Childhood Sweethearts

05. Development in Feelings

As time passed by, our boards exam started to approach. We all studied hard and prepared for the exams.

"What have you all decided to do after tenth" Our tution teacher asked us.

"I want to go on a vacation" Prachi said.

We all laughed at her comment.

"No, I meant what streams and subjects have you thought of" Ma'am asked us again.

"I want to be an engineer so I'll opt for maths group" Dhvanil said.

"Yeah me too" Vansh said after him.

"I have also thought of selecting maths" Prachi said.

"What about you Rishi" Ma'am asked me.

"I want to become a software engineer so of course I will also choose maths" I said.

"It's good that you all are clear about what you want to do" Our teacher said with proud expressions.

"What about you Parthi" Ma'am asked her.

She was busy reading the textbook and I guess she didn't hear her. I slightly nudged her, gaining her attention.

She looked at me with her innocent face, making my heart skip a beat. I gestured with my eyes that our teacher was asking her something.

"Huh" She said in a confused voice indicating our teacher to repeat her question.

"Have you decided something about your future or not" She said repeating her previous statement.

I was curious to know what she was thinking because this is something we never talked about. I knew everything about her except for her career choice.

"I know you still have time but if you have thought something then it's good" Our teacher said.

"No ma'am I have decided what I want to be in future" She said cheerfully.

"I want to be a software engineer" She said.

"Ohh" Our teacher said. "Since all of you want to be engineers then you all could go to the same college" She said.

"What does she mean by all of you" Parthi whispered to me. I guess she didn't hear our conversation earlier.

"She asked us the same question earlier and all of us want to do engineering" I said summarizing our conversation from before.

"Ohh" She said making and O face and continued reading.

I was happy to know she also wanted to be a software engineer.

"Hey I never knew you wanted to be a software engineer" I whispered to her.

"Yeah, you know that my dad is a software engineer and looking at him, I kind of want to do the same thing, but better" She said "I was always fascinated by computers anyway" She continued.

"I thought you wanted to be a teacher just like your mom" I teased her deliberately knowing that being a teacher was the last thing she wanted.

"Oww" I winced in pain when she hit me with her elbow. "What was that for" I asked her.

She looked at me with a done face and the 'you know why' face making me chuckle. I loved to tease her.

In these past months, my feelings for her have developed a lot. They have become stronger and are getting stronger with each passing day. My urge to confess to her is getting stronger day by day.

Time flew like an arrow. We all gave our board exams and passed with flying colours. I scored the highest marks of course.

All of us got admission in science stream with our desired subjects. We were in eleventh grade and Parthi was in tenth grade.

Except for our age and grades, nothing changed. My feelings for her got even more stronger though. I used to help her with studies whenever she needed help.

Parthi's Point of View:

It feels like yesterday when I was in eighth grade when I started developing feelings for Rishi and now, I am in tenth grade. It has been two years since I have liked him. I still haven't gotten the courage to confess to him.

I have seen other girls crush on him and I hate it. I feel really jealous when they talk about him. It makes me angry when other girls try to flirt with him.

"Ahhh" I clutched my stomach when a wave of cramps hit me.

"It's paining?" Prachi asked me with a concerned voice.

"Hmm" I just hummed and nodded my head with my eyes closed tightly due to the pain.

"How do you bear such painful period cramps" She said softly rubbing my back.

"I just bear it" I said still in pain.

"Let's go" I said getting up.

"Hmm" She hummed while getting up.

We were walking through the corridor of our floor while talking. I flinched when I felt someone's hands on my waist from behind. I didn't know who that was, but they tied something around my waist.

I turned around ready to slap that shameless person who touched me. I saw it was Rishi. My anger subsided when I saw his handsome face. I looked down and he had tied his jacket around my waist.

I looked at him again, confused.

"You've got a stain on your skirt" He said in a low voice almost like a whisper so that no one else can hear.

My eyes widened at his statement. I looked away from him and bit my lower lip in embarrassment.

"Hey you don't have to be embarrassed about it" He said calmly. "Periods are natural and it's not something to be embarrassed about" He said assuring me.

"Take my jacket for today and let it be tied around you like that" He said.

"Parthi why did you stop in between" Prachi said coming back. I had stopped due to that event but she didn't realize I had stopped and continued walking forward.

"Is that your jacket Rishi" She asked teasingly.

"Aww how cute. He gave you his jacket Parthi" She teased again.

In these past months, all of our friends had started teasing us. They teased us till death whenever they got the chance.

"I'll tell this to others" Prachi said yet again teasing us.

**Ring**

The break time was over and we went back to our classes.