Chapter : 41

Rishav's POV

I can't believe it really happened. Had I ever thought I would end up kissing the girl I had hated the most when we first met? Well, one shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. I learnt my lesson.

But I wasn't flying about in dreams of me and Ananya. Instead, I was worried sick all day. Why? One word to that question : Thursday.

Yep, it is the day of the opening of practice matches. And here I am with a limp. Damn it Rishav.

I felt a hand over mine and I looked up to find Ananya looking at me with concerned brown eyes.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure everything will work out at the end." She whispered to me.

We were in the Physics lab and the teacher, Mr.Barua, was busy explaining the concept of refraction through a glass slab. Ananya had persuaded me to come to school and I had finally agreed to her requests when she had pouted like a little kid. I swear no girl had that effect over me the way she had.

"What if it doesn't work out?" I voiced my thought.

She squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"I'm sure it will." She said with a smile that forced me to smile back at her.

"Thanks. Now let go of my hand. You don't want your brother to end up hating me even more, do you?" I said.

She frowned at me and released my hand with a slight jerk. What's she sulking for now?

"Then why don't you fix things up with him?" She asked.

"I'm not the one being stubborn in this. He can talk too you know." I said.

"Men and their big egos." Ananya said more to herself with a sigh.

"What was that?" I asked with an amused smile.

"Ahem, Mr.Neil and Ms.Sharma." The teacher's voice erupted from the front of the class. And every head turned to look at us, except for Ravi who was busy ignoring my name under every circumstance.

"I'm sure you have something very important to talk about. Let us all hear it. Come on, don't keep the knowledge for yourselves. Share it with us, we'll be glad to be enlightened." Mr.Barua said with sarcasm dripping his voice.

Few students around us snickered at those words while I mentally cringed at his sugar-coated lines. He could've just told us to shut up or get out.

When neither of us replied, Mr.Barua approached us and the students got comfortable in their seats to enjoy the drama that was to begin.

"Yes? I'm waiting." He said and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We were discussing about the principles of refraction." I replied casually while Ananya turned her head to look at me.

"Oh, I see." The teacher said with a raised eyebrow, clearly not convinced.

"In that case, let me hear the laws of refraction." He challenged.

"Angle of incidence in equal to the angle of refraction and the ratio of the speed of light in air to the speed of light in that medium is equal to a constant called the refractive index of that medium." I said and shrugged at the end.

Physics? Yeah, easy to me.

Ananya's face framed an expression worth capturing. She hadn't expected this, I'm sure. Mr.Barua sighed in defeat and I grinned victoriously.

"Well, Ms.Sharma, tell me what is a refractive index?" The teacher moved on to his next prey.

I casually turned my eyes to her and waited for Ananya to answer but for the first time, she was stammering unable to answer.

Okay, what?

"Hmm... Discussing, I see." Mr.Barua smiled triumphantly.

"Pay attention to my class Ms.Sharma. As punishment, you'll have to complete fifteen problems based on refraction and I want it on my desk by Saturday. Understood?" He asked her.

"Yes, sir." She nodded, her eyes lowered.

The bell rang, indicating that the class was over and the teacher walked out of the lab while students started shuffling out of the lab after him.

***

"Ow, okay that's the seventh time you've hit me with that Physics assignment now." I pointed out, rubbing the side of my head.

"Seventh? You deserve seven thousand hits! Never has a teacher punished me and here I am, with this stupid assignment." She exclaimed and tried to hit me again but I dodged it quickly.

"Smart-ass. You had to say we were discussing refraction? Of all possible topics, refraction?" She asked with her big brown eyes focused on me.

"Sorry that I didn't know the studious girl hadn't studied that  one topic. My sixth sense isn't as strong as yours." I said with sarcasm.

"Shut up or I'll seriously kill the two of you now." Kabir interrupted  our banter.

It was recess and we three were sitting in the canteen. Ravi was nowhere. I assumed he was busy with the players list and everything else considering he was the captain of our school team.

"So, did you plan on telling coach about your injury? Who'll substitute you today?" Kabir asked.

"Nobody's substituting me. I'll play." I declared.

Both Kabir and Ananya turned to look at me.

"With that leg? Are you kidding me?" Kabir asked in disbelief.

"Come on, it's just a limp. Not that bad. I'm not gonna drop this opportunity for a small injury." I said in a firm tone.

My dream is worth the pain.