Something is blooming...

Thud! I heard someone banging my door.

"Get up you lazy pig." Mithun screamed.

'Why someone always keeps disturbing my sleep everyday..?' I asked myself.

Thud! Thud!! "Come out Dumbo. Show your ugly face." Mithun screamed again.

"Stop it, Mithun!! If I come out, this is your last day on Earth. Better go or else I will definitely commit a sin by killing a buffalo named Mithun." I replied in a rather frustrated tone.

"Let's see that too.. Come out and show your strength." Mithun called me for a battle.

I couldn't take this anymore. I took a cup , poured water into that and then opened the door Anddd... SPLASH!!!

It's all over him and I closed the door immediately. I could hear him saying, " I'm going to kill you!! Mom.. Look what she did."

I couldn't stop laughing after hearing this. Then, I went back to my bed and was thinking why is this guy up? This is his sleeping time.

Then, I heard another voice.

"Come down, Meghna! We have to talk." Mom shouted.

I got freshened up, then went down. Everyone was waiting for me in the dining area. I took a seat. Mithun gave me a weird look, like he is going to take revenge on me very soon, but it seemed funny to me the way he looked.

Mom started talking, " Ok now, I'm going to say something."

Everyone looked at her in a confused manner.

She continued, " Next week we are going to attend a marriage reception."

We all responded together, "Oh! No!!"

"Whose reception?" Dad asked.

"It's Brinda's daughter, Richu. She called yesterday to remind me about this." Mom said in an excited tone.

Dad nodded and said, "Ok.. We will go."

Mithun and me at the same time asked, " Should I have to come?"

"It's your cousin's reception. Is this your reaction? If you guys didn't come, everyone will start asking about you both and eventually will be sad." Mom responded in a low and sad voice.

Alter ego got up, " Sounds like if you guys didn't attend the reception, there won't be any function and everyone will be sitting in the corner, whining about your absence."

Mithun saw Mom's face showing a sad emoji he said, "Ok Ok. I will come."

Me also nodded.

(You will know soon why we hesitate to go to these functions.)

Mom's sad emoji face turned to happy emoji face and said, " So we need to plan the gift too. Meghna, You have any idea?"

Alter ego responded," Say yes! The perfect gift for your cousin is definitely your absence, Meghna!"

I can't take this anymore, so I said, "You guys decide, I'm getting late."

Dad also said the same.

"Ok we will decide later." Atlast mom finished.

On my way to school, I saw a sports shop. I remembered Priyanka saying Chris is a football player. I started smiling. I don't know what will happen today but I need to see Chris, he makes me feel good. Will he remember me..? Let's c.

I reached school, Priyanka was waiting for me.

"I saw Chris going in just before you arrived." Priyanka said.

'Shit I missed!! Why can't the bus driver drive fast?' I said to myself.

"What are you thinking, Meghna?" Priyanka asked.

"No..nothing. Let's get to our class." I said.

Our physics teacher was absent. So we had a free hour. At that time, Chemistry teacher came in and called me. I followed her.

"Meghna, you need to redo the experiments. You remember, Right?"

" Yes mam. I do remember." I replied.

"As this is a free hour for you, you can join with the other batch and complete your experiments."

"Sure, mam."

"You are going to team up with someone from 11B, just for this experiment alone. Rest you have to do with your classmates. I need to assess your performance too." She said in a firm tone.

"Ok mam. I will do my best."

'11B? Will Chris be there? Oh God!' I said to myself. Actually, I'm kinda excited to meet him.

We reached Chemistry lab. All the 11B students were there. I saw Chris, as usual he's talking with his friends.

"Listen everyone, for today Meghna from class 11A will be joining you guys for this experiment. Ok let's select the teams and get started." Teacher announced.

'Thank God she didn't say anything about the reason why I joined in the first place.' I said to myself.

Teacher started calling out the team members and assigned tables. I looked at Chris inbetween, at one time he caught me staring at me. I became motionless and my eyes widened. He just looked at me back for some seconds and turned away to his friends. I smiled inside.

Alter ego came back, " Are you crazy? You know why you are here, Right? Rather than thinking about how to do your experiments, you are running a romantic short film here.

If you continue this, get ready for another insult session."

I came back to my senses. Actually, alter ego was right. I need to concentrate on my experiments now.

Chris name got called and his teammate was..

God!! Please my name.. Please.. I uttered to myself.

His teammate was Eric.

I got rather disappointed after hearing this. They both went to a table, it was the first table in that row. After sometime, everyone got settled.

Teacher turned to me and said, " Meghna, you can choose your own team. You are here to redo the experiment, so pick your own table and do the experiments with them."

That was something that I never expected. How can I go and stand next to Chris? Everyone will get to know about my crush towards him, but I really don't want to waste this opportunity.

Teacher again, " Go and pick a table fast. We don't have enough time."

I slowly walked towards the tables. When I saw his table, I just looked at him. To my surprise he looked back at me and adjusted himself to free up space.

Teacher noticed this and said, " Ok Meghna. You can team up with Chris and Eric. Everyone start doing."

I was on cloud nine. With a shy smile I joined them.

Eric smiled at me and said, " Hey, you are new here I guess.. I'm Eric. You are Meghna, Right?"

"Hi Eric. Yes, I'm Meghna and I'm new here."

"That's cool! It's good to meet you. Let's start doing. Don't hesitate to ask anything. We are your teammates, so ask us anything. We will Rock!" Eric said in a very friendly way.

We started doing. We were dissolving organic compounds.

"Do you want to do this?" Eric asked.

"Yes, I would love to." I replied.

As I was doing, Chris asked me," You ok? You need anything?"

"No, I'm good."

We both stared at eachother.

"Oh, So.. You got friends? Did you like this school?" He asked me in a low tone.

"Yes.. Got a very good friend. About school.. It's still new to me.. May take some time." I replied.

"Ok.. If you want to participate in any extra curricular activities. Just let me know." He said and his eyes still fixated on me.

"Sure. Between, May I know your name?" I asked. Even though i know his full details, it's better to start like this.

"Oh!! I'm so sorry... I thought you knew. I'm Chris. I'm from America basically. My dad got some project here in India. He is a businessman. So me, mom and dad came here."

"That's cool. So after this project is over, You will go back to America?" I was so curious about him. I needed to know this.

"That's not decided yet. It may take sometime to finish the project and all. I love being here. Even though my parents may go back after the project. I will remain in India."

'Yes! That's what I want to hear.' I said to myself.

"Oh! That's interesting... What do you love about India?" I'm still curious.

Alter ego came back, " You just want to know his relationship status. Ryt? I thought you were running a romantic short film but I'm wrong, you are running a matinee show here. Do your work first."

"Yes.. I love everything about India, more than that..."

" Guys!! Is it done?? We need to do this faster. Others have finished the first experiment." Eric intervened in our conversation.

He was about to say something.. I uttered to myself.

We finished our first experiment. We started writing down our results. Chris looked at me and smiled. I also smiled back. While writing, he came to me to ask about an observation we found during our experiment. I explained about it. He wrote everything I said.

While he was writing, he was standing so close to me, I could smell his perfume. It was some breezy aquatic scent, typical sports person kinda perfume.

We were writing the results, we need to note the colour change too. So I stretched my hand to take the test tube, at the same time he also did that. Our hands touched for a short moment. I could sense some enormous energy like a spark of electricity passing through me. We both stared at eachother for a moment and then he handed me the test tube.

"After you.." Chris said

"Ok.. Thanks.." I replied.

We both smiled.

I was thinking whether he also felt the same when our hands met.

We continued doing the rest of the experiments.

"Ok guys. We did it!" Eric said in an excited tone.

We completed all the experiments on time. Teacher came to our table.

"Ok show me the results and explain everything you did." Teacher questioned.

I went ahead and said everything she asked.

By the look of her face I could say that she was impressed.

"Good, Meghna. You did it well. You guys too.

Everything is correct. Keep it up guys!" Teacher congratulated us.

Mission accomplished, that was the first thought that came on my mind. Atlast, I made her congratulate me. I felt so happy.

"Thank you guys.." I said to both Eric and Chris.

"Hey!! Thank you , Meghna. Without you we couldn't have done this." Eric said, his face is full of smiles.

I just smiled back. I turned to Chris, he just stared at me and said, "You are good at chemistry, Right? Thanks for helping me."

"I'm trying to be modest now but yeah.. I love chemistry.. It was fun with you guys. I enjoyed." I replied. I was not just enjoyed, I was on cloud nine.

"Yes it was totally fun. I'm not that good in chemistry but today you made it interesting.

If I need any help in chemistry, I will definitely let you know. Hope you don't mind helping me." He said, eyes still on me and with a smile.

'Oh god! What did he mean? So he likes my company. Is this an invitation for let's get to know eachother better? I'm so happy!' I said to myself.

Chris was waiting for my reply. I composed myself and said, "Sure, anytime. You can ask anything."

He smiled back.

'God!! He's so cute.. His blue eyes and brown hair looks so attractive.. The way he looks at me.. I can stay here for the whole day like this' I said to myself.

Alter ego came back, " So your movie is not yet over..Huh? Stop gawking at him. Behave, Meghna. Here in this chemistry lab, the chemistry between you guys are brewing. I wonder what acids, alkalis and what not are doing."

I couldn't stop smiling at myself.

Session got over and I started to leave. I really don't want to but I felt so happy that I could get to know him better and I enjoyed every moment of it.

'This one will go straight to my most unforgettable moments list.' I said to myself.

Before leaving, Eric said, "Bye Meghna, Hope to meet you soon."

I just smiled and waved at him.

Chris came over and said, "We will catch up later. Bye!"

"Sure.. Bye, Chris." I said.

I started walking towards my class. Priyanka saw me. She jumped from her seat and came to me and asked, "What happened? How was the lab? Did you meet Chris? Did teacher say anything to you?"

"Priyanka, You are shooting me with questions. I'm feeling sad now." I said and lowered my eyes. I did this deliberately to see her reaction.

"Oh No.. Do you need to redo the experiments again? Did she scold you?" Priyanka asked in a concerned way.

I could see, she already imagined me getting scolded by my teacher and she was ready to console me again.

I laughed at her reaction. She was perplexed. She was waiting for me to speak.

"No, silly..! I can't say how much happy I'm now. I have loads to tell you.. From being Chris teammate and to teacher congratulating me.." I said in an excited tone.

" Oh!!! Meghna!!!! Come on!!! Say it..."

I said everything happened there. She started teasing me, " I knew from the beginning, he had something for you. He is a nice guy."

"Sure he is, but I need to get to know him better. I really feel like spending time with him." I said and let out a deep breath.

"I'm sure he will be feeling the same." Priyanka said and smiled at me.

Afternoon session went smoothly apart from Jenny giving me smirks inbetween, I didn't turn to her side after that. I'm sure she's having some issues.

Class got over, Me and Priyanka waved at eachother. While walking towards my bus, Something huge hit me from behind, It hit me on my shoulders. Suddenly, I felt a surge of pain and I turned to see what that is..

'Football!! Who hit me??' I asked myself.

I just rubbed my shoulders and turned around to see who did this. Two boys came to get the ball.

"We are so sorry.. " one of them said.

"What sorry? See, I know you didn't mean to hit anyone deliberately, but there are small children walking here and there, even for me it hurts alot. Just think about small kids. Be careful." I kinda lashed out mainly because of pain.

"This won't happen again, we assure you." Both of them said, I could see they meant this seriously.

" Ok.. No problem.. Here, take..." As I was communicating with these guys, I heard a familiar voice.I got interrupted.

"What happened?"

I turned to see who that is, It's Chris... He saw me.

"Oh! Hey Meghna.. What happened?" He asked.

"It's just.. I got hit by a football, anyway we sorted out." I don't want to make a scene, so I just said in a calm manner.

"How many times have I said to you guys to play carefully? This is a risky thing, our principal may expel us. If anyone gets hurt we need to answer PTA too." He lashed out at both of them.

'Oh man! He looks hot when he is angry...' I said to myself.

Alter ego responded, ' Oh Meghna... You almost got your shoulder dislocated, Now you are drooling all over for him. Seriously, I'm ashamed of you..'

"We are sorry captain, this won't happen again" Both boys pleaded.

Chris calmed himself and asked them to go and play carefully. He turned to me and said, " I'm so sorry.. You alright? Do you need to go to the first aid room?"

I could see he was so worried.

"No, I'm fine.. Slight pain is there.. It will go.." I said.

"Still pain is there?" he asked.

"You know, getting hit by a football that too on your shoulders.. Do you think it is something comforting?" I asked in a funny way..

" Ohh.. I'm extremely sorry... I didnt mean to.." He said in a serious tone.

" Hey!! I was just joking.. No problem. I'm ok.. Chill.." I said to calm him down.

" Okay.. Just apply Moov.. It works, i use that whenever I get hit." He said with a smile.

"Ok thanks, I'm leaving.. Bus will depart now.." I said and i started to leave.

"Hey Meghna..." He called me.

"Yes?" I turned and asked.

"Can I get your number?"

I was shocked... My eyes could have jumped out.. What did i hear now? Did he really ask my number? I looked at him without saying a word.

"I mean, It's just .. You know, you got hit.. So just wanted to check on you. Just.. wanted to make sure you are ok and I don't have to worry.." He continued.. His voice was quite shaky.

He seemed rather concerned, my bus was about to leave. So, without any second thought, I said, "Ok.. No problem.. Here is my number..."

He didn't had anything to note it down. So, I tore a paper from my book and wrote my number and gave it to him.

"Ok bye.." I said and ran towards my bus.

"Yes, bye!! Take care.. " He shouted.

I got in. While traveling, I thought.. What a day??! I still can't believe this.. It's like a dream. From being his teammate and now he asked my number!! I can't wait to text him.

Wait.. Will he forget about me after the game? What if the paper got lost? Why I'm i thinking like this..' I took a deep breath.

Alter ego responded, ' Why can't you think something like this.. What if my parents catch me texting Chris? What if they break my phone and change my school?'

Me: 'You are so negative. Will you please shut up?'

I know one thing that, If two people are meant to be together no matter how hard the situation gets they will always find a way back to eachother. It's like a magnet. That's what we call True love.. It do exist...

But remember one thing... To make something true, it's always upto us. What we choose matters..