Chapter 34: L-Like?!

Cabir sat stupefied. His mouth slowly opened to form an o.

“W-What…?” Covering his face with both of his hands leaving just enough gaps between the fingers for his eyes to peer through, the boy asked, “What did you just…ask me to do?”

“Your dare is to make some noise.”

Rolling his eyes, Cabir glared, “Sir told us just now, not to make any noise-”

“That’s exactly why I told you to do it. Make some noise, or shout the words themselves; just make it loud enough for the whole class to hear.”

“You’ll get me killed!” Cabir seethed, “What if he comes back, huh?”

“Well, you love getting caught by teachers, don’t yo-”

Cabir lunged towards the grinning boy across the table and Aakash had to quickly grab onto him. Even so, Harshil scooted back to remain out of reach.

“Okay, okay! Sorry.” The spiky-haired boy raised his hands in a placatory manner. “Look, he went to the staffroom, it’ll take him a while to get back.”

“And what about the teacher in the class next to ours? If she comes in at the sudden noise-”

“Well, she’s used to it. Doesn’t Kamal sir get us to shout loudly in some classes for…what was it? Ah yes, ‘getting energized’. So, she’ll think he’s just up to his crazy antics again.”

“And if by chance, Kamal sir is near the class?” Cabir raised an eyebrow.

“Then you are screwed.” The spiky-haired boy shrugged in reply. Just as Cabir was about to make another attempt at pouncing, Hrashil added, “Just saying, but the more time you waste chit-chatting, the higher the probability of him being near the class becomes.”

As Cabir let out a huge sigh, Harshil added in the final ingredient, “If you don’t do this dare and sir comes in, I’ll change it to ‘Go tell sir that you were the one who called him a fatass’.”

Silence.

“You do know that we were just next to him…it’s obvious I didn’t do it.”

“Yeah, but hearing the word will piss him off. He’ll probably snap at you. I’d enjoy that.” Harshil beamed.

“You…fucking…” Shaking his head in tiredness, Cabir ran a hand through his hair, stood up and rolled his shoulders.

Cupping his hands around his lips, he breathed in deeply and-

“MAKE SOME NOOOOOIIIISSEEEE!!!”

The classroom fell into silence for a second before a muted cheer came from everybody.

Cabir looked at the spiky-haired boy with a raised eyebrow, “All done, you happy now?”

“I couldn’t hear anybody. Too anticlimactic. Once more.” Harshil clapped.

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“I was the one who was supposed to shout. Does it matter if others did?”

“I just said, ‘Make some noise’. Did I say that you alone had to be shouting?”

“Well, you weren’t clear. Your fault.”

“Well, now I’m being clear. You didn’t complete the da-”

“Shut up.” Cabir snapped, irritated. Cupping his mouth again, he barely uttered the first couple syllables-

“Mak-ughh.”

One pair of hands pulled him down while another pair pushed past his cupped hands to cover his mouth while also pulling him down.

“Wha-ah!” Even as he turned to question Aakash, his eyes fell on Kamal sir, who had just entered the class.

“Dafuq?! Did he hear me?” Cabir whispered.

“Doesn’t seem like it.” Aakash responded as the teacher seemed to be looking at a sheet of paper in his hand.

“Huhhh…luckily, you stopped me or else...” Cabir glared at Harshil, who shrugged and gave a lopsided smile.

“I just wanted you to shout. I was kidding about everyone doing it. I mean, c’mon, most of the class was terrified hearing what that guy said, you think they’d respond to you?”

“I’ll kill-”

“Okay, okay. Let it be.” Aakash patted Cabir on the back, “You know he’s an asshole.”

“Whatever.” Harshil blew off the spectacled boy’s comment and reached out to spin the bottle.

“1…2…3…and go!”

The group’s eyes followed the bottle as it spun…and spun…and spun…until, “Ah ha! Jeet, your turn to put Aakash in the spot!”

“Truth.” Aakash chose.

“Hmm…okay…” Jeet rubbed his thumb and index finger on the stubble growing around his chin, “Here’s my question.”

“Yeah?”

“Is there…someone you like in this class?”

Aakash’s eyes widened and he sat up straighter, startled, while his gaze flicked towards a certain direction unconsciously. The next moment, he cast a look around his friends to see if they had caught his action.

But what he saw was completely unexpected.

Cabir and Harshil were facepalming themselves while even Jatin, who had reverted to reading his book after pulling Cabir down had cast a curious glance at Jeet.

“L-Like?!” Aakash questioned, hoping he had gotten the context wrong even though he was curious about his friends’ peculiar reactions.

“Yeah, like. Okay, let me put it this way. Is there someone whom you have a crush on in this class?”

“U-Uh…” Aakash stammered, “N-”

But he never finished what he was going to say because Harshil smacked Jeet on his back with an annoyed expression.

“Seriously? That’s your question?”

“I can’t believe it. Is there nothing else you wanted to ask? All of us know the answer to that…” Cabir added in a bored tone.

“Even I concur with them. We all know the answer…actually, we all know who it is.” Jatin chimed in.

With every word spoken, Aakash’s mouth opened more and more. If one looked closely, there was even a slight blush on his face.

“I just asked whatever came to my head at that moment!” Jeet whined.

“You could have thought on it before asking, you duffer! I mean like, you could ask…” Cabir cast a wicked grin towards Aakash, “Have you ever thought of ki-”

“What a guy you are, Cabir, always thinking about stuff like this.” Jatin commented offhandedly.

“I was gonna say ‘kicking back and letting fate take its course’. Don’t put words in my mouth! You are the one with thoughts about kissing!”

“I never said ‘kiss’ either. I thought about the ‘kicking back’ thing too. I meant you were a philosophical person…but you were actually thinking about kissing, huh? I judged you incorrectly.”

“Prove it!” Cabir snapped.

“I’m not the one who said either of the statements. You are the one who needs to prove your innocence!” Jatin deadpanned.

“Arghhhh!”

“Hey, hey…you aren’t allowed to change the question after asking!” Aakash interrupted their bickering.

“Of course not…we won’t change it. But you were gonna say ‘No’, right? I’m sure I heard you say ‘N’.” Cabir gave a very fake smile as he teased Aakash.

“Uhh…I was…I mean, I wasn’t...!”

“Just answer it then!” Jeet sighed. He knew he had blown his chance to ask a question that’d put Aakash on the spot. Even so, seeing his incredulous expression was still worth it. “So, Aakash, is there someone you like in this class?”

Letting out a long sigh, the spectacled boy leaned back into his chair, “Fine, you win. Yes, I do.”

Right at that very moment, a chubby arm draped itself around Aakash’s neck and a question sounded near his ear, “Oh, really?”