Breaking Fairy Tales !

And the winner is...

After performing, we went back to our room and relaxed.

We weren't worried about the results, as we knew that we had given our best.

Currently, we were just sitting and being lazy, as we had nothing interesting to do.

"Let's play UNO," Aarav said while sitting down next to me.

"Yayaaaa," I replied with joy and got up to bring my pack of cards.

We sat down in a circle and started playing UNO. I was quite good at the game and thus finished my cards very soon. I got up from my place and laid down on the mattress while watching others play.

I realised that I had dozed off, when I felt a soft but large hand stroking my arms.

My eyes fluttered open and I saw Aarav sitting next to me and he was drawing little circles on my arm.

Sheepishly, I muttered a Hi and Aarav gave me his swoon worthy smile.

I composed myself and sat up.

"Hey you! Come over here. You look tired," Aarav said quietly. I looked around and saw that everyone was asleep.

Rushi had his legs on Bhakti's stomach and Bhakti had her head on Sagar's chest, while Sagar's hand was intertwined with Bhakti's.

Awww... I mentally cooed at the sight.

I took a picture of them and went back to sit besides Aarav.

He pulled me towards him and I laid my head on his lap. He started stroking my hair and I just took time to stare at his face. The little smile on his lips, his deep eyes looking at my boring ones, his kissable lips screaming my name and his hand gently moving in my mess of hair. How could such little things, make me feel a million things?

I looked up in his eyes and I saw him looking at me, as if I was the Nutella to his bread.

I rose a bit from his lap and his expressions changed. But I quickly placed a light kiss on his cheek, quite near his lips. I let my lips linger on his cheek for longer than necessary. I felt him shiver under my touch and I smiled with my lips still on his cheek.

He wrapped his arms around me and I sat up. I wrapped my arms around his neck like there was no tomorrow.

We stayed like that, hugging each other tightly, for a few more minutes. None of us wanted to break the moment and I was too scared to take a further step and to kiss him.

I slowly loosened my grip around him and took my lips to his ears.

"Good night Aarav!" I whispered lightly. His jaw clenched and he looked stunned. I surely had quite an effect on him.

I again placed a kiss near his ear and got up and went to hug my pillow.

I looked up and saw him sitting up, still frozen in position as I had left him. A smile crept on his lips and he went to sleep like the others.

I wriggled from side to side trying to sleep, but I couldn't. I kept thinking about what happened earlier and how close me and Aarav were. I couldn't let myself attach to him, I told myself that I couldn't love him. I had to stay away. He was slowly breaking down the walls which I had built. I couldn't let him do that. I won't lead him on, I promised myself. With this deep heartfelt conversation with myself, I slipped into slumberland.

I woke up to see that it was still dark. I opened my phone and saw that it was 6am. I looked around and saw that everyone was still sleeping. Last evening after a game of cards, everyone was so tired that they slept. We even missed our dinner. I wasn't a morning person, but I was really hungry, so I got up and started munching on some snacks.

"Omg ! What are the boys doing over here? The organisers will create a chaos if they find out. Rhea wake everyone up and send them to their rooms." Swati ma'am came and told me with an alarming tone and then went to freshen up.

I started waking everyone up, one by one, and soon everyone was awake. I told them to meet us at 2pm near the auditorium for the results.

I planned to spend the next few hours with the girls and the boys deserved to have a boy time too.

After the boys went, we started freshening up and also had our breakfast. Swati ma'am was nowhere in sight, so we took out her big professional make up bag and started exploring. The next few hours were spent in trying every possible thing in that kit. We had even put fake eyelashes and fake tan and laughed at each others' ridiculous attempts at becoming 'beautiful'. Sometimes spending time with your girls is all the therapy you need.

At about 1:45, we wore our school uniforms and started making our way towards the auditorium. I saw the boys playing basketball and enjoying themselves. We still had a few minutes and so we joined them in their little game.

At exactly 2 pm, we all sat in the auditorium with anticipation.

The welcoming and thanking ceremony was getting a tad bit boring, so I started talking to Bhakti to calm my nerves down.

The results of group song, skit and various other competitions were soon declared.

"And now, it's time to announce the results of the much awaited competition. The grrouuuppp daanncceee competition." The anchor's voice made my heart thud loudly and sweat started forming on my palms. I was fidgeting with anything I could find.

"The second runner up is..."

I closed my eyes and everyone in my team intertwined hands. I felt Aarav and Bhakti's hand in mine, which were equally sweaty.

"...Isssss GK Chennai."

Suddenly, a group of students cheered loudly and I saw to my left, to see Mr. Lachowski and his team, making their way towards the stage. They were howling loudly and beating their chests. If they came third, then who won the first and second position? I had expected them to win the competition. Duplicate Lachowski's team got their certificates and trophies and they stepped down from the stage.

"The first runner up position goes to the school, which lost their winning position with just one point. Yes! One point." The voice echoed in the huge auditorium.

Our intertwined hands tightened and everyone had an intense look on their face.

"And the first runner up position goes toooooo,"

Thud. Thud. Thud. My heart was about the leap out.

"... GK Punnnneeee."

Suddenly I felt Aarav drop my hand and I heard him roar loudly. I didn't understand what was going on, so I looked to my left to see Bhakti screaming, "We came second ! We came second."

I looked around and saw the other team members running towards the stage. I saw our ma'am looking at us and I ran towards her and grabbed her hand and hugged her tightly. We both then started running towards the stage.

This was the moment of pride and joy for us. We hadn't won the competition, but the feeling was not less. We lost by one mark and then I understood the power of a single mark. A single mark changed everything.

Just like a single incident could change everything in you life. I pushed out the bad thoughts away and tried to make the most of the moment.

It was also the time to celebrate and not to fuss over the fact that we came second.

On the stage, we were handed our golden glassed trophies, which gleamed in its own grace.

The proud look on our teacher's face made me scream with delight.

We had done it and I had never felt so proud of myself before.