Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. This does not quite fall under Fan Fiction and I have not used any related hashtags for this work either.
This is a spin-off of Azhaipaayaa Azhaipaayaa and En Arunthozhi from One Shots. One Shots can be found under my profile.
Although this can be read as a standalone, I highly recommend reading those two series before starting this one.
Not proofread.
Please read author notes at the end, if you make it all the way.
—————————————————————————
Hashtag ArPri: 1
"V. Priya?"
Ten year old Priya quickly stood up. She sat in the second row with a girl who was engrossed in her shiny, what seemed to be new, Barbie pencil box. It even had a sharpener attached to the box and Priya had stared at it in awe just a few minutes back. She had never seen such fancy pencil boxes.
"Priya? Your roll number is 42. Okay?".
"Yes, miss", she replied to the teacher who wore a chudidhar. That was also a first, a teacher wearing chudidhar.
She heard a few giggles and she cautiously looked around.
"Mam nu sollu", she heard a low voice behind her.
The teacher in front of her replied with a smile, "call me mam".
Priya nodded her head and decided to sit down.
"Priya? New admission right? Introduce yourself to the class".
Right then, Priya decided she hated Chennai. She wanted to go back to her old school, the small English medium school in her hometown where she had been the uncrowned queen of her class.
She started with her practiced monologue, "My name is Priya. I am studying in sixth standard. My father's name is".
More giggles this time. She turned around dejectedly at the other kids in the classroom, ones she had to call classmates, may be even friends.
"Class, please be quiet. You go on Priya".
Priya looked down at her desk wondering what had she told that elicited the giggles and what could she have said to avoid them.
"Ok, why don't you share with the class about your hobby?", her teacher asked her.
"Sun Music miss. Sorry mam", she stammered.
Yes, there were snickers now. Not just giggles. Should she have said something smart, she wondered. May be she should have said Cartoon Network. But then she never watched that channel, why must she lie?
"Okay Priya. Do you read books?".
She sighed. Was this a trick question? She was in sixth standard. Of course she read books. She had to. How else would she take exams, do her homework?
"Famous five? Agatha Christie may be? Harry Potter?", her teacher pried.
She shook her head vehemently.
"Do you sing? Dance? Paint? Stamp collection?"
Sure she danced to Megam Karukuthu just like Jyothika or that's what her aaththaa, her father's mother always told her. Right now she wondered if that was a lie too. She decided it would be safe to just shake her head. No one would giggle at that. And they didn't.
