1. New School

"Oh no, we're gonna be so late!"

A panicked and out-of-breath voice of a girl rang out in the hallway. Her loosely tied shoulder-length hair tossed in the air as her short legs tried to keep up with the long ones that were several feet ahead of her.

"Oye Ankita, I told you to wake up extra early today. Now look, both of us are gonna be marked late on our first day. And can't you run a little faster? Move those legs, hurry!"

The boy looked over his shoulder and shouted. The hair he so painstakingly fixed that morning was now an absolute mess. But that was not the main concern now. He was worried about his corgi-footed friend being left behind if he ran too fast. So all he could do was drag her by the arm. Still, he was much taller than her, who only reached his elbow. Hence, he had to maintain a speed somewhere in between too slow and fast.

"Argh who would have known that I'd fall asleep for another hour when I only intended to take a quick nap of five minutes? Now shut up and run Rishav, quick!" Clutching the sling of her bag with her free hand, Ankita shouted back.

"You have the nerve to tell me that when you're the one who's lagging?" Rishav looked back at Ankita who seemed on the verge of face planting herself any minute.

"How weak is your stamina? Argh, gimme the bag. Now run." Rishav snatched Ankita's bag and quickened his pace.

Reaching the field Rishav dropped their bags at a corner and ran his hands through his hair a few times hoping to make it somewhat presentable. Meanwhile Ankita almost doubled over her knees trying to catch her breath.

Thankfully the assembly was yet to start but unfortunately the other students had already lined up. Awkwardly asking the nearby teacher for directions and receiving several angry glares for being late on the very first day, both of them joined their class.

After the morning assembly.

"Phew! Were those teachers trying to burn us to ashes? Did you see how they were glaring? I mean I get it we're late but all th other students were also looking our way because of their intense stare." Rishav said as he and Ankita walked together towards their class.

"Wait a minute. Which.. class.. are we in again?" Ankita suddenly stopped in her track and asked.

"...."

Smack.

Rishav knocked her head and said "It hasn't even been five minutes since the teacher told us. Did you keep you ears at home or something?"

Ankita smiled sheepishly and rubbed her head. Rishav's lips twitched seeing her laugh and his hand itched for smacking her again. And as a generous person he did not deprive his hand of the relief it was seeking. He pinched her cheeks until they had a pinkish hue.

"Look there it is!" Ankita pointed to the class room that had X-B labelled above the door.

Stepping inside, they saw a large group of students gathered at the other end of the class. Ankita and Rishav exchanged confused looks and shrugged simultaneously.

"What's the occasion there?" Rishav asked the boy next to him.

"Oh, you don't know? Everyone's been talking about it. The members of Antariksha have joined our school and are in this class, all three of them" He clenched his fists excitedly.

"Can you believe it! We will be studying with celebrities! Some are even saying that we will be interviewed by famous reporters about how we feel about attending class with them..."

While he rambled on and on, Rishav focused his attention to the crowd and asked "Hey, Anu do you know what this Antariksha is about?"

"... Anu?...Hey answer me!"

He turned around only to see no sight of Ankita.

"This girl! Where did she go?"

Rishav looked around but Ankita was nowhere around. Suddenly he spotted her near the crowd, standing on tip-toes and craning her neck like a stork.

"..." he stood there akimbo.

The bell rang and the students gradually and reluctantly dispersed to their seats under the hard stare of their teacher. As they were late, Ankita and Rishav had to stand aside untill everyone assumed their seats before finding one for themselves.

"That guy is so pretty!" Ankita mumbled while sizing up the said pretty boy seated at the corner of the room.

He was gazing outside the window, placing his chin over his palm. A light breeze ruffled the tips of his hair. The sunlight cast a soft glow across his face. Suddenly his lips curved up and he chuckled softly.

Captivated by his beauty, Ankita mumbled in a daze "Am I seeing an angel?"

"ANKITA DEY! Where is your attention?"

"Uh! Huh?" Ankita flinched and looked around in confusion.

"I was explaining the rules to you seem busy daydreaming. Being disrespectful to the teacher on your very first day! How disappointing! Go and find a seat! Fast! We don't have the whole day for you to settle down." Miss Dutta, the class teacher, roared.

"Sorry, Miss." Ankita lowered her head and scurried away from her.

Some of the students laughed at her clumsiness.

'Okay, now what? Where do I sit?' Ankita looked around with a panicked face.

All the seats around her was taken. Rishav only managed to find one seat for himself so sitting with him was also not an option.

'What do I do, what do I do?' Ankita bit her thumb.

"What are you dawdling for?" Miss Dutta yelled again.

"Uh... Yes, miss." Ankita gulped nervously and frantically looked for an empty seat.

Her heart was beating so loudly that it felt like the whole class was able to hear it. Clutching the hem of her skirt she prayed to Goddess Kali for help. She could feel Miss Dutta's stare on her back growing harsher by the second.

"Curse you eyes! Find a seat! Quick!"

As if her prayer was finally heard she spotted a seat at the far corner. Without wasting another second she dashed towards it and slumped down. After taking some big gulps of air she breathed a sigh of relief and turned left to greet her desk mate whom she ignored so far.

"Hi, I'm... Oh it's you, pretty boy!" Her eyebrows jumped up.

Realising that she said her thoughts aloud, Ankita cleared her throat and introduced herself again, this time properly. She gave him a bright smile and began to unpack her bag while humming a tune.

"What crazy luck does this loser have to sit beside my idol while I can only admire him from afar!" A girl sitting two rows away hissed, staring daggers at Ankita.

All this time, the boy beside her sat silently failing to get a word between Ankita's hurricane like entrance and lightning speed introduction.

Finally having the chance to get a word in, he spoke, "Hello. I am Koushik Roy. And I'm glad to have managed to impress my desk mate with my looks."

"Oh, hehe, sorry. I spoke out my thoughts. Actually I was so engrossed admiring your beauty that I lost sense of my surroundings and made a fool of myself," she smiled embarrassedly scratching the back of her head.

"I'm sorry for getting you scolded," Koushik said apologetically.

"No no no no, it's not your fault. I should have paid more attention to my surroundings." Ankita hurriedly waved her hands and hit Koushik's eye in the process.

"Oh gosh! I sooo sorry!" Ankita almost shriveled from shame.

"Pfft! It's okay. Relax." Koushik chuckled at her tensed expression.