Nidhi's POV
I was standing there in shock. What was Randhir's problem? Why was he being so egoistic? Meera shook me out of my reverie.
"Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" she asked.
"No, I am fine." I said. Meera and I walked back to the dorm and watched some TV before going to bed. My alarm woke me up at 6:00 am to get ready for the Aspire team meeting. After pouring a bucket of ice cold water, Meera also joined me in getting ready.
We reached Professor Derek's office five minutes before 7:00 and met the other team members. The guy who was always next to Randhir introduced himself to me.
"I am Neel. And listen, I am sorry for Randhir's behavior from yesterday. He has had a tough past." Neel apologized. Why was he apologizing?
"Neel, why are you apologizing? If that Khadoos wants to apologize then he will do it. Anyway nice to meet you. I am Nidhi and this is my BFF Meera." I said, introducing Meera and I to him.
Meanwhile, Meera and Neel were looking at each other, lost in each other's eyes. I decided to let them have their moment and moved back, only to bump into a hard chest.
"I am so sorry!" I said looking at the person behind me. He had the deepest blue eyes.
"No Problem Miss." He said. "I am Carter."
"Nidhi. Nice to meet you." I said, smiling at him. Carter's stare was creepily intimidating.
"If your introductions are all done, can we get into my office please?" said a booming voice. Mr. Derek. I broke my gaze from Carter's gaze and followed the team members into Derek Sir's office.
He counted the team members. "Only Nine? Where is Mr. Shekhawat?" He asked.
Where was Randhir? Was he still upset from yesterday?
"Let me make this clear team. You will always report on time to all of the meetings. Randhir will be penalized for this." Prof. Derek said firmly. Randhir was going to get in a lot of trouble!
"Now team, your first mission is going to be a regional Dream Fest. You will compete with different teams from different colleges and prove your knowledge. Tomorrow, there will be a mock trial to see how you do." He said.
"Please let Randhir know about this and ask him to meet me in my office as soon as possible. I will see you all tomorrow at 2:00pm." He said and dismissed us.
Meera and I walked down the hall, excited.
"Wow, a Dream Fest...it's very hard to win you know!" she said.
"You have heard of it?" I asked.
"Yes! A girl, Janine was in the team and was my lab partner in physics. Apparently our college has never qualified past state."
"Whoa, I hope we qualify this year. By the way, did you notice Randhir's disappearance?" I asked.
"Whatever it is, I am glad he isn't here. He has already troubled you twice and it's not even been 24 hours." Meera said. Then my phone buzzed.
"Clinical Rotations at the infirmary now!" read the text. It was from my senior Dinah. I did rotations once a week to tend to sick students. The infirmary was led by a single doctor and nurse but we covered for them at times and they supervised us at the job.
"Gotta go Meera. Have to go to my shift at the infirmary." I said. I walked upstairs and grabbed my blue scrubs and wore them over my clothes. I pulled my hair in a pony tail and reported to Dinah.
"There is a third year student who injured himself when boxing, please treat him. He is in bed #4." Dinah said.
I walked to the bed, only to see Randhir sloppily attempting to put antiseptic liquid on his bloody knuckles. Why does this guy always trouble me!
"Randhir! What are you doing? Let me do it!" I said. He looked up and saw me in shock.
"Why can't this girl leave me alone...." he said, muttering.
"Hello, I work here. Now give me the antiseptic liquid." I said, trying to grab the bottle from him.
"I will do it myself." he said, stubbornly.
"Shut up Randhir. Let me do it." I said, yanking the cotton out of his hand.
"No way!" He said, resisting at first but then allowing me to bandage his bloody knuckles.
"Ivan yaar kooda sanda pottu vandhano, theriyala. (Who knows who he fought with)." I said, muttering in tamil as I cleaned the blood.
"Adhu unakku thevai illa. (You don't need to know)" Randhir said. I looked up at him, surprised. He knew Tamil?
"Shocked right? But you don't need to know all of that." Randhir said. I decided to let him know of Derek Sir's warning.
"You know Derek Sir wants to meet you ASAP? He is super pissed that you missed the first meeting." I said, as I finished wrapping gauze around his knuckles.
"Oh shit, I have to go now!" Randhir said. He yanked his hand from my hold and ran towards the door. The gauze was unraveling as he took off.
"Randhir, your gauze is-" I yelled after him. Ugh...whatever. Let him come back later to do it.
I finished the rest of my shift and then walked to the extra-curricular bulletin board. There were many different clubs I wanted to join but I was limited to only one or two because the Aspire club would take up most of my time.
I saw a Desi Student Association and decided to sign up for it. It looked fun so I might as well join. I wasn't into clubs in my first and second year of college because I hated mingling with people but I decided to change myself this year and become more social. Then I spotted a flyer pinned next to the DSA club flyer.
It read Bollywood Rockerz! It was a band that played Indian songs. That sounded like my thing! I loved to sing and this would be perfect! It had been close to 5 years since I last sang, because of personal issues. But nobody would prevent me here.
Auditions were today evening. I decided to sign up for a female lead position.
Meera spotted me by the board.
"What are you planning on joining?" She asked me.
"I didn't wanna fill too much up on my plate so I was deciding on DSA and the Bollywood band?" I said.
"That's all? I'm joining my favorite Bollywood Actor's club, which meets off campus, DSA, Art Club and Bollywood Dance!" She said excited.
I was already volunteering at Sky and Stars, which was a community center for underprivileged children. On top of that, I have to study for college, participate in the Aspire team and potentially sing in the band! So it was best to keep things low key.
I smiled in response and we went to the cafe for lunch. After attending my Childhood Development lecture, Meera and I went to Auditions for the band. Meera couldn't sing but she came along for moral support. I spotted Neel setting up the sound system.
"Hey Neel!" I said.
"Hey Nidhi, are you here to audition?" He asked me.
"Yes. Are you in charge?" I asked him
"I'm the keyboard player but you could say that I am in charge. Our lead male singer couldn't make it today so we are just trying out for a guitarist, drum player and a female lead." He said.
"Well I am here to try out for a female lead." I said.
"Great! What bollywood song are you singing?"
I decided to sing my favorite song and managed to execute it with medium perfection as I had not sung anything in years.
After finishing, there was pin drop silence in the room. I spotted Meera and Neel looking intently at each other. The second time today and they made such a cute couple! Then Meera and Neel clapped loudly along with a few other students.
"That's it. It's final, you are our singer!" Neel said.
"But Neel, will it match with the male singer? Won't you have to check with him?" I asked.
"Uhh....well the thing is Randhir is the male singer...." Neel said. Randhir?
"Please tell me you are joking Neel." I said, walking down from the stage."
"No..." he said.
"Uh Neel...in that case....I don't think it's gonna work out." I said.
"I will handle him. But please join the band, we need a good female voice!" Neel pleaded. Well, so much for avoiding Randhir.
"Ok. I'm in." I said. Neel shook hands with me and said that we would be meeting after the Aspire team mock trial tomorrow.
As Meera and I walked back to the dorms, she was gushing over my singing.
"I never knew you were so good!" Meera said.
"Well, I gave up music in high school. I was selected to sing solos and participate in big contests. But my mom and dad never came with me to any of my performances. Because Naina would have a shoot then, or Naina would be ill and they would have to stay with her. My twin wanted the limelight to herself. And I let her take it." I said simply. I had nights where I used to cry to myself, why my parents preferred Naina to me. I could still feel the ache that my parents never knew about my musical talents.
Then I distracted myself. "Meera, what's with you and Neel?" I asked her.
"Wha-What? Nothing" she said, protesting.
"Yaa....sure...." I said, a knowing smile on my lips.
"No seriously! Bollywood Actors are the only guys in my life." She said.
"Keep telling yourself that." I said, chuckling.
When I lay down in bed that night, one thought kept bothering me. How would Randhir react to this?
Bollywood: Sobriquet for the Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai, the most populous city of the Republic of India.