NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE (Completed)
3 The State Meet
Part 3 The State Meet
Khushi was sincerely getting ready for the State meet. Her only motive was to win a medal. She knew that achieving a medal at the State meet would be no easy feat and certainly not comparable to the district meet. Nevertheless, she was determined to emerge victorious. She continued her practice session barefoot, paying no attention to the need for spikes.
That day, she concluded her practice of hiding Arnav's coat earlier than usual before Garima arrived home. Only to hide Arnav's coat. She had to go home before Garima reached. This would ensure that she could retrieve it without Garima noticing. Despite this distraction, she remained focused on her practice.
Meanwhile,
Arnav returned home and took a refreshing shower before donning his uniform and heading downstairs. He stiffened upon seeing his father enter the house. Arnav walked with a rigid face.
"How are you, Chotte?" his father inquired.
With a silent nod, Arnav acknowledged him.
"I heard you admitted a boy to the hospital..." his father commented.
"So?" Arnav's response was blunt.
"You are in twelfth standard. Rather than engaging in social work, you should concentrate on your studies. How could you expect to secure a place at Howard without obtaining high marks?" don't score high marks?" Expressing his concern, his father remarked.
"When did I say I want to study in Howard?" Arnav retorted.
Arvind was taken aback.
"I'm not going anywhere... I will be in India. That's final." He stated firmly.
"Chotte..."
"I have to go to practice. Excuse me..."
"I would have felt proud if you played Cricket or Golf... Why are you getting dried on the track?"
"It's because it's my passion. You can't understand that. You always want everything up to your status. I won't give a damn to it. I will do what I want. I will live my life as I wish. You came here after a long... do why and leave."
"I came to meet you only. Your birthday is coming next month. We decided to celebrate it grandly."
Arnav knew what that WE meant.
"I'm not available..."
"But why?"
"I will be busy with my events."
"Yeah, you have a SCHOOL STATE ATHLETIC MEET that day. Can't you skip it for me?"
"Could you skip THAT house for me?"
Arvind moved a step back.
"You can't give up anything for me, but you want me to give up my passion for you?"
"Your Mom wants to celebrate your birthday grandly."
"I have no Mom.... My mom is dead," he shouted.
"Chotte, you are not a kid..."
Cutting him,
"Exactly... I'm not a kid. I can understand everything. So, please stop irritating me... because I can't say I can keep my tongue."
Arvind gulped hard. Arnav walked out of the house. The driver ran behind him, who was waiting outside.
Arnav was about to open the door but stopped hearing,
"You can drive the car, Chotte...! I will handle it if any problem occurs," said Arvind.
Arnav looked at Mohan. He got into the car swiftly and started the car.
"Chotte...you can drive the car if you wish."
"I know when to drive a car... I will do that after my birthday."
"I just said because I know you like driving"
"Stop pretending like you are concerned for me."
"Of course, I'm..."
"I know how you are concerned..."
Arnav sat in the car and closed the door wrathfully. Mohan changed the gear and drove towards the Prince and Princess school.
P&P School
Lavanya was sitting with her friends, making a face. She looked at her watch and said,
"Lunch break is going to be over."
"Lavanya, I told you ASR will be late. He said not to wait for him," Aman said.
"How could he say so? Doesn't he know this is Lavanya's birthday? Is the stranger boy more important than La?" Sheetal asked irritatingly, making Lavanya feel more inadequate.
"She is right. Sometimes, Arnav makes us feel like we are unimportant to him," Akash said, expressing his disappointment.
"I don't know why you are upset... he saved a life. Honestly, we should appreciate him doing that," Aman said.
"Yeah, he would have been upset the whole day and spoilt our mood too. But now, he would be satisfied," NK said.
"He might have thought Lavanya's birthday should not become a death day of someone..." Payal said.
"But he made her cry on her birthday," Sheetal said, pouring oil into the fire. He looked at Lavanya, who wiped her cheek.
"Don't cry, Lavanya... this is your birthday", NK said.
Aman sighed.
That was when they saw Arnav coming. He stopped at the security room and asked for something. He gave him a parcel. Taking it, he came to them. He extended it to Lavanya.
"Happy Birthday, Lavanya"
Lavanya took it silently.
"Are you all right?" Arnav asked.
"How could she be all right if you made her wait? She has not even cut the cake yet," Aman said.
"I told you not to wait for me."
"How could she cut the cake without you Arnav?" Payal asked.
"I was stuck, yaar... how could I come?"
"Am I not important to you?" Lavanya asked, choking.
Arnav rolled his eyes and walked away. He didn't want to be there as he was already upset with his father. He stood a little aloof from them to make himself up.
"Guys, why are you fussing him? He just came, and you started. We should understand one thing: Arnav's nature. He can't hold himself if he sees others in pain. Don't we know that? Relax, guys... Lavanya, come on, cut the cake." Sheetal turned upside down and supported Arnav.
She pulled Lavanya and gestured to all of them. They gathered in front of Lavanya's desk. Payal lit the candle on the cake. Sheetal went to Arnav and touched his shoulder.
"Don't feel bad, Arnav. Don't you know these guys? Just leave them. Come..."
"Thanks for understanding me, Sheetal."
"Hey, who else will understand you if I don't? Come on," she said, pulling him towards their gang.
Lavanya cut the cake and fed it to her friends. They, too, did the same. Lavanya came to Arnav and fed it to him while asking,
"Won't you say sorry for making me wait?"
"Neither I did anything wrong nor did I make you wait. I went to save a boy's life. I called Aman, and they said not to wait for me. Then why did you wait? You should have cut the cake and kept a piece for me."
"But, how...?"
Arnav stopped her, showing his palm.
"Lavanya, please. I'm already fussed. Don't make me show it to you on your birthday," he said as he walked out of the class.
"I don't know why Arnav is behaving like this. How lovingly Lavanya asked him! Can't he answer her softly?" Sheetal again played her card.
Lavanya again cried.
"Let me ask him" Sheetal went out.
She saw Arnav sitting under a tree. She came to him and sat next to him.
"What happened, Arnav? You are not so kind as to hurt others...! I know you. What made you upset to this extent?"
"Nothing, Sheetal," Arnav left the place.
This was how Sheetal maintained a place in Arnav's good book.
There were kinds of people who wouldn't hesitate to pull others down to reach heights. Sheetal was that kind. She provoked others' anger and made them talk against Arnav, but in front of him, she supported him and made him believe she understood him better than anyone.
.........
Khushi secured Arnav's coat in her locker. She didn't know why she did that. Though she liked the coat, we could not say she did that only because she liked the coat.
She closed the locker and heard a noise from outside. It was Garima's voice.
"I will try to give you money in two days, Bhai Sab," she said.
Khushi came out and saw with whom she was talking. She gulped down hard as if he was a wholesale egg seller. Shashi bought eggs from him as he would offer eggs at a low price. It was for Khushi. She needed high protein to gain stamina. So, her PET instructor insisted she eat AT LEAST two eggs daily. That was the only expense her father spent for her.
Khushi sighed. She had to win a medal in the State meet. If she had won, she could get a chance to attend the National meet.
The most awaited State meet came...
That was Arnav's birthday, too. Arnav was on the field, and his friends were also there. Though Sheetal and Aman were also athletes, they were not participants. They were there to cheer up Arnav and celebrate his birthday.
Arnav was not with his friends as he didn't want to be distracted. He was warming up behind the stadium. He would participate in a four-hundred-meter running race and Khushi in a two-hundred-meter race. Arnav's event came first. He ran in the HEAT and came second. That disappointed him. He could not win in the upcoming rounds if he could not get first place in HEAT. It would be more challenging. He went behind the stadium to exercise.
Two hundred meters later, the girls' heat started. Khushi stood on the track barefoot with girls stylishly wearing spikes and costly accessories.
People looked at her weirdly. She didn't care about it. There was nothing in her mind. She didn't see anything other than her track. She sharpened her ears to hear.
ON YOUR MARKS...
She was on her mark and GOT SET to GO. She ran like a bullet released from a gun, beating all the girls competing with her, and touched the finishing line FIRST.
To be continued...
Khushi stood on the track barefoot.
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