Love is confusing

Bonus: A friendly rivalry turned into something else

Third-person view:

After the exam, Srijana went to go eat her food in the cafeteria. She sat on her seat, food on her table. She prayed before she picked up the spoon next to her plate of meal. She just prefers to devour in peace but she is at school, she can't do it in peace here. School where you see every type of shit happening, someone getting kicked in the ass, some just playing football with a paper ball, some who made the dustbin their basket hoop, each and every day is hell. There is no wonder, the cafeteria is the most noisy part of the whole school. If these people can talk in the middle of the class while the teacher is staring at their souls then, in free time the clamours are just fucking something. As Srijana had no one to talk to, not because she didn't have friends, she just wanted to read in hush. She isn't herself when exam time comes around. [Note: this is before she and Smirti found Vishal's CD] She reads while munching her food. But the sound of gossip comes to her anyway, one sound vibration makes her attention to her book. "This time, I am going to age 3rd-year exam, you can bet!" the figure spoke as he was surrounded by a group of freshmen and girls hanging over his lungs, trying to get his attention on them. She was insulted by this sentence and also curious who this sucker must be. She puts her spoon on the empty plate and walks her way to the crowd. She saw a recognizable face. She folded her arm confidently, "Soooooo, you are going to age for this exam? The top? Number 1, stop dreaming please, Elove Bhattari. Did you forget about me?" 

Elove's jaw dropped, "yeahhhhh, kinda. You aren't quite rememberable, haha. Well, I said what I said. Do you want to try to beat me? Sure, why not? It is a friendly fire, right? A friendly rivalry." Srijana just blinked, empty head for some time. "So, it is. A challenge. Bring it on." The audience cheered, as Elove got up and put out his hand placing it in front of Srijana to make an agreement. Srijana went for a handshake without any hesitation. Then, they go on their own path. The bell rings, and Srijana signs as she closes her book puts it in her bag and hugs it. She thinks about the agreement, 'Did I do the wrong thing?' 'Should I have just stayed quiet?' 'What will happen if he finds it rude and doesn't take me as a friend?' 'Should I apo-' As she lowered her head, burying her face in the bag. Lost in all those negative guilt feelings, with sharp pain in her chest. She flinches as her phone rings. The shaking picks up the phone, to be hit with messages from Elove. Hey, how are you doing? Don't stress yourself over this stupid challenge or whatever. We are still friends, so it doesn't matter just don't worry, ok? Without her knowing, her face lifts up, her lips curve into a sweet gentle smile. As her hands move to reply to those texts; I am doing fine, just reading. Yeah yeah whatever. We are still friends. It is just a challenge. She watches as her phone rings up. So, it is fixed then, good night now. Nowadays time flies by real quick, it is already 7 pm. She turns to look at the clock, (Mhh? Really? 7:02 already. I didn't even notice). Her mind was so busy with these annoying thoughts and studies that she would not even comprehend how quickly time flew.

You should go to sleep then, bye. Srijana was again brought back to hersensesby his text. She then swung her bag over her shoulders with the phone in her hand typing thank you, Elove. You too. She switched the phone off and went home. She took off her clothes, changed into pj's and floppedon the bed. She looked at her phone, Elove texts, rereading it for quite some time, and didn't even realize that her cheeks were starting to burn and her heart beat faster as she read. She looked at the ceiling, thinking about this strange feeling. She tried to keep her eyes open and her head running but she already had used all her energy and reasoning about the challenge. Her eyes shut close, and the next blink she takes opens to the morning sunlight shining right on her face. She looks at the clock, 5:23 am. She gets up and stretches her muscles and goes to do yoga. She then checks her phone before leaving for the library. [Note: It has passed 6 days already from the day Srijana called Smirti and introduced her to her teacher. I mean Vishal. So, today is the last day of taking the exam.]Last day. Are you excited? After this holiday we get, we will see who wins. Elove messages her, and she smiles and replies, Of course, I am, I have to go now, talk later. She takes her things and starts walkingto the library. As soon as she reaches there, she looks for a vacant place and goes to sit there. She is focused on reading, but after some time it looks like someone familiar recognized her and wants to talk to her. He walks up to her. She was too concentrated so that she couldn't notice, but a little tap on her shoulder startledher.

She turns to look at Elove, standing here smiling. Srijana's mind stops working for a while, before processing the situation. She also smiles as he sits beside her with his book. "How is your preparation?" he questioned silently."Good, what about you?" Srijana also said lowering her voice. "Of course, it is good." He saidconfidently. They studied for a while some more times, talking in between. In this time period, a little unusual sparkwoke up inElove's heart. He stared at her, thinking about her every habit. (Kind, helpful, understanding, smart, warmhearted, reasonable, a loyal friend, and easy to get along with almost everyone. I don't know why I am thinking about this stuff but I always get what I want. Girls weren't hard to find either but the problem was I was not interested in any of them. They weren't my 'type'. Or you can say I didn't have a type or so what I didn't know what was my type. But today, looking at this girl, I am feeling something that I read in books, romantic books. Cheeks turning hot, heart beating, some weird feeling washing over the mind and the things calledbutterflies you feel in your stomach. I felt it all today looking at her. She was also so beautiful.) The alarm on Srijana's phone rang, waking Elove up from his thoughts. "Time to go home, it is 7 already" She closed her book, ready to leave smiling. But the noise was a rise of water drops hitting the ground. It was raining cats and dogs outside. They didn't even notice the cloudy weather before coming to the library. They stood in front of the entrance of the library. "You didn't bring an umbrella?" Elove asked as he took out an umbrella from his bag and handed it to her. "mhhm." Srijana looks at him as he hands him the umbrella. "Here"

She takes the umbrella ready to departfor her home. "Hey, also take this" Elove looks away as he also hands her his hoodie. She is a bit hesitant but he is shoving the hoodie onto her arm. "Umm, what about you?" She asks as she also stands there blushing along with Elove. "My driver will pick me up" Elove says, as he sees Srijana put the hoodie on. He blushes even more. "So, I will be going, thank you very much for today." She opens the umbrella and takes her leave. Elove waves her bye, so does Srijana. She reaches her home. The way there, she smelled his hoodie. It was quite a pleasant smell for Srijana. You can say she liked it. She smiled warmly as she opened her house door and got ready for school. After some hard hours, the exam ends and the holiday begins. Elove and Srijana had grown more closer during the holidays, going to play basketball together and all even drinking coffee after the game. Soon, the vacationcame to an end. Are you excited to see who wins? Elove asked; The challenge didn't matter that much to them now, that they are so close but still it was a challenge taken in front of the whole school. Of course. The day came, and guess what Srijana was the 1st so, yeah she won. Elove pretened to cry but it didn't matter because of this challenge something else got born and they loved what it was.