rematch | ishman

CH: 3

Ishan cleared his throat, gesturing towards Abhishek, who flashed a broad grin at the indifferent boys in front of him.

“Lads, this is Abhishek. He’ll be replacing Nehal in the team for the tournament,” Ishan said, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Hardik whistled as he strolled over to Abhishek. “The Meridian kid,” he remarked, casting a brief glance-down. “Vice-captaincy wahi chhod kar aaya hai na apni?”

Abhishek blinked. Was this an attempt at hazing? “Yeah, that’s how transferring works.”

Rishabh bit down a snicker as Hardik blinked. He slapped Abhishek’s back playfully. “Hardik is our Vice-Captain, Abhi.”

Abhishek nodded with a sheepish smile.

“Tu karke aaya kya?” Hardik asked.

“Huh?”

Surya nudged Hardik harshly. “Practice. Practice karke aaya kya?”

Abhishek glanced at Ishan, who simply shrugged, leaving him to deal with the new bunch. “Um, do I have to demonstrate?”

Ishan responded with a “no,” while Hardik insisted with a “yes.” It was Rishabh who broke the ice, saying, “Guys, let’s just focus on our match next week, alright?”

Hardik huffed and shot a look at Abhishek before walking away for warm-up. “I have a feeling he doesn’t like me,” the latter said.

“Hardik doesn’t like anyone,” Ishan muttered, fixing his shoelaces.

“Who’s from Meridian,” Rishabh completed helpfully.

“Ah, I never took the rivalry seriously.”

Ishan stared up at him. “Don’t insult us.”

“Sorry,” Abhisek winced, feeling like he was walking on eggshells around him.

“You better start taking it seriously if we’re going to destroy Shubman,” Ishan simply said, averting his attention to the other boys.

“Destroy is a bit,” Abhishek chuckled nervously turning to Rishabh, who seemed to be nodding to what Ishan said. Seriously. Abhishek sighed.

Ishan was a good captain, he realized. Well, it wasn’t much of a realization. Ishan was still a good captain. “But a failed one,” Shubman had said.

Ishan raced across the field, trying to catch up with Surya, who was laughing uncontrollably. Despite having shorter legs than others, the guy compensated with his speed. He just needed the right partner on pitch, Abhishek thought, remembering how Ishan got run-out twice in the last season. He shrugged off the thought, realizing he was better off not pointing out the team’s shortcomings, right after joining. He was no longer the Vice-Captain anyway.

One thing Ishan loved about Summit was that there was no one breathing down their necks about training. They could hit the nets whenever they felt like it, no questions asked. Shastri would sometimes peek in, but only to chat about possible new game plans or to step in when Hardik tried to bully the basketball guys.

Ishan flopped onto the grass, his chest heaving with beads of sweat and causing his shirt to cling to him. He waited for the breeze to kiss his body. He looked at Rishabh and Surya in the distance, working with the bat. They took practice seriously, the two of them, though not very much because Rishabh smacked Surya’s ass with his bat the next second and ran off as the other chased him.

Tilak seemed to be holding a bat too, having an animated chat with Hardik. Ishan wondered if the latter knew that Tilak was from the basketball club. Then he wondered if anyone knew that Tilak was from the basketball club. “I’m pretty much invisible,” he had once joked but Ishan didn’t really laugh.