Between classes and rehearsals, Priya spent a lot of time on Facebook. Aparna was surprised as to why she was using the social media site so much, as usually, she only used to post a poem there once in a week.
"Priya, why are you seeing FB so much?" she asked her the day before the second round of the competition.
"I'm trying to find a certain person," Priya answered.
"Who?"
"I'll tell you later. Where's Chris?"
"He's gone with Roshan and Grandpa to the bakery," replied Aparna. "Priya, I hope you aren't in..."
"Chris and I are like Caesar and Anthony," said Priya. "Don't make your own fantasies, Apu. Navy pilots have must have sense!"
Aparna was offended, and walked away. The next day would be a great one.
The first group to perform was 'Swans'. The members of that group were very friendly with everyone and were very close to the Tenterhooks. Malini had a crush on Abhishek, the frontman of Swans, who was sometimes clumsy, but a person with a pure heart.
Abhishek sang and Renee danced, while Nakash and Aditi played keyboard and guitar respectively. The Tenterhooks applauded their performance.
The second group, 'Dessert Angels', put up a good performance too.
Then came the bullies. Their costumes weren't any better than the previous round. The girls' costumes looked worse than Priyanka Chopra's Met Gala 2019 outfit; long, sleeveless, satin dresses which were decorated with black and white sequins and clutched the body very hard. The boys were wearing huge white leather blazers and black knickerbockers. Their clothes looked like a Christian Siriano and Manish Malhotra collaboration which had gone terribly wrong. They wore strange wigs and hats, and the makeup was worse than before. The most horrible thing was that, now, they were singing as they danced!
The judges however, seemed to like their mediocre performance. After our heroes had finished performing splendidly, the judges declared that they and 'The Suave Charmers' were the finalists.
"How come they selected those pillocks?" asked Christopher, his nose twitched like a rabbit.
"Abhi and his group were much better," said Malini.
Priya felt a strong thought to tease Malini, who was the teacher's pet and very traditional. But when Abhishek came over to them, she closed her mouth in a comical way, not wanting to embarrass her friend in front of her crush.
Abhishek congratulated the group for their success in getting to the finals. "You were really amazing. And Chris, you sounded just like Freddie Mercury!"
"Thank you, Abhishek. You were really good too!" replied Christopher, smiling.
"Really good," said Malini, albeit dreamily. Abhishek gave her a coquettish grin, and left.
Priya teased Malini in private after that.
YOU ARE READING
A New Ray of Hope
General FictionChristopher is a charming, intelligent boy who has forgotten how to smile because of his traumatic past. He comes to India to live with his grandfather, as an escape. Due to his reserved and introverted nature, he is initially unpopular at college...
