"O. M. G." was all Kali could say as Mehak leaned back in her seat with a smug on her face, happy to get that reaction from Kali.
They hadn't noticed it, but some of the other students were seated, or standing close by to their table so that they can hear the story as well. They all had the same expression as Kali. After a moment, Kali burst out laughing, who was joined by some other students.
"You've got to be kidding me. By one guy, who now longer comes here, this whole thing started?"
"Yup. It's weird na. Imagine if Damini hadn't met that guy, then she would never have met Prithvi, and if she had never met him, then there wouldn't be any fights, and if there weren't any fights, then there would be no point in coming to college, if there was no pointing in coming to college, then students would start dropping out, and if students start dropping off, then the college would get a bad name, and if the college got a bad name, then..." Mehak paused for a breath, while Kali was looking at her wide eyed.
"Calm down." said Kali. "And forget about that, tell me more about The Hexs. You already told me about Prithvi and Damini. What about Sameer and Avni? How did their story start." inquired Kali.
With a smile, Mehak began narrating the story of how Sameer and Avni got to meet.
"Well...
Avni who had came early to college on her first day, unlike her older sister Damini, and very unlike her younger sister Roshni, was walking in the fields, outside of college, trying to get comfortable with the atmosphere as she's going to spend the next four years of her life here. She goes near some bushes that were freshly bloomed from their pale green buds, into beautiful petals in all shades of colors. Avni bent down and took in the fragrance of one of her favorite flowers, white roses, and smiles, as she's familiar with the fragrance.
"Atleast there's something, I can relate to." she thinks.
She continues on walking across the fields, but is interrupted as she hears roars of engines coming from the parking lot. She looks towards it, and is irritated by what she sees. There's a group of boys with their bikes, some of them showing off their newest buy, some just circling around, and while some just sit on them talking to their girlfriends while they just leave their bikes on, polluting the air that is doing so much damage to the world. Avni, who is very protective about everything, couldn't tolerate to see a bunch of careless, youngsters kill their beautiful planet minute by minute. She takes a step toward them to go and teach them a lesson, but then brings it back as she's new to the college, and there's no one else to support her against them. Who knows what they could do to her and get away with it. She turns to leave but bends down to adjust her payal on her right foot as it had come off.
As she's fixing her payal, a very handsome, young man rides into college, wearing a red jacket, and jeans, with a pair of black shades on. He parks in his bike, before another guy could, making furious. As he takes out his key from the ignition, he hears a couple of whistles coming at his way, some for his glossy, sexy black bike, and some for the hot hunk himself. He smiles knowing this happens on his first impression on everybody. He looks back to his left and sees the guy who was furious just a minute ago, staring at his bike, forgetting about his parking spot. The other guys turn off their bike as well, and go up to him.
"Hey." a guy punches him lightly on the shoulder. "Nice bike."
"Thanks." he replies.
"Vijay." the guy extends his hand out.
"Sameer." he puts his hand in his and shakes it.
"These are my boys. Our last year here." Vijay says, tilting his head back to motion towards the group of boys that had accumulated behind him all at once.
"I'm all alone and it's my first year." Sameer says.
"Na. You're not alone. You got us. Anything you need we'll get it. If anyone harasses ya, come to us. K."
"Alright."
"Plus, we'll teach everything you need to know how to run this place. I can tell, after us, it's gonna be you to own it."
"Really." Sameer takes off his shades. "Well, let's hear it."
Avni got up, from fixing her payal. She stopped for a while to hear the loud roars from the bikes as she did a few moments ago, but there was nothing. She turns around and sees the guys talking to another guy, who is just about her age. Avni was unable to see his face since he was facing the other way, but smiled as she's glad that because of his mere appearance, they all stopped hurting their home. She leaves from there to look around some more.
"Nice. You make it seem so simple. But is it?" asks Sameer.
"For us, it is. Let's see if it is for you."
"How?"
"A test. We'll take a short but simple test from you. If you pass, you join. You fail, you leave."
"Done."
They seal the deal off with a handshake.
"So what do I have to do?" Sameer asks with his hand still in Vijay's.
"It's really simple. Win a girl."
"That's it. Win a girl. That Sameer does everyday, without even trying. Try something else."
Vijay laughs.
"I bet you do. But this isn't some ordinary girl."
Sameer looks at him curious. He brings his hand out of Vijay's and puts it into his jean pocket.
"You see that girl walking down, along the bushes." Vijay points out to Sameer.
He turns around to see where he was pointing at, and sees a girl in a blue salwar suit, walking along the rose bush. She looked like an angel with the sun's rays acting as a halo around her figure. He squinted his eyes trying to see her face, but was unable to because of the brightness from the sun.
"Beautiful." was all that he could describe her as.
"What makes her special?" he asks still looking at Avni.
"Never lets a guy near her."
"How do you know?"
"One of my boys tried flirting with her and he was answered by a tight slap."
Sameer's lips curved into a smile, amused.
"Nothing new."
"Wanna give it a shot."
"I'll win her, in no time."
"If you don't. Trust me. I will."
He puts on his shades and starts walking towards Avni. He gets near the rose bush and without looking, plucks out a white rose and stands behind her. Avni who was totally oblivious to him standing behind her, stops as she thinks as to what to do next. She rubs her arms and takes in a deep breath. She rousles her hair from the back, and turns around while shaking her head. Before she could take a step, she halts, as she's surprised by the bouquet of her favorite white roses, being held infront of her by a boy's face which is being hidden by them, as he's holding them towards her with his arms extended and his head bowed down. Avni tilts her head slightly to her left and looks at him mesmerized. She smiles as she extends her hand to take the bouquet. Sameer lifts his head to look at Avni as he feels the roses slipping softly out of his hands. He stares at her smiling, as she looks down at the flowers, blushing.
"Beautiful. " he whispers.
Avni looks up at him and they both look into each other's eyes then avert them blushing. Their smiles remain on their faces for a little while as they hear Vijay and his gang, coming towards them hooting and whistling. Avni looks at them confused, with a faint smile on her face, while Sameer looks at them upset as he doesn't want her to know that this was all for just a stupid test so that he can join a stupid gang, so that he doesn't have to be stupid loser. Vijay claps his hands as he nears them.
"Wow. I have to admit Sameer. You truly are a master. You only said one word, and you had her blushing. I mean, you truly are THE master at this. You gotta teach me, dude." says Vijay.
Avni looks at Vijay to the boy infront of her, whose name is Sameer. Vijay sees her confused and takes the pleasure to inform her as to what's going on.
"Sorry. You see this was all just a test.. to see if.. Sameer," Vijay puts his arm around Sameer, "is truly worthy of not only joining our group, but also running this college next year."
"And?" asks Avni.
"He is! He had you in just one second!" Vijay laughs.
Avni looks at Sameer who was looking down not able to meet her eyes. Avni sets her jaw into a tight line and looks at the flowers. She starts toying around with them as she thinks. She then sighs and smiles.
"You're right. He is worthy of joining your group. Kyunki, sirf ek batameez hi, ek stupid se group ko join karne mein iss had tak ghir sakta hai. You really chose the right person. But you're wrong about the reason. He didn't win me over and he never will." Avni turns around to leave, but turns back around to say something else. "Oh yeah, and one more thing. As for running this college next year. Best of luck." She pushes the roses back into Sameer's hand and leaves, leaving him astonished.
"Whoa. What attitude." says Vijay.
Sameer forgets about ever feeling bad about hurting her.
"She won't get away with that. Watch. I'll hurt her so bad... so much that she will regret the day that she saw me." Sameer looks at her walking off, with determined eyes full of false revenge.
Secretly, he's happy that she didn't break all ties with him. She'll still be near and around him. Even better, she'll have to be competing with him in everything, in everyday of her life. With the roses still in his hand, he walks in the opposite direction of Avni followed by Vijay's gang. Sameer and Avni both turn around and look at each other, then look back to where they're going and go on their own separate paths.
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