AT THE PARIKHS' HOUSE

It was around 6 AM on 26th June, which was a Monday when Jay woke up. He then brushed teeth and his mind immediately went to everything that took place on that Saturday's night. He smiled for a second but then face-palmed himself and quickly went to take a shower.

He was all ready and was going down the stairs when he saw Aastha who too was ready in her school uniform and was yawning her way down to the living to have her breakfast. Unknowingly, a smile crept up on his face.

They, meaning Jay, his father and the one person he couldn't stop thinking about were having their breakfast, which for the day was piping hot Masala Chai with Methi na Dhebra. Although Aastha was having simple Bhakri with the Chai because she couldn't tolerate Methi.

(Masala Tea; Flatbread made of Fenugreek; Fenugreek)

"Jaiye?" She asked me as she stood up and took her bag from the chair adjacent to hers. She then took one last bite of the Bhakri and checked the time from her wristwatch. It was 6:56 AM.

(Shall we go?)

Jay simply nodded and took his bag too before standing up to get the keys of this EV. As soon he took the keys and wore his shoes, he went off to take out the EV. He honked the horn of EV for a second as Aastha was still wearing her shoes and his dad had already left by then.

Aastha came running and sat behind him. They were about to reach their school when he stopped the EV near the crossroad.

"What? Why did you stop?" Aastha asked, slapping his back lightly.

"Su what? Tu j che ne je roj utri jaay che ne ahiya?" Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke.

(What 'what'? Aren't you the one who gets off here everyday?)

"Hu j, pan yaad kar, aapde Frenemies nai?" Aastha chuckled a little as she spoke. As soon as Jay heard her words his EV was started by him again and it went in the direction of the school's gate.

(I am, but try to remember, aren't we frenemies?")

Jay parked his EV and went to meet his friends when he could let the smile on his face get away from him.

"Natak," He whispered, loud enough for his best friend to hear but not enough for anyone else to hear.

(Drama)

"Kaun natak? Kiska natak? Kaisa natak?" Dhruvit said, a little too loudly and was shushed by his best friend.

(Who's drama? Whose drama? What drama?)

"Hatt na, yaar. Dimag mat khali kar abhi tu." A look of disappointment formed on Jay's face.

(Go away, dude. Do not mess with my brain right now.)

Dhruvit just nodded and started walking away from his friend, he knew that Jay would say something if he did that.

"SUNN, TU GHAR AA TA BATATA HUN." Jay screamed at the top of his lungs so that Dhruvit, who was quite far now, could hear it.

(HEAR ME OU, WHEN YOU COME HOME, I'LL TELL YOU)

Dhruvit smiled at his friend's comment and understood that it was something Jay wouldn't talk of in his dad's workplace and there's only one such thing— girls.

~

The third period was going on and Jay was called into the principal, Pragnesh Sir's office by some junior of his. Once he reached there, he saw Aastha there. He looked towards her and raised his eyebrows. She gestured that she didn't know what was going on.

They were both called into the office together. They once again looked into each other's eyes and smiled.

"Ah, you're here." Their principal spoke in the commanding yet calm voice he was known to have.

"Do me a favour, Jay. The day of Guru Purnima is coming quite soon and I would like you to help Ms. Parikh here, out with the preparations of the event. I am asking you to do so because you managed everything last year and I think if you teach her this one time she wouldn't need any help further on." Pragnesh said, smiling towards both of them while typing something on his PC.

Jay just nodded and kept smiling at whatever his principal said. Aastha had an amused look on her face.

"I am really sorry, sir but I do not think I will need Jay's help with gathering a small team for the event." Aastha smiled politely and gave Jay a look from top to bottom.

"Yes, that and I refuse to believe that she could really learn anything from me." Jay gave Aastha a sarcastic smile.

Aastha had a lot to say but just cleared her throat to stop herself from saying anything. Their principal did not have any reaction to this, he just hummed and that was when they knew they didn't have any choices. They left the principal's office after that.

"You know what, Frenemy? I'll believe that you can teach me anything and will wholeheartedly take your help if and only if you teach me how to make a penalty kick." Aastha smirked in Jay's direction and pushed him a little with the help of her elbow.

"Is that what we're calling each other now? Frenemies? Done deal, Frenemy." Jay too smirked in Aastha's direction and passed his fingers through his hair.

"Mare fourth PT che, eni pehla aapde team gather kari lai e etle pachi tu PT ma mane ground ma jaine ne penalty goal sikhvadi deje." She smiled towards him and started running in the direction of the stairs and slipped.

(I have PT in fourth, let's go gather a team before that so you can teach me how to score a penalty goal by going in the ground during PT.)

"Pehla chalta toh sikhi ja, Frenemy." Jay laughed out, and offered her a hand to stand up. Aastha just gave him a sarcastic smile as a reply.

(Learn how to walk first, Frenemy.)

They gathered a team of 7 more people and to Jay's disappointment, Neel was also a part of it. Aastha briefed all of them with some tiny things to do for the decoration and went off to the football ground with Jay. The whole team they gathered too joined them so that if they wanted to ask something they could. They did take permission for that, though not for Jay as he would have been denied any permission.

There were some other girls and boys there too and luckily enough, Jay's Father wasn't around. Jay asked one of the girls to give him the ball and he knew he wouldn't be denied. The squealed a little before handing the ball over to Jay and Aastha just rolled her eyes. She never liked all the girls going crazy after Jay anyways.

Jay showed her how to kick the ball so that the goalkeeper wouldn't be able to save the goal even though there was no goalkeeper present there. Aastha tried to imitate what Jay just showed her but not to her surprise, her leg did not even touch the ball.

She tried again, this time she did actually kick it but it went way off. She looked at Jay, no... stared straight into his soul and then started laughing. He too started laughing and both of them stopped when they were out of breath.

They both started laughing again and just then Ravindra came on the ground. Aastha hit Jay with her elbow, signaling him to stop.

"Ahiya chali su rahyu che?" Ravindra asked furiously, crossing his arms around his chest. He was quite strict when it came to his children and Aastha, who was like his daughter to him in school.

(What is going on here?)

"Uh, sir maru PT che ne aa loko Guru Purnima ni preparation mate ahiya betha che because badhu hu j handle karu chu. Jay pan amari saathe j che." Aastha said, trying her best not to make eye contact.

Their teacher just hummed in response and went away giving a kind of a warning look to his son. This made Neel and Jay both sigh in relief.

"Oh, my father is probably killing with his words today, then." Aastha said, rubbing her left shoulder with her right palm. To that, Jay and Neel both gave her confused look.

"What? Oh, come on. You know that there is no way in this world that Siddharth Parikh wouldn't know about this. And, he hates when I skip PT because he thinks I'm neglecting it due to some weird shit." She said and tried aiming another goal, this time the kick had pure anger reflecting in it.

The ball went inside the net. A perfect goal for someone like Aastha. She was too angry to even realize that that had happened and it was she who did it.

"Waah, Aastha madam, waah." Jay said, patting Aastha's shoulders who then walked away out of annoyance. By now, Aastha had understood what Jay praised her for.

(Wow, Madam Aastha, wow.)

"Be yaar mare pan aavi rite stress ma badhu perfectly karvu che. Tu kaya type nu jadu vapre che mane kai de, hu pan try kari lau." Neel said, chuckled and Aastha chuckled too.

(Ugh, dude, I also want to do everything perfectly in stress like this. Tell me what kind of magic you use, I'll also try it.)

But on the other hand, Jay just stared into both their eyes with that 'Was I supposed to laugh' look on his face. Jay was hard to impress when it came to humor, only a few jokes went past the smiling stage when it came to being cracked in front of Jay Pandya.

They went further with the planning of the Guru Purnima event after that and decided on decorating the hall rather than the all different classes.

~

School had ended and Neel and Aastha were standing outside the school together, Neel was on his Activa and Aastha was standing on the footpath. Aastha was biting her lips so that her blushing wouldn't be that evident.

"So? You're besties with Jalkukdi now?" Neel asked, a little being evident in his voice.

"No, it's frenemies," Aastha smiled and continued, "Plus you can't call him that, only I can." She said playfully, taking the jealous tone as sarcasm.

"Haan, haan. Maana chal, par woh koi decent ladka nahi hai, he has a bad boy reputation, pata hai na tujhe? Aur toh aur, usse yeh top karne ka itna ghamand hai na bhagwan kasam it's annoying." Neel said, passing his fingers through his hair.

(Yeah, yeah. Let's say I believe you, but he's no decent guy, he has a bad boy reputation, you know? Besides, the attitude he has because he topped is annoying, I swear to god.)

Aastha started chuckling and face-palmed herself and Neel was just looking at her in surprise. That's when Jay came with his EV and honked the horn, indicating to Aastha that they had to leave.

"Arre, tu khali khota overthink kar raha hai. Mai tujhe Ghar jaake phone karti hun mai. Chal bye." Aastha walked towards Jay, facing Neel and waving him a bye.

(Ugh, you're over-thinking without any reason. I'll call you once I reach home. Come on, bye.)

Jay and Aastha were on their way to home but then he turned the EV on the left, instead of the right. Aastha's eyebrows rose up instantly.

"What the hell?" Aastha slapped his back lightly and continued, "Be yaar, mare kapda badalva che atyare bakwas nai kar ne." A frown formed on Aastha's face as she spoke.

(Ugh dude, I wanna change clothes don't do any nonsense right now)

Soon, they were in front of a grocery store and Jay went in to buy something. He bought some chips packets and a small packet of Oreos too.

"Aatlu badhu sena mate, frenemy?" Aastha asked, in a joking tone, raising one eyebrow.

(So much, for what, frenemy?)

"Dhruvit aave che." He smiled as he put the packets in his almost empty bag.

(Dhruvit is coming)

Aastha did not really say anything, just nodded but was a little disappointed that Jay did not get her something. Though, she brushed it off thinking that they weren't too close and then they reached their house. Jay did not really say anything eiter because he needed to clear the tangles in his mind first.

He wasn't sure of what was coming his way, and he was definitely not ready for it. He had made up his mind to accept whatever way it was after he got that second person opinion and not overthink about it, but he knew that was not going to happen. He couldn't get his mind off of it. Every passing minute till 2 PM, when Dhruvit was reaching was like an hour to Jay.

a/n~

Hellu ji, I know this a veryyyy smol chapter and kaafi rushed too but it is what it is.

Aap log yeh batao chapter kaisa laga?

Zyada kuch bolne ko hai ni, so see y'all next weekend!

agle mein pakka pata chal jayega ki team crush jeeti ki nahi

Love,

Tithi <3