Na Bangaram (Pranushka)

Chapter 7

Anushka Pov: 

"Amma I am going to college now!" I shout to my mom while grabbing a piece of toast to eat on the way. 

"Okay be safe nanna," she replies from upstairs. 

I take my purse, textbook, and keys and lock the door behind me. 

I step into my gray Honda CRV and call Shriya. 

"I am coming to pick you up, be ready in five," I tell her. 

Five minutes later I pulled up in her driveway. I text her that I am here, and wait in the car. 

"Hey, ok I'm ready," she puts her bag in between her feet and puts her water bottle in the cupholder. 

Our college is only a few minutes away from her house, so we get there pretty fast. 

We grab our bags and quickly walk into the class and we go to class with 5 minutes to spare before the bell. 

The class goes on for 30 minutes until the lecturer decides to surprise us and say that class was over for the day and we could go home. 

I checked my watch, it was noon exactly. I scrolled through my phone for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. 

Then I thought of an idea, "Shriya, do you think I could invite Miheeka to eat lunch with us at the Beachwood café?" 

Shriya looks up from her phone, "Who is she again?" I explained to Shriya about when I met her at the get-together and how she was doing business with Rana and her uncle. 

"Okay, I guess we could invite her," Shriya says. 

"Yay," I reply and get my phone to text her. 20 minutes later, Shriya and Miheeka are all at my favorite café with food. I ordered a chicken pasta with broccoli and bell pepper. Shriya ordered French onion soup with bread and Miheeka ordered a chicken pesto panini. 

We also ordered cheese fries to split. 

We each grabbed our tray and started digging in. 

A few minutes of silence pass by and I decide to break the silence by asking Miheeka what her plans for today are. 

She replies, "Nothing much I finished all my work this morning. I had a Pilates class this evening but they canceled it." 

"Oh, where do you go for Pilates? I have been looking but I can't find any good ones that don't cost a million bucks," she says while laughing. I join in. We talk about random things for the next few hours. 

Then I remembered, "Girls I have a nail appointment in 10 minutes. Do you guys wanna join and get your nails done with me." 

Miheeka and Shriya look at each other and nod. "My nails could use some pampering," Miheeka says while cracking up. 

We quickly finish up eating our desserts and then go to pay. 

Then, we went to the nail place. 

Miheeka got white acrylic nails with black designs. 

Shriya got white nails and clear nails with butterflies. 

I decided to get baby blue nails with flowers on them. 

We spent a few hours relaxing. Before we knew it, it was dinner time. Shriya invited us over because her mom was making veg biryani. 

"Will it be fine if I come?" Miheeka asks. 

"Yes it's fine she loves you," Shriya said while dragging Miheeka by the hand to my car. 

When we reached my house her mom opened the door. She started grinning when she saw Miheeka help her take her jacket off. 

I gave Shriya a look like What was that about?

She shrugs her shoulders. 

We three get situated on the large dining table. 

I was so focused on trying to pull the heavy chair out that I did not see who else was sitting at the table. 

To my right were Rana and Prabhas and to my left were Nadhiya aunty and Ramesh Uncle. 

I quietly gasp when I see that Prabhas is sitting next to me. 

I don't realize that I'm staring until Rana slightly coughs, so I quickly sit down in the chair not to draw attention to myself.

Anushka's Nails: 

Miheeka's Nails: 

Shriya's Nails: 

Thank you all for reading! 

Just as an fyi, "nanna" means dad, but is also used as a term of endearment meaning "dear". 

- Ag and Sv