"All the best everyone! You have our best wishes with you," Dean told us and we all nodded our heads. Finally, the D day was here. We were leaving for the science competition and I could feel the weight of everyone's expectations on my shoulders.

"Get on the bus. We will leave in ten minutes. If anyone has to go to washroom, go now," Mayank announced and we all ran to relieve ourselves. We had been standing for nearly one hour listening to Dean's lecture.

We got on the bus and I called up mom. She told me to be safe and do my best. Throughout the ride, Mayank gave us motivational speeches and even made a war cry.

"You are overdoing this. Just sit down and let us rest too," I complained and he gave me a hurt look. I rolled my eyes. He was really exaggerating this whole competition thing. What will happen if we didn't win? We could always try later. But, no. Mayank was determined that we would win this as if his life depended on it.

"Are you realising the seriousness of the matter here?"he asked and I shook my head.

"Please explain then, O'mighty one."

"I got my reputation on line. You understand? My reputation. If we don't win this, dad is going to be so disappointed in me. It's the first time he had given me such a big responsibility and I ain't going to let him hold it against me."

"Since when do you care about what Dean thought?"

He narrowed his eyes at me and mumbled something under his breath. Did I hear that right?

"You are getting married?!" I gasped.

His eyes widened and he told me to keep my voice low. He looked at other occupants of the bus and noticed no one heard me. Was he serious?

"My dad has threatened that if I won't get my act together, he will marry me off. He has even began searching for a bride. Can you believe it? Me and marriage?" He sighed and I giggled.

"I don't want to do it so early. I am just 20. I am not even of legal age to get married. I still have my whole life ahead me and I am not going to waste it like that. Even if I ran away, he will find me out and get me married forcefully."

"The big guy is afraid of marriage. Interesting. Don't forget to invite me. I am always up for the free food."

"You are enjoying this, aren't you?" He slumped in his seat.

"Of course I am. But don't worry we will win this," I said and he smiled at me.

"Atleast I can do that much to save the poor girl who would have to get married to you if we didn't."

"Yeah right. Wait! What did you say?!"

I laughed loudly and he smacked behind my head. I continued laughing and others asked what was the joke.

"Mayank is getting married," I announced and they also began laughing. Mayank looked at me in horror and I asked others what they thought about it.

"Nice joke Sandhya," everyone said and I went into a laughing fit. Even they couldn't believe it. Mayank sighed in relief and began chuckling himself. Rest of the ride went smoothly with me making fun of him.

"We are here. Everyone follow me," Mayank commanded as we got down the bus. This time I did as he said. We all reached a hotel and the manager gave us the keys to our respective rooms.

Boys got three rooms and girls got two. Why did they get three? Oh right. Mayank booked one room for only himself. Lucky him. I had to share it with one of my team members and she liked to chat, a lot. Even more than Surbhi.

After dinner, we all went to Mayank's room for discussion. We did a quick review of our preparations and retired to our rooms for a much needed sleep.

Tomorrow was the debate and day after tomorrow would be the quiz. Fingers were crossed. Mayank's bachelor hood was on the line, you see.

×~×

"We won!" I shouted and we all hugged each other. The debate was so easy. We were fussing over nothing. Who knew that Dark matter report was going to come in handy now? We did it! We were one step closer to winning this.

Mayank took us to a restaurant to celebrate the win but told us not to get it in our heads. We still had to win that quiz. We kept discussing how the other team was flustered when we made a relevant point and that cost them a lot of time.

I didn't knew I was good at debates. Why didn't I participate in my school? Maybe I could have won some and had trophies in my home now. I informed my parents and they were delighted. For the rest of the day, we all decided to do whatever we wanted till evening.

I went to hang around the host college and checked it out. It seemed like a nice place. I was roaming around like I was in a museum. This place was huge! I had been walking for a long time since I came here. I should go the cafeteria now.

I took an empty seat after grabbing some noodles. They were amazing. So, I ordered one more plate. I was eating and scrolling through my phone when a person approached me.

"You are Sandhya right?"

I looked up and saw a girl and a boy standing in front of my table. I knew them. I just met them at the debate. I nodded my head and they asked if they could sit with me. I nodded again.

"You were really great at the debate," the boy said.

"We didn't know our rival team was going to give us a tough competition," the girl said and I smiled.

"We still have that quiz to win. Don't lose hope," I said and wondered why was I encouraging the rival team members. They chuckled and I asked them their names. I just wanted to confirm if I remembered their names right.

"I am Sahil and this is Gauri," Sahil introduced and we decided to talk about anything but the competition. Just like me, they were tired of all the pressure. Throughout the talk, I got to know a lot about their college and themselves. They were so friendly.

Sahil was the head of the student council while Gauri was the General secretary. I was impressed. I was nothing in front of them. I should try to involve myself more in college's activities. I felt like I was missing out on a lot of things.

After one hour, they left to prepare for the quiz and I also went back to the hotel. Let's get ready for tomorrow. Our leader held few quizzes and allowed us to rest. I went to my room and took a shower. So relaxing. I changed in my pyjamas and got in bed.

I checked my phone and opened up Instagram. I liked some pics of my friends and scrolled further. My eyes widened when I saw a pic of Shree. What the hell?! Didn't he know how much lucky he was to have that kind of hair? It looked even shorter than the last time I saw him.

He had posted a lot of selfies with the caption 'Change is constant'. I rolled my eyes. I swiped right and stared at the photo. Mahek? Shree held her close to his side and she was smiling dazzlingly at the camera.

Were they dating? Since when? It could be a casual pic too. I knew there was something going on between them but I also remembered that moment between her and Ved. Moreover, Shree had told me she had a breakup last month. I scratched my chin. Something didn't feel right.

After pondering over it for sometime, I gave up. Why was I worrying about it? They could be friends too. Why should I bother? It was time I learned to mind my own business.

After watching that music program 'Rising stars', I got a new worry. Shreyas wasn't in today's episode. The host told that S'Flow was planning to back out and leave the show. Why? What was wrong with him? He was doing so fine till now.

What about all those encouraging letters I sent to him? I was feeling useless now. No Sandhya. Don't let your mood down. It would affect your performance tomorrow. I sighed and decided to investigate this when I returned to college.

I woke up refreshed and stuffed myself with a lot of food to charge myself. This hotel had one of the best breakfasts I had tasted in my life. After a quick revision of my notes, I got in the bus. We arrived at the college and went to the auditorium.

Mayank patted our backs as we got on the stage one by one. Why was I feeling nervous now? I took deep breaths to calm myself down and sat on my seat. Other team also arrived and sat in front of us.

Sahil and Gauri waved at me and I nodded my head in acknowledgement. We gave each other thumbs up and the judges arrived after few minutes.

The quiz began and we were falling behind. This was not good. We needed to score more or yesterday's celebration would go down the drain. I glanced at Mayank and he looked nervous. He was really scared of his father, wasn't he? He seemed like a carefree guy when I met him.

I sighed and the host announced a break. We began discussing what to do now and I told them to relax first. They were panicking too much. Not that I was doing any better but someone had to do something. Our leader seemed like he would have a heart attack any minute.

I got up and they asked me where I was going. I lied about using the washroom and went out. After pacing around and evaluating our performance in my mind, I got back. We will win this.

My team members still looked sad. I reached them and sat down. I brought out some candies and gave them. They all accepted but looked confused.

"Guys, answer my question," I said and they all looked at me.

"Why are we here?" I asked and they furrowed their eyebrows.

"For the competition?" one said.

"Yeah but we forgot one thing," I said.

"What?"

"Fun. We aren't having any fun but only taking stress over whether we will win or not. Yesterday we didn't knew the outcome, so we did our best and won. We had fun right? Today, we are burdened with the responsibility of winning this or going home empty handed."

They all nodded their heads and told me to continue. I took a deep breath and began.

"The other team lost yesterday so they are trying their level best to turn the tables. But, we already have an upper hand. The score is basically 1-0. The ball is in our court and we have to protect it. That's for sure but we need to chill a bit. If we will be so tensed now, we won't win."

"What should we do now?" Leader asked and I told them to take deep breaths. We need full concentration and team work. They relaxed a bit and I shouted our war cry.

The other team looked at us weirdly and we laughed. Mayank also looked at us curiously and I gave him the peace sign. He nodded his head and the host announced the end of the break.

The quiz continued and we started getting more points. Last five minutes were nerve wrecking. We were soon tied. Just one more question and Mayank's fate would be decided. The last question was fired and I slapped the leader's arm on the buzzer. We rang it first. Phew.

He glanced at me and raised his eyebrows. What the hell was he doing? We knew the answer! The host turned to us and my team members looked at me in worry. They were afraid that if I didn't get the answer right, the question would be passed to our rival team by default and they could answer it after getting a hint.

I got up and answered. The host tilted his head and I saw judges exchanging glances with each other. Did I just cost my team to lose? Oh no. Come on. Tell me already.

The whole auditorium was engulfed in pin-drop silence. I knew my answer was right. I remember reading that topic last week. Last week Sandhya. What if you got the facts jumbled up? Yeah that was possible. Was it point 1 or point 3? Oh shit. I was confused now. I glanced at my team members.

"Sorry guys. I think we lo-"

"That's the correct answer! Congratulations!"

What?! I turned and everyone got up from their seats and applauded us. We won?! Before I could wrap my head around it, I was pulled in a bone crushing hug.

"We did it!" Mayank shouted and swirled me around. Was he that happy to get out of the marriage his father was planning? Wow.

My team hugged me and leader patted my back proudly. I don't think I was ever this happy in my life. I participated for the first time in a competition with a team and we won? I could die peacefully now. My work was done here.

In high-school, I was a nervous wreck. I always thought whatever I did, would turn out bad. I had personal experience from elementary school. It wasn't till I met Surbhi that I started gaining my confidence back. She was my soulmate.

And now, I was in college and won my first contest. Yay! Sahil and Gauri came to congratulate us. I thanked them and told them they gave us a tough competition. Both teams congratulated each other for their work and the prize distribution ceremony started.

I kissed my medal and Mayank called us for a group selfie. We all picked up the trophy and our medals in our hands. He clicked some individual pics too and sent them to his father.

"Enjoy old man," he typed and I laughed at him.

"Happy now?" I asked and he gave me a huge smile.

"I can relax now. You just gave me a heart attack there when you said the answer and no one responded." He shook his head and I giggled.

"Me too," I said.

"Let's celebrate! I am going to take all of you to the best restaurant in town," he announced and we jumped in joy.

"Sandhya!" Sahil called and I showed him the trophy. He shook his head in amusement and took the trophy from me. He admired it and gave it back.

"You were great today. I would like to see you around more," he said and extended his hand towards me.

"Friends?" he asked and I smiled in delight. He was asking to be my friend himself. I shook his hand and now we were friends. This day was one of the best days of my life. I was going to throw my win at Ved's face. I couldn't wait to see his reaction.

"Sandhya! Come on slowpoke. We will be late," Mayank shouted and I rolled my eyes.

"It was nice to make a new friend. See you later Sahil. Say my goodbye to Gauri," I said and he waved at me. I got in the bus and we left for the hotel Mayank mentioned.

I didn't inform my parents about our win. I was going to surprise them. Surbhi and others knew it by now and everyone's phones started buzzing. During dinner, we shut off our phones to enjoy it peacefully. It was mind-blowing. I am adding this restaurant to my favourite spots list.

We thanked Mayank for treating us and got to our hotel. Now we could sleep like babies without any worries. I sent a quick message to my friends to stop spamming me and plugged it in to charge.

I crawled in my bed and fortunately, my roommate was already fast asleep. I closed my eyes and all the events from today started playing in my mind. We could have lost because of me. That happened a lot in school. But we won today.

I patted myself mentally and started drifting into sleep after few minutes of tossing and turning. Tomorrow we will be back to our college. Everyone would be happy except fo