Those Bonafide Teens

2. Cafeteria Catastrophe

I and my BFF'S walked into our huge school cafeteria, to the inviting smell of parathas. Our school was clearly specialised in three things - infrastructure, food and drama.

I had grumbled about that disastrous lab session to Zoya and Mishti all the way to the cafeteria but the smell of good food, put it out of my mind. And anyway, I had never much looked forward to any practical session in school.

In fact the only thing I was looking forward to, this term, was the school's cultural festival which was to take place, early next month. I hadn't managed to please a lot of teachers over the years but I had managed to please the previous year's student Fine Arts Secretary, Omkara Singh who was headboy this year.

At our school, the outgoing Fine Arts Secretary chose their successor and so here I was - Student Fine Arts Secretary of St Xavier's! So I'd have a good role to play in the cultural festival.

We picked up plates and joined the queue in the cafeteria.

We loaded our plates and went to take seats when two of our classmates Varun Ahuja and Abeer Goenka joined us.

"Who else feels ravenous after that terrible lab session?" I asked.

"Me", said Abeer and Varun nodded.

We'd known the guys since we were in middle school. Abeer was the typical feisty jock, you see in teen TV dramas. Varun was less stereotypical.

"But you completed your experiment first", Mishti told Varun. He flushed.

Everyone knew Varun had been crushing on Mishti for the last two years. He certainly was not a bad looking guy. He was kind of smart too. I'd asked Mishti to consider him many times, but she just ignored it.

Maybe she was waiting for her perfect match - a bespectacled, nerdy guy and they'd probably romance during combined studies for Biology exam.

I finished my first serving of parathas and went back to the line to get one more. I was shocked to hear a familiar voice behind me, "You were just pigging out at that table. And you've come back for more?!"

I turned around and saw my cheeky ten year old brother Krish! Omg! I couldn't believe my own brother made such a gross comment on me in public!

"I can do whatever I want", I snapped at him.

"But so many of us haven't even had our first serving. You can't be so greedy! That stupid Fine Arts Badge pinned to your uniform is no excuse to get more food", he shot at me.

What the hell?! People behind us started to mutter. I was forced to come out of the line, flushing and bumped into my senior Lisa Millican. She was Omkara's girlfriend. She smiled at me sympathetically.

So she'd seen it. Nice. Very nice.

My brother was embarrassing me so much! Just then I heard another voice.

"What happened honey? No food?"

I had found myself face to face with the arch nemesis of my school life - Aaliyah Khurana. Aaliyah was a makeup obsessed, vain and thick headed dumbo!

And when I said arch nemesis, I meant it. I had disliked her as long as I could remember. When we were in first grade, we had fought over turns in the school park slide and now in eleventh grade we fought over social reputation.

She and her stupid clique hated me, Zoya and Mishti on principle.

"Mind your business", I snapped at her.

"Chemistry was fab today, wasn't it Riya?", Aaliyah's friend Maya crooned at me. Maya was shorter than Aaliyah, but though I hate to admit it, very good looking. However, Maya was a total snake. Aaliyah was devious but Maya was the more cunning of the two. And I hated them both!

Aaliyah, Maya and Loukya Khanna - the three of them together were capable of destroying my whole high school life! And had it not been for my BFF'S and the cultural festival, I'd have preferred to sit at home all term!

Anyway, I had abandoned my desire for an extra paratha and was about to go back to my table when I ran into an office clerk.

"Ms Dixit, there's a new student who has joined your class today. He's in the office right now. I was thinking, it would be best if one you took him to your class".

"I'll do it", I said "I have finished my lunch".

This was bizarre! I mean, who on earth joins a new school half way through the second term?!

A/N : Hey guys! I hope you liked this chapter. New character coming up! I hope you'll like him.

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