Liar Liar

1.

The most important parties to go to are the ones you weren't invited to. Raavi knew that, and she made the decision to go to that party. She didn't need any invitation. All she knew was that nobody would be able to keep their eyes off of her when they saw her today.

After she came back from her college, she went straight to her room and made a plan. Her friends thought she was a behenji. She definitely wasn't a behenji and she was going to prove that. And then, all the guys of her college would go crazy after her, including Dev. Her reputation was most important to her and she had to take back her place as queen bee of her college.

Ever since Rishita came into her life, everyone around her was so enamoured by her. She was rich and she wore modern clothes. Short skirts and dresses. All the guys in her college were crazy after her. Raavi never wanted attention from all the guys. She just wanted Dev's attention. But that turned out to be a waste. Dev himself was after Rishita.

Raavi had intentionally taken admission in Dev's college to be closer to him. They were in different departments so her plan didn't really work. They hung out sometimes but he would leave as soon as he would see his friends.

The party was tonight. Raavi looked at the clock. Six hours to go. She didn't have any clothes to wear. She needed a dress that would grab everyone's eyeballs. The only problem was she had no money. Raavi still checked her wallet to cross-check and there was only Rs.700 in there. It wasn't enough for a dress

Raavi knew it was no use talking to Maasi. She wouldn't even give her Rs.100. Her kanjoos maasi wouldn't even let Mausapa give her money. She kept strict account of their finance. There was one person who could help her.

"Anita di..." Raavi ran to Anita's room. "Mujhe kuch paise chahiye. Please Rs. 5000 do na."

"Rs. 5000? Kyu?"

"Shopping karni hai."

"Mere paas paise nahi hai Raavi. Jo the usse maine jhumke banwa liye." Anita said.

Raavi pouted. She couldn't let go of such an amazing opportunity because she didn't have money to buy a dress. There had to be a way for her to get money. Maybe she could borrow money from someone. Only one person came to her mind.

Raavi ran to the store and saw Shiva. She wore a sweet smile and approached him, and as usual he rolled his eyes at her.

"Shivaaaaaa....." Raavi said in a sing-sing voice.

"Kya hai?" He asked in his usual gruff manner.

"Shiva mujhe na kuch paise chahiye." Raavi said. "Rs. 5000."

Shiva looked at her surprised. "Kyu?"

"Aaj raat ko ek party hai. Uske liye mujhe shopping karni hai."

"Ek party ke liye Rs. 5000 waste karegi tu?" Shiva asked.

"Shiva please de de naaaaaa...." Raavi whined. "Main wapas kar dungi."

"Ae maami ki behen ki beti, bachpan se leke aaj tak tune koi bhi paise lautaye hai kya?"

"Iss baar lauta dungi. Pakka." Raavi swore.

Shiva rolled his eyes again.

"Please, please, please, please....." Raavi said. "Meri izzat ka sawal hai Shiva."

Shiva had enough of her dramatics. She was wasting his time. He had a lot to do. So he took out 5k from his wallet and handed it to Raavi. She jumped in joy and hugged him tightly. Shiva brushed her away and chased her out of the store.

***

Raavi went shopping. She took two hours to find the perfect shoes and matching shoes to go with the it. Then she went to the parlour and got a curl blowout. Raavi went to Kirti's house with her shopping bags. She didn't want to Maasi to see her clothes. Kirti was surprised to see her at the door.

"Raavi tu yaha?" Kirti asked.

"Tu ab tak taiyyar kyu nahi hui Kirti? Aaj toh Rishita ki birthday party hai." Raavi asked.

"Main nahi jaa rahi." Kirti asked. "Mujhe unka gang bilkul pasand nahi. Apne aap ko pata nahi kya samajhte hai."

Raavi understood that Kirti was hurt for her. Unlike others, Kirti was her true friend. She hugged Kirti.

"Maine canteen mein tum logo ki baatein sun li thi." Raavi said.

"Woh log kya kya bol rahe the tere baare mein. Main kuch time baad uthke chali gayi." Kirti said. "Iss party ko bhul jaa Raavi. Waise bhi tujhe invite nahi kiya toh main bhi nahi jaungi. Hum na chalke koi film dekhte hai."

"Bilkul nahi." Raavi said. "Hum party mein zaroor jayenge. Aur main yeh prove karke rahungi ki main koi behenji nahi hu. Dekh maine shopping bhi ki hai."

Raavi showed her the dress she'd bought. It was a little black dress with silver sequins on the side. It was a short strapped dress, something Raavi had never worn. Kirti was surprised to see her dress, because it wasn't something Raavi would usually wear.

Raavi went to the washroom and came out wearing the dress. She wore strappy black heels with that. Kirti's jaws dropped seeing her.

"Raavi tu kitni hot aur modern lag rahi hai. Woh Rishita bhi tere saamne chai kam paani." Kirti said.

Raavi saw herself before the mirror and was stunned to see herself. She looked beautiful. It was slightly uncomfortable in those heels and the short length of the dress bothered her, but she could easily get used to it. No one would dare call her a behenji after this. After all, she was Somnath's most beautiful girl.

"Par Raavi tujhe kisine invite nahi kiya hai. Tu kaise jaayegi?" Kirti asked.

"Kirti, invitation ki koi zaroorat nahi. Hum bas ghus jayenge. Aur waise bhi, sab mere saamne toh bade achhe bante hai. Dekhna, aise act karenge jaise mera hi intezaar kar rahe the."

***

Raavi was right. Just as she entered the party, Rimi came to greet her. Raavi smiled when she saw Kaveri's surprise seeing Raavi in this dress. Everyone from her college was starting at her with an open mouth.

She walked to Rishita and gave her a pair of earrings which she had brought from the leftover money. "Happy Birthday Rishita!"

"Thanks Raavi..." Even Rishita was shocked to here her in this attire. "You look amazing!"

"Aww thanks Rish. Par asli patakha toh tum lag rahi ho." Raavi smiled.

"Raavi?" Raavi turned to see Dev, who was shocked to see her. "Hi! Mujhe nahi pata tha tum aa rahi ho... Tumne pick up karne nahi kaha toh I thought you weren't coming."

"Main Kirti ke saath aayi." Raavi said.

"Tum bohot achhi lag rahi ho." Dev said.

"Thanks Dev."

Raavi was kinda impressed to see how people's opinion changed so quickly with her clothes. She wondered if Shiva's opinion would change seeing her in this. Would he compliment her for the first time in their life? Nope, he would never.

"Vodka or whiskey?" Kaveri came up to Raavi and offered her two glasses.

"Raavi drink nahi karti." Rimi snickered.

Raavi didn't miss the way she almost laughed when Kaveri offered her the drink. They were still making fun of her! She came here to prove them wrong, and today she would get them to accept that she wasn't a behenji.

"Vodka." Raavi took the glass from her and poured the entire content in her mouth. It burned her throat but it was worth seeing the shocked expression on everyone's faces.

There were many more surprises to come tonight. Raavi smirked.