Shots Of Ishqbaazi

A Little Jealousy Into the Mix

An OS I had written for a competetion a few months back. Been meaning to post it for long but kept forgetting. Anywayy here it is- hope y'all like it!

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Prompt/ Quote- "Like pain let's you know you're alive, jealousy lets you know you're in love."

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Sitting in the canteen of their school, 16-year-old Annika ate her lunch of burger and fries, without complaining about the bland taste probably for the first time. Her friends weren't surprised, atleast not the ones who were really close to her because following the line of her vision, they could see exactly what had her attention and knew exactly why it had her attention. Although of course, if you asked Annika what exactly was more fascinating than ranting about how the school really needed to up it's food game, she would have told you to mind your own business because for her nothing came before food. Which wasn't surprising, what with her being as stubborn as she was, with it being paired with a tadibaaz nature.

"Anni, I think the fries are more burnt than usual today, no?" One of her friends, Riya, asked with a smirk. Annika nodded absentmindedly.

"Oh come on, as if Anni is even tasting anything," Another friend, Tia, snorted, while the person in question turned to glare at her.

"What do you mean?" She asked with a scowl, "Why will I not be tasting my food? I'm eating it, ain't I?" Which was true, because she had indeed been eating but whether or not her taste buds were acknowledging the food was a different matter, entirely.

"Darling, you are eating, but I think it's safe to say that your entire focus is on something else. Or someone else."

Annika dropped the piece of chip she was holding to bang her hands on the table, and looked at her 'friend' with a scowl on her pretty face.

"And who is that 'someone', pray tell?" She asked, daring her friend to continue. This friend however was a reckless one who knew how fun baiting Annika was.

"Why, Shivaay Singh Oberoi, of course," She said with a shrug. While the others snickered, Annika groaned in frustration, grabbed her bag, and left the canteen. Not before, of course, yelling a 'I don't care about that baggad billa!" over her shoulders.

You see, Shivaay was what Annika would call an egoistic, obnoxious maniac from whom tadibaazi just dripped out, to put it subtly. He was a year senior to her but because both of them were in the debate club together, they had developed a bond. Not a friendly bond, of course, but one where the two just wanted to pull out each others' hair or just simply strangle each other to death. The entire school knew of their infamous rivalry which had stemmed from not being able to agree on a single thing together. Even the teachers had given up on ever putting them in the same team during their debate tournaments, although they agreed the two would make a deadly pair with all the determination and confidence they had. However, putting them in the same team would only result in inter-team fights which wasn't exactly a good thing.

One other thing about this bond of theirs was that... practically the entire school thought they would end up together. This very prediction had reached their ears too, and Annika didn't know about Shivaay but she gagged every time she heard it. Her and Shivaay AKA the Baggad Billa AKA Billu as he was called by his lovely grandmother (thanks to her junior partner-in-crime who also happened to be Shivaay's brother who had told her of this nickname of his)? Not a chance! According to Annika, these people really needed to get a life. The hatred they had was just that-hatred- and not the 'sizzling chemistry' her friends had labelled it as. Jeez, the guy was good looking, admittedly (and who wouldn't be with the Oberoi genes?) but that didn't mean Annika would ever- mind you, ever- have a thing for someone who not only happened to be rude but looked down on others he felt were inferior to him. Not a freaking chance!