him.

"I'm Tariq, by the way." He had smiled again. Eli thought he had a nervous smile.

"Eli" he had said.

"Yeah, I know." Tariq had grinned. Eli had decided he liked his grins better.

"Oh, yeah. Of course, the class introduction. I forgot, sorry." he had laughed.

That day in the lunch break, Tariq had asked Eli if he wanted to have lunch with him.

"Okay, cool" Eli had said.

They had ended up ranting about the crappy veg sandwiches and the sickly sweet lemonade in the school canteen and arguing about who was better Federer or Nadal ("Djokovic, duh" Tariq had said) and who could eat the most tabasco and garlic fajitas which Tariq had brought for lunch. Afterwards, both had ended up blessing Eli's mom for giving him Nutella sandwiches and had chugged down half of the class' water by the end of the lunch break.

Somehow, Tariq is still stuck with Eli, and for that, Eli couldn't be more thankful.

Due to some weird stroke of luck, he had not one, but two friends by the end of that week, all thanks to Tariq of course.

For it was his brilliant idea to go talk to Shiloh.

"Dude, she'll just run away." Eli had said.

He was not too keen on approaching Shiloh again, the whole idea of getting to know her be damned. He hated the way his palms got clammy and how his head throbbed madly whenever he got near her.

"Just wait and watch, buddy." Tariq had replied with his customary grin.

He had tightly held Eli by his arm (lest he run away, which he was planning to do) and had dragged him to where Shiloh sat by her usual spot by the window, head buried in the Math textbook.

"Hi, Shiloh. I'm Tariq and you know him right? Eli? Well we were wondering if you would like to be our friend." Tariq had said in his signature blunt way.

Shiloh had sat still for a moment, eyes scrutinizing them, unblinking.

Eli had thought she would make an excuse and run away any moment. Instead, all she had done was say "sure", with the corners of her lips tugging into a small smile before she had gone back to solving Algebra sums.

"See?" Tariq had grinned triumphantly. "Easy peasy"

"Yeah, okay." Eli had just rolled his eyes. Secretly, he had pinned Tariq's success to his irresistible charms (he had fallen for them too, after all) or maybe to the fact that he had a book in his hand (everybody knew that Shiloh had a weakness for anyone with books).

But whatever the case, Eli has two new people in his life he cannot do without.

He suddenly wants to hug Tariq.

So he does.

"Ugh, El, get off me you sweaty little pig. Gah, shoo, shoo." He splutters.

"Whatever, Tar, I know you love me." Eli grins.

Tariq just scowls back.

******************

Ria, Tariq, Eli and Shiloh sit together, all huddled up in one of the corners of the classroom. That way, they think their teeth will stop chattering off their own accord and their skin will stop erupting into goosebumps every few seconds.

Ideally, Ria would have been outside, basking in the warmth of the winter sun along with Kiera and Akshara (it has been established that it is impossible to drag Shiloh outside in the school ground during winter) except there is no sun today. Only the biting cold wind which is more than happy to slap you so hardly on your face that you end up with watery eyes.

Shiloh is busy picking gherkins from her tuna sub and Ria is busy trying to ward off the cold by tightly wrapping the school's blazer around herself as if the flimsy garment will be of any use.

Eli and Tariq are busy arguing about which movie is better, Rush Hour or Mrs. Doubtfire.

"Rush Hour, obviously." Tariq says. "There is no beating Chris Tucker."

"Tariq! It's Robbie Williams! There is no one better than good old Robbie." Eli says incredulously.

Shiloh perks up when she hears her name.

"Shiloh, you tell na. Which movie is better? Rush Hour right?" Tariq asks her with hopeful eyes.

"How can you guys compare two completely different movies made like, what, ten years apart?" Shiloh asks.

Tariq flicks his wrist. "Just answer the question, Daniels."

"Sorry, Tariq. I'll have to side with Eli on this one. Robbie Williams is a genius." She says apologetically.

Eli silently fistbumps in the air.

"This one? Oh come on, Shiloh you side with Eli in every freaking thing under the sun." Tariq says.

Shiloh freezes for a moment, but then shrugs her shoulders.

She can see Eli with his ears red, trying to appear aloof as he eats his sandwich.

"Ask Ria then." She says nonchalantly (or at least tries to).

Ria just shakes her head, an apologetic smile on her face. "Mrs. Doubtfire" she mouths.

"Ugh, why do I have to be friends with the most racist lot of the whole school, not to mention with horrible taste in cinema?" Tariq pouts.

Eli just rolls his eyes and mutters something under his breath while Ria just turns a deaf ear to Tariq's theatrics.

Sensing an unbearable Tariq monologue coming their way, Shiloh decides to take matters in her own hands.

"Tariq, which book is that?" she asks with the subtlety of a gun.

It works.

"Oh this, it's 'George's Secret Key to the Universe'. It is amazing!" Tariq says brightly.

"Lend it to me sometime? When you are done of course." Shiloh asks.

"Sure" Tariq says, his mouth full of greasy fries from the canteen.

Ria is loudly chattering her teeth as a particularly cold draught rushes in through the door while Eli is half-asleep, head on the table (he always feels sleepy after the break).

Shiloh just stares at the three of them, wondering how in the world she ended up with friends as weird as these.

She suddenly wants to hug the three idiots.

So she does.

"Ow, Shiloh, I was trying to sleep."

"Shiloh, my  curly fry fell down!"

"Loh, you are squeezing me to death."

"It is okay guys, I know you love me." She says, grinning.

The three of them just scowl back.

A/N:   So what do you think of Tariq? Adorable, isn't he?

Also, squad goals seriously.

I should be studying calculus and preparing for my exams which start from this week, but I'm on Wattpad because I'm a procrastinator that way.

Much love, Sarah