The Superstar

23

He was unpredictable.

Pari didn't know whether to feel relieved or hurt by the fact that he didn't ask her out again. She didn't see him in college or in the cafe for a few days.

In college, there were rumours about his breakup with Noor and it was confirmed when he was seen with various girls. She didn't know his relationship with these girls but she often saw him with different girls.

"Ugh! I hate such....such whores." Pari searched for a word to term 'Salem' and Priya hit her for using such a word. Even though they stayed in a locality where it was common to verbally abuse and use crass language, their family values never allowed them to utter bad words.

"He is a whore. A manwhore, so I will call him that! I am not lying." Pari defended herself.

"Ohho! So you are feeling bad that he didn't give you any attention." Priya concluded. They were both lying on the small bed, staring at the white ceiling and fan.

"Why do you always say the most illogical thing possible?! I am not feeling bad over it. I am just appaled at how easily people lie about their feelings and move on." Pari said.

"Oh, you are hurt that he didn't even give YOU - the 'husn pari' (angel-like beauty) a second glance!" Priya was still on about the same thing.

"Shut up! It's useless to tell you anything. I am not hurt! Aise 100 aate hai aur 100 jate hai." (Have seen hundred others like him.) Pari acted like she wasn't bothered about him but it irked her seeing him with girls and behaving so sweetly to them. Even in their class, he always behaved like a sweet guy that, it made her feel a bit like bi*ch for saying no to him.  Then, there was Priya in her life who would constantly tell her that she should have said yes to him based on Pari's tales of him.

Ashley, her friend had come and told them about Salem's particular incident which made Pari feel like it was actually a better person. Ashley narrated how for their fashion show, Noor and Salem were to be the main stars of the show but a certain senior named Varun was not happy about it and had bitter attitude towards the team as he felt he could walk better than Salem and should be the lead. When Salem got to know about this, Salem gave his position to Varun, without any drama. Varun, who had grudges with Salem actually apologised to him but Salem only said that it doesn't matter who walks as a show stopper, the thing that they should concentrate on is to win the competition and be the best. Nobody had expected Salem to give up so easily but he did.

He had a huge group of friends in college. Even when he visited the cafe, apart from the girls, he was sometimes accompanied by his group of boys. She noted in her head that this was the biggest difference between them. Pari could never be comfortable around such large groups of people or imagine having so many friends. She also noticed how fondly everyone talked about Salem.

At night, she looked at herself in the mirror of their old dusty cupboard. It was the only long length mirror in the house. She looked at herself dressed in her shabby kurta from head to toe. Apart from her face, what could attract such a popular boy towards her? She dresses below average in dresses that hide her body. It was their mindset to get kurtas two sizes large for two reasons. One - it should fit both Pari and Priya. Two - incase they get fat, it should still fit them, so they don't have to buy if their size changes. She had seen girls who dresses better than her, who looked flawless in their make up, so what could appeal him about her?
In her mind, a small part felt flattered that this famous guy had asked her out. Of course, she wasn't going to mention it to anyone in college and be the point of gossip, but it felt nice to still be noticed by a guy surrounded by attention.

Priya was just entering the room when she saw Pari staring at herself in the mirror.

"Kitna ghoorogi khudko? Nazar lag jayegi!" (How much will you stare at yourself? You will catch the evil eye)