Attending the Einstein Club that day proved to be beneficial. Since the next Selection was so close, the meeting revolved around that for most of the evening. I found out that the deciding committee comprised of two of the teachers from this school, four from the selected members of the Club who were students of the Ivy League college now, one professor from a certain Ivy League and the Principal. The exciting part was when I found out that the existing members, i.e. us also could put our votes in. This comprised of 25% of the decision.

Which meant that if Michael wanted to get in, he needed to be extra chummy with the members of the Club. Enter Rebel Gupta

After the meeting, Grace and I headed home. Grace had cheerleading practice the same time I had my meeting so we could leave the school together. We had arranged to meet with the guys at four that afternoon at the mall.

"While we are at the mall, we can stock up on the things for the campaign," I suggested, thoughtfully.

"Aww, look at you. Already getting involved with the campaign. Does anyone know that inside that hard exterior lies the heart of a marshmallow?" Grace said, bumping her shoulder against mine.

"No. And no one ever will. Its a secret that rests along with the secret of whether Neil Armstrong really walked on the Moon."

"You are such a geek," Grace replied with a laugh.

"Another secret to be thrown in the trash," I said, as we headed our different ways.

Grace and I reached the mall five minutes after four. We spotted James standing on the sidewalk so we figured that his parents must have dropped him off. Which meant we were giving him a lift on the way home. Michael was nowhere to be seen.

Ten minutes later, the familiar Audi R8 stopped in front of us. My eyes widened as I realized who the driver was. It seemed Michael was being dropped off too. By his Adonis of a brother.

My guess proved wrong when Michael got out of the car, on the driver's side. I heard Grace's sharp intake of breath as she beheld the complete glory of God's creation as her eyes fell on Drew.

From my other side, James whistled and whispered, 'Ooooh mama, come and sit on my lap."

Michael was wearing an annoyed look while Drew looked downright ecstatic. Michael reached me first, "The one time I decide to confide in my brother and its the mistake of a lifetime."

"You didn't think I could miss my brother turning into Brad Pitt, did you? I have been wanting to burn his clothes all my life." Drew spoke excitedly as he reached us.

"I left my clothes in a hidden place when I came here," Michael replied to my amused look.

I turned to introduce Drew to everyone.

"Drew, this is our only guy friend, James. James, this is Drew, Michael's older brother."

Drew held his hand out as James came forward to shake it. I stamped on James' foot when he held his hand longer than necessary. Then I turned towards Grace.

"And this is my best friend and the sister of my soul, Grace."

Time seemed to freeze as they looked at each other. Grace had the dazed look on her eyes that I had every time I saw a double cheeseburger and Drew seemed to have forgotten all his charming pickup lines and stared at Grace the way Michael stared at...well...his chemistry book.

"I can practically hear the wedding bells for this two," James whispered in my ear.

"Wedding? I hear the baby screaming. Who will grow up to be supermodels." I whispered back.

"Come On, we don't have much time," I said, as I grabbed Michael and walked towards the mall.

"Wait, shouldn't we wait for them?" Michael argued, as we walked towards the revolving doors of the mall.

I stopped and grabbing Michael by his shoulders, I looked him in the eye and asked him, "Tell me this honestly, do you really want to be associated with them right now?"

Saying this I turned him towards the people in question. The three of us glanced at Drew and Grace. They were staring at each other, enthralled. It was all fairy-tale like for sure. But since they were standing in a crowded area, people kept bumping into them and cursing them when they didn't move. But they paid no attention. Except for the violins playing in their minds.

Michael looked at them for a minute and replied, "Nope, they are dead to me."

Grinning, Drew and I accompanied Michael inside the mall. Grace had made an appointment at Lola's for five'o clock so we had an hour to buy clothes for him. We entered one of the exclusive shops and started looking around. It was one of those shops where people were offered champagne while you selected your clothes from a wide array of goodies.

I made my way to a black shirt with a V neck. I imagined Michael wearing it and decided that it would look pretty good on him.

"Hey, why don't you try this one? This looks pretty awesome."

By now, the staff had noticed us and was looking at us all judgelike. One of the staff, a man wearing a black suit, approached us with a condescending expression.

"How may I help you, kids?" he asked politely, while his eyes did a quick inspection of our faded jeans and T-shirts. His glance spoke that he clearly thought we were out of our depth in this shop.

"Umm, we are here to buy some shirts and jeans for my friend here," I replied.

The man looked at us and said, "I think you aren't in the right store. Maybe you could try out the store on the left side. The clothes here are more...how should I put it....classier then you are used to."

And you are more of an ass then we are used to, I thought.

"They are in the right store."

We looked behind us to see Drew standing there with Grace by his side. Her pheromone levels seemed to have come down a notch although Grace still looked a bit dazed.

The moment Drew entered the store, all the staff members stood up a little straighter. He had that air of authority around him that made everyone stand up and take note.

He walked up to the man who had been talking to us and taking out the black unlimited card said to him, "My little brother needs some new clothes and I hope you will help us get it. If not, there are always better stores we can go to."

All of us were staring at Drew with a hint of hero worship while Michael just stood there looking all smug. Obviously, this hadn't been the first time he had seen his brother's power play.

"Of course sir!! I didn't know they were with you. I am so sorry sir. Of course, we will help you. I will personally look into it.", the man apologized profusely. He looked at Michael and urged him to check out all the clothes around us.

Within minutes, all of us had a glass of chilled lemonade in our hands while wolfing down the hors'devours provided too. The staff was doing their best to show us how pleased they were that we had graced their shop with our presence.

Grace, James and I looked around us with wide eyes. Although all of us came from enough money to buy expensive clothes, this place was beyond even our own capabilities. I had peeked discreetly at a pair of trousers that were hanging down and had almost screamed at the price tag. Grace and I could have bought ten prom dresses each with that kind of money. There were no pajamas here, only silk nightgowns. It was hard to imagine anybody living like this.

All of us had collectively decided to let Grace and James decide most of the clothes that Michael should buy since Grace was the ultimate trendsetter while James was, well, James.

It was funny watching Michael parade in front of us wearing different clothes. Although Grace rejected most of them, I thought he looked cute in all of them. Grace had also pulled a prank on him by handing him a full-sleeved shirt with ruffled cuffs and edges to try on. All of our phones were now full of pictures of him walking around wearing that clown outfit.

After an hour of rifling around clothes, Michael bought seven shirts, three trousers, two jeans, three jackets and a pair of ties. I had no idea of the total cost but something told me it cost more than my car.

We headed to Jamie's where the hairdresser took one look at Michael and ordered him to sit on the chair. Grace stood behind the chair and directed Carl, the hairdresser, as to how Michael's hair should be cut. It all sounded really complicated. Who knew cutting a guy's hair took so much work and imagination. Sheesh. Give me a math exam over this whole shindig any day.

Grace also ordered Michael to wear one of the shirt and jeans that he had bought so we could see the full effect.

We waited for an hour before the hairdresser was done and Michael had changed his clothes. He pulled back the curtain so we could see him. Oh, and what a sight it was. He wasn't good-looking as Drew but he sure grabbed your attention. His hair had that mussed up texture that seemed he had just rolled out of bed. Added to that, his new clothes and glasses made him look like the most handsome geek I had ever seen.

Michael stood there, looking all embarrassed, trying to avoid our gazes. It was adorable. Here was a guy who was a visual gift to all women and the best part? He didn't even know it. And weirdly enough, I didn't want him to.

Wait, that is weird. Why should I care if girls stared at him? Why did I prefer his previous outfit better? I didn't want to follow that train of thought too far since I knew I wouldn't like the end of the road.

Drew walked up to Michael and wrapped his arm around his younger brother playfully.

"That is exactly what I wanted to see. Look at you. I had always known you were more handsome than I am." Drew grinned.

Michael just looked at Drew and said, "Are you high? Girls throw themselves at you. Not at me. And now after a makeover, I am what? Bradley Cooper? I look nicer maybe but not better looking than you. Shut up." 

But all of us saw the red color covering his neck and traveling up to his face. Michael was pleased and this was just his way of being shy.

He turned to me and asked, "How do I look?"

"You look nice. Really handsome. Daisy will be all over you." I said brightly, as I suddenly remembered why we were doing all this. With a sinking heart.

Michael gave me a strange look. And so did Grace and James. Drew just shook his head smiling.

"Well, I don't care what that she-devil thinks about. I am asking you." He said.

"What? Because you care what I think?" I said, jokingly but inside, I really wanted to know his answer.

Michael just shrugged, blushed some more, mumbled something and walked out the shop. Drew ran after him while giving me an exasperated look.

Grace glared at me.

"What is wrong with you? The poor guy asked your opinion and you ask him that silly question? You embarrassed him. You idiot." Grace snapped.

"What? I was making a joke. I didn't think he would get hurt. And anyway, my question was valid. Did he really care what I think?" I asked as my eyes followed Michael walking away. I wanted to end this conversation with Daisy and run to him and apologize.

"Of course he cares what you think. The first person he turned for opinion was you. Not his own brother, not me who clearly has the better fashion sense but you. And he was nervous when he asked you. All of us could see it.  Now go and apologize. Go!"

I ran outside the shop and realized that Drew and Michael had already left the mall. I hurried outside and spotted the brothers walking towards their car. Grace and James had followed me outside.

"Wait!" I yelled, to make any one of the brothers stop. I must have screamed pretty loudly since both of them stopped and turned around. And so did other people.

I ran towards them and looked at Michael. He was studiously avoiding looking at me. Suddenly I didn't know what to say. Especially in front of others. Sorry seemed too simple somehow.

Suddenly Drew said, "Hey, why don't you go by my car and Michael will drop you off and I will take Grace and James and they will drop me off. I really want to talk to your friend." He whispered.

I smiled gratefully as I realized that although one of the reason for his sudden idea to go with Grace was to get to know her better, the other was also to give me some alone time to apologize to Michael.

Grace practically fainted when I told her of the change of plans and then Michael and I stood there as Grace drove off her car, accompanied by Drew and James.

After a few minutes of standing there like idiots, I realized it was now or never.

"Michael, I wanted to apologize for the way I behaved back there. I shouldn't have embarrassed you like that. It's just that nobody has really cared what I think before. It's always Grace they go to. All the girls in school, they all come to Grace for opinions. And I never realized how much I envied that until you turned around today and asked my opinion first, even though Grace was standing right there. And I made that idiotic remark because I was a little shy."

By now, Michael was looking at me and not looking at the thousand cars. He took a deep breath and said, "Look, I am sorry too. I shouldn't have barged out of there just because you asked that question. I mean, of course, I care what you think. In the last two days, you have become a good friend of mine and I care what you think about the way I look."

"Well, it seems we are both idiots, huh?" I muttered with a smile while looking at me.

"Yup."

We started walking towards the car when Michael suddenly stopped and stared at me.

"Can I ask you another question? I might sound like a complete idiot when I ask this but can I?"

"O...kay?" I looked at him, confused.

"I might be wrong and it might sound completely insane but in the shop, when I asked you how I looked, why did I feel like you didn't like how I looked? It might just be my insecurities but still......" Michael replied, waiting for my answer.

"What? Of course not. You looked handsome in there. Every one of us thought so. Trust me, the girls will be flinging themselves at you." I replied defensively.

"There. Right there. You just did it again. You keep saying Daisy and the other girls will like it. But you never say you liked it. Why is that? Is there anything you don't like?"

I cleared my throat as I realized Michael was much more perceptive then I had given him credit for. That brilliant genius.

"Look, I liked it. I am not blind. But, okay, now I am going to sound like an idiot. But the truth is, I liked you a lot better before the whole makeover. I thought you looked adorable." I said, shrugging, looking anywhere but at him.

"You thought I looked adorable?" Michael smirked with his brows raised.

I glared at him. "Looked. The key word being 'looked'. Now shut up and let's go home."

By now, we had reached the car. I looked at it and for the first time realized that I had been so busy talking sappy things with Michael that I had completely forgotten that I was going to be riding in an Audi R8.

I looked at Michael with the best puppy dog eyes I could manage.

"Can I drive? Can I? Can I?" I said, jumping up and down.

Michael looked horrified at the mere thought of it.

"Are you insane? My brother will kill me. He will actually see me dead. Every time I drive his car, he threatens me with bodily harm if I even put a scratch on it. And I am the careful driver of the family." Michael replied.

I stuck my tongue out at him and went to the other side to sit in the front passenger seat. I moaned as I sat in the softest seat. It felt like I was melting. I stretched like a cat to feel the seat around me.

Michael peeked through the window and said, "Should I wait outside so you can have your cargasm?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and sat up properly. Michael grinned and opened the car to sit in the driver's seat.

He drove to our neighborhood after which I gave him directions to reach my house. After he pulled in front of my house, he looked at me with an amused look.

"So, will you invite me in? Introduce me to your mother as your date to the Spring Dance?" he said, wagging his eyebrows.

"You know, I remembered when you first came to this school, You were so quiet and moody and hateful. I miss that." I said, sulkily.

Michael just snickered.

"Anyways, my mom isn't home so you coming in is useless," I said as I got out of the car. I learned through the passenger window.

"Anyways, I will see you tomorrow. We have a lot to discuss." I said.

"See you then, Nerd." He said.

Before I could say anything, he drove off. That guy was really bad for my reputation.

I fished out my house key from my pocket but before I could put it in the slot, the door opened on its own. I looked up and shrieking hugged the person who had opened it- the first love of my life.

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Dun dun, who do you think it is? Comment below and let me know.