Friends Or...

Chapter one- Long time no see

2 years ago...

After the lockdown had ended Aarvi returned to her school on the opening day. She was in 5th right now. Her bff, Shanvi was with her. Walking down the corridor, a guy came running from behind and accidentally bumped into her. He said quick sorry and rushed forward. It was Kanishk, her classmate. Last time she saw him was in 2nd grade.
They have always been living in the same area and travel in the same bus to school. Previously he kept forgetting their bus number and tagged behind her and shanvi to reach to the bus. She certainly has hopes from him this time. He is a nice person but for some reason he is always aggressive in front of her but pleasant with others. He acts as if she is her 'frustruation removing machine'.
She entered her classroom, only to find him sitting in front of her. Shanvi was obviously sitting beside her. They started greeting eachother because it had been ages since they all met.
They had a few lectures and then they had their P.E (physical education) class.
They were not able to go to the ground because some repairing was happening. Since this was their first day of school and before that the school was undergoing renovation, some work was still incomplete.
Their sir made them play a game. They divided the class into two groups. Obviously girls and boys, like, what else do you expect?? Kids!! Primary children!! A person had to point out at another person from the opposing team and call out their name. They had only 3 seconds and they cannot glitch or say 'aaaaa' 'uhh' or anything else like 'aaaaghhuuaghuaghuaghgghhaauughu' (don't try to read that it is scientifically proven not possible, unless you are avoiding yourself from studdying and want burn some time. Sure, why not?)

Anyway the game started...
After 5 mins 3 girls and 2 boys were eliminated. The game countinued for a few more minutes when a boy named Ruhaan, said Shanvi's name... and rest went something like..
"Uhhhh...Par-"
"Outtt!!!! You said 'uhh'!! Outt" all the boys started screaming with regained enthusiasm.
And the girls were pretty depressed.
Soon it was kanishk's chance. He tried to say 'Aarvi' but instead he said 'kanishk-aarvi'. It was a pretty small thing but this was the first step of how their shipping started but no one realized it then. Kanishk got eliminated and next was Aarvi herself because she said 'swayam' instead of 'smayan'. And the game countinued...
At last there were two boys and 3 girls left. According to the rules if the team has only one player left it automatically looses. Meher one of the girls left in the game, mispronounced a guy's name and got eliminated.
Now the game was at it's peak. The next eliminated player will decide if girls are better than boys or boys are. The 4 left people felt soo pressurized as if this was going to be written in the history. Cheers were going through the entire class. Till a few minutes no one made a mistake and just then a guy in the game pointed at anushka but said aarya and got eliminated. The girls were so happy and were beaming around the class full of joy. The guys also showed sportsmanship and greeted the girls.
The next lecture was break they washed their hands an returned to the class.
Shanvi and Aarvi were peacefully eating. Shanvi had brought sandwich.
"Oooo!! Shanvi can I have a peace? Pleaseee!!" Begged Aarvi.
Shanvi handed her a peice, and in return took some pasta from here tiffin.
"Pasta with white sause. A taste of heaven🤌" Shanvi mentioned.
As mentioned prior Kanishk was sitting in front of her. And now his friend was sitting behind her, Ashith.
"Oyyyyy!! Kanishk come here." Ashith screamed.
Kanishk was so engrossed in talking to his partner that he did not notice Ashith.
"Kanishk!!"
"Kanishk!!!"
"K-AAA-N-II-SHH-K!!!"
Kanishk still didn't turn. Ashith was pretty agitated by then.
"Oyyy! Kanishk-Aarvi ke bacche!! Picche dekh!"
Kanishk turned immediately. Coincidentally Aarvi turned towards Ashith at the same time.
This unexpected name caught the class' attention."Now I understand. To make you react or make things done from you, we have to mention Aarvi. So now, Aarvi is the key to your stubborn lock."Ashith said with a sly smile.
"Shut up!!!" Both of them chorused.
Then Aarvi and Kanishk met eachothers eyes for 0.2 seconds and shifted their gaze. It was still a pretty small thing but, guess what? None of them could stop themselves from shipping any two people. Apparently they needed a topic to gossip on. THATS IT.

The break was about to end and and Aarvi went to wash her hands. When she was returning her friend Aarya, bumped her shoulder to Aarvi's playfully.
"So Aarvi- I am sorry, I mean Kanishk-Aarvi, how are you?. No offense it was hilarious." She said.
"Ya, but I hope that others don't take it as anything else." Aarvi replied.
"Chill!" Aarya said.

They returned to class.

*timeline ends*

2 months after the incident...

"Byeee!" Aarvi screamed towards Shanvi as she got down the bus.
Later only a few people were left in the bus as they returned home. Kanishk's stop was last and Aarvi's was 3rd last. She has a trio of bffs since 7 years. Which included her, Shanvi and a girl named Yashvi. They were in the same bus and school. But the difference is that Shanvi and Aarvi were in 5th grade and same class. But Yashvi was in 6th. On the other hand Yashvi and Aarvi lived in the same society but Shanvi lived in another one.
While Aarvi was starring out of the window waving towards Shanvi, Kanishk sneakily went towards the back seat ,which was now empty, but stopped in between when he reached Aarvi's seat. He hit on her head playfully and ran to the backseat. Aarvi sensing her surrounding rushed towards Kanishk ready to hit him hard.
When she reached the back, Kanishk squeezed himself to the very corner to avoid her from hitting and raised his hands in the air as a cross for defence.
He was on the last seat in the row and Aarvi stopped herself at the second last one.
She held her hand up and forced it towards him but he raised his opposite hand trying to block her. The hands crashed into eachothers and their fingers interlocked. Their eyes met for 0.23 seconds and then swifted it towards their hands. Both of them snatched their hand back. Both of them were blank for a few seconds. Aarvi being a kneen observant, came back to consciousness quickly and slightly tap his hand and exited that row and walked towards her seat to take her bag as it was her stop next. She took a quick glance at him noticed him smirking while looking out of the window. Feeling the pressure of her glare, he immediately looked back at her. They both shifted their gaze to anywhere else but at eachother. Kanishk trying to hide himself from all of this jumped from seat to another and roamed throughout the bus. He clung on to one bar in the centre lane and jumped on a seat while landing on his knees. He then held on to the little shelf above a seats that are used to keep their bags and started pulling himself.
Aarvi staring at his idiotic behavior decided to speak up.
"You know what? Because of your all this nonsense I shall call you 'mendak' from now onwards."
He looked at her and then looked back outside the window and again smirked a little. It was now Aarvi's stop. She got down the bus, and turned and found Kanishk starring at her. She said 'bye' and waved at him.

*timeline ends*

6 months after the incident...

A new guy is added to the class. He was previously in another class and now got shifted. He was really popular throughout the floor for his daring nature. And all teachers knew him for his mischiefs...Rajesh.