Those Bonafide Teens

26. Ties Back The Knots

An hour later, I was sitting with Zoya and Abeer in the cafeteria having lunch.

Varun was gone. He had been suspended and was not allowed to come to school till the exams.

Mishti had marched away from the Principal's office without saying a word to anybody. We hadn't seen her or Reyansh after that. Abeer was more upset than anybody else. It was only natural. He was Varun's best friend.

Two people who had thoroughly enjoyed all the drama were Aaliyah and Maya. They were usually the doers but they had taken the backseat for once and had totally relished it.

I had been completely disgusted when we came out of the Principal's office and Aaliyah had complained that the suspension had happened too quickly and she had had no popcorn with her!

That girl was a total witch!

After lunch, we were asked to take the props to backstage for the next day. That's when I actually realised - we had just one day to go for the show!

Zoya asked me to take her costume to our class and I was carrying her big white lehenga, halfway through the stairs when I ran into Reyansh.

"You here?" he asked.

"Reyansh?" I was startled, "Where is Mishti? We need to talk. I am really- -"

"Sorry? Forget it."

"But Reyansh we didn't even give you a chance to explain. And I can't belive I thought you were not serious about Mishti. You guys are couple goals" I looked at him and almost grinned.

He looked down at me for a moment and then finally he gave me his ridiculously cute smile.

I smiled back in relief.

And then something suddenly struck me, "Reyansh, now that Varun is no longer here, we don't have a guitar player. Why don't you step in?"

"And learn the whole song in one day? Nah! That's two much Riya!"

"Come on Reyansh" I said desperately, "I know you're super talented. And it's a song that you already know! You can do this!"

He looked at me for a moment and said "Okay. I'll do it".

"That's great Reyansh! You will nail it. Wait till I tell Omkara bhaiya and the others!"

"You are very generous, Riya" he smiled.

"Uh..what?" I asked. Generous? Nobody has called me that before. People have called me obtrusive, impudent and unthinking.

"No you really are very generous" he said.

God! Was he reading my mind? "It's just that you worry too much about your social reputation too much."

"So you keep telling me", I said wryly "And I am not generous to everybody".

Generous was not a usual word used for me and to be honest, I didn't like it very much. "Maybe it's just because I like you so much."

"You like me so much? Don't tell me you love me or something. One relationship has caused me enough drama" he laughed.

"The thing about a guy like you Reyansh, is that half the girls half fall in love with you", I said.

"Oh it's nothing like that" he said pretending to blush, "And with friends like you here, I don't think I'll want to go back to the Academy again".

"Oh don't start about that! I can't believe we thought you did all that to go back to your Academy in Pune".

I couldn't believe it! It was like the last two days had not happened at all. I had both Reyansh and Mishti back! And we were all friends again!

"Reyansh?"

"Um?"

"Can I hug you?"

"Come here"

The overflowing costume case cascaded out of my hands and as I walked into Reyansh's embrace, I almost had to blink back my tears!

A/N : So Reyansh is back! I hope you guys liked this chapter. If you did, please consider leaving your vote before you move on.

Thank you! Lots of love.