His First Friend

-2-

 It had been a week since Naina and Rishab had become friends. Rishab had started opening up to her, as per her advice and he kept thanking her for initiating the conversation the first time.

 "I would've missed a good friend. Thankyou Naina."

And Naina had only been too happy to have spoken to him the other day. He was a great guy.She got to know many things about him,his family,his likes and dislikes and she told him hers.

Naina had introduced him to her friends.

"So Rishab, they are Deepali, Ankit, Karan,Sana, Aman and Nivedita..and people, this is Rishab!"Naina had done the formal introduction. They had welcomed him to the gang and he had recollected Naina's words and had tried to talk to them. It was tough initially and his replies had mostly been in monosyllables but he was trying his best to do better.

Rishab had started liking Naina's (now his) friends. They were nice people, who always made him feel like a part of the gang. Most of them were from well off backgrounds but that didn't show one bit, in the way they interacted with him. Rishab had learnt from Naina that Deepali-Ankit, Aman-Sana and Karan- Niveditha, were seeing each other.

"What? Already? It's hardly been a couple of months here!"

"They studied in the same school, Rishab. Deepali and Ankit are family friends and the other two couples are kind of high school sweethearts,"Naina had explained and his "Falling in love during school. Wouldn't they have been so young?"had amused her.

The following week, Naina and Rishab were on their way to the library to get some reference books, when they met Ankit on the way.

Naina was surprised to see the troubled look on her otherwise cheerful friend's face.

"Ankit! Are you okay? You seem stressed "

"Hi guys! Ah nothing much..Karan is down with viral fever and we have our culturals in a week. He is the lead singer,so we kind of don't know what to do..," Ankit explained.

"Oh!"Naina said and racked her brain to come up with some way to help her friend out.Before long,she came up with an idea,one that might require a lot of convincing.But she was Naina Mehta and nothing was impossible for her.

 "Ankit! I know someone who can help us", she replied and cast a glance at Rishab.

Rishab,who was looking at the thoughtful expression on Naina's face till then,quickly realised that he was in trouble when he saw the glint in her eyes,one that she had whenever she came up with a plan. "What? No no no! No way Naina," he shook his head vigorously,an alarmed look on his face.

Naina chuckled at that. He could be a kid at times.But she knew he was the right guy for this and she didn't waste another second.

 "Rishab,come on! This is for our college! We have always won the cup and we can't afford to lose it this year. Please!"

"Rishab! You sing?"Ankit asked him. He had not heard Rishab sing before and so was kind of surprised at this piece of information.

"Umm. I just hum tunes when I am bored. You can't call that singing "

"Yeah right! I have heard you 'hum' and you are brilliant! Ankit,trust me.I am sure he will do a great job!"

"Rishab, please! Just once. We will just see if this works. We don't know what to do.We had auditions earlier and we couldn't find anyone as good as Karan but now,he will not be able to participate. Please?"