Chapter 6-Chapter 10

Chapter 6

 

The elevator door opens and Angad moves towards the side, while Kripa thinks he left. Kripa is relieved and is exiting when she is pulled back in by none other than Angad. The elevator door closes and she is stuck with Angad. She sees him advance towards her, "So I'm gay huh?" Kripa has this mischievous smile on her face and an innocent look in her eyes, "Umm you are? Angad I had no idea (she gasped) Oh my God what will your parents think? And you call me you best friend and didn't even tell me…" Kripa stops talking realizing that Angad is like an inch away from her, trapping her with his muscular arms on either side of the wall. Angad grabs her arm and pushs her against the wall, with her back towards him—twisting her arm. Kripa screams in pain, "OW OWWW! Angad let go!" He grins, "Say sorry and Angad is the BEST, and while you at it also say Angad is the HOTTEST guy in the world and then… I will let go!" Kripa retorts, "WHAT NO!! (He twists more) AHHH ok ok I'm sorry…" Angad went closer to her ear and said passionately whispers, "And…" Kripa hears the tone in his voice which sent shivers down her spine and made her heart pound uncontrollably. She whispers slowly and hesitantly, "You're the best." Now Angad turns her facing him, yet still holding onto her arm behind her back. He pushes her into the wall once more and leans in, whispering, "And…" Kripa closes her eyes and says slowly and breathlessly, "You're so hot…" Kripa opens her eyes to see Angad's passionate gaze. Angad starts to lean in towards her, pressing their bodies together.

Kripa feels her heartbeat increase and became really nervous. Kripa thinks Angad was about to kiss her so she shut her eyes, not knowing what else to do. Suddenly she hears howling laughter from a distance and opens her eyes to see Angad mocking her. Between laughs he manages to squeeze in, "Apna cheehra to dekho HAHAHA you HAHA you thought I was gonna HAHAHAHA that I was gonna HAHAHA kiss HAHA kiss you!!! You should have seen your face HAHA!" Kripa gets really annoyed and starts beating him. Angad is down on the floor of the elevator still laughing and getting beaten by Kripa, who is now sitting on him, well actually straddling him exclaiming, "Kya kaha tumne, Your making fun of me!?!?!?". Suddenly the door opens and a whole family is staring at them—With Angad under Kripa and her sitting on him, not to mention hitting him. Just then the child tugs onto his mother's clothes and says, "Mama why is that girl sitting on that boy?" The woman closes her son's eyes and says, "Beisharam Bache.." and leaves. Angad and Kripa both look at each other and break off in fits of laughter.

Finally Angad and Kripa catch up with the rest and see that Kavya and Neev are trying to say sorry to Anjali and Prachi because as women they are totally disgusted. Apparently Anjali and Prachi too found out about the guys little flirting expedition. Angad and Kripa laugh along with Prachi and Anjali at Kavya and Neev, just because they are on their knees. They are all walking towards the car and when Anjali yells, "Shot gun!" and is completely unaware that Kavya is the next driver, because she thought it was Neev. Everyone stops walking except Anjali and they make this "ooooooooo" sound indicating she made a BIG mistake. Anjali turns around, "What's wrong with you guys lets move" and then notices Kavya's shocked face, which then turns into a grin, "…So Anju your that eager to sit next to me huh? I always knew you liked me…" Anjali stops dead in her tracks, "WHAT??" Kavya calmly says, "Well it's my turn to drive next and you obviously are really enthusiastic about sitting with me for TWO WHOLE HOURS" and grinned. Anjali exclaims, "Wait NOOO I take it back, I don't wanna sit in the front!"  The rest just say, "TOO BAD!" Anjali again goes on cursing her luck.

Kavya begins driving with Anjali sitting next to him, Kripa and Angad in the middle, and Neev and Prachi in the back. Kavya keeps bothering Anjali periodically and she just keeps getting more and more annoyed, almost as if he is testing her patience. Kavya keeps turning up the air conditioning, which makes Anjali really cold. She shouts, "Kavya stop turning up the A/C, I'm freezing!" Kavya whispers passionately, "I could warm you up if you want?" Anjali growls in disgust, "UGHHHH! You annoying idiot! (She turns the A/C down) Touch the stupid A/C again and I'm gonna break your arm!" Kavya says, "Calm down you JUNGLI BILI!!!" This is followed by another growl from Anjali. She decides to go to sleep, since anything would be better than listening to Kavya talk. He looks over to see Anjali trying to fall asleep and he gets really annoyed because the silence in the car is killing him. He keeps nudging her to wake up. Her head furiously shoots up in anger and says, "Do you have a death wish?!?! Stop touching me! And stop waking me up!"  Kavya replied, "Keep me company please or I'm going to fall asleep on the wheel and then we will get into an accident and then we will go to the hospital and then I'm sure we will get bandaged up because we will probably have broken something and then it will take weeks and months to recover, and you know whose fault it will be….YOURS!!!" Anjali has a strong urge to strangle the guy, but mutters to herself, "You'll end up in jail, You'll end up in jail!" Anjali replied to Kavya, "FINEEE!!" Kavya drives for two hours and now it is Neev's turn who sits along side Prachi in the front, Kavya and Anjali in the middle, and Angad and Kripa in the back.

It is getting quite late. By the time Neev starts driving; all the girls start to get really sleepy. Anjali falls asleep on Kavya's shoulder and he begins admiring Anjali's beauty. Kavya always seemed to have a soft spot for her, the highlight of his day would be when he would annoy her. Although she would never admit it, he knows that Anjali loves getting all the attention from Kavya. He becomes a little drowsy himself and falls asleep with his head on top of Anjali's.

Neev looks in his rear view mirror to see the comfortable position Kavya and Anjali are in and pokes Prachi awake. Prachi whispers, "Neev what do you want, can't you see I was sleeping?" Neev points towards the back and Prachi turns her head and notices the cute scene between Kavya and Anjali. Both giggle at the sight, which catchs Angad and Kripa's attention.

Angad and Kripa have been watching a movie on Angad's Ipod, sharing the earpiece. They are watching the Pursuit of Happyness and although it is a really good movie, the time of day starts to take a toll on Kripa and she keeps falling asleep throughout the movie. She wakes up to Prachi and Neev's childish giggles. That's when Angad and Kripa too notice the two lovebirds in a rather comfortable position, they also couldn't help, but smile. All day they would witness Kavya and Anjali's fights and here they are carelessly sleeping on each other.

Angad is getting kind of bored looking at them just sleeping so he takes his gum wrapper and rolls it into a thin stick. He slowly brings it close to Kavya's face and stuck it in his ear, which wakes him up with a jerk and he starts yelling, "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!", which of course then wakes up the sleeping beauty on his shoulder, who also starts to scream, "AHHHHHHH!!!" Everyone else starts laughing at both of their expressions when Angad rudely stuck the paper in his ear. Anjali starts hitting Kavya while he keeps hitting Angad. They are just having way too much fun in the car. Finally they arrive at the hotel they would be staying at.

 

Chapter 7

           

The guys start to unload the luggage and hand it off to the baggage handler to send to their rooms. The girls join the guys and they make their way towards their parents. Dilip and Surya tell everyone where they will be staying and room numbers. The guys will be staying in room 201, and next to the guys are the girls in room 203. Dilip and Naina will be in room 202, next to Surya and Gayatri, who are in room 204. The kids' rooms are connected from inside and the room includes 3 separate beds and one bathroom in each. They all put their stuff down and get settled in. They have exactly two hours until they are to leave for the wedding, where they will only face boredom. The girls are running around taking showers, doing their hair, makeup, picking out jewelry and clothes. The girls are freaking out since they want to look drop dead gorgeous in only two hours time. The guys are just taking naps and then decide to take showers and put on their clothes and do their hair, making sure they look hot. The wedding reception is occurring at the same hotel they are staying at. When they all are ready and they make their way down stairs to join their parents.

            The guys wear sherwani's; Angad's is black with red embroidery along with a red dupatta, Kavya's was navy blue with beige embroidery along with a beige dupatta, and Neev's was red with beige embroidery along with a beige dupatta. The girls wore lehnga's; Kripa was black with silver embroidery, Anjali's was navy blue with silver embroidery, Prachi was red with golden embroidery. They all had decided to match in pairs so that no random people will come to bother them for dances and become all "chipko".

As soon as they walk in, all the other young teens turn to stare at the hotties at the door, who have just made their appearance. The way they walk, was so stylish and full of attitude and arrogance. They are totally aware that the other kids are not even in the same league as them. Girls look towards the Angad, Kavya, and Neev in awe while the rest of guys look back in pure envy. The guys look towards Kripa, Anjali, and Prachi in admiration while the rest of the girls look back completely jealous. Angad, Kripa, Kavya, Anjali, Neev and Prachi all sit down at the table and begin their little discussions of whose hot and whose not, but eventually getting bored with the topic. Suddenly an evil smirk plays upon Angad's lips while Kripa grins thinking that he found a solution to their boredom, which Angad did of course. They all huddle and Angad discussed his idea of playing, Ding-Dong Ditch, since well they are in a hotel with god knows how many doors. Anjali, Prachi and Kripa make their way towards their parents to tell them they need some fresh air. Their parents unwillingly agree knowing that they can't deny their daughters anything.

            The girls come back victorious and the guys get up and make their way outside following the girls. As soon as they get out of the hall there are rounds of high-fives. They go into the elevator and each pair take a floor so that they can meet back and tell stories to each other later. They decide to skip their own floor (2^nd floor) because they actually have to stay there and they didn't want to get the people on their own floor. The girls stop off at their room to get rid of things that would make noise like their churdiyaan. Then they all hurry back into the elevator and go up the stairs. Neev and Prachi get off on the third floor, Kavya and Anjali on the fourth, Angad and Kripa on the fifth.

 

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Neev and Prachi (Third Floor)

Neev and Prachi look down the empty hallway and notice that after every door was this deep opening, basically anyone would be able to hide, and midway there was a huge opening which had the elevator and lounge with couches. Prachi holds onto Neev's hand hoping not to get in trouble and Neev slowly goes down two doors. Neev looks at Prachi and she looks totally nervous at the moment. Neev squeezes her hand a little more tightly. Neev has a huge smile on his face as he knocks really hard on the door. He holds Prachi's hand and disappears in to the midway opening by the elevator. They hear the door open and a large man walks out. He is really round and hairy. He is wearing; let's just say it was not enough clothes, a white towel. It is quite a disturbing sight. Prachi cringes at the sight and shivers in disgust, while Neev laughs silently. They went back to pay attention to the guy, who seems to still be looking around to see who it was, he bellows, "WHOSE THERE??!!" he curses under his breath and closes the door. This time Prachi goes and holds an elevator open and Neev goes and knocks on the door again. This time the door opens instantly and the guy sees Neev running, just his back though. "Hey get back here" The man is trying to hold onto his towel and run at the same time. The towel is actually quite small, barely enough to cover him—so running is totally out of the question, yet the man still runs after Neev. The inevitable happens and the towel falls off. Prachi peaks over the corner and sees the man is wearing pink boxers with sheeps and clouds on them. Prachi is laughing so hard. The man continues to run after Neev, who turned into the opening and grabs Prachi, who by now is holding onto the wall laughing, and runs right into the elevator. Prachi is able to hit the close button and as the man approaches the elevator Neev waves, "Bye Uncle!" Neev and Prachi have tears in their eyes laughing go hard.

                                                            

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Kavya and Anjali (Fourth Floor)

            Kavya and Anjali are passing by trying to figure out which door to pick when they hear some faint noises. It is kind of hard to hear because Anjali keeps complaining that she is stuck with Kavya, though actually she really didn't mind that much, but then again she did have to keep up the pretences. Kavya trying to hush up Anjali, "Shh Anju listen.." Kavya pressed his ear up against the door to listen, which is followed by Anjali. They hear a man and woman's voice. The man is begging, "Sweety I'm sorry, please I promise I will move out of my mother's apartment I swear" the woman yells, "Your forty years old!!!! And living with your mother! You don't even have your OWN room, you sleep on your mother's bed!!! I CANT MARRY YOU!!!!" "Baby please we can make it work, We can get an extra cot or something and you can sleep…no wait I will sleep in it, please honey bunch come'on lets just continue what we were doing" "NO WAY!! I think you have diarrhea! Youv'e been passing gas for the last five minutes and been in the bathroom half the day alone!! Stay AWAY I CANT BREATHE!!" "No baby I'm cleared up now…"  Kavya and Anjali are outside the door trying to suppress their laughs by holding their hands tightly over their mouths. It didn't work. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA", they burst out laughing on the floor. Just the thought of a forty year old guy living with his mother, who also happens to suffering from a case of severe diarrhea, seems to tickle both their funny bones. Kavya and Anjali hold onto each other in order to get up off the floor, it is hard considering their sides are still aching from all the laughter. They don't think they will be able to go through with the ding-dong-ditch seeing as how they can barely walk with out wanting to fall to the ground holding their stomachs in laughter.

                                                            

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Angad and Kripa (Fifth Floor)

Angad and Kripa get out of the elevator and walk down the hall trying to pick a door. They find themselves standing in front of a door, getting ready to make a run for it as soon as Angad's hands touch the door. Angad loudly thumps on the door and is about to dart with Kripa when suddenly they hear the elevator sound, alerting them that they aren't the only ones in the hall any more. The hear the person coming closer to them about to turn the corner and will soon be in front of their eyes. They are trapped form either side. The only way to leave happens to be in the same direction as where the footsteps approach. If someone is to spot them, they will surely get in trouble with their parents for ditching the wedding, that too for a little prank. Angad look around hoping to find an escape path, but to his dismay found none. Kripa on the other hand grins widely and quickly yanks at Angad's hand, pulling him into the room marked "Janitors Closet". They are engulfed by the darkness and only hear the muffled voices outside along with the spontaneous beatings of their hearts. Angad and Kripa hear a man's voice, "Who's there? Stupid Kids! If I catch you, I'll make sure your in trouble!" Kripa begin to giggle and Angad locates her mouth in the darkness and cups it in order to prevent her from making noises. Kripa's eyes grow in horror as she hears a hand land on top of the door knob.

Just then another voice comes, stopping the man from turning the knob. The second voice asks the man, "Was it you who knocked on my door?" "No sir, I got several complaints that people were disturbing others so I came to check. So someone knocked on your door?" "Yes, Just a minute ago…" "Well I am sorry for the disturbance, when I catch those kids, I'll surely punish them" "Alrite well Thank You". The second man, the guest seems to have turned to go back to his room. The man must have noticed the janitor's closet again and stops again at the door. Anxiety clogs both Angad and Kripa's minds. Their heart rates increase rapidly as they hear the hand land on the knob again. The knob starts to turn…but the second voice from before echoes, "Excuse me sir, I think you dropped your wallet" The man let go of the knob and Angad and Kripa breathe a sigh of relief as the man approaches the guest to attain his wallet. There happens to be a picture of a man in the wallet—sort of posing, almost like this man's lover. The guest looks at the man sort of skeptically and the man quickly answers while snatching the wallet, "uhh that's my brother" The guest doubtfully replies, "riteee, no but it's uh cool man if that's the way you roll, arite good night!" The man called after the guest to explain further, "He's my BROTHER!!!" but the guest already left. The guy walks away in his thoughts about the conversation a minute ago, also past the janitor's closet. He may have forgotten about checking it after all he was too busy trying to come up with some excuse for a man having another man's picture in his wallet, rite. Angad and Kripa are still unsure of exactly how safe they are at the present moment, yet they keep trying so hard not to laugh at the poor guy, haha poor guy yea rite!  That's when they hear the elevator sound and both begin to chuckle thinking about how anxious they had become. There is barely any room in that closet and are completely oblivious to their proximity. In the pitch black surrounding a flash of light flickers from Angad's pocket and in that one flash, Angad and Kripa both notice how close they were to one another. They are so close in fact that if they are an inch closer, they will be kissing. They don't have much time to decide what they think about their closeness because the second flash of his cell brought Angad back and it seems to be coming from his cell phone, meaning it is time to meet back with the others and sneak back into the party as subtlety as possible.

 

Chapter 8

           

            Angad and Kripa enter the hall and quickly move towards Kavya, Anjali, Neev and Prachi, who are eagerly waiting upon their arrival. They all sit down and to discuss in full detail about what happened on the third, fourth, and fifth floor. Neev starts the conversation, "Well first off Prachi needs some self control, She kept holding my hand so tightly I thought it would break off! (Prachi gets red in the face and whines along with playfully slapping him and Neev laughs)…so anyways me and Prachi go to some door and knock really hard, then we ran to hide, then this big hippo man A.K.A. Prachi's boyfriend (Prachi whines, "Neev!!") comes out yelling 'whose there' and he keeps turning his head back and forth like a bobble head doll like we would magically appear. And Prachi's boyfriend is only wearing a towel…and while running it FELL OFF" Everyone laughs and Neev gasps for air while continuing, "HAHA and the best part was he was wear…wearing pink boxers wi… HAHA with clouds and shhh …HAHA sheep HAHAHA!" Everyone starts imagining this guy and laugh hysterically, while Prachi shivers in disgust.

When they settle down, Kavya talks about his floor, "Ok ok my turn, So Anju and me are walking down the hall and then we hear people shouting so…" Anjali continues, "So Kavya being his nosy self presses his ear against the door and the guy was apologizing for being FORTY YEARS OLD and LIVING with his MOTHER and they SHARE the SAME BED!" Kavya butts in and says, "AND the guy was really eager to continue doing what they were doing but the woman says eww you have DIARRHEA and have been PASSING GAS the WHOLE DAY so get away from me" Everyone laughs so hard and Neev especially, so much in fact that he falls backward and off his chair and then acts like nothing happened. By now they have attracted lots of unwanted attention and people are staring at them like they are crazy.

Kavya notices that Angad and Kripa seem sort of spaced out and asks them to tell what happened on their floor. Angad comes back to earth and says, "Oh, well we went up to some door and knocked really hard. Then before we could go dash out, we heard the elevator sound and some guy was coming our way and we were stuck." Kripa pipes in, "Well then I saved the day, cuz this idiot is totally blind and we hid in the janitor's closet.  The guy was saying something about getting complaints about people knocking on their doors to some guest. It was the guest whose room we knocked on and then the guy was leaving but the guest picked up his wallet and there was a picture of a GUY. You could tell by the way the guy sounded that he was lying, he was like 'uhhh that's my brother….' guest is like, 'riteee and said dude its cool if that's the way you roll' and the guy was like screaming on top of his lungs 'HE'S MY BROTHER!!!'" They end up laughing so hard they catch the attention of the whole room at one point. Talk about awkward. In any case they aren't ones to dwell on that fact that they are loud. Now Angad and Kripa have only one thing on their minds, which was their proximity in the closet. Only they know how close they were to kissing AGAIN, and they decide to exclude that part from their little story and keep that piece of info strictly between themselves.

So after discussing their own run ins, everyone is told to go on the dance floor. Now the older couples dash to the floor, whereas the youngsters feel sort of out of place. Its not like it is a club or anything, it is basically ballroom dancing, which is awkward in itself. Naina, Dilip, Gayatri and Surya come back to the table and pull Neev and Prachi, Kavya and Anjali, and finally Angad and Kripa to the dance floor. Well it is more shoving then anything else, these kids are so reluctant, but of course then finally give up. Now these pairings seems to have upset all the other young guys and girls present, because basically everyone has their eyes on at least one of the Khanna or Sharma kids. To their dismay they are all taken.

 

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Neev and Prachi and enter the dance area and Neev this time put his hand out signaling Prachi for a dance and said, "May I be so unlucky as to have this dance with you, Prachi?" She shyly replies, "Of course….WAIT WHAT? Kya kaha tumne?" Neev smiles at her innocence. Neev thinks that Prachi is just so adorable sometimes. Prachi questions, "So how come your dancing with me this time?" Neev grins, "Pity" Prachi says, "Acha… ok fine I'm leaving!" and she turns to leave, letting go of his hand. She barely walks two steps before Neev pulls her back and holds his ears. Prachi smacks his arm groaning, "Neev!! God your just so impossible I swear!" Neev grins, "yea… I know". Neev is dancing with Prachi, but old habits die hard rite, meaning he keeps checking out the girls dancing in a group towards the far end. He is basically gawking at them. Prachi is actually trying to make conversation, but than notices that Neev isn't responding. She starts yelling his name, but alas NOTHING! Prachi finally gets frustrated and follows his stare, which leads her to the group of girls.

Prachi suddenly feels this pain in her heart; she becomes all choked up inside and has formed a lump in her throat. This is the last straw for her and she just hates feeling rejected by Neev. Recently she started feeling like he barely pays attention to her anymore. It is as if he didn't even realize she is a woman and a beautiful one at that.  She always felt this attraction towards him because he was someone she felt safe with. She knows he would always come through even if no one else would. She has always known she is different from the girls he dated, not just in outward appearance but also internally, but she knew for the better. He is her best friend so she knows everything about him as a best friend should and this is what the other girls have always lacked. The other girls just want him for his good looks and popularity, but for Prachi he has become more than her best friend. It is apparent to Prachi that Neev doesn't feel the same way, because if he does he would know how much it hurts when he talks about other girls. She just can't take it anymore.

Prachi turns back to Neev and gave him an angry glare mixed with hurt and heartache. Tears have welled up her eye and will start flowing any second.  She immediately shook off his arm and walked off out the door, leaving a very confused and shocked Neev behind.

                                                                       

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Kavya and Anjali make their way to the dance floor quite reluctantly. Anjali isn't exactly thrilled with the idea of dancing with Kavya, but somehow it always seemed to work out that way. Kavya on the other hand is actually ecstatic about dancing with Anjali because that meant she would be really annoyed. It is rather enjoyable for Kavya to watch Anjali squirm in his grip. Kavya decides to see how far he could go before she really explode. Kavya grabs Anjali really close and twirls her so that she has her back towards him. He draws closer and blows his breath past her ear, giving her a tickling sensation. Kavya knows exactly what effect he has on Anjali yet he feels the need to ask, "Something wrong?" and Anjali replies with her eyes closed while stuttering, "huh… oh nothing, uhh umm y…y do you ask?" Kavya grins, "Oh no reason." Anjali hated Kavya's cocky behavior. It just makes her so mad sometimes. He has his hand on her hip and on her stomach, gently caressing it. This gave Anjali shivers all over and another reason to complain. She always knew he is good at charming girls to fall for him and she doesn't want to be another one of them. He turns her again, making her body collide with his, now holding her close. Anjali is avoiding looking at Kavya's eyes because she is afraid of what she might see in them.

Anjali is trembling at his touch, he is the only guy who ever had that effect on her, but this is something that she didn't want to admit to. There is a fact that even Kavya isn't aware of, that she actually enjoys him giving her attention and annoying her to no end. Anjali blushes as he whispers, caresses, and compliments her. They thoroughly enjoy themselves, but of course Anjali would never tell anyone because to the world she hates Kavya Sharma and she would make sure she keeps up with the pretenses.

                                                                       

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Angad and Kripa dance a little uncomfortably. The image of the janitor's closet flashes before their eyes. When they were so close, it felt so right and the way they looked into each other's eyes left a mark on their souls. They hate being so awkward with each other because they aren't used to being so formal and quiet. Angad and Kripa look into each other's eyes and suddenly don't feel that the silence is so horrible. They actually feel at peace. Angad looks around and notices all the girls checking him out and gloats, "You know you should count yourself lucky your dancing with the hot and sexy Angad Khanna! So enjoy sweety" Kripa laugh, "Ha-Ha, are you kidding? You're the one that's lucky, do you not see all these guys checking me out? So babe you're the lucky one! And if you don't think so you can find yourself another dancing partner" and Kripa is about to walk off, but he only holds her tighter. Angad is rather annoyed with Kripa's confidence, but this is why they were friends. No other girl would ever say half the things Kripa would say to him, that's what made her unique, that's what made them…well them.  Angad is actually really glad their uneasiness seemed to have vanished. Kripa too feels the same way. Angad argues back, "Okay meri ma!! But you gotta admit, no other guy is even close to being as hot as me so why bother dancing with someone beneath you!"  Kripa grins, "Are you complimenting me?" Angad replies mysteriously, "Maybe" Kripa laughs, "Only you could compliment girls so slyly and have them not notice, but I'm too smart for that mister… but it was still sweet (she pinches his cheek)" Kripa and Angad continue dancing and enjoying themselves like always, pushing their awkwardness aside because there is no room for it in their relationship.

 

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Prachi has already left for upstairs and is in the room thinking about life and her relationship with Neev. She doesn't know why she couldn't contain or bottle her feelings inside like she is always able to. She feels she has reached her breaking point and this is it. Neev on the other hand goes to take a walk outside because he knows he has upset Prachi and doesn't want their parents or friends asking questions. He has never made her this upset before, which makes him wonder even more. Angad-Kripa and Kavya-Anjali continue to dance until their parents finally decide they should go back upstairs to their rooms, bringing the wedding to an end.

 

Chapter 9

           

            The guys and girls are in their respective rooms. Prachi has been sitting on her bed holding her knees close lost in her thoughts. Kripa and Anjali walk in and notice that Prachi is already there. They both notice how Prachi is in some other realm and decide to find out what is wrong. They go up to Prachi and shake her in order to bring back a lost Prachi. In the guys' room, Kavya and Angad are already there and Neev walks in looking just as lost as Prachi looked. Angad and Kavya notice that the usual cheerful Neev is no where to be found, only this serious looking guy, which was creeping the heck out of them. Angad yells out Neev's name and then Neev realizes that Angad and Kavya have been staring at him. Both Kavya and Angad along with Anjali and Kripa begin their interrogations of their suspects.

            Anjali asks, "Prachi, kya hua? What's wrong? Did something happen?"  Prachi silently sobs and holds onto Kripa, who brushes Prachi's hair off her face trying to soothe her brokenhearted sister. Upon Kripa asking, Prachi begins to tell, "Pata nahin, I don't know what's wrong with me! When I was dancing with Neev, I felt so happy. I was trying to talk to him but…" Anjali asks, "Did Neev do something?" Prachi says, "No Anju, but he just wouldn't pay attention to me when I was talking to him and I felt so ignored, so hurt, so broken. Then I saw he was looking at a bunch of girls and I felt so angry and I don't know why but I had tears in my eyes and then I just had to leave from there… I… I don't know what's happening to me? (Prachi breaks down into violent sobs)" Kripa continues to comb Prachi's hair trying to soo calm her. Anjali and Kripa both look at each other in agreement knowing exactly what is wrong. Prachi is in love, in love with Neev, her best friend and she is just confused about her feelings because she herself doesn't know what she feels for Neev is true love.

Prachi gets up and straightens herself out and that's when Kripa and Anjali decide to tell Prachi. Anjali and Kripa say, "Prachi, well you might deny what we are saying, but just think about it okay. We think you were feeling jealous that Neev was paying attention to those girls rather than you, his best friend. And you seem really upset about it too, almost as if you felt insecure that those girls were taking Neev away from you. You may not want to accept this, but Prachi this is Love…" Prachi remains silent and in deep thought. Anjali and Kripa know they had some effect on her so they decide to leave her with her thoughts and get ready for bed. Prachi begins to ponder over everything Anjali and Kripa said and decides to sleep on it. That's when the heard a knock…

 

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Angad and Kavya begin asking Neev what the matter is and why he seemed so out of place. Neev explains, "Well when I was dancing with Prachi, I think she was saying something, but I wasn't paying attention because I was checking out some girls and she really got mad. I never saw her like this before. And not just mad, but I could have sworn I saw tears in her eyes. She never acted this way before so I don't know what's changed or what happened…I don't know what to do I mean she is totally pissed" Kavya punched Neev's arm saying, "Dude you made my sister cry!" Neev complains, "OWW Kavya!! I need help and your making it worse!!" Kavya's still mad because Prachi has always been slightly towards the sensitive side, which is why everyone is so protective over her. Angad says, "Well you gotta make it up to her somehow and she can't stay mad at you forever, after all you guys are best friends! And your never suppose to ignore your best friend for girls! If I did that to Kripa she would have beat me senseless" Neev laughs, "A little whipped aren't you?" Angad yells, "Heck NO!" Kavya interrupts, "You better fix this soon or you're gonna mess up our whole group and then I'm gonna mess up your face Neev!" Neev gets frustrated, "Gee thanks that was soo helpful" Angad and Kavya in unison, "Glad to help" and they get ready for bed.

            Angad and Kavya can't seem to fall asleep so they keep tossing and turning. Neev can't sleep thinking about Prachi's tear eyed face. Angad gets annoyed and gets up turning on the lights. Then he announces, "I CAN'T SLEEP! Let's go see what the girls are doing?" They all get up and knock on the girls' door, waiting for them to open it.

 

**********

 

            Kripa opens the door and Angad pushes Kripa aside and walks into the room. Boy did the girls pick a good day not to wear a nightie because that would have been damn embarrassing since these guys have NO MANNERS. The guys come in after Angad, who is sitting on Kripa's bed, and stand by him leaning against the wall. Kripa folds her arms demanding an explanation for the intrusion. Angad says, "Well we were bored, so we came to see what you guys were up to and I'm guessing nothing so let's order a movie!" Everyone agrees. Prachi and Neev don't sound too enthusiastic. Everyone is on the floor sitting in these positions- Prachi, Kavya, Anjali, Kripa, Angad, Neev. So Prachi and Neev are on opposite sides of the room and she is giving him the silent treatment. They decide to order Smokin' Aces. The girls are grossed out in the beginning because there are scenes with girls, who shall we say in the absence of clothes. Kripa and Anjali cover Angad and Kavya's eyes, while they keep trying to peek. Prachi glances at Neev and surprisingly he isn't even trying to look at the screen. He is actually staring at his hands lost in his thoughts. Neev feels someone one staring and sees Prachi. Neev sees Prachi's red eyes and feels guilty for being the reason for those tears. Prachi immediately looks away. Neev feels depressed to know that his best friend is mad at him. Anjali and Prachi have fallen asleep on either side of Kavya's shoulders. Angad and Kripa are still watching the movie; however, there is way too much violence for Kripa's taste, so she becomes pretty bored. The guys are watching intently though.

As soon as the movie comes to an end Angad and Kripa start arguing about the movie by the door connecting both the guys' and girls' rooms. Angad says, "Kripa you have such bad taste, that movie was GRRREAT!" Kripa replies, "It was GRREAT?? What are you the Kellogg's Tony the Tiger?? And I have bad taste?? Are you kidding that movie was horrible! Only a complete moron would like that movie!" Angad argues back, "Are you calling me a moron!" And this argumentation continues. Meanwhile Kavya finds himself in a pickle because Prachi and Anjali have made a home on his shoulders and he can't even move because Anjali has her arms thrown around Kavya's neck. Kavya signals Neev over to help with Prachi. Neev picks up Prachi in his arms and gently places her on the bed, brushes her hair aside. She looks so innocent to Neev. He kisses her forehead and leaves. Kavya picks up Anjali and tries putting her down, but Anjali just won't let go. He eventually pries himself away and looks back at her angelic face. Kavya goes close to Anjali and whispers, "You're beautiful", he pulls the covers up and leaves, unaware that Anjali heard him and is slightly blushing to herself.

 

**********

Kripa still isn't able to fall asleep. Every time she closes her eyes, her mind goes back to the way Angad was looking at her in the closet. She gets out of bed and heads to the balcony, which is shared between the guys' and girls' room. She looks out towards the city. It is so quiet, she thought. She begins to admire the star lit sky and glowing moon. She thinks back to their almost kiss, the awkwardness, and their dance. Then her mind drifts to Prachi and Neev's relationship, which is quite similar to her own. She wonders if she would ever fall in love with Angad, she wonders about the future, who they would marry, what they would become, everything about life in general. Suddenly from behind, someone whispers, "Mere bare mein sooch rahi thi?" Kripa gasps and turns to find Angad behind her. She turns back to the sky with Angad still behind her. He moves closer and puts his hands on either side of the railing, trapping Kripa and pressing into her. Kripa turns around and looks into Angad eyes. She tries to distance herself from him, but can't. They begin moving a little closer to each other when they hear a girly scream from the girls' room… NO WAIT the GUYS' ROOM??

 They sprint towards the guys' room wondering what could possibly be the matter. It was Kavya who was yelling like a schoolboy with a British accent, "Ahhhhh big hairy SPIDER!! Don't eat me mate!!!! AHHH! I WANT MY MOMMY!! Why won't my wand work! Arachnophobia! ARACHNOPHOBIAAAAA!!!!" he keeps squirming around in bed—it looks like he is having a seizure or he's trying to dance. Angad and Kripa watch Kavya screaming for his mommy and raising his hand swishing it around and they both laugh really hard looking at the panic driven face of Kavya. Angad is panting from all the laughter and asks, "Wh..What is he doing? Why is he talking like he's from England" Kripa replies, "HAHAHA that's the nightmare where he thinks he's Harry Potter and he is being chased by that big spider Argon and the Arachnophobia is his spell to make it go away" Angad is surprised, "WHAT? He think's he's Harry Potter!! HAHAHA!" They share another laugh and they both go back to their rooms. Angad goes to Kavya and sees him still having his seizure like he is being "zapped" possibly by Lord Voldemort so he kicks Kavya's rear end so hard he falls off the bed. While falling Kavya screams, "Ahh You ate me!! AHHH!" Angad says, "Wake up you Harry Potter moron" Kavya gets up, not fully in his senses yet and raises his hand as if it were a wand saying, "Oh yea well you won't be laughing when I use this charrrr…….." Kavya realizes what he's doing and sees Angad grinning and groans thinking now he will never hear the last of it.

 

Chapter 10

 

            They come back from the trip to Goa with a little shopping done here and there. Now it is back to school for them since their long week end has finished. Neev has been trying to talk to Prachi all day now and has gotten quite frustrated with her. He doesn't understand what her problem is. She has been ignoring him the whole day and it is getting too much because he assumes by now she would have cooled off if he gave her space. Neev goes to search for Prachi and finds her sitting with Kripa, Anjali, and Aaliya while Angad, Kavya, and Josh play basketball. The girls are just talking about random girly topics and he catches sight of Prachi enjoying herself, not just enjoying but laughing as well. Here Neev stands totally depressed and upset, while Prachi sits conversing with her friends. He is really mad now more than ever. Neev comes by the girls and sits there while Prachi excuses herself to use the bathroom. Again she avoided him, Neev thought. He too gets up and follows her. When Neev entered, she is inside the stall and he hides in a stall near by. She comes out and begins washing her hands when the lights suddenly go out and there is complete darkness in the bathroom. She turns to the door to leave, but before she can open it she gets pinned to the wall.

She knows it was Neev. She knows his touch, his fragrance, his everything including his anger and frustration. The light seeped in from the windows and she calmly speaks, "Neev let me go" Neev replies with a firm, "NO" She begins to struggle in his grip and he yells, "WHY DAM*IT, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS! JUST SAY SOMETHING PLEASE, LOOK JUST YELL AT ME, DO SOMETHING JUST DON'T IGNORE ME PLEASE I CAN'T TAKE IT. YOUR REALLY IMPORTANT FOR ME PRACHI, YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND…DON'T DO THIS TO ME." Prachi yells with intensity, "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE OKAY NEEV, IT HURTS, IT HURTS BECAUSE I…" She pauses and tries to leave, but Neev tightens his grip on her. Neev's hot breath on her neck and passionate voice seems to intoxicate Prachi. Neev asks softly leaning in closer, "Because you what?" This forces her to pull out from her trance and yell, "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!" Neev's whole world turns upside down. He is completely shocked, so shocked that he loosens his grip on her and let her run away in tears. In a moment he realizes she's running away so he calls after her, but she wouldn't stop, she couldn't stop. He just watches her run away wiping her tears along the way.

Neev walks around the park, looking at the children play, remembering his own childhood days with everyone, but mostly Prachi. From childhood, Angad and Kripa stuck together like glue, and Kavya and Anjali always annoyed each other right from the start—but they are friends, it is an undeclared friendship. Prachi had always felt like an outsider and a loner. That's when Neev came into the Sharma's and Khanna's lives. He became the other half of Prachi, the part she was missing. That's when Prachi and Neev became best of friends and today his best friend is in love with him. Neev has always known Prachi is a beautiful girl, but she is very reserved something Neev is not used to in girls. His taste in women has been bold and beautiful like Angad and Kavya's. He had to admit though, that Prachi was way more fun and more beautiful than the girls he had dated. He tells himself he isn't in love with Prachi, but feared losing her friendship. Everything has changed and nothing could go back to what it was before, nothing. Oh love is complicated.

 

**********

            Same day- Kavya and Anjali. Now strangely enough the whole day Kavya has not once bugged Anjali. Forget bugging, he didn't even approach her. He keeps himself busy with girls the whole time. He doesn't even try to sit next to Anjali in any of their classes. She doesn't know what to think of it. She really misses his little annoyances. His annoying behavior became part of her every day routine. Not once has he missed an opportunity to mess with her. This just throws her off completely. It is so ironic that even when he is not annoying her, she is even more annoyed. Anjali tries to not focus on Kavya by keeping herself busy with guys. Now at this point usually Kavya would come over and harass the guy until he left, but nope not this time. What she didn't know was the Kavya is watching Anjali flirt from a distance and is trying really hard to control his temper. So far it had been working, but he didn't know how long it would last. Kavya hates it when Anjali flirted, he doesn't exactly know why—it is his way of being protective over her. Angad, Kavya, and Neev have all learned to look out for Kripa, Anjali, and Prachi since they are their friend's sisters, or at least that's the excuse Kavya tells himself. After Prachi and Neev have left the basketball grounds towards the bathroom, Kavya is flirting with this one girl after the basketball game. She is currently sitting comfortably on his lap. Anjali walks past and says, "Get a room!"  Kavya grins, "Great idea!" and laughs at her jealousy. Anjali walks away in a huff. So basically Kavya is annoying Anjali from a distance, but trying to maintain a distance and Anjali is annoyed by this distance.

           

**********

Same day in the morning- Angad and Kripa. Angad and Kripa make plans to do their homework together at the Sharma House later. As of now, they are sitting in class listening to a lecture from their math teacher. Angad and Kripa as usual are not paying much attention to the lecture, but passing notes and talking. That's when the door bursts open and in comes the principal with another boy trailing behind. The principal seems to be embarrassed of his 'takla' (bald) head so the guy feels the need to wear a wig, which is the most ridiculous and obvious looking wig one could possibly find. The boy is standing behind the principal so getting a clear view isn't possible. The principal is talking to the professor and then turns to the class and says, "Ok students, we have a new student from Dehli joining your class and his name is Prem Malhotra." Angad and Kripa aren't really paying attention, but as soon as the Principal steps aside, a young, hot, looking guy stands in front. He looks so carefree and he has his own attitude, like a bad boy. Kripa feels attracted towards him since bad boys were her weakness. She whispers to Angad, "DAM* he's HOT!" Angad looks up and then at Kripa really shocked and says, "Wow Kripa, tumhare itne bure din agaya hai… You think the Principal is hot???" Kripa kicks Angad hard causing him to scream, "OWW!!" The Principal turns his attention to Angad along with the rest of the class and says, "Angad what is the meaning of this outburst?" Angad looks back at Kripa and grins, "Well sir, Kripa seems to think that you are really HOo…OWWWW" Kripa has yanked Angad to sit down and stomped on his foot causing him to say 'how' instead of his intended 'hot'. Kripa interrupts Angad saying, "How sir How do you get your hair to be so shiny?" Well at this the principal turns red at the compliment and starts patting his head like one would to a dog and replies, "Oh I use conditioner you see" and grins widely. At this Angad says, ::cough:: LIAR ::cough::. Now Kripa has to elbow him to shut up since he was bound to get them both a detention.

The principal turns his attention back to the boy, who Kripa now has a crush on. Angad sees the guy and realizes that this was who Kripa must have been talking about. Although Angad hates to admit it the guy has style, but Angad happened to be undeniably hotter than Prem. Angad thought and realizes that they would have probably become friends had Kripa not declared she liked the guy and this is reason enough for Angad to despise him. The Principal asks the professor, who the smartest in the class is and that just so happens to be Kripa Sharma. Kripa beams as Prem is assigned to work alongside Kripa. Angad is totally upset because not only did Kripa stop talking to him in class, she acted like he didn't exist. Kripa s flirting with Prem constantly and even gave him her phone number. She touched his arm saying, "If you need help with anything just ask" in a rather sexy tone. This is only infuriating Angad more.

Angad gets a hold of his anger and after the basketball game with the guys he is walking to meet up with Kripa because they have planned to do their homework together. He suddenly stopped walking when he saw Prem and Kripa talking, laughing, and having fun. It looks like they really clicked. Angad is starting to feel really insecure. Kripa waves Angad over and Prem and Angad talk lightly on some topics. Prem had actually become friends with Kavya so he had come upon his request. That's when he saw Kripa and decided to chat with her. Angad isn't too fond of Kripa and Prem's closeness, but who was he to say anything. Kavya signals Prem over and he says a quick bye and sprints. Angad is loving Kavya at the moment. Angad persuades Kripa to leave, but she keeps insisting on staying because Prem is there. Angad finally gets Kripa in his car and all she says is, "Hmph!" Angad looks over at Kripa and smiles. He stops the car to get ice cream and the frown on her face quickly turns into a bright smile. She kisses Angad's cheek and throws her arms around his neck exclaiming in delight, "THANK YOU!!" and after their little snack they happily drive to the Sharma House. They finish their homework and Angad leaves after a while to go home.

 

**********

Angad has become insecure with Kripa's new formed friendship with Prem. Neev has become distraught over his feelings for Prachi, he knows now that the cause of her behavior was insecurity and jealousy. Kavya has begun using jealousy as a weapon to annoy Anjali. Everyone is having problems in their friendships; jealousy has seeped into each of their relationships one way or another.