I jumped on Ved as soon as I saw him. He swirled us around for some time, and then gave me a piggyback ride till we reached his car. I kissed his forehead and hugged Ayush, who was waiting for us with a motherly smile on his face.

We got inside the car, and I started my rapid fire questionnaire. Ayush and Ved refused to tell me where they were taking me - they exchanged glances with each other and seemed to be talking through telepathy.

I decided to irritate them more, but my eyes began to droop. Eventually, I fell asleep and was woken up by Ved when we reached the place. I got out of his car and washed my face; it was like my eyelids were stuck to each other with glue.

But when I registered the cream coloured building in front of me, I felt a jolt of immense joy pass through my mind, body and soul. I glimpsed at my friends and shot them a mischievous smile.

"Last one to reach is a donkey!" I yelled and took off in the direction of my school.

I heard footsteps behind me and increased my speed. Soon, Ved's figure ran past me and Ayush was approaching too. I dragged myself forward, but Ayush showed that he wasn't in the soccer team for show; he zoomed off like a bullet train, and both guys reached the old Banyan tree.

Ved and Ayush smacked their palms on the trunk with a very small interval of time between them and laughed at me when I reached seven seconds later.

"My girlfriend is a donkey," Ved teased.

"What did you say?" I fake glared.

He pinched my nose and kissed my cheek. When we were done with our PDA, Ayush told us that we should meet the Principal and start with our tour. We agreed and went to the Principal's office, our feet guiding us automatically.

"Good morning, Sir!" we yelled in unison.

The old man looked up from his desk, and his smile reached till his ears when he saw us. He got up, and Ved hugged him. Principal sir patted his back and ruffled Ayush's hair. Then, he looked at me and narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Is this Sandhya?" he asked.

"You remember me?" I asked in surprise.

"How can I forget the popular troublemakers? And you?" he shook his head, "Never. You were the one who was the most mischievous of all but disguised herself as the innocent one."

My heart jumped in the clouds after hearing his compliment. I stepped towards him, and he engulfed me in a hug. After talking to him, I learned that the institution was going to be renovated soon, so the students were shifted to a new place. He assured that our precious school wouldn't be demolished and would stay here for more generations.

"I will be leaving soon, so why don't you kids enjoy your time?" Sir asked.

We responded positively and left his office. I ran my fingers on the walls, the memories running simultaneously in my mind. A permanent grin was stuck to my face as I saw Ved and Ayush walk in front, their older forms reflecting back at me.

I covered the short distance and put my arms over their shoulders. They instantly held me up on their joined hands, and Ved shook his head as both of them carried me till the next block. He flicked my nose when I requested them do it again.

"You want us to die of exhaustion?" he complained.

"You were more fun as a kid," I said.

"True," Ayush agreed.

Ved shot an accusatory glance at his best friend, but Ayush was unaffected; he pointed at the classroom in the opposite corridor. We read the section's name loudly and headed towards it. Now that we had grown up, our hands reached the nameplate above the door.

"Class V, Section B," I mumbled and touched the silver embossed letters.

"Guys look, they still have the pictures of our batch," Ayush said.

Ved and I stood beside him and saw the old photographs of us with our classmates and class teacher. We laughed at ourselves and were reciting the events when I noticed Ved's hand inching towards a particular pic. I snapped my eyes at it and placed my palm over that polaroid.

I shot Ved an evil smirk, while he looked like a newly harvested carrot. Ayush and I giggled as I removed my palm and admired our photos for the class' play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In the pic, Ayush stood in an apple costume, next to a girl who was dressed as the witch, while I had my arm forcefully wrapped around Ved's neck.

I was the Dwarf Grumpy, while Ved was blushing furiously in Snow White's costume. In that picture, he was staring at me with a murderous glare, and I was giving him a teasing look. His Prince Charming, one of our classmates, was standing in her white suit at some distance.

"Hahahahaha..." I pointed at Ved's face.

He pulled my cheeks and told me to stop making fun of me, but I didn't agree and kept poking him. Ayush on the other hand was staring at some other photo. I asked Ved why he was mad at the girl who was playing the Prince's role; it was given that we didn't get along, but I didn't know the reason why he was angry with one of his friends.

"You don't know?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Nope."

"You didn't tell her, bro?" he asked Ayush, who shook his head.

"I thought he must have told you since he always did that after telling me that he wouldn't tell you our secrets," Ved mumbled.

Ayush gave him an awkward smile and told me that the girl, Jiya, had kissed Ved on the cheek during the play's part where Prince Charming had to wake up Snow White. I shrugged my shoulders as I didn't see any problem in it - Ved rolled his eyes at my reaction.

"She was not supposed to do it, stupid," he said.

"Why? It was written in the script, right?" I asked.

Ayush bobbled his head vigorously. "Of course not. Actually, it was there in the first draft, but the class teacher removed it after Ved complained about it. But still Jiya did that, and you already know how our Snow White woke up in a snap and almost punched Prince Charming. Our serious skit turned into a comedy."

"Oh." I nodded.

"You were there, no? You don't remember?" Ved asked.

"Maybe I was busy doing a happy dance on your fake death." I grinned.

Ved grabbed my neck in a headlock and didn't leave me till I apologized for torturing him in our childhood days. He blurted out that he wanted me to play the Prince's role, but as I was busy turning a romantic drama into a horror one, I didn't listen to my classmates' opinions.

In the end, our class teacher ended up giving me one of the dwarfs' roles after getting frustrated with me asking her to give me the witch's role. She was confused because Ved was demanding to change his role or get me opposite him - nothing worked out.

The only one who got the best out of it was Ayush; he was the poisonous apple and kids had to pick him up for the VFX purposes. He even got a prize and compliments from the audience for his excellent performance.

"Here," Ayush pointed at one more pic, "the cosplay party for the school function."

My lovely Princess shot me a fake glare, and I hid behind my best friend. Ayush burst out laughing and protected me from Ved; he was trying to grab me and close my mouth before I joked about him.

"Didn't I say you always annoyed me?" he commented.

He pulled me out from the hiding and crushed me in his arms. I pursed my lips as he pointed his index finger at the picture: both of us were dressed up as Red Rangers even though we had already decided over the particular colours after a lot of debate.

"You had promised you would come as Blue," Ved accused. "Still you pulled that stunt."

"You always teased me that girls can't be Red Rangers." I banged my head on his jaw.

"Ouch!"

"Guys, stop fighting, and see how cool I look." Ayush smirked.

When he showed us his heroic pose in Yellow Ranger suit and started mimicking it, we pulled him in and smacked him on the back. He was the only with the best pics, while Ved and I had ruined most of our photos by acting like idiots.

"You are just jealous," our best friend said.

We narrowed his eyes at him, and he dashed out after sticking out his tongue. We ran after him, and he yelled our nicknames while jumping over the corridors. Ved and I exchanged a glance and decided to catch him from both sides. Not surprisingly, Ayush already judged our tactic and took a U-turn.

We reached the playground and gave up when he got out of our reach. He jogged towards us and taunted that we were getting old. He was showing off, so Ved acted like he was tired but grabbed him later. I pounced on them, and we landed on the ground, rolling in the soil.

After a lot of wrestling, we spread ourselves flat and observed the passing clouds in the bright blue sky. I leaned my head on Ayush's shoulder, and Ved entwined his right arm with his bestie's left one. We let the silence engulf us, our heartbeats resonating throughout our bodies.

"I love you, guys," Ayush said.

"We love you too," Ved and I said in unison.

"But I am hungry now."

"Same Pinch."

After our short emotional moment, we went back to the Banyan tree and sat under it. Ayush brought out the picnic basket and blanket from Ved's car, and after informing Principal Sir about our extended stay, we relaxed there till evening.

"I want to live like this forever," Ved said dreamily.

"Me too," I agreed.

"When's the marriage then?" Ayush teased.

Ved kissed me on the cheek. "How about today?"

I shook my head at them, and my best friend expressed his wish of playing with our kids. Ved pulled me closer and pointed out that I was turning into a natural geyser - he wasn't any different.

"Will you like to marry me?" Ved asked.

"Is that how you are going to propose?" I narrowed my eyes.

"So you guys are planning on marrying." Ayush laughed.

I hid my face in Ved's chest as his laughter rumbled through us. "Yup, I am hundred percent in it, but I don't know about Sandy Pandy."

Both guys waited for my reaction in anticipation - I took my time to increase the tension. Ayush's lips curled up in a knowing smile as he read my mind, but Ved was still waiting.

"Oh, my Snow White... My piece of heart! How could you die? How will I live now? But as they say, we should keep moving; I hope you are happy in your afterlife because I-"

Ved sealed my lips, and my heart burst out like firecrackers. He kissed the hell out of me and smiled like he won a trophy, while Ayush was laughing his ass off.

Ved and I grinned at him and began tickling him. The sky above us turned dark, and the moon and stars covered it like a glittery net, casting their soft glow on us. I thanked the guys for the surprise visit to our old school; we got to relive our memories, our smiles shining like the brightest stars.