Chapter 6: Talk Of The Town

Punit’s and Ankita’s performances became the talk of the school in more ways than one. For one, though Punit’s performance had a shaky start, it turned out to be surprisingly marvelous. In fact, too marvelous that rumors started making their rounds.

Seriously, why ‘this’ song?

Because they wanted it, that’s why!

That sounded like a proposal, right?

Did you see the look in his eyes?

Did you notice her blushing?

They chose this song on purpose.

They’re attracted to each other!

They’re in love!

No wonder they keep moving around together! I always knew it!

Ankita couldn’t help but notice something strange in the way people were ‘appreciating’ her. They always had this weird smirk plastered onto their faces. It was even worse when she was with Punit. Heads never failed to turn. And then, one day, it reached her ears.

“Do you guys have something going on?” asked Vaidehi one day, out of the blue.

“What?

“Do you guys have something going on?” She repeated before adding, “Punit and you?

“What do you mean?” Ankita was surprised.

“Well, people are talking.” She shrugged.

“About what?

“About you guys… that you are together most of the time and pretty much have… you know… something going on.” As much as she was open and friendly with Ankita, she was cautious enough to not cross the line. As of now, she wasn’t sure how she’d take being romantically paired up with a guy and stuff.

“In the sense? That we guys are dating and stuff?” Ankita made a sour face.

“Well, yeah, kind of.” Vaidehi shrugged. She was a bit fidgety and hoped that Ankita wouldn’t blow her lid.

Instead, she scoffed, amused at what was floating around.

“What? Why’re you laughing?” asked Vaidehi.

“So, that’s what this was all about,” she chuckled. Ankita was pretty level-headed for a kid. Most of the time, she behaved and sounded like an adult, which was amusing to the real adults, which annoyed her. She settled down on one of the stone benches under the tree. It was lunch hour and they were loitering about on the grounds.

“What?

“You know, people have been giving me, giving ‘us’… weird looks these days. And even saying odd stuff. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Now I get it. People think that we’re… like you said, having something going on.

“So, is there?

“Hell, no! What’s wrong with you? We’re together for a reason, to get stuff done and not to pucker around.

“It’s all because of that song,” Vaidehi informed.

“What? Why? It was a beautiful song.” Ankita laughed, amused.

“It is, but people believe that you really wanted him to sing it for you.

“What! Bullshit!” Ankita scoffed.

Vaidehi studied her. She did indeed look a bit upset. “Don’t take it to your head,” she consoled, “just be cool. People say anything and everything. You know that.

Ankita didn’t look at her. She was busy trying to cool down while watching a bunch of kids chasing each other on the grounds.

“I’ll see you around, I’m off to meet Ms. Devika.” Saying this, Vaidehi left Ankita to herself.

Ankita in the meantime was lost in thoughts. Did I really want him to sing that for me? Now that people were talking, she was confused about the way she really felt about him. She did find him cute, adorable, and funny. But was that just it, or did she really feel something more?
 

 Anki’s next meeting with Punit was, well… awkward. The very sight of him reminded her of all the rubbish that was floating around the school, which she bet he’d already heard of. She only hoped that she hadn’t done anything that made her look like a desperate lovesick looney to him. What if he really thought that I was so desperately crushing on him, bad enough to convince him to belt out a love song for me? Eww! Cringe factor, 100%!

As for Punit, he’d heard it too, and he wondered what her take could be. In fact, some boys and even the girls had already interrogated him, and he’d smoothly denied any such thing. But, coming to think of it, he already had a crush on her, he only wished that she never got a hint of it because what if she never felt the same? That could end their friendship, and he really didn’t want that. Things were going really well as of now.

He noticed that Anki too wasn’t herself today. He could feel the pronounced distance between them. She spoke only a handful of words and avoided his gaze as much as she could, and that worried him. He feared that she did indeed believe in all the gossips and felt uncomfortable with him.

Is everything okay, he was beginning to ask, but before he could, she made her move.

“I bet you heard things floating around,” she said out of the blue.

“Like what?” He asked after a brief pause.

“Like there’s stuff going on between us?” She paused to note the look on his face, whether he had any clue about it, and if he felt awkward about it. “I want you to know that it’s all rubbish. We’re good friends and that’s it. I never had any wrong intentions. I only chose that song because… because it’s a great song, and not because I wanted to satisfy some of my wild fantasies like these people are saying. I love your voice. I mean, you’ve got a great voice. And as a musician, I can’t let that go to waste, you know what I mean?” She said the whole thing in a breath or two.

Punit blinked. His heart sank to rock bottom. Everything was going so well in between them that he did fancy something… well, forget it. In a way, it felt nice (not really) to have the truth broken to him sooner.

Ankita turned pale, wondering what had got to him. “Punit?” she called softly. She felt foolish and wished that she’d first found out whether he even knew about this fiasco in the first place before blurting out like an idiot.

“Huh?” He blinked as he struggled to shake off the crushing feeling in his chest and gather what she really said. “Uhm, y-y-yeah…” He squeezed it out with massive effort. “I-I get it, I get what you mean,” he added.

She watched him intently, her cheeks slowly turning red. “Did you know about all this, or…?

“Yeah, I… did,” he shrugged, sounding rather uncomfortable.

“And?” She probed quietly.

“And what? Like you said, tish-tosh. Rubbish. Hah!” He chuckled while his heart slowly rotted in his chest.

She chuckled too. “Thank God, I was worried. I thought that you might have thought otherwise.

“Like what?

“I don’t know. People were saying the weirdest of things. Whatever!

And they discussed all the rumors as if it were a joke. Punit thanked the heavens under his breath. At least, their friendship didn’t go for a toss. He made up his mind to bury the strange feelings that brewed over the weeks for her, to just move on as friends.

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