Those Bonafide Teens

5. Drama All Over

The next day, I tried to forget the drama at home and concentrate on the drama at school.

All of the Arts Club joined together to hold a screening for the performances. Several people wanted to audition for the performances. Mishti agreed to help us even though she was not a member of the Arts Club.

We shortlisted names from the auditions. Zoya who was a brilliant dancer was chosen for a solo act. And to my annoyance, Omkara picked Aaliyah too. But I could hardly argue. Everyone knew she was a pro on the stage.

There was going to be about a dozen other performances and an orchestra. Both Varun and Reyansh had wanted to play the guitar but Omkara chose Varun and to my astonishment, Mishti was more upset than anybody else over that decision.

On Friday morning, I walked into the staff room to hand over my plan. I felt he'd not even look at it twice before approving. But as soon as I entered the staff room, to my horror, sitting next to Suhrit sir and speaking on the phone, was Loukya mam!

I decided to turn away and come back later but Suhrit sir had already seen me.

"Riya come in. Brought the plan with you? Ah excellent."

Loukya mam turned around and stared in disbelief. Apparently anybody who could look at me and say 'excellent' was clearly not someone she could see eye to eye with.

But I felt slightly pleased too. Not very many teachers had looked at me and said 'excellent'.

I walked in, pointedly looking away from her.

He took my plan, but without looking at it said, "Ms Dixit. We need to have a meeting"

"Sure sir"

"After lunch, I need to meet all the Fine Arts Club members."

"Okay"

"You may go now"

I turned around and left, pointedly avoiding Loukya mam's gaze.

It looked like Mr Madan would be harder to convince than I thought!

After lunch that day, I walked into the school hall and saw a few of the club members already there. I walked up to them with my notepad clutched in my hand.

"Riya come and sit down" Suhrit sir said gruffly.

Omkara opened his laptop and I looked at him doubtfully. Suhrit sir looked like the kind of person who wouldn't know how to switch it on. How was Omkara going to explain things with his laptop?

But to my surprise, Suhrit sir wasn't ignorant at all. In fact he seemed to know a lot about the lighting, camera and other logistical stuff. I started to feel a little abashed for judging him. By the end of another hour, our whole program was drafted out.

"You people have done a great job" Suhrit sir said beaming around finally "But you all look tired. Have you people had anything from morning? Why don't you go and grab something from the cafeteria?" he asked.

"No sir. We're fine." I said now feeling totally guilty. I hadn't expected him to show concern for us either.

"Yeah. We're fine" Omkara backed me "We have our lunch break after next period".

"You were judging that man from the minute you met him. But he is actually very kind", Zoya told be brightly as we headed out of the hall.

She was extremely pleased after Mr Madan had chosen her performance to be the opening act.

"I can't help it. I am judgemental by default", I said looking slightly guilty.

"You are such a prejudiced prat Ri", said Zoya shaking her head.

I didn't reply. I was annoyed. And the reason I was annoyed was what she said was completely true!

Zoya excitedly chattered all the way about what song she should perform to.

But the highlight of the whole program was an after show dance, which would be followed by a catered dinner. How cool was that?

Yeah it wasn't a prom night or anything. But at least we had been officially allowed to dress up and dance to Bollywood songs. We couldn't wait to tell Mishti!

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