Wedding Vibes

Prologue

Age 11

"I'm sure Dumbledore faked his death."

"Oh, come on, Maya. Not this again!"

"He was too clever to just die from falling off a tower!"

"I told you, I'm not starting with that nonsense again."

"Language, Kalki!" Ruchika snaps at me. I stare at her back in confusion as she continues her rounds around the cafeteria. She yells at a group of seventh graders a few tables away before finally leaving us alone; the seventh graders glare at her hard enough to burn holes through her. I relate to them; Ruchika's one of the most uptight people I know, and rumor has it that she once cried because she got an A in her math exam. I mean, If I got an A in math, I'd be giving pedhas* to my entire society and the next couple ones over.  

*(Indian sweet)

But to each their own, I guess.

Maya snaps her fingers in front of my face, and presses her lips together. "Aaaaaaaand? You ready to hear my reasoning?"

I shake my head admantly. "Nope. Just nope."

We engage in a mini staring contest before she gives up, rolling her eyes in an exaggeratedly and stealing one of my Parle G biscuits. Her messy bangs shadow her eyes as she shakes her head. "I shall yet make a believer out of you, you filthy Muggle," she declares dramatically, throwing out her right hand with a haughty expression. I duck before it accidentally thwacks me in the face, and we both burst out laughing. Maya's the most comically dramatic person I have the pleasure of knowing; and while she doesn't gossip or spread rumors, I know that she doesn't exactly mind sticking her nose into other people's business. I wonder how long it'll take her to bring up the latest snippet of gossip she's heard; it certainly won't be long, though, if the past is any proof of that. One, two, three, four-

"Hey, did I tell you how Alia and Aryan, the one with the red chashma, got together? They have such an ajeeb* story; it all started with Chandni ma'am. Can you believe it? Chikni Chameli! OurChikni Chameli!"

*(Weird)

Although Maya's told me this story before, I grin at the mention of our History teacher and our cringey nickname for her. Although she did earn it herself; who told her to dance to the song with the staffroom door wide open for anyone to see?

"So anyway, it began when Chikni Chameli sent Alia to Aman sir's class to borrow his textbook..."

I zone out, looking at Maya as she talks, her face all scrunched up and hands a blur. I have no idea how she keeps up with all the news; is there some kind of T.V. channel only popular people can tune into? Because let's face it; when there's any kind of drama in progress, Maya is usually to be found in the theoretical front seat eating theoretical popcorn, while I'm the weird kid in the back reading a textbook (theoretically, of course). Me and Maya are total opposites, though that doesn't affect our friendship. I'm pretty sure that if we hadn't been forced to sit on the same bench for the entirety of the hell known as second grade, we wouldn't even have talked to each other. But as the fates (and the teachers) would have it, we ended up in trio with another guy, which turned into a duo when he became too popular to hang out with us. His loss, I guess. 

But Maya's pretty much the best friend a girl could ask for. She's one of those brutally honest people, which means that I don't have to worry about her being fake, and pretty much okay with everything, usually cause she doesn't give a shit about it any way (unless it's drama or my love life; she gives a lot of shits then). Plus, she's excellent at talking sense into me when I'm at my stupidest- which happens more often than I'd like to admit.