Naseeb- Naamkarann

8. Not Fair Ali!

Ali was ignoring Avni and thus, Avni was mad at him. She had been noticing for the past two years that the essence of their friendship was no longer there. Ali forgot her. He best friend, her Chamko, no longer took interest in what she was doing and how she felt. Avni was deeply hurt. She thought her Chamko would remain the same, no matter what happens. But, sadly, she was wrong. Chamko was no longer Chamko. 

Ali was struggling to make place in the 'cool' group. He stated spending more time with Neil's group (Mitali, Juhi, Riya and Karan Kapoor a.k.a KK). Slowly, Avni, her friendship and her feelings were not on his priority list anymore. The only thing he cared about was how to impress Riya so she could be his girlfriend. Riya (Riya is Avni's cousin but they had no memories of each other) was indeed cool, but not nice and she hated Avni. And Ali wanted to impress Riya, so he started ignoring Avni.

Mitali, Juhi and Riya were all jealous of Avni as Neil would spend time with her. Avni, however, was unaware of that. Avni never thought that she could take Riya, Mitali or Juhi's place. She always felt inferior when she was near them. 

*********

"Students, as you all are going to leave this school in a matter of weeks, we have organised a trek trip to Mahabaleshwar for you all before you guys leave. The trip will be for three days. Those interested may collect the pamphlet and the registration form", the teacher informed Avni's class.

"Mahabaleshwar! Yay" Everyone exclaimed in joy

"Yaar Neil, are you going?" Asked Riya since she didn't want to go for a trek in the jungles.

"Arre yaar, yeh koi poochhne ki baat hai... trip hai, woh bhi aakhri tum sab ke saath. Aisa ho sakta hai ki koi trip ho aur vahaan Neil Khanna na ho?" Neil was excited.

"Acchha, tum jaa rahe ho, to main bhi chalti hoon" Said Riya

"Haan yaar, sirf tum kyon, poora gang jaayega, Kyon Ali?"said an enthusiastic Neil.

********

"Avni, tu chal rahi hai?" Ali asked her as he was passing her after collecting the forms for the gang.

"Nahin yaar mujhe bahut kaam hai, Maa ke saath thoda time bhi spend karna chahti hoon." Avni explained Ali. "Waise how much does it cost?" Avni inquired (generally)

"Yaar not much, it's about 6000"

"Yaa, not bad" Avni said.

"Chal, ok see you Avni" Ali said

"Haan, Chamko, see you!" Avni said in a dull voice, seeing Ali behave in this manner. They no longer talked about things, just shared formal conversations.

Neil was listening to all this. He thought Avni refused because of the cost of the trip. He felt bad for her and decided to help her out...

Next day, Neil puled Ali to a corner.

"Kya hua Neil, aisa kyon kar raha hai?" Ali asked Neil

"Ali bhai, aise acchha nahin lagta ki hum saare trip par jaaye aur yeh Ajooba akeli rahe, maine uskeliye form bhi bhar diya hai, signatures rehte hain aur fee bhi dedi hai "

"Haan par use kuchh kaam hai, kaha to usne"Ali questioned Neil

"Nahin yaar, I think she is.... "neil could not continue since Ali left. Ali realized that Avni missed him, he felt bad as he was unknowingly ignoring her. He went to Avni

"Avni yaar, chal padh bhao naa khaa, maine form vagehra bhar diye hain, bas tu yahan sign kar de fatafat" Ali said

"Yaar Ali, but I told you, mujhe kuch kam hai aur exams bhi aa rahe hain, please" Avni said

" Mujhe kuch nahin pata, tu aa rahi hai nahin to Chamko naaraaz ho jaayega. Dekkh teri fees bhi bhar di hai" Ali said

"Tune fees kyon bhar? Chal tu itna keh raha hai to....Okay!" Avni was glad to see Chamko back.

Neil saw this from a corner, he was happy as he could spend some days with Avni. 

When Ali submitted Avni's form, the gang was there. 

"To iss baar madam Avni bhi jaa rahin hain?"Mitali asked Avni

"Mitali please..." Neil stopped Mitali as he thought she was going to taunt Avni for her economic status. Saying this, he dragged Mitali out of the room.(But Mitali wasn't going to do so. She knew Avni was adopted by Neela, who was a rich and successful entrepreneur. She, instead was going to taunt her about her being able to fit in, despite her illegitimate status.)

"Yaar, what were you doing? She might feel bad" Neil said to Mitali

" Oh Neil, to tumhe sab pata hai?" Mitali thought Neil knew about Avni's paternity truth

"Haan Mitali, mujhe sab pata hai" Neil was thinking about her financial status. 

They chatted for a while and then the gang left for lunch together.