"Hi" waved Sonarika, as she entered my room. Before I could wave her back, she perched on my couch and snatched the chocolate packet that I was enjoying without her. Sonarika could never see me enjoying chocolates alone, the only reason she gave for it was "best-friends must always share sweetness, even if it's their favorite chocolate". She never says a word more or less than that and this reason has lasted for eons. I knew she would repeat the script if I took the goodies back. So I let her enjoy the melted truffle balls and ask her to part a little for she might spoil the book in my hand by dripping over melted syrup on it. She knows I couldn't bear my books getting spoiled so she swiftly parted away. As she moved, the wall on her back gleamed with sleek rainbow light.
"Oh! What was that?" I murmured in surprise, with my eyes wide open. Sonarika turned back to the wall to see what made me so happy, but the rainbow glitter moved parallel to her back. My eyes traced the happy colors as they moved, but Sonarika could only twirl to find nothing. I giggled as she continued to dance in circles because I understood it was her new hair accessory that flashed my walls with vibgyor. I asked her to settle down so we could figure out what exactly was the new sparkly thing pinned to her hair. It wasn't a hair clip, but a satin scrunchie with a big crystal on it. The stretch was lavender in color and the crystal sat beautifully on her hair, gorgeously reflecting a sunbeam that entered my room from the west window.
I said, "Sonarika, I want to have the same hair tie and we could twin together". She told me about the shop "it is the same shop in our local market that we always go to, but might get closed soon as the dusk sets in". The local shop was not too close; it took nearly 40 minutes by foot. Sonarika added, "the retailer only had a few pieces left and I wonder if they would last till tomorrow". She could read my face how much I loved the accessory and that I was sad if I couldn't have the same. So, she offered hers to me, selflessly. Lavender is Sonarika's favorite and she wouldn't give anything of that shade to anyone. I have seen how Sonarika would guard her wardrobe whenever her cousin Veena visited her. Veena secretly wanted to try my best friend's dress, one that has a purple hue, but Sonarika won't give it for the world. So, I knew her story with the purple tones, and that she insisted me to take her scrunchie as a gift explained how much she loved me. I gave it a whirl carefully as I didn't want to scratch the crystal a bit. "It looks perfect" said Sonarika and my smile broadened in joy.
After we played a few games, someone rang at the door. Sonarika's mom came to take her for dinner. Her building was a few steps away, but it was late and our parents won't let us alone after dark. We bid each other goodnight and they left. As they walked through the floor, I rushed to my room's window to see Sonarika and her mom reach home safely. Their building was visible from my west window, the same space from where the dusky sun blazes its light into my room every day. I was hanging out the window when I heard aunty scolding Sonarika "You lost the band? We just bought it today. Why are you so clumsy?" Sonarika did not mention that she gave it to me. I felt regretful to have accepted it, I didn't want her to get scolded. The night itself I set an alarm for early morning to get ready and check if the retailer had one more crystal scrunchie so that I could gift it to Sonarika.
I woke up early morning, pulled on my clothes, and left for the shop. I couldn't wait until breakfast, Sonarika told me that there were only a few pieces left with the shopkeeper and they could stock out anytime soon. So I better vamoosed without the morning meal. To make the trip shorter I skipped the central road and took the route through the park. The sun was only visible from distant buildings, which made my journey less crowded.
As I tried my best to whisk through the park, I noticed a few of my school friends playing cricket. It was 7:30 and these boys were ready to land in a rivalry that served no rewards. They rode bicycles for at least 10 kms to reach this place and play cricket, this never made sense to me. The only thing that kept me sane at that time was that I was not all alone as I took the shorter route. I wondered if I could borrow someone's bike as that would lead me to the shop quickly. In this hope, I turned to the playing team and screamed cupping my mouth "Amiiitt". Luckily I didn't have to try the second time and Amit came running. I borrowed his bicycle and rushed to the mini shed.
I reached the shop at 7:50. There were still 10 minutes for the shopkeeper to unveil the shutter and I was under the grip of nervousness if the stock lasted. I tried breathing slowly; Sonarika once told me about this slow breathing technique that could miraculously take away all the anxiety; I tried taking a few of these. By the time I completed taking a breather I realized it was 8:10 and nobody opened the shutter yet. The shopkeeper seldom opened his counter late, he was always on time. I could cry any moment but waited for a few more minutes to pass, maybe this was just a divine test, and overcoming it could lace out my best friend from an earful. As these thoughts brushed through, I heard a motorbike approaching, it was the shopkeeper. He smiled at me as he parked the bike; I was his first customer for the day. Before I asked him about the time, he spelled out how he forgot to fuel his bike yesterday and it took him long in the queue at the petrol pump; these places are always rushed even if you make it to the stations early morning.
Finally, he asked, "what made you rush to the store early morning?" I did not wait to take out the lavender shining beauty from my pocket and softly asked "do you have more of these?" He smiled and bent down to search for the box in which he placed all the exclusive accessories. He took out exactly the one I showed him and handed it to me. "You are lucky, this was the last piece" said the shopkeeper, and I sighed relief to have bought it from the store. The only job left was to give it to Sonarika as soon as possible.
Coming back I returned Amit his bicycle and thanked him deeply for his help. I couldn't wait to see Sonarika so I decided to visit her just after. Her mom welcomed me with a hug and let me walk to Sonrika's room. Sona was surprised to see me early morning at her place. I said "I want to show you something", she had no idea what it was. I showed her the satin band and for some reason its crystal shined brighter. "It seems magical" said Sona, and somewhere I knew it was. The crystal radiated more warmth to our friendship; it gave us both the ways to express our love to each other.
Aunty came into the room with breakfast when she saw Sona holding the pretty gem. Aunty asked "how is it back now?" and Sona mellowed "lost and found". Aunty smiled and lovingly pulled back Sonarika's hair into a high ponytail securing it with the band and she did the same to my hair. Sonarika and I lived the little fascination of twinning in the same crystal bands; the room filled with colorful dancing beams as we nodded heads together in fun.
By
Samaira Singh
