ShivOmRu SS ~ Cross Connections

Chapter 11

Anika entered the classroom and she was about to go to her new spot beside Daksh at the other end of the room. She knew Om couldn't sit with them even if he wanted to, Shivay was a very close friend of his and Tia was his cousin - it was fine, she would still have Daksh! But as she headed towards her spot she heard Daksh calling her from the other side, "Hey Anika! I am here, join us here nah" she turned around to see Daksh and Tia sitting side by side, in the spot that was usually her and Om's. Now Om was sitting next to Shivay, where Tia sat. So they all were a group now, and each one had their partner, why did Daksh call him anyway, where would she sit? "Err..Anika, what are you thinking, come nah!" repeated Daksh. But Anika wasn't going to go back to their group, not again, "No Daksh, you carry on. I will need to take notes of yesterdays lecture from Reyaan, so I will sit with him. Reyaan and Anika were competitors in class, either of them would always top their batch, but the competition they had was healthy, and neither tried to excel by hampering the other. So Anika knew if she wanted the correct notes, Reyaan would surely provide her. She sat next to a jovial Reyaan and exchanged polite words for a few minutes, then Reyaan pulled out his notebook and Anika furiously started taking notes.

Shivay had followed every word of Anika's since she entered the classroom. He was happy to see that Anika had refused to take Daksh's offer, but he was also unhappy to see that, it meant Anika wasn't sitting with them at all. He kept glancing at Anika as she went about smiling and talking with that Reyaan guy. He silently put his notebook inside his bag, what was the use of it? It's not like he ever took down notes, and the only time he did take it, that was the day before - he knew Anika had missed class and she would require them - but of course Reyaan's notes were bound to be better.

Soon the professor came in and went about returning their assignment sheets from the day before, after grading them. Anika sighed, she had missed this submission, her grades would fall again, looked like Reyaan was going to beat her this semester. She shot a nervous glance at Shivay, if she hadn't been able to submit her assignment, it meant Shivay's was not submitted too - now again she had to apologize she thought - the more she tried avoiding him, the more he comes closer she thought miserably.

As she sat their consumed in her thought, she saw the professor hand her an assignment, she took it with a confused face and looked at it, surely it was a mistake, she must have mistakenly got someone elses sheet. She peered into the paper, but it had her name written on it in a different handwriting, she furrowed her brows in confusion and checked the grade, it was a B+ that she had got, not bad she thought, but she still couldn't figure out how did an assignment miraculously reach her professor that she didn't submit - she debated whether to bring it to the professor or not, she finally decided on telling him, there must be a confusion somewhere. The moment she raised her hand to call for the professor's attention, Shivay seemed to go into a particularly bad coughing fit, her attention got diverted towards him, he was looking at her and making some mute communication which she failed to understand, then he enacted that he was texting her. Anika quietly waited for the text.

11:27a.m. [Can't you be happy that you didn't miss your submission? Why does prof need to know?]

11:29a.m. [What if someone else's assignment got submitted with my name misprinted on it? Someone who worked hard would score a duck then Shivay, I must tell prof.]

11:32a.m. [No one is scoring a duck. That's your assignment all right. I submitted it]

Anika stared at the text message, Shivay had submitted her assignment on her behalf? Didn't she always do it for him? Wasn't he so busy that he didn't get the time to do his own one? Then today...Anika had no words, she was too surprised.

11:40a.m. [You did my assignment? But why?]

11:42a.m. [Because in a group, we look out for each other. You have always done my assignments neglecting yours.]