Realization made Purvi's day one of the worst she had ever had. Other than the D on her math test along with her favorite menu item at lunch being replaced with some revolting teriyaki that obviously had not been inspected. However, the realization was the biggest event in her opinion. Purvi finally stopped with her denial and admitted to herself that she had feelings for Arjun.
Arjun was the man that stepped into her life so that he could help her not fail her last years of high school – with introduction from Purvi's parents of course. It wasn't that he was a bad tutor, he was actually really helpful – when she actually paid attention to what he was teaching. Purvi DOES pay attention, however, not on the material. Instead, she focuses her attention on HIM.
"PURVI!" Punni, one of her best friends (more like a sister) had yelled out to snap Purvi out of her thoughts.
"Huh? What?" Purvi asked with her eyes wide in confusion.
Punni chuckled. "Well, I was talking and you were ignoring me!"
"Sorry," she flushed as she entered her combination for her locker. When Purvi opened it, dozens of test papers that she had been trying to hide from her parents and Arjun had come flying out. "CRAP!" she exclaimed when she noticed how badly she had been doing in school.
"Woah. . . Purvi, don't you have a tutor? How can you get a 66% in math with a tutor?" Punni asked as she picked up one of the tests that flew in her face. "I was expecting at least a 70!"
"Shut up," Purvi mumbled as she snatched the paper away from her friend's hand. After she managed to clean up her mess and stuff it back in her locker, she pulled out her Literature book to study for her exam the next day.
"Purvi, we don't have Lit homework today. . ." Punni said as she watched Purvi's actions.
"I know, but I'm going to study," Purvi said with a smile. She was determined to get a C+ (B- with a curve of course) on this upcoming test.
Punni burst into laughter right when Purvi completed her sentence. "You? And studying? HA!"
"Be quiet Punni! I'm going to actually study!" Purvi whined. "Anyways, why are you here?"
"Geez, sassy much?" Punni began, causing Purvi to roll her eyes. "Are you free after school today?"
"Nah – I have tutoring," Purvi informed with a fake groan. "Life would be so much easier if he just went to this school!"
"Oh, he's a senior?" Punni asked.
Purvi nodded her head. "He does tutoring to help pay for college fees and all of that," she said while closing her locker.
Punni's neutral look turned into a 'I've-got-a-plan' look. "Is he cute?"
"No, I mean he's not bad looking, but he's not cute either. . . okay never mind, he's really cute, but I'm calling dibs okay!" Purvi blabbed.
"Um. . . you know what. . . I actually have to go. . . do a thing," Punni fibbed as she gave Purvi a weird look. "See ya later weirdo!"
Purvi glared at Punni as she watched her walk away.
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"A D?! YOU GOT A D?!" Arjun yelled at Purvi as she walked into the classroom.
"Um. . . if you squint. . . and tilt your head a bit. . . and kind of close your eyes. . . it looks like an A!" Purvi said in her perky voice with an innocent smile.
Arjun sighed. "Why don't you just tell me if you don't understand something? Why are you even here if you're not learning?"
"I am learning! It's just. . . my teacher – she's horrible! How'd you even find out?" Purvi whined and pouted while taking a seat.
"Online grades," Arjun began as he rubbed his temples. "Okay, what subject do you need help on today?"
"I have a test in literature tomorrow," Purvi groaned while making a disgusted expression. "I have to know all the terms and response and analysis questions answers."
"What do you know so far?"
"Nothing."
"You're kidding."
"Okay, maybe I know a few of the question answers, but that's about it."
Arjun took a seat next to Purvi and handed her a few index cards and markers. "Make flashcards," he commanded.
Purvi looked up at him and took the materials from his hand. As she started to create the flashcards, she began a pointless conversation with Arjun. "So, how was your day Arjun?"
"It was good, how was yours?"
"It sucked. You know what else sucks? Being hungry. I'm hungry right now. Are you hungry Arjun?"
"No."
"What's your favorite food?"
"Tests that have A's on them."
"So you eat your tests?"
"I don't always get A's."
Purvi gasped. "The wise Arjun Kirloskar doesn't always get A's?!"
Arjun rolled his eyes. "Are you trying to stall time so you don't have to study?"
"It depends. Is it working?"
"Fine. Only until Ovi comes."
Purvi groaned at the sound of Ovi's name. Purvi's feelings for her were conflicted. She always had food with her and Purvi always mooched off of her. However, she couldn't help but get inferior when she saw Ovi making googly eyes at Arjun as he tried to explain a problem for her. The thing that irritated Purvi the most about Ovi was the fact that whenever he was close to her or focused on helping her with a problem, she always came to interrupt it. Every time Ovi was in class, Purvi didn't know whether she should hug her or throw a textbook at her head. "I hope she doesn't come," Purvi mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing. Anyways, Arjun. . . how's school?"
"Expensive."
"Do you do any other jobs besides tutoring?"
"Yeah – I actually work as a radio DJ."
The sound of the door creaking open caused Purvi to not pay attention to what Arjun said, but instead get textbook ready for some major throwing. Ovi stood in the doorway with a bag of popcorn. However, Purvi couldn't help but notice her skimpy outfit. "Hi Purvi! Hi Arjun!" she exclaimed in her shrill voice while taking a seat next to Purvi.
Purvi worked hard to finish her flashcards just so she could have another excuse to talk to Arjun, since Ovi interrupted the chance of going further with their game of twenty questions. As Arjun was writing some example math problems on the board for Ovi, her hand shot up to ask him a question. Purvi gritted her teeth and blurted out, "ARJUN I NEED HELP!"
Arjun set down his marker and went over to Purvi.
"Wait, Arjun! I wanted to tell you that I got an A on my math test!" Ovi shouted out.
Arjun diverted his attention from Purvi over to Ovi. "Great job! I knew you could do it!"
Arjun's praises to Ovi made Purvi angry at first. Then, she became overfilled with determination. Arjun seemed to have an interest in smart girls? That meant she was going to become his dream smart girl – whatever that meant.
Purvi scribbled away on her notebook as she re-wrote her notes, vocab, and question answers to help her memorize them better. Her plan of flirting with Arjun and stalling him from teaching went to the back of her brain.
After a few minutes of silence in the room, Arjun asked Purvi if she needed any help. She gave him a sweet smile and shook her head no. He then walked over to Ovi to see how she was doing. He wasn't surprised to see her texting behind her textbook.
"Ovi, you need to work on being more diligent and doing your work!" Arjun scolded as her took Ovi's phone away. "Who knew that Purvi would be more hard working than you. . ."
Purvi didn't know whether that was a compliment or an insult, but she took it as a compliment anyways.
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"ARJUN!" Purvi exclaimed as she ran into the room. She ran right into Arjun and wrapped her arms around him. He returned her hug after a few seconds.
"Woah – is everything okay?" he asked, clearly confused.
She pulled out her crumbled literature test from her backpack and handed it to him. "I GOT AN A! I GOT AN A!"
Arjun's confusion turned into a bright smile. "Good job! I knew you could do it!" he exclaimed, pulling her into another hug.
This time, Purvi was more calm and aware of what was going on. She felt so warm and wanted in his arms and if she had a choice, she wouldn't have let go. Purvi closed her eyes and savored how close she was to Arjun.
Arjun, on the other hand, took a while to be brought back to reality – somewhat. When he noticed how tightly he was holding on to Purvi, he didn't bother letting go. He looked down at her and noticed how comfortable she was – just resting her head on his chest. Arjun rested his chin on her head.
All unexpressed and hidden feelings were just finally let go of in that one meaningful hug. It actually happened unlike how Arjun thought it never would and it wasn't awkward like what Purvi feared it would be like – it was just pure bliss and calmness.
The opening and closing of the door scared Purvi and caused her to jump away.
"Um, was I interrupting something?" Ovi asked, slightly irritated.
"Er. . . yes! Unless you have food – then the answer is a no," Purvi said – trying to go back to her regular self.
Ovi pulled out a bag of sour gummy worms and threw them at Purvi. Purvi caught them and gave her a thankful smile while taking her seat.
"Purvi, do you need help with anything?" Arjun asked, noticing her just sitting with an empty desk and eating her gummy worms.
"No homework!" Purvi cried out with happiness.
"Then, that's the perfect time to get ahead on your next lessons!" Arjun exclaimed, mocking Purvi's happiness.
Purvi groaned and threw a gummy worm at his face. "I hate school and I hate work!"
Arjun put his hand on Purvi's shoulder. "I feel your pain," he said with fake sympathy while handing her a worksheet with practice problems.
Purvi mumbled something inaudible as she snatched the worksheet from Arjun's grasp.
After a silent hour, Purvi was just unable to do anymore work. "ARJUUUN! Why do we have to do this stuff? Tomorrow's the last day of school before Spring Break so this is all pointless! We only have like 5 more minutes, I don't wanna do thisss!"
Arjun rubbed his temple. "Fine."
Purvi exclaimed out of happiness while Ovi begged for her phone back from yesterday.
"Oh my gosh, I am REALLY tired of this basic girl I know," Ovi said while scrolling down her phone.
"What?" Purvi asked.
"Okay, so this girl liked this guy right and she asked me how she should like confess and ask him to go to Sadie's with her and I was all, I don't know? Ask him on the radio? And she actually did it and the guy didn't even listen when they aired her message! Then she started crying and blaming him for being a horrible person." Ovi explained while rolling her eyes.
"Arjun, what radio station do you listen to?" Purvi blurted out, getting an idea in her head.
"Um. . . well I work with 47827.8 FM, so I guess I listen to them?" Arjun said, clearly not listening to Ovi's rant.
Purvi wasn't sure what Arjun meant by 'work with', but she took it lightly. Purvi quickly pulled out a piece of paper and began to scribble away.
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"Um, are you the DJ of Pani Puri FM?" Purvi asked innocently. She held the phone between her shoulder and ear while fidgeting with her fingers. "Do you think you could air a message for me? Pleaseee?"
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Purvi sat on her bed with her radio on her lap. She could feel her palms getting sweaty and her heart racing faster as the clock went faster to the time the DJ said he would air her message.
"Now, this is the 9 o clock hour with your host Arjun Kirloskarrr. . ." Purvi heard the radio say. It took a few seconds for Purvi to register what it actually said.
"WHAT?!" she yelled out, causing her whole house to rumble.
She heard her grandfather downstairs knocking his cane on the ceiling as a warning to keep quiet.
Purvi began to panic as she heard Arjun on the radio talk about how they were going to start by airing messages. She stupidly used her real name and his real name as well in the spur of the moment, causing her to become even more frantic. Purvi grabbed her phone and quickly dialed the number of the radio station to stop them, but her efforts were useless.
"This message is to 'Smart Arjun', how ironic. . ."
"Don't read it on air Arjun!"
"Oh, my smart Arjun – I don't even know where to start…" Arjun began to read on the radio.
"Then maybe you should stop!" Purvi screamed, rattling and shaking the radio.
"We don't talk much… when we do, it's about school and you being disappointed in me for my bad grades. I really do try hard, but the reason I'm getting all these bad grades is that I end up focusing on YOU instead of school, because I feel like we could have chemistry, you know what I mean? Screw chemistry – we could have biology, physics and every other science that exists too!" she heard Arjun's voice beginning to drift off as he read.
"Wow, I am so done with stealing ideas from Ovi's friends!" Purvi exclaimed to herself in anger.
"You know you really have an effect on me because I'm using cheesy school-related pickup lines! Your opinion means a lot to me… and the way that you were so proud and impressed with me and just pulled me into that hug – it felt amazing! Okay, I don't know how to write this cheesy Bollywood type of love letters, so I'll just be straight up and honest. I REALLY LIKE YOU. You believe in me, you have faith in me, you don't think I'm COMPLETELY stupid, and you answer my dumb questions – always."
Purvi couldn't yell at herself for that paragraph she wrote – she was brutally honest and it felt amazing to get all her feelings off her chest.
"You're the only reason I even look forward to going to school – just so I can see you afterwards. Damn it! I hate writing all this cheesy stuff, it's so hard and I feel like I'm never good enough. So, can you just be mine? Can you open up to me? Can you just love me like how I love you? I know my efforts will probably go in vain and I'll end up creating a rift – but I really just need you to know how I feel about you."
There was a long pause on the radio, causing Purvi to bite her lip.
"From Lovesick Purvi…"
Purvi sighed and she lied down and looked up at her ceiling. "That's it, I'm moving to Kansas – my new name is going to be Hannah Montana, none of the past 18 years of my life happened and I am just – I am Hannah Montana." Purvi planned out.
"Well, Lovesick Purvi – I have some words for you," Arjun said on the radio.
Purvi instantly sat back up and got closer to the radio – the minute she heard him begin a message to her, she plugged her earphones into her phone and opened up the radio. Purvi quickly dashed out of the house saying she forgot something important on a school field trip and rushed into a rickshaw which took less than a minute to find.
"That's the only thing I hate about you – how you put yourself down in the message. Other than that, every quality of yours is just perfection. You're unique, you're carefree, you're like a ray of light in a dark tunnel. I could care less about your test scores or anything school related. Your tests and grades don't measure how intelligent you truly are. I honestly wish I could be saying this to you in person – but I know you're listening right now because your vibrant smile makes me smile in return and I hope you realize of what worth you actually are. You're always so perky and energetic – you put others before yourself, but you know the limit. You were the first customer for my tutoring program and I was really hoping you'd be the only one – by the way, don't tell that to Ms. Mumbai! Don't worry my crazy Purvi, I'm not good at these cheesy love letters either, despite my 100 average in English & Lit. Oh and your beauty! Don't think I was eavesdropping or anything, but I heard you talking to Ms. Mumbai once and expressing how lonely you felt and how you thought you'd never find your significant other. I was speechless at that point. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL – your beauty can't be described in words. For now, I can help you postpone your search for a while. Why? I think I might love you as much as you love me… maybe even more."
Arjun's manager motioned for him to come out from the recording room as it was time for commercial break.
"You have a visitor." he said, motioning for the door.
Arjun gave him a confused look and went to go open it. In the door way stood his beautiful, crazy Purvi with tears running down her face. She flung herself into his arms and held on to him tightly. He held on tighter.
…and like that, they stood – which in their time, felt like forever.
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