Ayana's P. O. V

"She's expects me to change my hand movement four days before the competition!?" Ethan half-yells as he stuffs his wet towel inside his bag.

I shrug before replying."She's you're captain. If she's saying something, she must have thought about it."

"But what's the need? You said that with me also the timing is the same right? In-fact with a few days of practice, we may even be faster. Changing my hand movement might slow me down," he tries to reason and I roll my eyes.

"You can try it, what's the harm in that. Besides, we're losing the extra girl advantage. That's why we need to go faster," I finally disclose and he gives me a dumbfounded look.

"What do you mean by 'extra girl advantage'?" he asks and I roll my tongue in my mouth.

"Well, we-as in my college organised this and the three of us were a major part since we're the heads so, when the layout of decided competitions came, I didn't really like the idea of having girls and boys separate because-uh-"

He cuts me off."Because it hurt you're ego," he says before rolling his eyes.

"No," I blurt but he gives me a duh look. I correct myself and continue.

"Okay, maybe it did. I'm all about equality. That's why I suggested that we have a mixed relay and I managed to talk my vice principal into doing it because we didn't have four good enough swimmers in each gender anyway, and he didn't want anything but the best. But, the issue that arose was that the only girl colleges would have all four girl swimmers and because everyone believes the sick ass myth of male superiority, they thought it was unfair. So I came up with a scheme, that which ever team had more than two girls, would have a little time advantage. So say if they finish in 4:00, it would be considered 3:55," I explain and he runs a hand down his face.

"And now that you're not on the team, it's only two girls. So you'll loss the advantage," he concludes and I nod.

"See the result of your interference now?" he states and I roll my eyes.

"Oh yeah, like I knew, that I would be replaced in the team by a fattu like you," I stomp my foot and start walking.

"Now don't call me fat," he scowls, following behind me and I half yell in annoyance. I turn to face him again .

"I didn't say 'fatty', I said 'fattu', it's a Hindi term for a coward," I say and start walking off again. He catches up with me and narrows his eyes at me.

"I'm not a coward," he says slowly, his tone becoming more dangerous with each word.

"Oh yeah? May I remind you that just a few moments ago you were screaming on the bike 'Ayana don't drive so fast, it's risky', or 'I can't eat that, it's unhealthy, I'll fall sick' or 'I can't try to change my hand movement, it's risky' and after all this you say you're not a coward?" I say, imitating him from last night and right now.

"I'm not a coward, I'm just cautious, careful and satisfied enough to not want to take any risks that may jeopardize our situation." he gives his excuses and stands right there. I walk two steps ahead before stopping and turning, raising my hand in dismissal.

"Please, let it be. Don't give me that satisfaction shit," I walk towards him,"because for me, satisfaction is a lie people tell others when they don't want to try harder."

His expression changes and he looks at me in deep thought. His lips set in a straight line and a cute frown resting on his face.

I glare for like two seconds and then turn away because it's distracting.

Seriously Ayana, are you hearing yourself right now?

I walk ahead and after a few moments, I hear heavy footsteps following me.

I remove my phone to call Carlos to come pick us up. I unlock it to see a message from Carlos.

Vihaan baba has asked me to come with him to college since he's taking that other girl with him. So I won't be able to pick you up.
Sorry.

I roll my tongue in my mouth before taking a deep breath and putting my hands on my hips.

Stupid Vihaan.

"What happened?" Ethan whispers from behind me and I frown.

"We'll have to walk," I say and he groans.

"Can't we just cab it?" he asks and I shake my head.

"The distance is short, no cab is going to agree to come," I reason and he huffs but follows anyway.

He slings his bag on his shoulder, an action which make a nerve in his arm pop a little, making his arms look like they belonged to a sports model.

He's got a good body, I'll give him that.

Hear yourself Ayana.

I shake my head and we ahead. To avoid the brightly shining sun, I immediately move under the roof of the shops on the sidewalk, walking under the shade.

Ethan is following closely behind me, surprisingly silent.

We pass a small lane and that's when it strikes me that there is a shortcut from here.

"Ethan wait, let's go from here. It's a shortcut. I almost forgot about it," I say and he turns and looks at the lane before shrugging and walking.

We again walk silently before he speaks up."Why is it that we don't use this way while coming by car?" he asks.

"The lanes too small and crowded normally, so passing the lane comfortably is a headache. Besides," I say and trail off when I see it.

"Besides?" he prodes and I jerk my head in that direction.

"Besides, people use it to play gully cricket (cricket in the streets). Everyone knows they should not get into a lane like that," I say and walk towards them.

"Where you going?" he asks and I half turn to answer him.

"To play," I say before we sprint in that direction.

**************************

"Didi (sister), it's on you now, you have to do it," one of the small boys plead and I nod. I bang the bat twice on the pitch before nodding my head, signalling the bowler.

We need five runs of two deliveries and I'm on strike. Fielders are sprawled out in all directions and the bowler is ready to give this ball the best he can.

Ethan is standing on the sidelines since he 'knew the game but didn't want to play it'.

Liar.

"Come on with it," I yell and the bowler runs to bowl his delivery.

He releases the ball and I come two steps ahead before hitting it in the right. The girl on the non-striker's end starts to run as soon as I signal. We both reach our ends quickly but the fielder is still a little distance away from the ball.

"One more," I yell and start off. She starts off again and both of us are running.

While running, I turn to see the fielder has got the ball and he's now passing it to the wicketkeeper. I still have a little distance to cover. I lunge forward and take two large steps before diving ahead.

I dive ahead and cross the crease just when the wicket keeper catches the ball.

I release a breath of relief.

Well that was close.

I get up onto my feet to see my hands scraped and my jeans torn from near the knees, little blood oozing out.

I move forward when the pain in my knees makes its presence felt. It's not too much but it still hurts.

Since I wasn't expecting it, I lose my balance slightly. Everyone becomes alert and are about to rush to me when I raise my hand.

"I'm okay," I say and turn, getting ready to face the next ball.

"Will you be able to play it?" that little boy asks me again and I nod.

I won't be able to run and get those three remaining runs. It has to be a boundary.

The bowler takes a run up and I take a determined breath. He releases it and it's coming to me fast, waist height.

Just the kind of delivery I needed.

I bend a little forward on the front foot before I swing the bat. The ball connects the center of the bat, rising in the sky. I stand and watch, anxiously waiting. The fielder moves behind, wanting to catch it.

But the ball didn't lower, it travelled till it goes past the boundary.

"Yes!" I exclaim happily and soon the rest of the team bursts into cheers.

It literally last only for two seconds because soon, the sound of a glass shattering follows. Everyone becomes dead silent and all heads turn in that direction.

The glass cracked and soon everyone started running away. I look around everywhere before dropping the bat and running. Ethan's looking around in a shocked expression. I limp my way quickly to him.

"Come on!" I yell and I just pull him round the corner, hiding behind the wall.

"Who did this?" an old and manly voice booms in the street and I face palm.

Oh my god I'm in deep shit.

**************************

A/N- I hope you guys like this, baba means boy in Hindi.

Do VOTE AND COMMENT :)

Love you guys

Keep reading :)