Those Bonafide Teens

14. Mean Girl Melodrama

During the next rehearsal, things were much more bright since Omkara and Lisa had now patched up.

I saw Aaliyah looking insanely frustrated all through rehearsal which cheered me up greatly.

However Mishti took a very gloomy view of the whole situation, "This means you have to be careful. Aaliyah is now desperate to get your post from you".

"Nice positive ray of sunshine aren't you?" I snapped at her, "You and Loukya Khanna should team up together sometime."

But it turned out that Mishti was right. I walked into the bathroom during break and Aaliyah was at the mirror slathering on a dozen layers of lipstick.

When she saw me coming in, she cast me a poisonous look. And it looked extra poisonous because of her deep Burgundy lipstick. I mean who on earth applies that to school?!

But I wasn't scared of her. It was one on one today.

"Excuse me Aaliyah but is that horrible Burgundy lipstick helping you in anyway to overcome your loss?", I shot at her.

"This is branded, for your information. What do you use for your lips, by the way? Strawberry juice? And anyway what loss are you talking about?"

"The loss of a boyfriend or perhaps the loss of a post", I sneered.

Aaliyah turned pale. "So you eavsdropped on me and Omkara, in the library! I thought I saw a head with a bathroom cleaning sponge on it, in a study cubicle. But now I know."

OMG! I couldn't believe she just called my messy bun, a bathroom cleaning sponge!

"You tried to snatch my post" I snarled at her.

"Because you don't deserve it" she shouted in my face.

We stared at each other for a second, "That's it Riya. This is war!" she yelled dramatically and flounced out of the bathroom.

I sighed and followed her out when the last two people I had expected to see were standing right in front of me - Loukya Khanna and my bratty brother Krish!

Apparently, Loukya had caught Krish in something. The scene didn't look good and I tried to slip away but..

"Riya Dixit, come here now".

Too late!

"Did you know, your brother just shoved another boy down the stairs and he's been taken to the emergency room?"

"Uh..umm..okay", I said. She glared at me.

"Surely, you must have noticed how your brother is so like you?" she sneered.

"Yes", I said trying to sound proud. I didn't exactly want to support Krish but between Loukya ma'am and my bratty brother, it would be my bratty brother anyday.

"Then maybe you should stay away from him a bit. He can't grow up to be like you. One Riya Dixit is enough for this school!" she said dramatically and just walked away from the place.

I glared at Krish but he just stuck his tongue out at me.

God! Krish was such an impudent, uncontrollable prat who never obeyed anybody!

Uh..doesn't that complaint sound familiar?

The next day was Saturday which meant I and my BFF'S were going to the mall to shop for the show!

But there was one small problem.

Mishti's parents wouldn't allow her to come with us. So we spent the entire lunchbreak thinking up excuses to tackle her parents, when Abeer ran into us.

"Abeer we are going to the mall to shop for the show, tomorrow. Would you like to join us?" I asked him.

"Actually I am going to Reyansh's home tomorrow".

"Then both of you can join us. That would be great" I said.

But Mishti was scowling. "My parents will kill me if they knew I was hanging out with guys. That too at the mall!".

"Come on Mishti. We'll give your parents the slip." I said impatiently.

"But what about your mom? If she runs into my mom, she will find out the truth, and I will be fried meat", she said.

"Okay then. Let's not tell any of our parents! So none of us will be in trouble", I said beaming around excitedly.

Mishti's scowl lightened and she said crisply, "I am in!".

So the three of us told our parents that we were going to a retail store behind our apartment complex and did not mention Abeer and Reyansh. And it worked.

But the next day, we got really unlucky!

Zoya came to my flat first and the two of us went over to get Mishti but unfortunately both her parents were at home!

Mishti was still getting ready. Mrs Kanwal was busy in the kitchen which meant I and Zoya had to be in the living room with Mr Kanwal. Which was not good. At all.

Mishti's dad worked at a travel agency and he was often out of the city for his work. If Mishti's mom was a storm, her dad was a tornado. I had realised it when I and Zoya had come to Mishti's house for the first time, when we were in sixth grade.

After five minutes I had given up trying to impress him, but Zoya hadn't, even after five years.

"Good morning uncle" she said.

He looked at us suspiciously for a moment and then nodded.

"You've been travelling?"

"What else do you expect? It's my job."

"Oh where did you go last?"

I felt like kicking Zoya.

"Goa", he said dully.

"Wow! Must have been fantastic!"

"I was not on vacation!" he snapped
"I was working".

Zoya foolishly pestered him for another ten minutes before he got so angry that he slammed his coffee mug on the table, walked into his room and slammed the door.

Great!

If this was what happened to Mishti's friends, I wondered, what would happen to Mishti's boyfriend. I thought of Reyansh. The poor guy!

Mishti mercifully came out of her room at that moment.

"What took you so long to get ready?" I snapped.

"I spent half an hour searching for my denim jacket before I realized I was wearing it", she said shamelessly.

I sighed. "Come lets go" Zoya said and the three of us hurried downstairs.

A/N : Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter. If you had fun, please let me know through your vote and precious comments. See you in the next chapter. 

Thank you!