Update Well, here is my next update, as promised :P
FIRST, welcome to my new awesome readersMais and Khushi! Who both read before sleeping 🤣Thank you both of you, and love ya guys!
SECOND, ignore my mistakes please, or just let me know. Not read over or edited.
AND, there might be mechanical mistakes, again. So just...blah!
@FeistySoul, this is for ya! Because you comment on EVERY freaking chapter <3 Love ya!
Plus, Mais won the last question.The first time Neesha saw Ayush was on a Bench by the Beach. :PYou get what ya want girl!
Question 3Where is Neesha's favorite secret passage?
PS: Say Happy Birthday to my mom!! :DChapter 11 I stomped into my room infuriated. Ayush was right about something at least, but that just made me angrier for some twisted reason. Almost every word he utters comes with a completely hidden meaning. This enigmatic boy is going to be death of me! (Unless I kill him first.)
"What exactly happened Neesh?" Gen said as soon as we were settled around the coffee table in our suite. I leaned back, tired from torturing drama, and told them everything. Every single thing, from where it all began.
"So you didn't try to breach security to meet Kartik?" Kiya asked, nodding her head already.
"You guys know me! I would never breach security like that!" I cried.
"Of course not!" Gen said, and I felt encouragement boosting through me. "You wouldn't get caught!"
Well, close enough.
"And you wouldn't risk your grades by breaching Code Black." Panchi said. I looked at Panchi and wondered how crazy would she go on the scale of ten if her grade went down even a letter. Ten. Definitely.
"And that pendant." Kiya nodded her head towards my neck. "That is your dad's?"
"I don't know." I whispered, because I honestly didn't. It could be Mr. Saxena's or dad's. Either way, I had no idea what it was for.
"But if it was you dad's," Gen said slowly, "That means right before your dad...disappeared...Mr. Saxena had met him."
I looked at her, biting on my lip. In time, he had said. He will let me know in time.
The Diwali party was on Tuesday. We do not have weekends rule when it comes to such occasions. Or at least that is what I assumed since this was in fact, very first real occasion at Royal Institute.
There were quite a fair amount of rumors and facts going around the rooms. For example:
- Almost every boy had planned on asking out Kiya Gujral for dance, and that had resulted into fuming of fair number of Royal girls. --Fact
- Chef Khanna was going to serve poison in appetizers so we will have to concoct antidotes, or die. --Rumor
- There was going to be a terrorist invasion, and we are all going to be tested, or killed. --Rumor
- Waxing was illegal under international torturing law. --Rumor (That is if the screams coming from Juhi's room were any indication.)
Every room was buzzing with laughing, murmurs and complaining. Even sitting in my room I could here Shakshi Sharma shouting for someone to pin her dress. It wasn't a normal evening, and I didn't feel normal to say the least.
"I am not sure." I said again, feeling my head. Kiya hissed and slapped my hand away.
"Stop it!" She snapped. "It's perfect! You look perfect!"
That was probably an exaggeration, but I hoped I looked close. I wore the saree and Kiya forced me to curl my hair. I was saved from a burn about seven times.
Gen had gone for a beautiful blue Saree too. Which was jaw dropping because 1. She looked absolutely stunning, and 2. Genelia Raman never wears anything girly.
Panchi was wearing a Saree too! And she was looking beautiful. Had I not known her long enough, I did think she walked off some ramp. She had curled her hair before pulling it back with a clutcher.
Kiya was still wearing her shorts and graphic "Rebel" t-shirt. Her hair was bunched up behind her, held with a rubber band and many make up brushes poked out from behind her. She looked like a professional make up artist. Even in that state, she looked more beautiful then any of us.
"Do you have extra safety pin?" Pratigya came running to our room, but sadly, we had none to help her. She just clutched on to her dress and ran off to the next suite.
"You guys run off, I will be there in ten." Kiya said after she was done pushing in the elegant earing in my ear. She disappeared inside the bathroom.
"Are you sure?" I shouted behind her. "You don't need any help?"
Kiya opened the door and leaned against its frame. "Really? You will help me?"
It wasn't an eager question.
"Yes?" I said, unsure.
"Just go." She laughed and went back in. Right. I can't help anyone with this!
Gone was the school I had grown to love in last five years. The Dome was lighted up with bright lights and beautiful chandeliers. The doors to the Grand hall were open, and the two rooms connected. There was a chocolate fountain in the middle of the dome, and surrounding it was flowered decorations the seniors had prepared. There were different, antique vases lined up at different intervals along the edges.
Girls of every different sizes, shape and color filled the room. One look at my school dome and I knew, there is no corner of the world where Royal Girls can't hide.
"Oh my, lovely ladies!" Madam Rochette walked upto us. "I wish had a camera how lovely do you look!" She said, her hand clasped under her chin in awe. I smiled and acknowledged her compliment.
"You look beautiful yourself Madam Rochette!" Panchi said beside me. Madam Rochette smiled and made her way across us towards Ms. Singh, our P&E teacher, who for the first time looked like a woman. We stood there by the railings, waiting for Kiya.
"Well!" I flinched at his sound and turned to face Ayush. He took in everything from the sandals I can't walk in, and the Saree I can't feel comfortable in. Then he looked me in the eyes and whispered. "You don't look hideous."
It might have been a compliment, but my boy experience was still a bit rustic, and Kiya was nowhere around, so I winged it. "Ditto."
Ayush leaned against the railing and smiled. Yes, Ayushman Kasyap just smiled at me. Did we just have a normal pre-clandestine moment? I was about to turn around and move when my heel got caught in my Saree and I stumbled.
"Easy, Princess." Ayush said, and held my elbow, straightening me.
"I am perfectly capable of walking down the stairs myself." I snapped. I am sure he knows that am perfectly capable of throwing him down the stairs too. But then Madam Rochette came around.
"A lady always gracefully accepts a gentleman's arm when offered, Neesha dear."
So you see, with Madam Rochette floating around with her lady-like commands, I have no choice but let Ayush escort me. We walked down towards the grandest and fanciest hall I did ever seen, and was Ayush nervous? No. He was smiling the same I-know-something-you-don't smile that he first gave me in Mumbai.
"Stop it!" I hissed.
"What?" He asked innocently.
"You're enjoying this way too much!" I said as we turned towards the Grand hall. Ayush stopped and turned towards me.
"I have got some news for you, Princess." He looked at me. "If you're not enjoying this, than you're most probably in the wrong business."
And I guess he was right. Maybe this was just what being a spy is like. Fitting in--anywhere, or everywhere. Everything felt different, and maybe that is how our life will be. Every mission will come with different covers, different locations. And all we could do would be fit in.
Kiya walked down the stairs, looking more beautiful than any girl in the room. She did not put on much make-up and was wearing a white Anarkali. Yet, she was the most beautiful lady in the crowd. Mr. Saxena and my mom (looking like a model walking off the ramp in that simple blue Anarkali, just so you know) entered the room, their arms full of files. Once glance at their faces and I knew this wasn't just a party.
"Ladies, and Gentleman." Mr. Saxena said aloud as he placed the stack on the table up front. "You all look lovely tonight." Every sound in the room had leveled to zero as my favorite teacher spoke. "But I am afraid, you're not done getting ready yet.
The least I could say is I am extremely glad my teacher is highly skilled, for to be on the safe side, that is not what someone should say to a mob of girls who had just waxed, plucked, gelled, sprayed and mascaraed.
"We forgot to mention that today is more of a masquerade ball." He said with a smile.
"But we don't have masks, or any other disguises." Keya Sarang's voice said. Mr. Saxena just smiled, again.
"These are your masks." He lifted up a file. "You have three minutes to memorize every information in your file. Tonight is a simple exercise, you will be someone else."
"It's an exam. You will be a part of different culture, different state and even different personality."
Everyone always told me to be myself whenever I am in a critical condition. But today as I stared down at the file that contained two Driver Licenses, Indian Ration card and Identity Card of Britain, it was a completely different person, with my picture in a corner. Neesha wasn't going to be attend the Diwali party in an elegant red Saree and high heels, Sheikha Brian was.
And of all the things I have heard that day, that was most relieving.
It was a cumulative night. Every language we had learned was simultaneously pronounced in that room that night. Everybody was making an important use of everything Professor Bhatia has taught us in Countries of the World. Everybody danced, and talked. Music played and people swayed. Some shy girls talked like they had descended from Jab We Met, and some bubbly, chirpy girls looked at their feet and blushed.
Sheikha Brian was a Professor at Cambridge University and a very elegant dancer. But Neesha Rai wasn't, so I tried all I could to not stumble over KD's feet.
"Please tell me this is a disaster for you too." KD said, and I looked up to smile at him. KD was supposed to be Cole Brian, my step-brother who is my only family, and to make things easier he approached for the first dance.
"Oh bhaiya, aapko koi andaaza hi nahi hain!" I said in my fluent Hindi. KD held back a laugh.
"Ms. Verma, there is a man standing five feet away from you, how many sips is he away from completing his drink?" Mr. Saxena asked through our comms unit.
"Twelve, if he keeps the pace." Chandni said, and from the corner of my eyes, I could see the man they were talking about. Dr. Mehta.
"Mr. Brian, mind if I borrow your sister?" Mr. Desh arrived towards us. KD smiled and pulled away from me.
"See you later brother!" I said with a smile. He was a good company.
"You look beautiful Ms. Rai." Dr. Desh said.
"You must have mistaken me for someone else sir, I am Sheikha Brian." I said. He threw his head back and laughed.
"Excellent Ms. Rai, I mean Ms. Brian, Excellent!"
As if that wasn't enough, Ayush waltzed by, laughing over Panchi's shoulder.
"I am vegetarian, and my Zodiac is Virgo." She was saying, and Ayush simply laughed at her talks.
Shakshi Sharma's legend said that she was the princess of a small European country, so every few minutes her royal highness would insist on dancing with Samar, who was supposed to be an infamous playboy who owed a great deal of money to the Russian mob, and therefore was hiding from Juhi Mathur, who was supposed to be the illegitimate daughter of a Russian mobster. (Which was quite unfortunate for Juhi, because I know for a fact she'd been looking forward to dancing with Samar all week.)
Near the center, Gen was waltzing with a ninth grader. Near the fountain an eleventh grader had cornered Kiya.
"So," He was saying. "Do you want to go somewhere more private?"
"That depends," Kiya said cocking her head. "Do you wanna keep that hand?"
As the night moved on, I felt myself sinking further into the crowd. Mr. Saxena asked random questions once in a while, like "There are four men in the room wearing a handkerchief, name them." Or, "There are seven girls wearing Anarkalis, name them." I realized Ayush was dancing a lot. He seemed to be dancing with everybody, even my mother (who was disguised as the first lady of United States. Yeah.)
"Oh, Ms. Brian!" Professor Kumar, our Advanced Encryption teacher came running towards us. "There you are!" He halted beside me.
"Listen, I am suppose to be your Principle and,"
"Oh, Sir Potter." I exclaimed. "How did the class renovation turn out?"
Madam Rochette passed us with a clipboard in her hand. "Refers to Principle as Sir, check!"
"It turned out great, students loved it." He said with a grin. Professor Kumar has spent most of his life locked in basement cracking NSA codes, and as I watched him glow in the evening Ball lights, I realized one thing. Even the highly intellectual person likes to be someone else for a while. "Are you enjoying the night Ms. Brian?"
I was about to answer, but another voice beat me to it.
"Sheikha Brian is the life of this party, Sir Potter." Ayush walked towards us with two glasses of drinks. "I believe this was yours, good sir."
"Oh right, it is." Professor Kumar said, taking the glass from Ayush.
"Do you mind if I borrow your teacher, sir?" Ayush asked my Principle.
"Not at all! Please, enjoy the night." Professor said, but I am sure Sheikha, I mean I minded it at a very large level.
"They are playing our song." Ayush said, putting the other glass on the passing tray. Unfortunately, Sheikha Brian is a dancer, so I had no way out of this proposition.
"So tell me Ms. Sheikha Brian," He asked me, "What does a girl like you do for fun?"
"I didn't tell you my name." I said, hoping to catch his mistake. "How did you know?"
"Oh!" He said, raising his eyebrows exactly the way a wanted debonaire english art thief was supposed to. "I make it a point to know the names of," He pulled me closer. "Beautiful women."
And then Ayush dipped me--Yes, actual dippage. And winked at me--Yes, actual winkage.
Edited by *Prachi* - 12 years ago
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