Dedicated to - Anjali_J33

It was a day of mixed emotions in Naina Agarwal's life. The Agarwal's had just moved to Ahemdabad from Gandhinagar. Their business' heart will now be set in this city. In all the packing and moving nobody had thought of 16 year old Naina.

"Mere dost hai yaha. Mai aise kaise ye jagah chod ke jau? Chachiji! Aap log mujhe apni Phulla Bua ke paas chod dijiye na." Naina had requested.

"O bai! Phulla Bua ke paas rehne ka sochna bhi mat. Unke yaha se roz roz ka aana jaana lag gaya to wo to taane taane de de ke mujh bechari wo waise hi aadha kar dengi." Taiji had intervened.

So, Naina had to bid goodbye to Shefali and Swati her best friends and to Gandhinagar - the city of her childhood.

Soon the elders began searching for the best school they could send their kids in. After a little research Naina, her cousin Preeti and her brother Arjun were admitted in the best Hindi Medium school of Ahemdabad - Pragati Vidya Ka Mandir.

"Naya school hai, midterm se join kar rahe ho tum log. Thodi dikkat to aayegi." Chachaji was advising the trio.

"Aayegi hi na. 11th class hai wo bhi aadhi nikal gayi hai. Ab humse dosti kaun karega?" Naina made a sad puppy face.

Chachaji laughed at her cute antics and said, "Wo bhi hai. Dost to ban jaayenge beta. Tum apni padhai par dhyan dena."

As soon as Chachaji was out of earshot Preeti whispered into Naina's ears.

"Itna bhi udas hone ki koi zaroorat nahi hai behen. Kya pata yaha teri love story start ho jaaye." Preeti winked.

Naina shrugged her shoulders in disapproval and moved out of the house. They rode their cycles and began pedalling to school. From a distance the faint music of a hit song from the new release Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak could be heard.

Gazab ka hai din
Dekho zara
Ye deewanapan
Socho zara
Hum hai akele
Tum bhi akele
Maza aa raha hai
Kasam se.
Kasam se.

Naina saw her faint reflection in a PCO's glass door. She scrutinized herself and then pulled the ends of her plaits to loosen them. She next removed a clip holding her hair and let some strands adore her face.

"Kya kar rahi hai?" Preeti asked her.

Naina blew the hair falling on her forehead in response. She took a chewing gum out of her pocket, unwrapped it and began chewing it. She started pedalling again and moved ahead towards PVKM.

From a distance, another student had stopped his bike. He was admiring the new girl pulling her hair strands out in the middle of the road.

"Chali gayi wo ab tu bhi chal." His friend Munna tickled his back.

"Sameer!" His other friend Pandit shook him to bring him out of his trance.

Sameer got hold of his senses but he couldn't stop the pace with which his heart was racing.

As his bike moved forward, he could feel a sudden, sweet scent in the air. Everything about that day felt pleasant. The morning sunshine had vibes of fresh hopes. Something new, something unexpected was going to happen.
__________________________________

Naina and Preeti parked their cycles with the other students of the school. The sun was blazing over their heads. Naina covered her eyes with the shade of her palm. Sameer entered the school on his bike with MunDit behind him. He got a glimpse of the girl who had made his heart race some time ago -Naina.
____________________________________

Shanti Teacher, class XI B's Maths Teacher was handing out the answer sheets to the students.

"Sanjay Tebriwal, aao apna paper le jao." She called out.

Sanjay got up, gave a I'll-win-this-thing look to Sameer and went to collect his paper.

"17/20" Shanti teacher said while giving his paper.

"Sameer Maheshwari" Shanti teacher called out.

"19/20" As soon as she announced Sameer's marks, Munna and Pandit stood on their desks and began dancing around.

"HAHA!" They made faces at Sanjay and he looked away.

"Sameer tum baitho. Munna-Pandit desk se neeche utro aur zara apne marks bhi dekh lo."

"Full marks aa gaye kya teacher ji?" Munna asked.

"Aayein hai na par tum dono ke mila ke. 10-10 number lekar aaye ho dono." Shanti ma'am taunted them.

"OYEEE!! PAAS HO GAYE!" Pandit screamed and hugged Munna as they jumped to their way to the teacher's desk.

As the commotion settled down, Shanti ma'am turned to the board and began teaching. A peon entered the room and handed a slip to the teacher. She read it and nodded. The peon went outside and came back with two girls.

Sameer felt his breath getting erratic, a soothing breeze began blowing his hair and his heart missed several beats as he saw the same girl walk into the class with the peon.

"Baccho, ye hai Naina Agarwal aur ye hai Preeti Agarwal. Aaj se ye tumhare saath hi padhengi. Theek hai?" Shanti ma'am announced.

"Naina." Sameer repeated dreamily.

There was only one seat empty with a girl. Preeti dodged Naina and sat on it. Naina glared at her but Preeti didn't care.

Now, there was only one seat left for Naina to sit.

"Oho! Aaj attendence bhi puri hi hai na isiliye jagah nahi bachi. Tum yaha Sameer ke saath baith jao. Ye humari class ka topper hai. Tumhe padhai me madad bhi kar dega." Shanti ma'ams words were like a shower of flowers to Sameer. He could hear violins around him as Naina took baby steps towards him. He ran his hand through his hair to impress her.

"Bahar niklo. Mai andar ki taraf baithungi." Naina said.

He kept ogling without a word.

"Sunai nahi deta kya? Hato!" She repeated.

"Koi dikkat hai?" Shanti ma'am's voice brought Sameer to his senses.

"Nahi. Kuch nahi." Sameer repeated. He got aside and let Naina sit next to the wall.

As the lesson progressed, Naina's disinterest reached it's peak. She began yawning and looking here and there. She began scribbling at the back of her notebook but lost interest in it too. She felt her eyes getting heavy as sleep overpowered her.

Sameer saw her sleeping and got lost in his dreamland. He imagined Naina asleep and her jerking head fall on his shoulder. The class disappeared around him for a while and he hoped his dream to come true but to his utter disappointment, Naina's head jerked on the other side and hit the wall.

"Ouch!" She rubbed her head and looked at Sameer with a goofy smile. She peeped into his notebook and saw him solving all the maths problems.

"Ye sab samajh aata hai tumhe?" Naina scribbled in a piece of paper and passed it to him.

"Kya?" He wrote back.

"Yahi maths, science."

"Haa vigyan me to mere kai baar poore number bhi aaye hain."

"Vigyan? Hindi me likho na!"

Sameer giggled reading her message. Naina got angry and snatched his pen away.

"Aree! Mera pen do na." Sameer whispered.

"Nahi." Naina looked away.

"Had hai." Sameer said. " Chalo wapas do."

"Pehle sorry bolo."

"Sorry. Ab pen do mera."

Naina blew the hair over her forehead and returned him the pen.

The class got over and Shanti teacher called the Agarwal sisters to her desk.

"Ek kaam karo, tum dono Sameer, Sanjay ya Hema me se kisi se saari kitabon ki list le lo." She said. "Tumhe koi bhi dikkat ho tum unse pooch sakti ho agar fir bhi kuch na samajh aaye to staff room me mujh se pooch lena. Theek hai?"

Both of them nodded. She went ahead to tell the other three students to give their full support to the new girls. Little did she knew that Sameer didn't any instruction to help Naina. He was ready to share his notes and study tips and tricks with her.
____________________________________

The most awaited period of the day arrived. The class was taken out in the ground to play. The boys were off to play cricket while the girls were splitting themselves in teams to play Kho Kho.

"Sameer chal na yaha kaha baith gaya tu?" Pandit said.

"Ha bhai. Chal na cricket khelne. Tere bina match kaise hoga?" Himmat said.

"Aaj man nahi kar raha. Mere sar me dard hai." Sameer said.

"Toh pet kyu pakda hai?" Munna raised his eyebrows.

"Oh! Oh!" Sameer bit his lower lip. "Mujhe to lag raha hai ki mera BP bhi kam ho raha hai. Chakkar jaise aa rahe hain. Tum log jao. Mai yahi baithunga."

"Hum bhi tere saath rahenge." Munna said.

"Nahiiii" Sameer screamed so loudly that the girls stopped their game and looked at him.

"Tum log jao. Mai theek hu. Theek ho jaunga."

"Itna handsome ladka hai aur sara din apne faltu doston aur kitabon me ghusa rehta hai." Kamya told the girls around her.

Naina smiled looking at his antics from a distance.

Sameer's friends left him alone and went to play. He sat back and enjoyed watching Naina play. He felt his heart swell everytime she laughed, everytime she was about to get caught by the other player he felt his own heart racing with anxiety and fear. Once or twice Naina felt his fixed gaze on her but he looked away as soon as she looked back.

After the game got over, Naina walked to the water tap. Sameer was standing there trying to save himself from the water oozing from a dysfunctional tap. Naina took a de-route and went behind the tap's boundary. She took out her handkerchief and tied the tap with it. The water stopped oozing from it and Sameer could quench his thirst. The sun light was falling on his eyes and irritating them, unknowingly Naina shifted a little and covered him from the sun and it's rays.

The day passed and it was finally time to go home. It was Naina and Preeti's first day at Pragati Vidya Ka Mandir but it was more special to Sameer than anyone else. He had found the Suman to his Prem.

Naina and Preeti took their cycles out of the stand and began paddling home. Sameer followed her on his bike. He maintained his pace to be just behind her.

Dheere dheere se meri zindagi me aana
Dheere dheere se mere dil ko churana
Tumse pyar humein hai kitna jane jana
Tumse milkar tumko hai batana.

He followed them till they turned to in the colony their house belonged. He parked his bike and waited for them to go inside safely. Once Naina was out of sight he headed home.

Life was going to change.
PVKM was going to witness yet another love story, a story of Sameer and Naina becoming SamAina.

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