She held up her comics in her hand and was fidgeting with her headphones in another.Just then, the self-service conveyor belt began buzzing and she straightened up.

She was ready to grab her food and make a mad dash.The conveyor belt moved at snail's pace and first she saw a plate of thai curry and rice pop-out and the cutlery wobbled, almost reaching the end of the the belt's perimeter.It was going to fall and crash anytime.

Shehnaz whipped her head around the cafeteria.The lights were dimmed ans the moon was shining through the french windows.

A couple was busy giggling along themselves at the far corner.

"Oi! Yeh kiska hai?" She hollered and her voice echoed.

The couple turned and looked at her blankly and she rolled her eyes.To save the falling bowl of food,she lifted it off the surface and placed it gently on the table.

Unwillingly, her eyes flickered over the green mushy curry paired with a little mound of rice.

Granted, she could count the number of grains on the plate owing to the miniscule portion size but it still smelt heavenly and appetising.

These rich kids and their food-wasting habits.

Her sad bowl of curd rice came up and she huffed and grabbed it. She made her way to the nearest table and sat down to finally have her meal. She stayed up all evening as always and completed Arthi's excel sheets and administrative work.

Now she could have her meal and then go work on her history assignment.

She toyed with the spoon lazily when she heard hurried footsteps.

She immediately recognized him and smiled.

Prathik sported a loose tan jersey and was having a tennis bag over his shoulder.

He stood by the conveyor,watching the empty belt slow down and halt. He peered below the belt as if he were looking for something and scratched his head.

"Tune order kiya thai curry ki sabzi?" She butted in quietly and her voice travelled over the end of the hall.

He looked over his shoulder,surprised.

"Hey--Tu yaha!" He brightened.

"Waha rakha hai tera khana," she gestured and he gave a thankful nod and carefully balanced the cutlery off the counter and made his way over to her.

By now,they seemed to be the only ones in the cafeteria and probably the only ones awake.

"Kya kar rahi hai, staying up so late?" He asked, sitting opposite to her.

"Tu pehle bata," she said.

"I'm a part of sports scholarship, so haa we have to report late sometimes and train..." He said.

"You're on a scholarship?" She asked, letting her spoon rest in the bowl.

"Ji, the sponsors are very generous here.Yaha agar PE club pe rahe toh bohot affordable ho jata hai, we have amenities like residence, food coupons and all."

Shehnaz ruminated on this for one long moment and a bulb lit up in her head, "Kya bol rahi ho?" She mumbled slowly.

Maybe she could try...

"Matlab kya khana aur rehna free hai?" She pressed, trying to confirm the important part.

"Haa, lekin they break your body in return.Agar vo manzoor hai, toh yes,once they select you they don't let you get distracted.Toh haan toda toh mushkil hai but I'm tough.I'm a man,I can take it."

"Mhhmm," she nodded, already starting to build castles in the air. She was anyways having a tough time doing council work at present, if working hard can pay a chunk of her bills,whyever not?

"Arey,yeh kya kha rahi hai?"

She was pulled out of her reverie when Paras pulled her food out of her reach, "Isse accha khana milte hai yaha pe, yeh bohot bekaar hai,mat khaiyo..."

"Yeh toh try kar, achi hai...Jasmine rice."

He was offering his food to her but she didn't want to share food with him, she had just met him!

"Nahi yaar,its okay," she shrugged.

"Agar tujhe gharelu khana hai hi chaiye toh parantha lethe, aalo wali." He continued, prodding at the chicken in the rice, "Acha milta hai yaha, thoda punjaban tadka hai..."

Her eyes sharpened, "Punjab kyu bola?" Did he know her dad? Did he see her in the backdrop of some political campaign?

"Arey, tere zubaan se pata chal raha hai, teri accent aisi hai jaise mere ghar me baat karte hai..."

No freaking way.

"Kaha ke ho?" She asked but he was already moving from the table.

"Chandigarh," he said with a lopsided smile and she softened.

"Mey bhi," she said happily.How long it had been since she met a person from back home!

"Toh phir aao thoda paranthe khate hai saath mey.."

"Nahi, its okay..." She hesitated but already knew he was going to insist.

"Mey thodi koi anjaan hoon, you're so formal.Shayad hum dono ek saath khele bhi honge koi kheth mey..."

She stifled a smile but ended up letting a little giggle escape her lips.He noticed and turned back at her and smiled warmly.

"One aloo parantha, extra butter on top," he wrote and passed the bill into the counter.It extricated it from there.

"Please let me pay," she said, nudging his card away.

"Arey,yeh mere paise nahi, this is a food allowance card from the PE association...I still have balance left for the month which will be returned back.Isse acha koi khaye isse."

"Oh, but still...Thank you." She said.

"Koi baat nahi," He responded, collecting the paranthe from the conveyor.

"Aur bata tere baare mey, are you a single child?"

She sighed.She thought they had potential to become a thing.She didn't want to mark the beginning with a lie but she had to.

She cooked up a story of six sisters and he bought it eagerly.He wasn't a good listener and she was glad.He interjected with anecdotes from his childhood and she let him take the lead. She didn't know if she could fib about her life anymore.

They shared a meal together, dimmed lights, all by themselves in an empty cafeteria.It felt like a date.

She thanked him again while it was time to part ways and he responded with a hug.

She froze a little and then awkwardly put her arm on his back.His hand was at the small of her back,simply holding her with one hand.Then it skimmed over a little and she didn't feel that comfortable with that liberty.

She pulled back and smiled.

He walked away with a wave and a promise to catch up again.

She ripped half the parantha and stuffed her mouth.

Scholarship here I come,baby!

She freshened up early next morning, without a word to Arthi and sneaked out.

Arthi's dog kept barking at jer as she tried on her sneakers.

"Abey, chup reh!" She hissed.

She was dressed in her only pair of tracks and a printed tee-shirt.

Her hair was clumpily pulled up into a ponytail.

She found an auto and rushed towards the gates.

The Academy was like a city on a hilltop. It broke down into buildings for junior college and college degree pursuing students.

Where was this place?

She decided to make a beeline towards the map and look for herself.

She peered into the grand carved map that was hoisted up on the pedestal.Her fingers roamed over the raised writing,different clubs and all.

Her fingers found the right one.

"PESP Club programme-Physical education, Sport & Physical activity."

She scribbled the directions on her hand and made her way through the thick grove of trees and the pathway speckled with leaves that crunched under her shoe.

The PESP was probably flooding with funds.The building was made of glass but not see through. It was intimidating.It had names of sponsors around the world engraved in glass on a panel at the side.

She pushed through the glass doors and squinted to look for an office.

Her brunette head did a 360-turn for a quick analysis. Maybe she was too early.Then she caught sight of moving figures on the first floor.

Aha.

She hurriedly skipped two steps at a time and was going to approach them when one of them turned at the heavy sound of her footsteps.

He raised an eyebrow.She forgot his name .He was Arthi's friend.

He stared at her and she at him.

He was the rugged tall man with harsh features. His tanned skin went well with the olive green shirt that he had folded upto his arms.

Even though he was not all that buff, he was still dholay-sholay.His arms were huge.

Unlike Prathik who looked like a boy-next-door.Innocent and harmless.

Arthi's friend looked grim at the moment.He gestured his companion to go ahead and walked towards her.

"Hi."

"Arthi ki friend," She labelled herself, hoping it would ring any bells.

He was looking much taller when he came closer but she wasn't intimidated.She just wanted some information.

"Kya hua, lost again?" He asked ,shoving his hand into his pocket. "You're not supposed to be here.This building is for scholarship students kiddo. Jao, left leke straight jaana you will find your friends."

"Arey, nahi nahi, am here to tryout," she said before he could throw her out, dhakke mar ke.

He tilted his head, eyes squinting in thought. "Konsi tryouts ho raha hai aaj?"

"Uhmmm, nahi ho raha hai--Matlab mujhe nahi pata...Mey bas chahti hu mey try karu scholarship k liye."

He sighed, "The scholarship tryouts are done for this term. Administrative work is going on to process the list of students.Am not sure if they will accept you after all this time."

"Try toh karun, kisse puchna hai batao na?" She asked, slightly miffed.She came all this way early in the morning.

He raised his eyebrows and she chickened a little, "Please sirji.Ap ache insaan lag rahe ho."

He chuckled, "Sure, sure.Mujhe buttering karne se koi fayda nahi hai, mey bhi yaha padta hoon.Teri yeh marketing skills tryouts mey dikhayegi?"

"Karungi na, ap bas rasta dikhaye..."

He shook his head and turned away on his heels.

She followed him behind eagerly, trying to peer over his shoulder.It was another matter altogether that she could barely reach his shoulder.

"Sir, mey--"

"I'm Sidharth, naam bhul gayi?" He muttered in his deep voice.His voice was all deep and gravelly.

"Sidharth ji, aap ki life mey sab acha ho waheguru ki kripa sey," she said meekly.

He snorted sarcastically and walked right ahead after an instruction, "Wait here until the doors open for you.

She nodded eagerly and he disappeared.The glass doors slid shut automatically.

She looked around, holding her files securely in her arm.

She had some experience in sports.She won many accolades in school and lost touch later. She should maybe pull up the school's website to show her picture in the achievements section....Hmmm.

A buzz went off and the doors opened.

"Come in."

She peeped in and looked left and right.

Sidharth was leaning on a table, sipping something from a cup.

She opened her mouth enthusiastically.
He shook his head and pointed to the microphone blinking on the table. She understood what that meant.She had seen it in the classrooms.The microphone was recording everything spoken in here.
He had already made a selection for her on the digital monitor which said, "Exceptions>Special approval."

She didn't have time to wonder how he got her permission to register last minute but whatever.She then refocused her view on the files at the table.

A voice sounded, "Fill the respective forms to continue registration. "

One thing about this academy that amused her was the minimalisation of human staff.

She stepped in with awe, hit with a wave of cold air.

The wall was carved with athletic postures and sports persons in bronze-ish paint. Accolades and trophies were displayed proudly on the cabinets. There was a red seat opposite from the monitor and mic.

Sidharth did not offer the seat but she plopped down anyway.Tiring day after all.

The table generated fresh hot papers with bold print from the thin feeder strip.

She picked up a pen with a flourish and tried to scribble away but it didn't work.She shook it back and forth with vengeance and it hit the desk opposite and slid down to the glass flooring.

She offered a sheepish smile to her companion and Sidharth silently slid another pen towards her.

She smiled and began to write.

He took a step forward, standing over her form with his cup of beverage in hand.

He pointed at the spelling mistakes and sighed when she wrote "Not yet" under Sex.

After making the corrections, the forms lost their elegance.They had corrections to spellings here and there.

Sidharth had striked off some fields on her behalf because she wasn't 18 yet. So apparently she didnt have to provide a detailed background of her family and criminal records if any because she was a minor.

She fussed with her dupatta while he gave one last scan to her form and fed it back into the scanner.The machine swallowed it.

She requested with a pleading gesture if she could try feeding her certificates in.He leaned on the table and gestured her to go ahead.

She enthusiastically pulled out her certificates and began to feed it one by one with a silent grin over the task.

She gave him a thumbs up and was going to thank him when he shoved her out of the office.

"You say one word in there,they will hear you," he muttered after the glass doors slid shut.

"Now what?" She asked, eager as a puppy.

"Now you can attend your classes until you get the circular. And pretend you dont know me in the PESP. We are strangers."

Shehnaz looked up at him puzzled, "Par aap anjaan ho!"

"Haan baba...I mean, don't make it obvious that I got you into the selection, okay?"

"Okay," Shehnaz offered a thumbs up in front of his face.

He looked at the tiny thumb wagging in front of his face and bit back a smile.

Shehnaz converted the gesture into a handshake and he looked down at her extended  hand in half-exasperation.

A moment later, he grasped her small hand in his and just for fun, squeezed her hand a little.

"Ahhh!" Shehnaz wailed even though Sidharth hadn't  really used much of his strength.

He grinned at her reaction and ruffled her hair, "Jaa baccha, do well."

If you all are thinking, yeh konsi school hai? Please note that this is going to be a little of a futuristic institution,acchi nahi lagi toh batana😅
I mean, we don't need any more human interventions,let the cuties have their privacy 😁