"Surprise!" Riya and Mishti cried together.
"Why on earth are you two taking the bus now?", I asked.
"Because, real friends stick together babe", Riya said, "We thought we'd take the bus in the mornings from now".
"Yeah", said Mishti.
"But your houses are like one kilometre away from school", I said.
"Don't tell us you prefer taking this bus ride by yourself", said Mishti sitting down next to me.
"I won't", I grinned at Mishti who had already pulling out her Physics textbook and disappeared behind it. This was classic Mishti behaviour.
Mom had suggested I switch schools because of the distance. But after spending thirteen years in St Xavier's, that idea was unthinkable for me. And now the fact that both my best friends were taking the school bus just for me was very cheesy yet very touching.
"Uncle, please..music", Riya said after ten seconds.
"I'm not allowed to", the driver said sharply, "Your principal sir will kill me".
"Uh, come on!", Riya shouted exasperatedly, making several junior kids turn around and look at us. But Riya pretended like that wasn't exactly what she had expected and slid down her seat, "School bus is supposed to be fun", she groaned loudly.
"Don't make animal noises. Sit quietly", our bus driver said stiffly.
Riya sat up instantly, "Did he just say animal noises? I'm not an animal! I'm..."
"Not a Fine Arts Secretary, anymore babe", I said gently "Remember? That was last year".
"Okay, but still I was a Fine Arts Secretary dammit!"
The only thing Riya had been seriously bothered about since middle school was her social status inside the St Xavier's campus.
But I had to give it to my friend.
With one thing and another, Riya had managed to get for herself what she wanted most, before leaving school. Popularity.
"Only another eight months of school life", Riya said "I intend to fully enjoy the 'senior' status before we leave."
"Enjoy as in getting juniors to do all your dirty work", Mishti said from behind her book, "That's so mean Riya. Did you know that?"
"No. We just like to have some fun", Riya said "We are not so mean girls".
"You can't exploit your position".
"Yeah because Aaliyah won't exploit it at all".
"So you're going to descend to her level?"
Riya fell silent for a second. Aaliyah had been Riya's nemesis for a very long time. She and her friend Maya were the mean girls in our school lives. They hated Riya the most. They also hated me and Mishti but not as much as they hated Riya.
"And anyway after going for therapy last year, Aaliyah's been a lot better", Mishti said "I heard she's joined some volunteer program".
"She's doing it for her own advantage", Riya drawled "When has Aaliyah ever done anything with good intention? My guess is that when she finishes the program and gets a certificate, she can mention it on her resume".
"That's harsh", I said.
"I'm just saying that poisonous toadstools don't change their spots", said Riya wisely.
"I'm just thinking", Mishti said.
"What?", I asked.
"I didn't do it", Mishti said vaguely.
"Yeah that makes it very clear", said Riya "It would've been very annoying if you hadn't explained yourself".
"I didn't tell Reyansh that we're taking the bus from today", Mishti said.
Reyansh Malhotra was Mishti's boyfriend and they had been together since last year.
"Do you have to tell Reyansh everything?", Riya asked rolling her eyes.
"He might be upset", Mishti shrugged.
"Zoya if this goes on", Riya said turning to me "Then I think just you and me will be going to Miami".
Miami was a fantasy plan that me, Riya and Mishti had concocted back in eighth grade. We'd decided that the three of us would remain single forever and go on a girls trip to Miami as soon as we had earned enough for that. But to be honest, for the last half an hour I'd been feeling that Riya might be going to Miami alone.
Mishti frowned at Riya and burrowed herself further into her book.
Riya stared around looking bored. She then spotted two ninth graders were getting ready with the newspaper to read the morning news at the school assembly.
"Can you give us that paper for a second?", Riya asked.
The girls obliged immediately looking at Riya with awe. Most of our juniors adored Riya and were thrilled to do anything for her.
"Eighteen year old dancer Lisa Millican gets selected for award show performance", Riya read from the paper.
"Omkara must be very excited", I said.
Lisa and Omkara had been our immediate seniors at school and had passed out from St Xavier's last year.
"They're not together anymore", Riya mumbled.
"Oh", I said quietly.
Riya then started complaining about how the school bus didn't have any 'cool' facilities.
But I only barely heard what she was saying. That was because I had just seen something beneath Lisa's article.
There was a photograph of five people. At the ends were two very much identical looking guys in white T-shirts and torn jeans holding identical guitars and singing. Right to the centre was a girl in red hair, also singing. Left to the centre was the shabby looking one of the lot sitting behind a drum set. He had short untidy hair and bore vestiges of very handsome features but seemed to have made zero effort to enhance them.
And at the middle of the stage was a guy holding a guitar and looking like he was singing his life out. He had long hair. Really long hair. That fell into his eyes. And he was wearing a black jacket.
I read the headline.
Enchanted Stone, the up-and-coming teen band from Mumbai with lead singers Rahul Saxena and Sia Thomson...
Woah!
I hadn't realised I had just met a local celebrity.
"What are you reading in there for so long, huh?", Riya asked in a bored voice "Give the paper back to those girls".
I was dying to tell her and Mishti about the whole thing but somehow I couldn't.
I tried to picture their reactions if I did tell them.
Mishti's voice immediately bore into my brain.
"I'm not against these things Zoya. But I'd say don't get too involved with someone who's out of your league. Like..Reyansh is our classmate and we know him well. But this guy is a stranger. I know he helped you but you have to analyse the fact that he probably would've done it even if there was someone else in your place".
I then pictured Riya's reaction with her lips twitching into a smug smile and eyes dancing with amusement as she cried, "Oh my Goddd! Zoya, that is so dope, girl! I'd be flying if I were you. And long hair and jacket, did you say? Holy, shit! He sounds so badass. Find his Instagram handle and send him a request ASAP!"
I was so preoccupied that I didn't realise we had drove into the school campus until I heard Riya shouting, "This is so much more majestic than walking in like chumps through the side gate".
I knew then, that Riya was going to stick to the school bus for the rest of the year.
Anything that made her look 'majestic' or something on those lines was fine with her.
In fact, had it not been for me and Mishti sitting inbetween her and the window, Riya would've poked her head out and waved at the crowd of students below.
"What's with you?", Riya asked seeing me zoned out, "Are you thinking of some boy?"
"What? Of course not!", I said quickly and changed the topic, "What happened between Omkara and Lisa by the way?"
"What do you mean what happened?", Riya said sourly, "The girls get famous. They dump the boys. It's universal".
That was Riya. Things were that black or white for her.
She never realised that between black and white, there were fifty shades of grey. Pun intended.