"Are you hungry, Prisha?" Isha asked her.

She nodded her head positively, and suddenly she remembered she went out to buy snacks but came back forgetting the bag on the road. She put her hand on her head, thinking about what happened outside. Hopefully she took back her purse and ID card.

"Prisha, I have some snacks if you want them." As Isha said this, her attention went to snacks.

"Didi, it's ok; I will manage." She spoke. It was only 5 PM, and the hostel's mess opens for dinner at 8 PM. She knew she couldn't handle it but was too shy to say yes directly.

"Arey, it's ok. My mom packed a lot. You can have it." Isha said.

Prisha felt like Isha understood her inner feelings, and she gave one chips packet to her. She happily took it, but she didn't show her that she was too happy with it.

"Didi, you also eat, na." Prisha said, taking one chip in her mouth.

"No, no, you eat." She smiled and started to put her clothes in the cupboard. Prisha ate the whole packet within seconds.

When Isha saw this, she smiled, and Prisha wiped her lips with embarrassment.

Early morning

The alarm kept buzzing, but Isha and Prisha were both sleeping peacefully.

After some time, Isha woke up and looked at the clock; then she looked at her mobile, and she shouted, "We are late."

Prisha also woke up because of her shout, and she also checked the time, and it was 8 AM.

"Didi, our school starts at 10:30 AM, so why do you say you are late?" Prisha asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Prisha, don't you know the morning breakfast time is a mess? If we don't reach there now, we will only get water in the name of breakfast." Isha said, brushing her teeth.

Prisha was looking at her with a confused look. Isha, who was brushing her teeth in a hurry, looked at her and said, "Now why are you sitting there? Brush your teeth and run; hurry, don't waste time."

Prisha looked around, and she took out her brush and started brushing her teeth.

After they washed their mouths, Isha held Prisha's hand, and they ran.

When they arrived at the mess, they saw there was already a long line.

"It's over, Prisha; we won't get our breakfast. Let's go to our room, and let's eat something from our snacks." Isha said, looking at the queue.

"But why didi? I mean, they make breakfast according to the number of students, don't they?" Prisha said,

"Yes, but still, you know some foodie people. They eat more than they need, and in the end, we get only gravy or crusts of food." Isha said,

"Then what should we do? Do we have to buy snacks from outside for breakfast?" Prisha said,

"No, I have an idea. You just play along, ok?" Isha said, winking at her. Prisha stood up confused, and within seconds, she saw Isha lying on the floor.

"Didi?" Prisha shouted, and others' eyes fell on her. They all kept looking at Isha. Mess's staff ran towards her.

"What happened?" One lady asked.

"I don't know, she just," Prisha was saying, and she heard the slow voice of Isha. "I, I am, someone please give, me give me food; I am feeling dizzy because I haven't eaten yet."

When Prisha heard this, she was shocked and kept looking at her with her mouth open.

"Ok, beta, you sit at the table; I will bring you food. No, do one thing: go to your room; we will bring your breakfast in your room, ok?" Lady said

"Ok, aunty. Prisha, help me get up. I can't walk properly." Isha said her words were broken. She put her hand on her shoulder.

Now Prisha got her plan, and she smiled and helped her walk towards the lift. The lift was not for students, but as for now, Isha was acting as a sick person; they can go by it.

They reached their room and started laughing.

"Didi, I didn't know you were a good actor." Prisha said, laughing.

"No, no, it's not like that. But from now on we have to wake up before 7 because this trick doesn't work every time." Isha said, lying on the bed.

Prisha started putting her books in her schoolbag. After some time, a lady came to their room, and she knocked on the door. Isha started acting as if she was not feeling good. Prisha told her to come in, and she put two dishes on the ground. She said thank you to her, and that lady left.

Prisha locked the door, and they both sat on the ground and started eating breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Prisha, you go; I will go to my classroom directly. I have some work to do, and yes, your classroom is on the 3rd floor and mine is on the 2nd, okay? You won't get lost, right?" Isha said, coming in front of the school gate.

"Ok, Didi. Don't worry; I will find out my class easily." Prisha said, smiling at her.

"Ok, bye, we will meet in the recess." Isha said, and she went.

Prisha looked at the gate, and she entered.

She started walking, taking out the timetable from her schoolbag. She was checking the timetable, and she heard a yell, "Hey, move, move aside." She looked up, and she saw a boy running towards her.

Her mind went blank. She couldn't think of anything, and within seconds she saw that boy come so close. She blinked her eyes and tried to move, but they had already bumped into each other. He felt that they would fall down, so he held her by her waist as she joined her hands tightly. He tried to move her, but still he lost balance and they both fell. Prisha was so shocked, and when he held her by her waist, he closed her eyes with both of her hands. Their school's uniform was a shirt and a skirt. When she closed her eyes with her hands, her shirt came out of the skirt a little, and as they fell, her little skin was visible where that boy held her, and mistakenly he touched her skin. When she felt that touch, she removed her hands from her eyes, and she looked at that boy who fell on her.

"You?" She shouted and tried to get up, but he was on her, so she couldn't get up. She saw he was looking at her not getting up.

"Hey, are you going to leave me or not? The whole school is looking at us. Get up, you idiot." Prisha said, pushing him a little. He suddenly stood up, and he saw some boys were running towards him.

He started running but stopped in between and turned towards Prisha and shouted, "Hey Patli Kamriya, we will meet soon." And winks at her and runs away. She saw some boys following him.

She was still lying on the ground, processing what was going on. When she saw he winked at her, she got irritated and shook her head, not knowing she fell on the ground and hit her head.

"Ouch." She groaned a little and tried to get up, but she saw a hand in front of her, and she looked up.

"Hurt anywhere?" One boy was standing in front of her and giving her a hand to get up. She was shocked looking at his face but then came to her senses, held his hand, and got up.

"Thank you." She dusted off her clothes and looked up at him.

She couldn't stop staring. It was Parth. Yes, it was him.

Her heart skipped a beat.

The boy she had liked since 8th standard.

Back in secondary school, he had been her senior. The quiet one. The kind one. So many girls had a crush on him, but he never looked at any of them with love in his eyes.

And now, he was standing in front of her again.

Prisha stood frozen, her eyes locked onto his. The world around her seemed to blur.

Even the moment just before, whatever had happened, faded from her memory.

All she could see was his eyes.

"I am sorry on behalf of them." He said politely.

"N, no, it's okay." She said, lowering her eyes.

"By the way, new admission?" He looked at her and asked politely.

"Y-yes." Prisha said, having red cheeks.

"Which standard?"

"11th"

"Need any help? Want me to send you to your classroom?" He said,

"N, no, it's ok..." Prisha had a shy smile on her face and was trying to avoid his eye contact.

"Arey, don't be nervous; I am your senior, and I will gladly help you." Parth said.

She slowly looked at his face, taking in every detail.

Memories rushed back.

She used to stand outside his classroom, watching him study, quietly admiring him from a distance. And every time he happened to glance her way, she would quickly run off, heart pounding.

It made sense that he didn't recognize her now.

She had never really been in front of him. Not truly. Always in the background. Always hidden.

Prisha came back to the present, and she nodded her head.

They reached in front of Prisha's classroom.

"Here," Parth said, pointing down the hallway.

The whole floor had only 11th-standard classrooms, sections A, B, C, D, E, and F.

She found her name under Section A and started walking toward the room. But in the middle, she stopped and turned to look at him.

He was still standing there, just watching.

"Thank you." She said, trying to look in his eyes.

He smiled and turned to go, but Prisha stopped him.

"W, wait." Prisha said,

He turned and looked at her.

"Yes? Need anything?" He said in a calm voice.

"No, I mean, do you know me?" Prisha said,

"Umm, I don't think so." He said, rubbing his two fingers on his head.

How was the chapter guys?

Do you think Aarav and Prisha will be enemies? What do you think about Parth? Do let me know in the comments.