Chapter : 2

Chapter 2

"Mom, where’s my coat? I’m getting late!"

"How would I know? And I’ve packed your tiffin."

It was already 10:15 AM. Prayer starts at 10:20, and it looked like Abhira was going to be late on the very first day of school this year. She’d make Saranya aka Tinni late too.

Abhira still wasn’t fully ready. She had her sweatpants on and the school T-shirt. She was currently hunting for her coat, which she swore she’d kept with her uniform. After a few painful minutes, she found it under her study table, covered in her dog’s fur. Thankfully, her dog hadn’t torn it up. Yet.

"Ma, I’m leaving!"

"Bye, honey. Take care."

"Okay, Mom."

Abhira rushed out of her house. The first thing she saw was Saranya sitting on her cycle.

"We’re late, girl," Saranya said, aggressively ringing her bell.

They tried to make up time, but ended up late anyway.

As they stood at the back of the auditorium where prayers had already started, the school ayah scolded them. As always, they didn’t listen. The words went in one ear and out the other.

Their school was, in one word, prestigious.

Graham Girls’ High School — the one and only school where half the city’s population studies. Rich in tradition. They always won cultural awards, but never a Math Olympiad.

Self-presentation mattered most here.

A stud instead of a ring earring? DETENTION.

Extra pleats? DETENTION.

Big nails? DETENTION.

Colorful nails? Also DETENTION.

Even wearing a black hairband instead of white, or not tying your hair? DETENTION.

♡♡🌹♡♡

After some time, the ayah finally let Abhira and Saranya go.

They ran up to the third floor and started looking for Class 10. Luckily, they were both in the same section. Section A.

"Are you sure you know where it is?"

"Yeah, look." Saranya pointed at a classroom with a balcony in front of it.

"Ahh, nice class."

They entered together and saw a school office auntie writing something on the board. She wore a red and green synthetic sari, her hair tied in a bun.

As they entered, the auntie asked, "What are your rolls? Everyone here sits roll-wise."

Abhira was clearly annoyed but said nothing.

Saranya answered hesitantly, "Uh, I’m 40 and she’s 28."

"Quite a pairing. You, 28, sit on the third bench to your right. And you, sit to her left."

_I guess I have to spend this year without her. At least she’s in my section,_ Abhira thought.

Abhira settled in and took some time to get to know her benchmate.

The first one to approach her was Ananya — a medium-sized, curly-haired girl with thick glasses. Her hair was in a ponytail.

"I’m Ananya, and this is my best friend, Anika." She nudged the girl beside her. "Ah, say something."

A girl with a thin ponytail and glasses finally spoke. "Hey, welcome to our gang, I guess. I know you, though. You’re Abhira, right?"

"Ahh, you know me? Well, that’s a surprise."

After talking with the other two girls, Tamanya and Samina — who were apparently sisters — Abhira finally started writing down the routine.

"Class, I’m announcing the teachers who will take your classes this year," the auntie said.

Abhira’s pen stopped. Like everyone else, she focused on the auntie with anticipation.

"English – Ankita Ma’am, Bengali – Sabera Ma’am, Physics – Ritikwa Ma’am."

Everyone took notes. Some argued that Sabera Ma’am doesn’t teach much.

Anika frowned. "Ankita Ma’am gives too much homework. I thought I was free from her, but she’s in my class again this year."

"Abhira, have you ever had her class? She’s so annoying. She reads and explains one line a thousand times."

Abhira nodded. "I’ve heard of her but never had her class."

"Life Science – Priyanka Ma’am."

Oh that's good, Abhira said to herself.

"Geography – Sumita Ma’am, History – Anvita Ma’am."

Upon hearing the name _Anvita_, the whole class dropped into silence. Then came the horrible cries.

"No, not her!"

"She’ll definitely kill us!"

"We’re all doomed!"

Abhira _had_ heard of Anvita Ma’am. Her full name was Anvita Jana. The assistant headmistress who joined last year. Students — and even teachers — straightened up when she walked by.

The auntie left the room after dropping a bombshell on the class.

Anika wore a troubled expression. "This teacher is no good. She gives detentions and calls guardians like it’s homework. And if you get on her bad list, there’s no saving you from a Transfer Certificate."

Then she paused to calculate.

"Though she’s beautiful, she doesn’t have a good love life. At first, she married a guy. But they divorced because she cheated on him... with a girl."

Their benchmates all frowned.

"Eww, what the hell," Tamanya sneered.

"And then she broke up with the girl to get a job."

Abhira shuddered. "She cheated? Then left the girl too? Heartless."

Then she thought to herself and said —

"But she likes girls... that’s kinda hot."

The whole bench gave her a side-eye.

"Seriously?"

"I hate that same-sex stuff."

"You can’t be serious."

That’s when Abhira realized they weren’t like her. At least, not that open-minded.

"Yeah, yeah, I was just kidding. I don’t like that stuff either," she laughed it off.

Abhira had always been extra attracted to girls. She never said it out loud, but she _did_ like girls.

Her parents knew about it and didn’t mind. Last Christmas, her mother brought her a bisexual T-shirt that said, "I like girls but that doesn't mean I don't like guys"

♡♡🌹♡♡

Instead of getting to know each other, they spent their time gossiping about Anvita Jana.

"You know she threatened our sweet Ritikwa Ma’am that she’d kick her out of the school."

"Oh, that’s bad," Abhira frowned.

"Yeah, how could she say that? Right, guys?" Anika frowned while drinking water like it was something expensive.

Ritikwa Ma'am? sweet? They really are naive. She's the teacher who gossips about student's parents, picking on their outfits. They are really blind.

The gossip went on. As more time passed, Abhira grew more horrified by the thought of Anvita teaching, though she didn’t blindly trust them now.

The 3rd period finished and the 4th started. Some students had already started eating their tiffin, though tiffin was after this class. No teacher comes on the first day.

But to their horror, Anvita Ma’am entered their class. Almost hastily, students packed up their lunch boxes and stood up. It’s a rule that when a teacher enters or leaves, you have to stand up.

Immediately after entering, she pulled out four girls who were caught eating and made them sit on the ground outside the classroom. Silently.

"Everyone, I will not tolerate any kind of nonsense. If anyone does something ‘extraordinary’ like them, you’ll end up with them."

She walked down the aisle, taking in everyone’s faces. Then she looked at Abhira. Abhira had a white hairband because her hair was short. But the reason Anvita was looking at her hair was something else. Abhira’s hair was wet. After one and a half hours in school, it was still wet, like she’d just finished her bath.

But in reality, it was just Abhira’s soaked wolf-cut. And she was looking at Anvita like she’d done something very wrong. She literally looked like a puppy.

"Why is your hair still wet?"

Anvita said firmly while touching her uneven hair.

Abhira flinched.

"My hair doesn’t dry fast."

"Hmm."

After picking on some other students about dress code, she finally started the class by ordering everyone to sit down.

Shit I was really close to getting caught. I'm so lucky she didn't see it clearly. But what'll happen another day? I was saved today, but that doesn't mean I'll be saved every day. I should have asked the barber that what he will do with my hair. God.

"Today we will start the first chapter: The Concept of History. I know many of you already finished this chapter in private tuition, but still, I’ll advise you to listen. In this chapter, we will learn about how 19th-century historians started writing about commoners, food, and sports history — other than the lives of kings and queens."

♡♡🌹♡♡

_This is so boring. I’d rather learn about hormones and stuff than these dead people._

As Anvita engaged more with the topic of how historians started writing history about common people, Abhira grew more and more uninterested. At some point, she started feeling drowsy.

And suddenly — thud. Abhira had banged her head on the bench.

Ananya tried to comfort her. "Are you okay? Oh God."

Saranya saw her from her bench. "Oh no, she’s so dead. God, please save her from that evil lady."

Anvita, who was previously writing on the blackboard, stopped and slowly walked towards Abhira.

Oh shit, I'm dead. I'm so dead. There's no way out, I-

"Go splash some water."

"Huh?"

"Splash some water."

"Oh. Okay, Ma’am."

Abhira went out like a living robot. Everyone else in class still couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Anika whispered to Ananya, "Last year, this teacher called a girl’s guardian for this same reason. Now she’s acting this nice? Has she changed, or are we dreaming?"

Ananya smirked and whispered back, "Anvita got charmed by Abhira’s cute face."

"Maybe."

A little while later, Abhira came back.

"Hey, wet hair, sit here." Anvita pointed at the first bench where only two people were sitting. Abhira didn’t understand and went to sit on the ground.

"Hey, hey, I said here. Are you dumb?" Anvita made a disturbed face, like she didn’t like making students sit on the ground when four girls were already outside.

"Oh, oh, okay, Ma’am." With shaky legs, Abhira sat on the first bench, and other students passed her notebook from her old bench.

This is crazy. I can't believe this is happening.

"Don’t sleep next time or you’ll end up on the ground."

Anvita said while knocking on Abhira’s head.

And through all of this, Abhira had forgotten to breathe. She only remembered when Anvita knocked her head.

The rest of the class went smoothly, with Abhira not blinking an eye — because how could she? And Anvita teaching about the importance of social history while stealing glances at Abhira to see if she was actually awake or not.

♡♡🌹♡♡

Half an hour passed just like that. Somehow, Abhira was actually invested in the history Anvita was teaching. She had everyone hypnotized with her lesson. Anvita was one of those teachers — when they start teaching, even students who hate the subject get pulled in.

The bell rang.

Anvita put down the chalk and said, "Class dismissed."

With that, she left the room, and the students stood up.

Saranya left her bench with her lunchbox, looking at Abhira with an excited grin. Abhira also left her bench, lunch in hand, wearing the exact same smile.

Then they ran to each other, held hands, and screamed excitedly, "Abhira survived! YEAHHHHHHHHH!"

At their excitement, other classmates patted Abhira’s shoulder. "Girl, you survived." "You’re so lucky."

Class 10A was right next to one of the two staircases. One led to Class 9, the other to Class 10. Most students settled on the new balcony in front of their classroom, marking their spots. But Abhira and Saranya had other plans. They went to their old place. It was in front of Class 9, but a little farther away. This one also had a balcony, though it was under the school building.

But choosing this space wasn’t just about a balcony. From here, the staff room and the stairs to the third floor were visible. So if any teacher had to come up to the third floor, they could see them. And this was tiffin time, so logically, teachers would leave the staff room. These stairs were closer for them than the other ones. That meant Abhira and Saranya could stay there even after the tiffin bell rang — as long as no teacher came. Peak-level genius.

They stood there and opened their lunchboxes. Saranya had brought her signature dish: spaghetti. And Abhira’s mom had made pancakes. No one knew what was in those pancakes that Abhira brought them every single day. She never got bored of them. Even Saranya had stopped eating from her bestie’s box because she’d lost her appetite for pancakes. But Abhira? She wasn’t over them.

Saranya sneered, "What do you even get from pancakes, huh? You’ve been bringing them for like a year."

Abhira stated proudly, "You just don’t know the beauty of pancakes."

"Oh, stop, girl. There’s nothing special about pancakes," Saranya frowned.

Abhira said excitedly, "You just don’t know. They’re so fluffy, sw—"

"Sweet, delicious, tasty. You just don’t understand," Saranya cut in blandly.

"Hey, how did you know?"

"Honey, you say the same thing every time I ask about pancakes."

"Hmph." Abhira looked down at the staff room, pouting.

"Abhira, sorry. Pancakes are great, okay?"

"You’re just saying that."

"Okay, okay, sorry."

"Hmm."

Abhira blankly stared down, still pouting. Then suddenly, she saw Anvita.

Why is she here? She should be eating by now.

Anvita looked at her. But it wasn’t a strict stare. Abhira didn’t look away either. She kept looking, still pouting. Saranya noticed but didn’t interfere.

For a minute, they just stared — like they were having a staring contest.

Then Anvita seemed to snap out of it and signaled, "What?"

Abhira lost it. She looked away, and her nose and ears turned pink. And if that wasn’t enough, she started hiccuping.

First, a soft one.

Hic

Then it started in full force.

Hic. Hic. Hic.

Saranya couldn’t stay normal. She burst out laughing. Abhira drank some water and slowed down.

"You told me you get hiccups when you get flustered. I didn’t believe you then, but now I do."

"Shut up," Abhira hissed.

"So how was it, looking at Anvita Ma’am? Hmm? Did you notice her eyes? Or the tinted lips?"

Abhira blushed harder, practically burning. "I SAID SHUT UP!" she screamed.

Her voice echoed through the hall, even above the noise of other classes.

♡♡🌹♡♡

Abhira’s ears stayed pink through the whole class. Saranya told Anika and Ananya about the staring contest, and they teased Abhira too. But her mind was blank, and she didn’t hear anything they said. She was hypnotized.

After the last class finished, Abhira and Saranya left school on Saranya’s cycle. The winter breeze was cold, but it made Abhira feel like summer was coming — even though it was still January.

"The breeze is great, right?" Abhira said from the back seat.

"Yeah, it feels like summer is coming," Saranya said, laughing.

"Oh, you just said what was in my mind!"

"We’re best friends for a reason, you know!"

After some time, Saranya reached their neighborhood.

"You’ll teach the kids now, right?" Saranya said loudly.

"Yeah, and a new student is joining today," Abhira said excitedly.

"Don’t you get tired or angry at the kids? I saw your students — they’re one of a kind. If I were to teach them, they probably wouldn’t come to me at any cost, because of how angry I’d get."

"That’s why you work as a cashier and I work as a tutor."

"Yeah, all for our pocket money. But you earn much more than me."

"Well, I have to teach literal kids while you just take money and offer coffee."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

They reached Abhira’s place, which was just two houses before Saranya’s. Abhira got down.

"Bye, baddie."

"Bye, diva."

It looked a little funny, but this was their signature way of saying goodbye to each other. As Abhira entered, she saw her students already seated on the drawing room floor.

♡♡🌹♡♡

Where's the new kid? I guess she'll be late.

Abhira went up to her room and changed out of her school dress into a soft, cozy plaid pyjama set with a red and green pattern. The lace trim on the collar and cuffs gave it a sweet, slightly elegant vibe.

As she came out of her room, she saw Amrita — the new student — and her mother.

"Ah, Auntie, nice to meet you again."

Amrita’s mother nodded in satisfaction.

Abhira bent down to match the little girl’s height and asked sweetly, "Hey, little kid, what’s your name?"

"......Amrita," the girl with pixie hair answered while clutching her bag like it was treasure.

"Okay, Amrita, you can sit here." Abhira gave her a spot beside the two sisters, Sekha and Saktha. They, along with Amrit, Rohit, Nirbhay, and Nischay — who were also brothers — had been studying with her for a year. Saktha, the older sister, had ranked first in her school last year. Now she was in Class 2. Amrit, Rohit, Nirbhay, and Sekha were all in Class 1. Nischay was the oldest among them — Class 3.

Abhira sat on the floor with her legs crossed to start teaching.

"Abhira?"

"Yes, Auntie?"

"You know the ATM beside the sweet shop?"

"Yes, I went there once. I know the way."

"Good. In front of that, there’s an alley. My house is five houses down."

"Oh, okay, Auntie."

With that, Amrita’s mother left.

Abhira focused on teaching.

"Today we’ll learn simple addition and subtraction. And Saktha, Nischay — I made worksheets for you two, so you’ll do these." She handed them the papers.

Abhira started teaching the little ones about plus and minus.

"Okay, look — how many cookies do I have here?" She brought out some cookies.

"Three!" the kids screamed excitedly.

"Okay, look. If I add two more, then how many cookies are there now?"

They started counting.

Nirbhay screamed excitedly, "Five, Didi, five!"

"Yeah!"

♡♡🌹♡♡

The class soon finished. Now it was time for Abhira to walk the kids home.

She went out with the seven kids, gripping Amrita’s and Amrit’s hands — because shameless Abhira was already shipping them after he gave Amrita his cookie. Everyone else walked in front of her.

"Everyone hold hands or you’ll get lost."

Saktha and Sekha led the way.

The first ones to get home were Nirbhay and Nischay. Then Saktha and Sekha. After that, Rohit. Then Amrit. As Amrit reached his house, he smiled at Amrita — though he rarely smiled — and went inside. Now it was time to take Amrita home. After some time, they reached the ATM.

"Look, there, there — that’s my house!" Amrita pointed at a two-story house.

They reached the house and saw Amrita’s mother standing in their garden. Even in the evening streetlights, the garden looked beautiful, lit with fairy light garlands.

"You found it. So, how was Amrita doing?"

"She’s doing pretty great. I’ve given her some worksheets. Don’t help her if she doesn’t understand something. I want her to do it herself," Abhira said firmly, like an actual teacher.

"Okay, okay, Abhira."

"Then I’ll go."

As Abhira started walking home, she spotted someone in the dark. Someone very familiar.

Is that Anvita Ma'am? No, no, I must be mistaking. Why would Anvita Ma'am wear something this.... modern? No, no, I must be mistaking.

Indeed. The woman in the dark was wearing an off-shoulder black top and a pencil skirt, along with black stockings.

Abhira didn’t want to disturb a stranger, but curiosity took over, and suddenly she was following the mysterious lady.

Then, with the last bit of courage she had, she poked the lady’s shoulder. The lady swiftly looked back.

"Who are... oh."

Abhira stood silently in horror. It turned out that Abhira’s imagination was right. It _was_ Anvita.

Shit shit shit shit. It's really her. But why is she wearing these kind of clothes? Is she in her twenties? No, no, why am I asking? Of course she's in her twenties. Just look at her, she is so beautiful.

Anvita stared at her, trying to recall her name — which she’d never asked. Her little messy bun looked shiny under the golden streetlights.

"What’s your name?"

"A-Abhira Choudhary."

"Hmm."

She took in the newly discovered appearance of the girl in front of her. Abhira was wearing rimless glasses, her wolf-cut falling on her face, now fully dried. And with her pyjamas on, she looked more like a submissive female husky than a little puppy.

"Your hair... it’s not allowed in school."

"I will tie it up."

"It will come undone," Anvita said while touching her hair.

Abhira got goosebumps all over her body, and suddenly her winter pyjamas weren’t enough to keep out the cold.

"Why did you cut it like this?"

"I didn’t. I just asked the barber to do anything he wanted with my hair, and he did this."

"Hmm. The barber has good taste."

Abhira had been looking down the whole time, but after hearing that, she slowly looked up, eyes wide, shaking. And then suddenly, she started hiccuping. Anvita stared at her blankly, trying to understand the person in front of her, when her car finally arrived.

"Okay, I’ll take my leave. And Abhira... go home quickly and drink some water."

With that, Anvita entered her car and left Abhira standing there, alone. She could now really feel the cold on her skin.

End of Chapter : 2

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