Hello Fam :)

Sorry, it's rushed. I am in a hurry. :)

Happy Reading...

Nandini skipped the classes in the first half and went directly to the canteen to meet her friends. Taking a seat, she glared at Manik.

"I will tell you once and you keep it printed somewhere inside your brain", she said and felt satisfied when he nodded, scared. "I don't love you." When she got a nod from him again in agreement, she turned to her friends, fixing them with the fiercest glare she could manage. "You three, we aren't talking about this ever again. Is that clear?"

After successfully scaring everyone, she grabbed the glass of water and gulped a good amount from it before letting a grin spread across her lips. "Guys, I have an idea. I want Manik to contest in elections for the head boy."

She took a minute to let it sink in their heads. Surprisingly, Manik was the first one to react.

"Wha..Wh.. How did you come up with this idea? It's...It's ridiculous", he asked.

The boy was terrified and Nandini gave him the sweetest smile, almost innocent. "Eloquent enough? You don't want to do this? Why? Do you want more girlfriends like Soha hanging off your arm?", she asked.

He glared at her. Soha's name brought everyone back to their senses and she had their attention.

"Manik, you promised me you would become strong and this is like a trump card for you. You will have an authority in your hands, an extra power. No Soha, Alya, or any other person in this college would dare to hurt you. You are good at academics and I am sure you could manage both of them perfectly", she explained.

She tapped her fingers on the table as she watched him think. She thought a lot about it last night. The boy needed to be let out as much as he needed to be protected.

"An extra power makes you arrogant and leads to your destruction", he whispered, staring down at the table.

If Nandini wasn't focusing on him, she could have missed it. The way her hands instantly wrapped around his fingers, it was almost instinctive. "An extra power in the hands of a good would be nothing but the strength, both for the person and for those around him. You are a good person, Manik. No one could utilize this more constructively than you."

"But I have to work with a lot of people and.."

"The only person you will work with, other than the principal and the professors, is me. If we are meeting someone else, I would be beside you. I would help you familiarize you with everything initially", she told. She could see where his decision was inclining as the doubts cleared in his head. Her friends didn't interrupt them and she ignored every other noise. This was important.

"Why me?", he asked, looking at her and biting his lip. "Why not Cabir or Abhimanyu?"

Nandini sighed. "Abhimanyu is my best friend and hence, I know he isn't interested in this. Coming to Cabir, the way we fight with each other, I don't want another head students fiasco", she told.

Cabir protested. "Nandini, I never meant.."

She shook her head. "Cabir, I know we consider this as friendly banter. Trust me. But rumors spread in college. I have a limited number of friends and whatever we have between us, it's special. I don't want to lose it."

Uncharacteristically, she made him speechless. It's a first and Nandini felt it as an achievement but before celebrating it, she needed to work out on their initial topic of discussion. "So, Manik?", she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Cabir..", he started but before he could look at his brother, Nandini grabbed his face, blocking his vision on anything but her.

"Manik, it's a decision that you have to take and I am sure Cabir would support you no matter what it is", she told.

He gave her a look that resembled her of a wounded puppy but Nandini didn't let it affect her. He let out a long sigh. "If that's what everyone wants then it's okay."

Nandini bumped her fist in the air before standing up from her chair to hug Manik. She noticed Cabir and Abhimanyu sharing a look but ignored them to tell the boy how happy she was. Manik gave her a smile, still trying to wrap his head around it before Cabir hugged him.

"Bhai, I am so proud of you", he muttered.

Abhimanyu pulled her sideways. "You had really given a lot of thought to it, right?"

Nandini nodded, accepting it. She did and she promised herself to turn Manik into the best head boy the college had ever seen.

XXX

Nandini escaped the canteen to avoid the awkward questions from Abhimanyu giving an excuse for filling up the nomination form. She got startled when she heard the footsteps and turned around to find Cabir following her. Instead of retreating on getting exposed or giving an excuse, he jogged until they were walking side by side.

"You said we had something special between us, 'friend'?", he asked, grinning.

Nandini rolled her eyes and punched him in the stomach. "And I punch my special friends", she told.

"You know what? Keep that tag to yourself. I understood, the only special friend you could have is your cheeseburger", he said, terribly failing to hide his smirk.

Nandini glared at him. "Why do you always target my cheeseburger?"

"I follow my heart and my heart follows food", he told.

"Stay away from mine", warned Nandini.

They stopped fighting when they realized they had reached the office. Nandini greeted the staff and asked for the nomination form. With the help of Cabir, Nandini filled out the form and left to get the signatures of Manik.

"Do you know every staff member of this college?", asked Cabir, surprised. "They all seem pretty close to you."

"I have been working with them since my first year. The previous head girl is my school senior, so I used to help her with the work."

Cabir frowned. "Why did you want to work in your first year? Because..", he asked.

"Because first years are known to have fun and bunk classes", completed Nandini for him and chuckled when he nodded. "The extra work keeps unwanted thoughts and people away from my life. That's why."

XXX

The news of Manik in the nomination list was spreading wildly and the boy had gained popularity overnight. If before he was known as the weird fresher who joined directly in the second year and somehow got roped in the circle of the terrific trio, his name on the nomination list had raised many eyebrows. Surprisingly, they thought about the reason behind it because the guy mostly kept to himself.

On top of everything, even after contesting for the head boy position, he was his own polite self. With the exams approaching, students even considered asking him their doubts which he happily obliged. For the first time in the history of Nandini's college, all the girls were fanning for Manik and the boys were almost friendly with him. At least it was the case among all the science students. If Nandini didn't know better, she would have thought him to be some superpower for bringing every student together.

Right now they were all sitting in the canteen. Mukti and Abhimanyu were indulged in some gossip of Cabir and Manik ignored them to bury his nose into one of his novels. Nandini slumped down on the chair, banging her fist on the table gaining the attention of her friends except for Manik. She rolled her eyes at the boy.

"Guess who is contesting against Manik?", she asked, "It's Dhruv."

"Is he still there in the college?", asked Abhimanyu.

Nandini snorted. "He feels lazy enough to attend his classes and he too wants to become the head boy. I am damn sure it's the idea of that Alya. These Arts guys, I am telling you, they don't use their brains."

"Hey, I am an Arts guy too", protested Cabir.

"Are you trying to defend yourself or proving my point?", she asked.

Mukti offered the chips on her plate. "Don't generalize all the Arts students because of a few. See, people know how Dhruv is. After looking at Harshad's work, they might be looking for someone new."

"And according to psychology, Manik will win", grinned Abhimanyu.

Nandini slapped his head. "Are you trying to become a psychiatrist? And don't think I l haven't noticed the all those secret eye conversation between you and this Jungli", she said, pointing towards Cabir. "What's going on between you two?"

"What? Me?", gaped Cabir. "Why do you always drag my innocent self?"

"Will you stop your TV soap opera?", glared Nandini. She turned to Manik, who didn't speak a word since she arrived and rolled her eyes when he didn't take his eyes off the book yet. It's as if he had cast a spell to cancel all the noise around him. Having no other option, Nandini grabbed the book from his hands. "Oi, hero. Don't you want to campaign for yourself?"

He got startled and tried to grab his book back but she was fast. "It's not a political election. Why do we have to campaign? Give my book back, please."

"It might not be a political campaign but it is an election, dude. So, yeah. Stuff this inside and get going", she told, grinning at him.

They were into the banter when the peon came to their table and glared at Manik. "Principal sir is calling you", he said.

"What did I do now?", he asked.

"It's not even a semester and you need a position already?", asked the peon.

"Hari Bhaiya", interrupted Nandini, "don't publicize but it was my idea to nominate Manik."

"Your idea?", asked the peon, "It would be awesome then." He turned to Manik and told him to reach the principal's room, this time with a smile.

Nandini tapped her fingers looking at his retreating back. If Hari was taking the situation this way, she was sure the principal had the same thoughts, and knowing Manik, he would just agree with them to escape the room. She frowned and took her bag. "Guys, I have some work. I will meet you later." She didn't wait for them as she followed Manik.

XXX

"Bro, she isn't even trying to hide", said Cabir, after Nandini left the canteen.

"Bro, for hiding, she needs to realize what she is doing and she is clueless right now. It's as if defending Manik has become her instinct. Did you look at the way she tried to scare us yesterday when she told us she doesn't love him? I am damn sure there are some feelings involved", said Abhimanyu.

He knew his best friend. If he had any say in it, he would pray for all the love in the world for her. If Manik is the source then so be it.

"Okay, 'bros', what feelings are we talking about? Sorry, kind of hard to grasp without the topic of discussion", asked Mukti, sarcastically.

Cabir, the ever excited child, explained about the possible feeling of their best friend and his brother.

XXX

Why didn't you tell me you were interested in becoming the head boy? You could have told me before. I would have scraped the elections and directly selected you. I could do as much for the Malhotras.

The voice of her principal came muffled through the half-closed door when Nandini reached his office. She mentally groaned. Wouldn't anyone let the boy grow up naturally? She took the liberty of inviting herself in. "Manik would contest like any other student. May I come in, Sir?", she asked already half inside the room.

Getting permission from the principal, she went inside and took her seat beside Manik. "Sir, I asked Manik to put his name." To prove her point she explained how Manik manages the Malhotra Industries whenever Nyonika Malhotra is away from the company. "He is already popular among the students and if they could give him a chance, I am sure he wouldn't give them a point to complain."

The principal smiled brightly at the two of them and Nandini took a leave from him. Once outside Mani stopped her.

"I don't know why you are so confident about this but I am not sure I won't mess up anything", he muttered.

"Manik", she said and sighed. She was trying to throw him into a bigger fight. It was probably looking like a battlefield inside his head, who knows, and she didn't blame him for getting scared. "I know it's tough and very new for you but you have to take a step to learn. Listen, I will tell you a secret. Before some information goes to the professors or the principal, it passes through the head students. Hence, if you win this and you are becoming the head boy, we are the only two getting involved in the work. If you have any doubts, I will be there to help you. You are lucky, I still have a semester left as the head girl."

"What about that campaign?", he asked.

"I was just kidding. There is no campaigning. If you want, you can ask the students to vote for you but it isn't compulsory", she told.

"You can't joke about this. I am believing you and you are having fun here", he pouted.

Nandini chuckled. Seriously. The kid needs to loosen up a bit.

"Will you promise me something?", he asked again. When Nandini nodded, he smirked. "If I lose and Dhruv wins, as Mukti said he wouldn't even attend the classes, would you let me help you whenever there is some work, please?"

There were many people who made her life hell, many who wanted to add to her troubles but for the first time, there was someone who was going out of his way to willingly share her responsibilities. "Are you even for real?", she asked.

"Please? I listen to everything you say. Can't you agree with me on this once?"

"I knew you had that Malhotra trait somewhere inside you", she teased and sighed. "Manik, it's my responsibility. How can I let you do that?"

"It's the combined responsibilities of the head students and when they refuse to do their work properly, you suffer from the overburden. You don't deserve that", he argued.

"You are too good with your arguments, you know that?"

His whole face lit up, reminding her of an excited child. "Does that mean a yes?"

Hence, that's the plan. Manik, the head boy. How does that sound? ;)