Did You Get Your Period?

CHAPTER TEN

"It's the inter-school basketball match tomorrow," Riddhi says, bounding up next to Shweta. It's currently lunchtime and she's meeting Shweta at their usual spot. Monday morning had found Shweta unusually glum, much to Riddhi's surprise. They hadn't spoken much and Shweta had been brushing off any attempts at conversation.

Shweta looks up, rather surprised. "Why the sudden school spirit? Decided that the last few months are worth it?"

She cocks an eyebrow up and smirks at her friend.

"Yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, I have always had school spirit. Just not when it comes to games." Riddhi says.

"Well, whatever. So why do you know about the basketball tournament?" Shweta asks, holding up her lunch box to Riddhi. "You want some?" She asks, the aroma of puri-bhaji wafting in the air. (Fried bread and curry.)

"Hello? It's inter-school. And it's both the boys and girls tournament. It's going to be held at our school." Riddhi says, looking like she's waiting for Shweta to say something.

"And? Why don't you just get over with whatever it is that you want to say?" Shweta asks, grumpily.

"Vaibhav. He's on his school basketball team. And he's coming here day after tomorrow." Riddhi says, "He must have mentioned it."

"Oh," Shweta says, realisation dawning upon her.

"Oh, is right. Wait, you are going to show up, aren't you? Don't tell me you'd forgotten! Have you thought of what you're going to tell him? Or how you intend to take it from there?" Riddhi asks, looking at her best friend, rather concerned.

"Oh, my goodness, no I haven't," Shweta says, panicking. "Do you even think I should meet him? I mean I want to, but I was kind of hoping for the entire thing with my mother to blow over properly before I even move an inch towards him."

"That bad, huh." Riddhi winces at the mention of Dr Seema who had glared at them the day at the pharmacy.

"You have no idea." Shweta shudders, reminiscing the fight she had with her mother on the previous Sunday, following which both mother and daughter had been avoiding each other.

"Hm. Well, we could bunk school on that day. There's going to be no attendance anyway. But the way in which you guys left things, it wouldn't be wise for you to not show up. I mean, I'm no expert but it would make him think you weren't interested or that you were dead." Riddhi says thoughtfully.

"Yeah, you're right." Shweta sighs. "Wait. He's not going to stay at your home now, is he?" She adds.

With the cold war going on at home, the last thing Shweta needs to do is to be caught in the neighbourhood with Vaibhav. That would be the ultimate nuclear weapon resulting in the complete annihilation of whatever peace she may have had for the next sixty years.

"No. No. He's staying with the team. Probably at the school." Riddhi says, settling down next to Shweta and finishing off her lunch. She opens her lunch and offers it to Shweta who denies it. Riddhi's carried rajma-chawal for lunch today. Normally, Shweta would wolf it down and Riddhi would barely have a few spoonfuls, but today she looks pale and deathly.

Shweta waits quietly, having finished her own lunch. She picks up a stick lying nearby and starts poking the sticky, wet mud. It was a rainy morning and the sun had just set up. The trees, the roads and the birds were all wet after a morning shower. The puddles sat on the road and the school ground. Shweta is currently sitting on one of the cement slabs that surround the school ground. It serves as a seating place- a cheap and permanent auditorium seat. Shweta looks at the school ground, still wet and absolutely muddy. She can see the younger children play there, running in gumboots. They splash and slosh against the mud and run around in the wet grass. For a minute, it's so painfully nostalgic.