Did You Get Your Period?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

Meanwhile, Riddhi having woken up from her nap walks towards the living room. She's in a dazed state, the sleepy haziness not having left yet. She walks towards the living room, rubbing her eyes her mood souring with every step she took. There was no way that she would be able to fall asleep tonight. She'd been out for almost five hours now and her sleep quota was replenished and filled to the brim.

There was no way, no fucking way, that she would fall asleep before three in the morning now.

That's why she hated afternoon naps but that didn't seem to stop her from falling asleep. Either way, she reasoned (rather grumpily) inside her head, I'll read the Order of The Phoenix until I fall asleep after dinner.

Riddhi hated being the last one in the house to fall asleep. Something about the darkness made her feel very childish and insecure. It wasn't that she was afraid of bloodied ghosts popping out from her closets or hearing the clink-clink of the payals (anklets) of night prowling, white sari-wearing female ghosts. She was afraid of the thoughts that swirled and danced inside her head that taunted and teased her. She was afraid of her hopes and dreams that dangled in front of her. She feared that they would disappear and that she wouldn't be strong enough to fight for them.

"You look like you want to puke. Are you okay?" A snarky voice pops out from the sofa. And lying on the sofa, with a blanket covering his entire length is Vaibhav, her cousin.

"You scared me! What are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were going to be staying here?" Riddhi says, holding a hand up to her frightened heart which is still pumping at an alarming rate.

"You returned so quick. I couldn't even let you know. But no worries, I called maasi." Vaibhav says, from the sofa, grinning.

"Well, you guys lost right? Besides, doesn't your school have policies about taking students back with them? Are they allowed to just leave you around like that?" Riddhi says, raising her eyebrows.

Knowing Vaibhav's wayward ways, she's certain he's heading for trouble.

"Whoa, calm down. You really do take after your mom, don't you? Going all lawyer on me. No, technically I didn't come here as a player." Vaibhav grins, getting up.

"What do you mean?" Riddhi asks, suspiciously.

"Well, I may or may not have made a jersey by bribing the school tailor. And I may or may not have come here on the local bus pretending to be a player." Vaibhav smiles at her, clearly very proud of his little escapade.

"But didn't they catch you? What about your teachers? They're not entirely that stupid, are they?" Riddhi says, sitting down on the other couch, looking at her cousin very seriously.

"No, I sat at the benches while the rest of them were in the men's room. And then when they were arriving towards the court, I went to speak to Shweta. Which was my main motive, regarding which you weren't very helpful, by the way. Then when I returned to the court, I sat with the boys who came as substitutes and cheered a while for them. Slipped out when the boys were returning." Vaibhav says, his rubbing his hands, clearly very delighted with his escapade.

"But didn't the other boys notice? What if they complain? And doofus, what about the certificates that the players receive. What will you tell your parents then?" Riddhi asks, getting more amazed with her cousin's abilities by the passing second.

"No, most of them are my friends. And luckily enough we lost! So, my mothers not going to look for certificates! If it's a mere certificate of participation she won't care enough to look for it!"

"Wow! I really hope you don't get into trouble. Besides, what did you tell Shweta? That you came all the way for her?" Riddhi asks.

"No! I told her I came as a substitute player!" Vaibhav says, looking sheepish.