May 2005

It was the day before the project submission and Vikram had arrived early for school as always. Sitting quietly in the empty class, he peeked out the window, to watch Aditya run.

A few minutes into staring at him, Aditya suddenly paused and turned his head towards the class. Vikram immediately dunked, scared and worried like he had been caught witnessing a murder.

How the fuck did Aditya know every damn time?

"What are you doing?" a voice rang out, making Vikram jump.

He turned around only to find Ruvee there. "Fuck!" he exclaimed. "You scared the shit out of me."

Ruvee narrowed her eyes. "What were you doing that got you so scared?" she asked, walking towards the window towards the front of the class to see what Vikram was looking at.

Fuck. Vikram thought. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Ruvee looked out and then at Vikram. He swore he could have died of a heart attack right there but his goddamn heart wasn't giving out.

"There's no one there."

Vikram sharply turned to see that Ruvee was telling the truth. Aditya was not in the field anymore. Was he already done with his laps?

He breathed in relief and sat down. Vikram did not know why he was being so jumpy about this. What was the big deal about him looking out the window and coincidentally finding Aditya running? He could have told Ruvee that but he didn't because that would entail lying. It wasn't really a coincidence that he had consciously decided to come to his classroom instead of going to the fifth floor.

"How come you're here so early?" Vikram asked Ruvee.

"My dad had a medical emergency so he dropped me off on the way."

"Your dad is a doctor?"

Ruvee nodded. "My dad's a neurologist and my mom's a psychiatrist."

"And you want to be an editor?" he asked. "Don't doctors naturally breed doctors?"

Ruvee laughed and took a seat not far from Vikram. "My older brother was the one who broke the cardinal rule first. I just followed."

"What does your brother do?"

"He's a chef." she said. "My parents were furious when they found out he wanted to be a chef but he didn't change his mind. Even got himself enrolled in a course in Paris and informed my parents the night before he was about to leave."

Vikram laughed. "They must have flipped out."

"Oh, they did. My house was a war zone. But he didn't budge and eventually my parents understood."

That sounded nice. Vikram wondered if his dad would understand if Vikram chose a different path than what he had laid out for him, that was when he was lucid.

"Did you always want to be an editor?" Vikram asked curiously. It was nice talking to someone about this without having them force their opinions on him.

Ruvee shook her head. "I actually thought I'd want to be a doctor, just like my parents but sometime in 11th standard, I found my calling."

"How?" Vikram asked.

Ruvee shrugged. "I don't know. I was very good at writing and Mr. Jha asked me to assist him on an article with the school newsletter and one article turned to another, then to another and then I was asked to be the assistant editor and before I knew it, I realized this is what I want to do for the rest of my life."

She then looked at Vikram curiously. "Haven't you thought about what you want to do?"

There it was, the impending question and it was out in the open now. He slowly shook his head, waiting for her to ask him how he could be so careless and tell him that it was very important to decide and how he was not doing himself any good by being aimless.

But he was wrong.

"Well you still have time to decide." she said instead, taking Vikram by surprise. He considered her words for a second but realized that it wasn't time that he was worried about. It was that no matter how much time he had, he still didn't know if he could figure out what he wanted.

"Mr. Jha thinks I lack passion in life." Vikram confessed. He recalled how he had come to the school to get his final result for 11th and Mr. Jha had counselled him on his future. "He thinks I need to find something that I am interested in."

"Don't you like photography?" Ruvee asked.

Vikram nodded. "But I don't think I can build a career on it."

Ruvee's lips turn into a pout which Vikram found kind of cute. "Why do you think that?" she asked.

Vikram was about to answer when suddenly someone walked into the classroom. Both eyes turned to find Aditya there.

Aditya stopped on his tracks and looked at Vikram and then at Ruvee. "Did I disturb something?" he asked.

"No, no." Ruvee said. "Please come in. We were just talking about what our futures would look like."

Aditya looked at her but didn't move.

Why was this so awkward so suddenly? Vikram didn't know why Aditya was behaving so coldly again.

It was Ruvee who tried to break the ice. "What do you want to do when you grow up, Aditya?"

"I am grown up." he said casually, still not budging from the door which was annoying Vikram for some reason.

Ruvee rolled her eyes and waved her hand in dismissal. "I mean what do you want to be professionally?"

Aditya's eyes travelled first to Vikram and then back at her. Vikram had no idea why he was so nervous when it was Aditya who was supposed to answer Ruvee's question. Would he answer though? Vikram knew he didn't like talking to people much.

But then, he did answer. "I want to be a chef."

The answer surprised Vikram. And then it made sense. So this was why he was working in the hotel kitchen.

"Another chef in the house." Ruvee exclaimed, raising her hand for a high-five. Aditya looked away from her, pinned his eyes to the floor and began walking towards his seat.

For a second Vikram thought he would keep Ruvee hanging. There was nothing more insulting than an unreturned high-five. Vikram could die of the secondhand embarrassment he felt. But nothing of that sort happened. As Aditya passed Ruvee, he slammed his hand into hers, despite the fact that his eyes were still on the floor.

Vikram couldn't help but smile. Every day with Aditya was a new discovery. And the more he knew about him, the more Vikram wanted to find out.

The past few days had been very illuminating for Vikram. He had found more things about Aditya that probably no one else knew. He found out that although Aditya loved reading books, which was an astonishingly 3 per week, he only read fiction. Everything else bored him. Vikram found out that although Aditya was good at remembering everything else, he wasn't too good with numbers and when he saw them in a sequence, he would get them jumbled. 'Quantitative dyslexia' is what he had called it, although Vikram wasn't sure if it was the right term to use.

Vikram had also found out that Aditya wore a key around his neck. He had seen it three days ago when Shruti dropped a spoon at lunch and Aditya reached over to pick it up. The key, dangling from his chain had fallen out of his collars but he hid it back almost instantly. Vikram wanted to ask about it but he wasn't sure if it was his place. They had been hanging out a lot lately and Vikram was sure he definitely did not hate Aditya anymore but they were not quite friends yet. So he decided to keep the question for later.

Ruvee quickly followed Aditya and found her way to sit next to Vikram which had become her regular place. "What are you guys doing later today?" she asked.

"Why?" Vikram asked back.

"I don't know, I thought we could hang out or something."

It was Aditya who spoke up. "Don't you have friends?"

Vikram wanted to hit Aditya on the head. How could he be so rude? That too on her face? Vikram too had noticed that Ruvee didn't have that many friends, or any at all and she liked hanging out with Vikram for some reason but he would never have the nerve to ask her something like this honestly.

"Would I be hanging out with you losers if I had friends?" she asked back. There was no hint of offence on her face.

"I suppose not." Aditya said.

What did just happen? Vikram blinked blankly trying to understand. What was this love/hate relationship between them?

"So?" she asked. "Are you guys free?" she nudged Aditya lightly on his shoulder. "You can even bring Shruti."

"I can't." Aditya said. "The project is due tomorrow."

Ruvee seemed a little disappointed by it.

"How about tomorrow?" Vikram asked. Ruvee had been a good friend to him, especially after Shruti had abandoned him for Aditya and it kind of made him sad to see her be disappointed. "We'll be free after school."

Ruvee's eyes lit up but Aditya turned around and stared at Vikram. Vikram didn't know what his face showed because, in the very next moment, Aditya nodded. "Fine, tomorrow." he said.

"Great." Ruvee said. "Let's watch a movie at my house tomorrow."

"Make sure it's romantic." Aditya said. "Vikram likes romantic movies."

Was he... teasing Vikram?

"Really?" Ruvee asked. "You do?"

"No. Absolutely not." Vikram said in a protest.

"Then what kind of movies do you like?"

Vikram thought about it. He had no actual clue. He had never tried to figure out. "I like those movies with all the people fighting and guns and cars."

"Action." Aditya said, "Those are action movies."

"Yes." Vikram said. "I like action movies."

"Doesn't seem like it." Ruvee said suspiciously. "I mean it's fine if you like romantic movies as well."

"I don't, okay?" Vikram asked.

"Okay." Ruvee said, "We'll watch an action movie." She picked her bottle up to drink water but realized it was empty. "I'll be right back." she said, running out of the class to refill the bottle.

"Very convincing." Aditya mocked.

"Shut up!" Vikram spat.

If Aditya had turned around, Vikram would have seen that there was a big smile on Aditya's face that he was harbouring.

It was around seven in the evening when Vikram arrived at Ruvee's house with Aditya and Shruti. At first, Shruti had completely rejected the idea of going to Ruvee's place to hang out but when Aditya said that he was going too, Shruti got on board immediately.

Ruvee, in her PJs and a loose t-shirt, greeted them with a big smile. Vikram went in with the others and immediately fell in love with the interiors of the house. Ruvee's place was magnificent and white and airy and very, very contemporary in terms of the setup. The high hung ceiling just after the foyer was graced with a huge chandelier and everything around was spotless. As they walked to the living room, Vikram noticed that the whiteness of the place was evened out perfectly with furniture in shades of dark grey.

His own house was very vintage European and he didn't have any care for it.

Ruvee led them to the living room that had a huge TV and surround sound attached to it.

"Have a seat." Ruvee said and Vikram hesitated when he noticed that even the tufted fur rug under the sofa was a spotless white. "It's okay." Ruvee said, "Just take your shoes off."

Vikram followed and so did the others and he quietly took to one corner of the sofa that directly faced the TV. They were here to watch a movie, right?

Shruti sat next to him and Aditya was on the other end of the sofa.

"It's just me and my brother in the house so you guys can relax." Ruvee said.

"Here." Vikram said, handing out the box of pastries he had brought over.

"Oh, right." Aditya said and gave her the box of sweets he had brought with him.

"You guys really didn't have to bring anything." Ruvee said, politely taking the boxes from them.

"That's why I didn't bring anything..." Shruti added. "except my mani-pedi kit. I noticed how ugly your cuticles were..."

"Why don't you keep them in the kitchen?" Vikram interjected, stopping Shruti from whatever she was saying.

Ruvee laughed and nodded. "I'll be right back."

After she was gone, Vikram turned to Shruti sharply. "Can't you behave for once?"

"What?" Shruti asked, feigning innocence. "She really does have ugly..."

"Stop." Vikram said. "We are guests here and I swear to god Shruti if you do anything stupid, I will tell your sister about it."

Shruti gasped and immediately shut up.

"Not her mom or dad?" Aditya asked curiously. "But her sister?"

Vikram nodded and laughed a little. "Her parents spoil her because she's the youngest but her sister doesn't take any of Shruti's bullshit."

Shruti scowled at the mention of her sister.

Ruvee emerged with coke just then. "My brother's getting the popcorn." she said, placing the drinks on the coffee table in front of them and walking over to the TV. "So which movie do you guys want to watch?" she asked, picking up a stack of DVDs and checking them out. "I have... Planet of the Apes, Bridget Jones's Diary..."

"Ooh let's watch Bridget Jones's Diary. I love romantic movies." Shruti said hurriedly.

Ruvee's eyes locked with Vikram and Aditya and all three of them tried to hide their smiles.

"What else do you have?" Vikram asked, clearing his throat.

"Umm" Ruvee began again. "Sweet Home Alabama, Daredevil, Two Weeks' Notice, Underworld, Finding Neverland, I robo..."

"Finding Neverland." Aditya suddenly said and everyone turned to him, a little surprised that he had voiced an opinion as opposed to just going along with everything. "What?" he asked. "I haven't seen this one yet."

"I haven't either." Vikram said.

"Me too." Ruvee added and they all waited for Shruti.

"Hmm?" she asked looking disinterested already. "Oh... I don't care. I will be busy with my own work anyway."

"Okay then." Ruvee announced. "Finding Neverland it is."

She was about to put the DVD in the player when someone walked in with a loud announcement and a big tray in his hand. "I brought popcorn and snacks."

Whoever it was, lowered the tray and Vikram and Aditya's eyes flew wide open.

"Gaurav?" Vikram asked and then turned to Ruvee. "He's your brother?"

"Yeah." Ruvee said, casually. "Wait... how do you know each other?"

"I work at his dad's hotel." Gaurav announced and placed the tray on the table.

Ruvee found this very alarming. "The Blooming Orchid Group belongs to your dad?"

Vikram nodded. He didn't really like talking about it.

"You guys are fucking rich." Ruvee then said and realized what she had done. "I am sorry. I didn't mean it to sound like that, it's just that I am surprised."

Vikram was about to say that it was alright when Gaurav interrupted. "And Aditya, I didn't know you hung out with your juniors."

"Juniors?" Shruti laughed, butting in. "He's in our class."

Fuck. Shit. Fucking shit. Vikram thought. This was supposed to be a secret. Vikram looked at Aditya who looked completely lost.

"Do you know everyone I know?" Ruvee asked suddenly, taking Gaurav's focus away from the lie for a second. "Don't you have a life of your own?"

But it was not that easy. It was obvious Gaurav had figured it out.

"Wait a minute..." Gaurav began but Vikram cut him short.

"Did you leave something on the stove?" Vikram asked. "I smell something burning."

"What?" Gaurav looked around hysterically and dashed to the kitchen, believing him.

Vikram immediately got up and rushed to Ruvee. "Gaurav can't know Aditya's underage. If he finds out, Aditya might get fired."

"Fuck." Ruvee whispered back.

Gaurav came back almost instantly. "There was nothing on." he said and turned to Aditya. "Aditya, if you're all in the same class, it means..."

"Gaurav" Ruvee said, rushing to him and taking his hand in hers. "Can I talk to you for a minute in the kitchen?"

"No, I want to..."

Ruvee yanked his hand. "It'll only take a minute." she said and immediately nodded at Vikram to follow.

"I'll be right back." Vikram said and rushed off too.

"What is it?" Gaurav asked. "I need to talk to Aditya."

"You can't." Vikram said. "Not in front of Shruti."

Ruvee looked at Vikram, wondering where he was going with all this.

"You see... umm..." Vikram began, not entirely sure where this was going. He looked around, looking for a save. He was about to blurt out the truth when his eyes fell on a book on the counter by the sink. 'Schizophrenia: A Very Short Introduction' the title read. At that moment, Vikram thanked Ruvee's mother for being a psychiatrist.

"She has schizophrenia." Vikram muttered without an ounce of regret.

"What?" Ruvee asked, quite taken aback at what she had heard.

"That's right." Vikram continued. "I am sorry, no one knows about it so don't mention it to anyone."

Gaurav shook his head. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, you see..." Vikram said, "She's been in love with Aditya for so long that she flipped out when he passed out of the school. Now she believes Aditya is her boyfriend and in the same class as us."

"She does?" Gaurav asked, shocked by what he was hearing.

Vikram nodded sympathetically. "She's very sensitive about all this so please, don't mention anything about Aditya being our senior."

"But doesn't she figure out the truth when Aditya doesn't attend school?"

Fuck!

"That she does..." Vikram continued. Where was this going? "But we tell her that he's in football practice all day."

"And she believes you?"

"Yeah, Vikram..." Ruvee asked, crossing her arms. "Does she believe you?"

"Of... of course. She knows Aditya loves football."

"And what about Aditya?" Gaurav asked.

Vikram faked a laugh. "Oh you know, Aditya's so kind and considerate that he doesn't want to break Shruti's heart."

"Yes." Gaurav said, his eyes mellowed. "Aditya is like that."

That was a surprise. Gaurav was having a hard time believing about Shruti but immediately believed the lie Vikram had said about Aditya?

Gaurav pursed his lips and shook his head. "That poor girl." he said, peeking out of the kitchen and looking at Shruti who was examining her nails under the light. "You could always tell there was something wrong going up there with her." he said, pointing to the top of his head.

Ruvee suppressed a laugh and Vikram shot her a warning glare.

"Gaurav do you mind getting my phone from my room upstairs?" she asked, finally ending the conversation.

Gaurav nodded. "Take care of her, okay?" he said, looking at Shruti one final time.

"Sure." Vikram said and Gaurav vanished.

Ruvee looked at Vikram and crossed her arms. "You know how you said you don't know what you want to be?" she asked.

Vikram nodded.

"Maybe you should be a fiction writer." Ruvee suggested.

"Really?" Vikram asked, beaming.

"No you stupid fuck, that was the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Just be glad that Gaurav believed you."

"I was actually planning to tell him the truth."

"It's good that you didn't." Ruvee said. "He doesn't bend rules." and then added something else. "He just bends in other ways." With this, she laughed.

"That's so rude." Vikram protested but he had to admit, it was kind of funny.

"I can make gay jokes on my brother, okay?"

Vikram's eyes shot up. "You know he's gay?"

"Oh please." Ruvee said. "Like he can hide that from me."

"Do your parents know too?"

Ruvee shook her head. "I think he will tell them when the time is right"

"That must be difficult for him."