The summer break was finally over and so were my assignments. I was what you would preferably call "An ideal student", maybe that's the reason why I didn't even exist for most of the people. But frankly, I never cared.

'I don't see any new face inside the class.' Arjun complained as we entered 11-A, our classroom, and saw the same, ugly faces of our classmates. 'I thought that those two girls had to join after the summer break.'

'You're finding them for Annu, right?' Sanju glared him and he started scratching his head.

'Of course.' He said and Sanju slapped his arm.

'Why do you guys always drag me into this?' I said and kept my bag on my desk.

'Because we seriously think that you need a girlfriend.' Sanju said as they kept their bags on the desk behind mine. 'We don't want you to be alone.'

'Yeah,' I said, 'give me a girlfriend who'll sit on my shoulders like Vikram-Betaal and continue to screw me till I surrender my life in front of her.'

Arjun covered his face it was when I realized what I had just said.

'So that's what you think about me?' Sanju's frustration level was on 9 or maybe even 10, and, believe me- You don't want to be anywhere near her when she is angry.

Hopefully, our asses got saved.

'Ac-actuall-y...' Arjun began but couldn't speak.

'May I sit here?' An unfamiliar female voice interrupted Arjun and we all looked back.

God, she was the cutest girl I had ever seen in my entire life. In fact, I even doubted the fact that was ever going to see a face as beautiful as hers.

'Please sit.' I said and instantly wondered if I sounded like a creep.

'Hello.' Sanju said and the girl smiled at her. 'I'm Sanjana Verma.'

'Hi,' she said and shook hands with her. 'My name is Tripty Shrivastava.'

'Hi, Tripty,' Arjun said and brought forward his hand. 'Arjun Chopra.'

'Hi.' She said and turned towards me.

Alright, so, she wanted me to speak.

'Hi, the name is Anirudh- Anirudh Sharma. Glad to inform you that you are now sitting with the coolest and most probably the sexiest guy in the whole St. Mark's High School.'

I would love to say that I introduced myself like that to her, but unfortunately, it went something like this:

'H-He-Hi!' I said and brought forward my hand, way too abruptly and shocked her. She smiled (probably thought that I was cute) and shook hands with me. 'I-I'm Anirudh and, um, well...welcome t-to St. Marks.'

'Call him Annu.' Arjun said as soon as he realized that I was nervous talking to her. 'We all do.'

Though I still think that exposing my girly nickname in front of a newcomer- a beautiful newcomer- wouldn't have left a good first impression. But then, my fumbling, too, didn't help.

'Hi, guys.' She said nervously.

'Don't be panicky.' Sanju calmed her. 'We won't rob you. We are nice people.'

'As a matter of fact,' Arjun said, 'People call us "The three musketeers". Partly because we're cool and partly...well, I don't know how to put this...'

'We're rebels.' Sanju winked at her.

'Oh, they are rebels.' I as quickly as possible. 'I-I'm...I don't know. I'm the nice guy with a pair of rebels, apparently.'

'Yeah,' Sanju said and patted my shoulder. 'His good-boy image saves us from trouble. Nice to have a non-adventurer with us.'

'That was smooth,' I taunted her. 'Thanks a lot.'

'First day at school,' Tripty said, 'and I feel that I'm sitting with the coolest bunch.'

'That would be us.' Arjun said and high-fived Tripty.

Mini chit-chats and soon our classes started.

Second period- Physics. Possibly I was the only guy who was paying attention to Mrs. Saumya- our Physics teacher- and most probably she too was never in a mood to teach us. For her we were just another bunch of ungrateful teens, misusing the hard earned cash of our parents. She wasn't wrong completely.

'Is it me or you actually prefer staying quiet?' Tripty asked really very quietly but loud enough for me to hear.

I wasn't expecting her to start a conversation so I just started at her and forced a smile on my face for almost two seconds.

'It's not you.' I said and added, 'Definitely.'

'Good to know that.' She chuckled.

'Well,' I said again, 'I'm not really good at initiating conversations- especially with a girl I've seen for the first time.'

'A beautiful girl.' I added the detail.

Oh, what a beautiful smile came to her face.

'Well,' she said and lifted up her pen, 'I think you're going pretty well, right now. I mean I am flattered.'

We talked, then for the whole period. Then Chemistry class started and the teacher had given us some stoichiometric equations to solve (Oh, don't mind that term; it's useless once you're out of school). I was interested in solving them, but the lovely lady next to me insisted on having a conversation; and mind you, no gentleman puts down an offer like that.

Soon, the bells rang and everyone stood up in excitement.

'What's happening?' Tripty asked me in confustion.

'Games period.' Enough said.

'Oh, alright. Let's go, then?'

'Yeah, sure.' I said and started walking with her. Arjun and Sanju were the first ones to leave, so, the complete attention of Tripty Shrivastava was on me- that's cool.

'What do you prefer playing in this period?' She asked me as I folded up my sleeves.

'Basketball.' I said, 'It's the only game I can manage to play. My performance there is acceptable; though I'm trying to improve my game. Have to be the best!'

It was supposed to be a joke.

'I guess it's not really important to be the best.' She said, 'At least, not always.'

'Oh that...'

'Don't mind me.' She said again. 'I loved talking to you and I'll be back.'

'Where are you going?' I asked her.

'Volleyball court.' She laughed, 'I guess my only acceptable performance in sports is volleyball.'

'Alright.' I sniggered. 'I too enjoyed talking to you. Never thought that my so imperfect life would seem so awesome, just by sharing it with someone.'

'Life is never perfect.' She said, 'Nobody's life is perfect and if you ask me, I'd say that it's the little imperfections in us that make our lives worth living.'

I just stayed there as she winked at me and went towards the volleyball court.

'Annu!' Shouted Arjun from the basketball court. 'Run quickly, the match has started.'

So, I turned and started running towards a game that I was destined to win.

I have to confess that I didn't believe in love at first sight- I never did. The concept of love at first sight had always been so unclear to me. I had never understood that term- until Tripty came to my life.