Chapter Three | Sameer

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Sameer

I'm sitting with my friends in an uncomfortable aeroplane that flies from Mumbai to Chennai. As uncomfortable as I might feel, this ride is actually fun.

"Bro, I just broke the high score!" Aryan exclaims with bright eyes.

We have been playing mini video games since we got in here.

"Thank Goodness that something finally made you stop making fun of the snoring man," I say.

I hear the sound of someone falling with a thump. My eyes travel to a girl who tries to gain composure as she stands back up.

"Sorry," she says as some people look at her.

She starts walking towards the washroom, when I see a flight-attendant almost running after her, but she closes the cubical door.

"Dude, that girl is crazy," Aryan starts laughing and I join him.

I pick out a magazine from the seat pocket in front of me. It's a magazine that I would want to throw out of the plane, if the windows could be opened.

My attention is drawn again to the girl who fell a few minutes ago, and is now being scolded by the flight attendant.

She walks back to her seat, almost tripping over again. Aryan and I share a laugh once again.

She sits where I can easily see her. She is wearing blue jeans and a pink t-shirt that has "American Swan" written on it.

She sits with her head held in both her hands. I know she is annoyed by the uncomfortable flight. Everyone is.

She looks here and there, bends down, shifts her weight on her right hand, then on her left, then makes an awful face and growls in a whisper, "Arghh!"

When Aryan giggles, I realise that I'm not the only one watching her.

"She is different." He says, making me smirk.

"Which kind?" I ask him.

"The stupid kind," he says and we both chuckle.

"Correct."

I notice her drift off to sleep. Her lips are slightly parted, and a lock of her black hair sits on her fair cheek.

"And cute too," I add.

"Eh, really? No bro, she looks like a nerd who is forced to travel," he says and we both chuckle again.

"Yeah. But she's cute once you look at her in a not-making-fun way."

He rolls his eyes at my words.

The girl wakes up almost the fifth time. This time, she blows the hair strands off from her face. I can see how irritated she is. She pulls her hair out of the ponytail and ties it back up. They are really very long. And then she tries to sleep again.

***

My cousin is going to leave us from here. He has been with us in Mumbai.

He and I are standing near the baggage belt to collect our bags.

"Where are the other guys?" He asks me.

"Gone to pee. They waited badly for two hours," I laugh and he joins me.

"Seems like you aren't one of those patient boys."

"Don't forget that I am almost like you," I say and give him a high five.

"Later man."

"Later."

He walks away in the direction of the exit gate.

There, my eyes fall on that airplane girl with the long hair. She is leaving with what looks like her family. A smile creeps on my face.

She was funny. And stupid. And cute.

I rarely call girls cute, so you know, that's something to say.

Her trolley gets stuck. She jerks it, pushes and pulls it, kicks it, and forces it back to work.

I am laughing at her struggle when someone touches my shoulder.

"Laughing about nothing?" Aryan asks me.

"About something you'll call stupidity."

and I'll call cuteness.

Jacob and Sid join us and we leave the airport.

We take a taxi in which the three boys sit at the back, and I sit on the front seat. The city of Chennai is as crowded as ever. Being a metropolitan city, it has the best of traffic on the roads.

Our hotel rooms are just simple, not the five star kind we stayed in Mumbai, and besides, we will be moving out from here this evening. We have a cruise to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, which is where we are going for our trip.

"Don't look at this one, Sam. This room is mine." Jake crashes on his white bed.

"There's no difference between our rooms, bro." I roll my eyes at him. "And don't sleep now, let's go out and have a look at the city. I'm taking a shower. Be ready till then."

The guys are in a mood to rest while I planned this tour for adventure and fun. A break from school and the competitions. And by the way, we are travelling on the money we've won in the competitions so far.

Our band is getting popular day by day. The YouTube has helped a lot. We've been participating and winning competitions, and the school supports us a lot. I have travelled with these guys many times for performances before, but this time the trip is unofficial.

"Come on guys, we have less time here in Chennai. We gotta fun ourselves with the South Indian culture."

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