Chapter 8

{ Chapter 7 } { Part A }

Chapter 7
Part A

"Arnav, do you know the answer to this question...I just cant get it! How to calculate the volume of this cylinder?!"

"Its easy, Khu...why don't you check out the solved equations in the earlier part of the chapter...opening the book might help you know?"

"Why? Tum kyon nahin bata sakte? Tumhe pata hai na ki mujhe Maths ki kitaabe padhna achcha nahin lagta!"

"Oh grow up, Khu! Check it out na! I have to get ready for my match tonight! We are so going to mince those idiots from Meslers' Academy!"

"With the amount of testosterone flowing through that field, one would think it's a frickin international ODI not a Under 16 School tournament!"

"You do know that the level of testosterone is more in ripe young men as compared to old haggard oldies, right?"

"Old haggard oldies? Really?"

"You get what I mean."

"Unfortunately yes."

"Gee I love you too, Khu!"

"You should. I am the best thing to happen to you, Aru."

"Damn it Khu! Don't call me that! I have told you so many times now!"

"Arrey! You can call me Khu' but all hell breaks loose if I call you Aru', huh?!"

"Of course it does! It sounds so girly! And I am all things manly, Miss Khu-Gu!"

"ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA! YOU ARE SO DEAD!"

Arnav escaped the hold of the young and wild Khushi Gupta on the scruff of his neck and cackling madly sprinted to the door of the classroom they had been conversing in, stopping at the door to blow a kiss and flash a smirk at the smarting young lady and hollering out a promise of meeting her in the night and picking her up for the victory party.

To which she rolled her eyes and said in a dry tone, tinged with amusement, "Arent you getting a little ahead of yourself - victory party and all?"

"Never, sweetheart, and you know that!" were his parting words and Khushi could do nothing but throw her head back and laugh, knowing in her heart that his words rang true.

Their school, Green Valley High, boasted of a cricket team to be envied. That had been true since two years of the school's establishment 20 years back and rang more than true under the current captainship of Varun Jaiswal, Khushi and Arnav's senior by a year, who had most famously taken an oath to win the prestigious Intra-school Cricket Championship in which schools from all over India participated. And Varun intended, the whole school including the teachers' knew, to hold good on the promise and his grilling training schedule supported the assumption.

The teachers had tried their best to dissuade team members, using words of advice as well as warnings, from missing entire days of classes to sweat it out at the pitch but no one had paid them heed and although they couldn't say it out loud, they too were proud of the dedication their team was exhibiting and hence the whole school stood stoutly behind the players.

Khushi too was rooting for her school's team and most importantly for her childhood best friend, Arnav, as she knew how important the tournament was to Arnav - not only personally but professionally as well as it was the last tournament of the year and would have an indelible say in who would be chosen captain for the next year.

Arnav had played exceptionally well since his joining of the team 2 years back and was one of the leading names in any and every person's list for succeeding Varun as the captain of the cricket team of Green Valley High.

"Hey Khushi...have you seen Arnav around?"

Khushi was broken out of her reflective trance as Varun's voice floated in through the open door and as she turned towards it once more, there he was standing in his resplendent glory - all dressed up in the school colours, his kit in his hands as he flashed a smile at her and Khushi smiled back, walking up to him.

"Hey Varun! Arnav just left...anyway, Best of Luck for the game tonight!"

"Thanks, Khushi...you're coming right?"

"Yes, of course! I will be there! Cheering the loudest!" Khushi made whooping' gestures with her hands making Varun throw his head back and laugh.

"Great! We need some good cheering! Chalo see you there! Bye!"

"Bye! And don't worry even without any cheering, you guys are the best team ever!"

"Nah...the whole school makes a team, Khushi, and we need all of your support so see you at the ground!"

"Haha! Yes! Ground bhi and the after party Arnav has already started planning too!"

"Uff yeh Arnav bhi na! Pehle jeete toh!"

"He is sure of it! And somewhere I am too!"

"Well I can only hope so...I cant be sure unless we have that trophy in our hands!"

"You will, trust me! Anyway, ab niklo chalo! Reach your dressing room and undo whatever damage Arnav's winning' speech must have done to the heads of your already silly players!" Khushi winked at Varun while he nodded in a dramatic fashion.

"Yep! I must...Arnav giving any speech is a bad bad idea! I still haven't forgotten the screw the school' speech he gave before the training started! In front of the principal! That man gives BAD speeches!"

"True! See you!"

"See you, Khushi!"

*****

"No Dad, I don't need a ride...Arnav is coming over. I will go with him, yeah I am sure...don't send the driver home. Bye!"

Khushi looked at her reflection in the mirror checking her lip gloss for the zenith time, making sure that it was not spilling its stickiness anywhere on her face before picking up her kajal pencil and lining her eyes neatly once again, making sure that the black made her honey-gold orbs stand out even more.

She looked at the clock on the wall beside her dressing table again and sighed audibly. Arnav Singh Raizada could never be on time! He was supposed to be at her door roughly 30 minutes back and still there was no sign of him, so what if she hadn't been ready 30 minutes back, she was now!

"Damn you Arnav! Always late!" Khushi grumbled, getting up from the stool and making her way to her bed, lying down on her stomach but taking care not to ruffle the delicate folds of her black knee length dress, her heel clad feet rising up in the air.

She picked up a magazine lying about and flicked through it before checking the clock again and groaning out loud as it showed 8.31, exactly one minute had passed since she had last checked the time.

Once again picking up her cordless, she dialed Arnav's number before cutting the call with a frown - why should she call the jackass?! He knew what time he was supposed to come so why did she need to worry?! Idiot! Must be still high on the game! Ass!

But during her rant, Khushi had started smiling as she remembered his jubilant face when he had scored the winning runs before he had burst into a spontaneous dance and as bad as Arnav Singh Raizada danced, he smiled much much better! His was a smile one would remember for days to come - a slow languid stretching of his lips and the crinkling near his eyes as the molten chocolate would shine through...Arnav smiled with his eyes and Khushi could never get enough of it, although she would die a thousand deaths before admitting this fact to him...

And a million deaths before admitting that she had taken express care dressing up for tonight - not for her own self but for him...somewhere she had wanted, for a very long time, that same admiring look in his eyes for her as she had had for him every time he smiled.

She wanted to look beautiful for him and the one day she decided to act on this fancy of hers, he decided to play hokey.

Loser! She thought to herself but with much less conviction than before, her lips refusing to not smile at the thought of the ass clown who she had known for nearly 10 years of her life now as an annoying son of her father's best friend, as an annoying boy with cooties, as a best friend (still annoying) and now as...

As what she knew not but she knew that for her the line of friendship had long crossed over to that delicate part which succeeded friendship, but not every friendship just the very special ones...

She was still mulling over this passing of age, a light blush adorning her cheeks, when the doorbell rang and the pink intensified as she hurried off the bed and dusted the invisible dust and creases off her dress before grabbing her purse and flying down the stairs to the foyer.

Only to see Varun Jaiswal waiting there for her, an easy smile on his face, looking charming in a crisp white button down shirt, light blue jeans and a royal blue summer jacket.

"Hey Khushi! Ready to go?"

Khushi knew that her face had rearranged itself into one of surprise seeing Varun where she expected Arnav but shaking it off, she looked around hesitantly-

"Looking for Arnav? The idiot forgot he had to pick you up...although I wouldn't blame him considering he finally got that date with Lavanya Kashyap, that commerce girl he had been hankering after for a few months now! And only when he got to the party did he realize ki tumhe bhi laana tha...anyway I am here now, I thought I would only come...you ready?"

And although Khushi felt herself nodding, it was not a conscious decision because every power of her consciousness was employed to keep the tears at bay, to freeze that uncertain smile on her face lest Varun, or worse Arnav, saw through it and as she said her bye to her mother and gave half a ear to the teasing whispers of what a handsome boy had come to pick her up, all her thoughts could gather around was one fact -

The handsome boy wasn't Arnav.

Next Chapter - Page 37

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What will happen at the party?! Will Khushi be able to tell her haal-e-dil to Arnav?! And what is Arnav upto?! Aage jaanne le liye padhte rahiye 'Gupta Home Designs - Your home, Our dream'

And now that my nautanki is done, here is a note -

That was Part A of Chapter 7 and as you may have already guessed this is one of those revelation of past wala chapters! I am nervous about this one for two reasons - A. Its revelations, of course I am nervous! LOL! and B. I wrote GHD after a LONG time and that was not easy! (For full details on that, read this note (this is like noteception! ;) :D) - NOTE on Page 32.

But anyway I hope you guys liked it! Feedback dena, please! :)

Also a BIG thank you for all the lovely messages here and via scrap! Mujhe pata nahin tha GHD itni loved hai! LOL! And sorry for the delay in updating again! :) <3

PS - 57 'Likes' on the last chapter - WOAH! Thank You! :D

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