After nandini surprises everyone with her high test score, the students (led by pandit trilok chaurasia ) chant for manik to live up to his promise of carrying her around the school. The two had privately agreed to nullify that bet, but can't explain that to the others Without revealing that they have been spending time together since the past few days.
nandini mutters to manik not to misunderstand — she had nothing to do with this. He grumbles that she's a public menace, but sighs and tells her to go ahead and claim her piggyback ride. If everyone's going to assume he's a flake, he'd rather just get it over with. He grabs her wrist, and protective harshad arrives on the scene at just this moment, seeing nandini struggling against manik's grasp.
Harshad steps in and offers the piggyback ride instead, and while manik hadn't been eager to carry her, damned if he'll be upstaged by this guy. What ensues is a double-wrist-grab competition of whose back she'll climb on.
Harshad's more aggressive, and (literally) sweeps nandini off her feet to carry her outside. Shahid and navya reproach him for interfering, and he's so dense that he thought he was being helpful.
Now he asks suspiciously if nandini likes manik, to which she blurts that she doesn't. "He's cold and mean and lacks any spark of humanity. I totally hate him."
Nandini's presence in the study hall is such an anomaly that you can practically hear the minds being blown as people try to figure out how she got there. One such example: the vice principal, who takes great pride in manik as the school's star pupil and therefore can't understand how nandini squeaked through.
He asks trilok if he finds that odd, but he answers simply that hard work can yield good results. The other teachers are unconvinced. They even go so far as to speculate about cheating, though they make no accusations.
After the test school decides on an upcoming outing plan, and destiny again plays it's role so that manik and nandini get stuck in an athletic competition at trilok's suggestion, because he's determined to prove that nandini is no less than manik. All of them aren't enthusiastic, but are won over with bribe of partying all night if they win all three events.
Motivated by partying — and yeah, the competition between manik and nandini everyone who has been allocated other competitions they have taken part in practices for the competition, performing drills and running through relay simulations.
Manik (to nandini and others in her team): "I can bet that I will win and you are going to lose just like the way you would have been a failure if you didn't took my help"
Worse than insulting her is his air of "Oh, we're so above that," and nandini has to hold back harshad from launching into a fight. But when manik goes so far as to call them "pathetic," she has to speak up
Nandini: "What's pathetic about working hard? She gives harshad an inadvertent compliment by saying "harshad is super fast and athletic", which makes his day. She was just saying it to warn manik not to be so snooty, but harshad is, adorably, thrilled.
Nandini heads out to the field dressed in a mascot's costume. She takes advantage of her momentary anonymity to sneak up on a passing manik and pokes him in the butt.
Her brief satisfaction (and getaway) is ruined when she trips. He has to help her up, and flings off her mask to get a good look at the offender.
On to the first event. The competitors are lined up for a 15-person, 16-legged race, and the smarties (in blue) stumble along badly, since they didn't bother practicing or figuring out strategy. In contrast, the yellow-vested misfit team marches forward in unity for an easy victory.
Misfit Class erupts in cheers, and nandini and harshad clutch each other in celebration. Manik would very much like not to notice, but he sneers at the sight.
Sanjana and nyonika arrives during the second event, a team tug of war, taking care to stay out of manik and nandini's sight. They runs into soha, who is leading her team of cheerleaders in chants for manik.
Soha is eager to play up their acquaintance, but nyonika's puzzled reaction shows that soha hardly registers in her memory. Nyonika brightens to see that the girl's cheering for her son, as she was having a hard time deciding who to root for.
The last event is a relay race, which both manik and harshad are anchoring. But not without suffering some indignities. Shahid gives the misfits a nice head start in the first lap, but cabir, determined not to lose, makes up the difference in the next.
however he falls down, and loses precious seconds that he attempts to make up for by throwing the baton at the next runner, nandini.
Thankfully, nandini is a fast runner and she blows by her rival, clearing the way for harshad to carry them to victory.
But then, a curious thing happens: manik smiles directly at her, and this messes with her mind. Suddenly thrown into confusion, the two boys blur together in her mind, and her tunnel vision narrows to one point: manik.
With her mind messing with her eyes, nandini misses the hand-off to harshad and instead reaches for manik. He's awaiting his own teammate's baton and doesn't accept it; as he succeeds in his own hand-off, he thinks, "Idiot." Ouch. But he's not wrong.
Manik is the toast of his team, but what warms nyonika's heart is the smile on his face as he takes a moment to bask in the victory.
Nandini's team, on the other hand, is bummed to lose, particularly the party. The team clamors for nandini to arrange it since she lost the race, at which point harshad jumps to her defense. He takes the blame for the race, apologizing to nandini for bungling their hand-off.
His acceptance of blame means the class wants HIM to arrange a party, then, and unfortunately he doesn't have a money lying around to do that. Saving him from the wrath of a party-craving horde, nyonika makes her appearance and offers to treat them. Instead of revealing who her son is, she introduces herself simply as "nandini's fan."
That night, manik asks nandini about the baton pass, guessing that she got ragged on by her peers. Even so, nandini's in a good mood, saying that it was all okay because his mother arranged them a party, which surprises manik.
He sighs that nyonika always causes trouble, which he means affectionately. Even so, nandini speaks up to say she really likes her, and that his mother's presence brought her happiness today. Mom, listening just around the corner, is gratified to hear it.
Nandini explains that her own mother didn't came to her school: "she is always busy. She never comes in any of my events"
Perhaps mention of her mother rouses some sympathy in manik, or maybe it's just his growing interest in nandini, but in any case it's becoming clear his feelings are changing.
Flashback:
nandini: "i have to help prepare dinner"
Manik: "noooo, you should rest." Catching himself, he amends his words to say that: " I mean you are aways doing work and are not looking after yourself to which nyonika is going to be after me saying I don't look after my guest and blah blah blah. ....."
Flashback ends
Nandini interprets manik's comment about her costume as more mocking, since a compliment, even a grudging one, is completely beyond her expectation. Therefore she thinks that he told her "You had no ears" rather than what he really said: "You were cute".
Ashlok comes upon nyonika as she's updating her blog with her new photos.
Nyonika says with satisfaction, "Since nandini's been here, it feels like real people live in this house." She takes particular notice of a photo of manik after winning his race, because it's been a long while since he's has smiled like that.
The two families (malhotra's and murty's) have dinner at a restaurant, and as usual, manik is busy on his phone.
Mohin: " thanks manik for helping nandini with her test results"
Sanjana: "yah....Thankyou so much...It means a lot"
Manik politely plays down the compliment. nyonika jumps in and says that: " it's more impressive that nandini taught manik how to study", and the parents engage in a round of Thank-you, oh no, thank YOU.
Everyone finishes off their dinner. To manik's misfortune With nandini's tongue loosened, she reveals that "manik's a big fat meanie who treats me like I am nothing and called me a public menace who mooches off his family." The guilty look that flashes across his face is pretty gratifying; put that way, he comes off as quite the bad guy.
Nandini slurs, "Even if you're so great, can you just look down on people like that?" This declaration disappoints nyonika and Sanjana, who had thought the kids were well-matched and hadn't realized that nandini hates manik so much.
Manik retaliates by reciting nandini's confession letter, which swiftly turns the tables and mortifies her. She reluctantly admits that it's true she wrote it, but vows that she's just wiped out every last bit of lingering affection for him.
Nandini's proclamation is tested immediately when manik is pressed to carry her home by nyonika and sanjana as they want them to spend some time and sort out there differences however rishab was against but still agreed after a long argument.
Manik intentionally gave her a piggyback ride. That jolts her out of her tipsy haze and she wants to be put down, but he points out that "it shouldn't bother you to be carried since you are soooo over me, right?"
She hurriedly agrees, but manik can feel her heart racing against his back and can't resist commenting on it, which makes her pull back self-consciously.
He also teases her about her "severe condition — will you be able to nurse when you have babies? Meaning, of course, that your chest is flat." To himself (Man, i really know how to hit a pubescent girl where it hurts.)
Nandini remembers that taunt when she wakes in the morning, now painfully aware of her flat chest. An idea seizes her, and she stuffs her bra with socks, pleased with the more robust silhouette this produces. When manik's gaze takes note of her newly augmented chest, nandini smiles with satisfaction.
At breakfast, manik tries to teach her brother how to jump rope for an athletic test at school, because rishab is having trouble. Nandini offers advice, but manik sneers, loath to take suggestions from such a dimwit. nandini, to her credit, doesn't take manik's constant insults to heart and keeps treating him with friendliness.
Demonstrating how to jump, nandini's skills earn grudging respect from manik. He, always the Debbie Downer of the group, is reluctant to give nandini any props and sits there with his silent grumpyface.
Of course, all this jumping has an unintended side effect, which manik is the first to notice. Something lies crumpled on the ground, and it looks like... a sock?
Nandini looks down at her chest, then squeals in protest as she dives to retrieve the fallen sock before anyone else gets to it.
At school later that morning, the kids hang out before class begins, and nandini reaches for her book, not noticing that a photograph flutters down from inside it. It's the snapshot that manik's mother had stuck in there earlier.
And let's just say that without any context, it's pretty incriminating: it shows nandini and manik asleep at the table during one of their tutoring sessions.
As if that weren't bad enough, there's no faster way to attract the rest of the class's attention than to exclaim loudly, "Why are you sleeping with the manik malhotra ?"
With the photo posted on nyonika's blog, it takes no time at all for the news to spread through the school. Nandini tells her friends the truth, while soha stews in indignation and harshad nurses a broken heart.
As for manik? Yeah, he's not happy either.