Raaz e Hayat

18. Failing

Few weeks passed by and Azaina was still her moody self. She was a total brat in school however in front of her brothers she was their sweet little girl. She was doing her daily mischievous acts but nothing too serious.

Azaina got ready for school and went down to have breakfast.

"Good morning." She sat there grumpily.

"Good morning bacha." Aahil came and kissed her forehead.

"Azu aapki Faiza phuppo ki call aai thi." Azlan said and Azaina froze.

"What was she saying?" She asked nervously.

"She was calling you there for a few days, Maine weekend ka bol Diya hai." He replied.

"Theek hai." She said slowly. She was no longer grumpy but vulnerable now.

They all finished their breakfast and bid their goodbyes and left to work and school.

"You know basketball match hone wala hai." Irha said.

"Really can I participate too?" Azaina asked.

"Yes of course you can but you will have to talk to the coach." Iyaad replied.

"Abhi karein baat waise bhi who wants to attend this stupid class." Azaina said.

"Han chalo Chalein." Irha said and they walked away.

"Sir this is Azaina and she would like to join the team." Irha said.

"Hello sir." Azaina said respectfully.

"Azaina you will have to show me your skills and if I find it good then you can join the team however I think your height might be a problem. You are way too small than other players." He replied.

"That won't be a problem sir." She said.

"Alright then I would like to see how good are you at basketball. You can start now and Irha you can join her." He said and they both immediately obeyed.

For Azaina basketball was her hobby. She was really good at it and she liked playing it. It was also a getaway from her parents when they used to fight, she used to go out and play.
They played in opposite teams and the coach was pretty impressed by her skills that she was good at both running and scored maximum hoops.

"Congratulations you made the team. You can play in the match, it's on Saturday." He said smiling and she nodded.

Azaina was relieved that she didn't have to go to her Phuppo's place now. However her happiness lasted only few hours when she got her science test marks and she failed. This was the first time she failed this badly with a 2/25 and was shocked herself but what scared her to the core was if her bhaiya found out, he would thoroughly thrash her. It was one of the rules that she had to perform well.

"I want your brothers signature on this test paper." The teacher said to her.

"Okay ma'am." She replied completely knowing that she can never tell this to her bhaiya.

"What will you do now?" Irha whispered.

"Don't worry main Zavi se baat krungi." She replied and they both got back to their chatting.

"Azaina hum sab aaenge tumhaara game dekhne." Shavez said happily and they all nodded in agreement.

"You guys don't have to do that." Azaina said shyly.

"Arre nahi aaenge hum toh." Iyaad said.

Azaina couldn't help but remember the first time she played basketball and her mum refused to come and her daddy was out of town. Her mum said that she's such a tomboy, it isn't a girly thing to do. She even refuse to let her play at all but she sneaked out since she had a commitment with the team.
However, Aiden, Saira, Xavier and Ethan all her friends came to cheer her up.
She couldn't help but overthink that will her brothers be happy to even know about playing the sport.