SAINA HATED TUESDAYS.

With a soft huff, she leaned her chin against her palm, gazing outside the window. The trees and the houses speeded past. Her phone had lost its battery and the skirt of her uniform was damp from sweat. But that's not why she hated the day. Or Tuesdays in general.

Her frustration stemmed from the fact that she couldn't ogle at her crush.

She didn't know his name and had only seen him a week back. Due to her choosing integrated coaching classes rather than normal school classes, she had to board a second bus at 11:30 AM after coming to school at 7:30 AM and go to her coaching center.

It was on the second bus ride to her coaching center that she noticed the broad, handsome back of a boy, who was laughing with his friend, seated 2 seats in front of her. She couldn't clearly see what he looked like, but from his back and the partial view of his face when he turned towards his friend, she could confidently conclude that he was a handsome boy.

Indeed, he was. She confirmed this the day later, after managing to catch a good look at his face. Since then, she had harbored a crush on him. She found out through rigorous investigation and stalking around in the corridors of her school, that he was a student of the neighboring section to hers. She was in section A. He was in section B.

Tuesday happened to be the only day in the week, in which the students would spend a full day at school instead of going to coaching classes. While all her other classmates would sigh in relief every Tuesday and declare that it was their favorite day of the week, Saina was a stark contrast because she couldn't get to see her crush on the bus.

It had been a week.

Saina hadn't dared approach him. She was content, sitting in the backseat of the bus and staring at him. She was okay with her crush remaining a secret to herself. And her over-observant friends.

Said over-observant friends were seated beside her, moaning and lamenting about the voluminous syllabus.

"Dude, magnetism kinda sucks."

"Not just kinda, it absolutely sucks."

"But alternating current is even worse, I tell you."

"No, he's right."

"But dude, you wouldn't believe this. Gaurav was telling me the other day that he found the first term syllabus for physics easy. Maths as well."

"But that dude is too good at PCM, man..."

"What did you just say?!" Saina burst into the conversation. She stared at her friend, Gopal, who blinked.

"Gaurav said that the first term syllabus for-"

"You talked to Gaurav?!"

Gopal blinked again. "Well...yeah?"

"And you didn't tell me?!"

"I mean, I only talked to him today."

Saina sat up and leaned over slightly. "What is he like?"

Gopal contemplated it. "I just exchanged a few words with him but he seems like a cool guy."

There was a brief pause. Saina stared at Gopal. Gopal and her other friends stared at her. They sent each other a mental message which was acknowledged with a silent nod.

Gopal was going to introduce Saina to Gaurav.

The next day was a clear, bright day that filled Saina with a sense of optimism. Little bursts of joy kept sparking in her mind as she daydreamed about her upcoming introduction to Gaurav. With a giddy smile, she boarded the 11:30 bus.

As she stepped inside, her eyes roamed around the seats before landing on Gopal, who wore a regretful smile. "It looks like he's absent today."

Saina shook her head and cheered up. There was always tomorrow, after all.

The last day of the week, Friday was a gloomy day. It had the sort of weather that infected its own contagious mood to the people who gazed at the sky. Students were all apprehensive about potential rains. Saina didn't harbor similar fears. Her mind was elsewhere.

She was grinning to herself. Today, she was definitely going to talk to him. Definitely!

As she boarded the bus, she hurried over to where he was seated. Gopal was seated next to him, chatting.

"Hi-" She almost said, before she got cut off by another girl.

"Gaurav, can you explain this concept again? I want to understand before we have the test today."

Gopal, who had been gesturing at Saina to introduce her, immediately turned his attention to the book. "Oh yeah, this thing is difficult. Teach me too."

Saina was promptly forgotten. She trudged over to her seat, dejectedly. She had accepted with resignation that she was never going to be able to talk to him. The universe was against it. Feeling a little mad at herself, Gopal and Gaurav irrationally, she let out a huff and turned her face to the window. She was done with everyone and the world. From now on, it was only herself and her music.

She pulled out her earphones and began blasting music, drowning out everyone else.

When they got down to the coaching center, she hurried into the classroom, still listening to music. She avoided looking at both Gopal and Gaurav, not out of anger but embarrassment. She felt herself cringe when recalling the moment when she waved to say hello and got cut off.

You know what, I'll just keep all this crush to myself. I was and am fine with just staring at him and blessing my eyes.

Convincing herself with this, she pulled out her books and concentrated on trying to read them. Or at least pretending to. She felt someone sit down beside her. She peeked, finding it was Gaurav and Gopal.

She looked away, saying nothing. She needed to hold onto what little pride she had.

Saina felt them glancing at her. She didn't act on it. Then, she heard a snicker. It was clearly meant to be muffled but ended up sounding loud. She turned her glare at Gopal, who immediately shut up upon receiving it.

"Um..." She heard Gaurav's voice at close range for the first time.

She didn't respond, not sure if he was trying to talk to her.

"Your book is upside down."

Saina stared at it. Then, she flipped it. No wonder, she hadn't been able to understand anything. She heard the sound of another snicker. Wisely, she didn't respond to it.

There was a brief pause.

"I think you said 'hi' a while back in the bus-"

The lecturer hurried in, loudly commenting on the horrific state of traffic. The two didn't get a chance to pursue the conversation.

Once the coaching classes were over, Saina picked up her books and bag, glancing at Gaurav, who had approached the lecturer to ask his doubts. Gopal tried to conceal his laughter as he coughed. Saina whacked his arm.

"You don't have to introduce me to him, anymore. I don't want to get into any more embarrassing situations. It's like fate doesn't want us to talk."

Gopal's eyes widened slightly, more amusement spilling out. "Oh? But he wanted to-"

When Saina caught sight of Gaurav returning to them, she quickly grabbed her belongings and made a run for them.

Her cheeks burned a little as she gasped and panted. Studying hard for her entrances meant sacrificing any form of exercise and she was in a horrible condition, physically.

She quickly hopped onto the bus, shooting a salute at the driver, who was dumbstruck on seeing it. Then, she hurried to her seat, sat down, and plugged in her earphones. Now, she was safe.

A few minutes later, Gopal and Gaurav scurried inside. Saina fixed her sight away from them, gazing through the window. A second later, her friends nudged her. She didn't respond. They nudged her again. She didn't respond. They nudged her for the third time. She finally pulled out her earphones, to tell them off when her eyes met Gaurav's. He glanced at her friends, who immediately scooted away from her with a grin.

Those back-stabbing, little-

"So, your name is Saina, right?"

She stared at him. "Yeah..." What was he doing...?

"You're in A section?"

"Yeah..."

Gaurav nodded slowly. "So, um, how are you finding the syllabus? Our coaching is really speeding with things, yeah?"

Saina agreed. "Yup, things are progressing fast."

The thing about being an introvert is while you want to be introduced to everyone and be friends with everyone, when it comes to the real deal aka, conversations, you struggle and stumble.

Gopal, the extrovert, seated in front of them, laughed. "Saina cut him some slack. He's trying so hard to talk to you-"

He received another wack in the arm.

Saina regained her composure and managed an awkward smile. "I'm not very good with conversations, sorry."

"Not good with conversations?!"

"Did she just say that?"

Her friends piped up. "Please Gaurav, she's such a terror when she talks about her favourite boyband. If you as far as interrupt her just to tell her that the bus has reached its stop, she will give you such a frightening glare-"

Saina rubbed her forehead as her friends related all her embarrassing tales to Gaurav, who was entertained and amused.

Leave it to her friends to thoroughly embarrass her.

"You're a fan of a boyband?"

She closed her eyes. This was the one question she didn't want him to ask.

"I used to be."

"Which boyband?"

Oh god.

"It's, um..."

"It's the flowerboys," Gopal spoke up.

"Oh..." Gaurav trailed off.

"I'm not still a fan..." She weakly protested, feeling the embarrassment riding waves on her cheeks.

"Yeah, right." Gopal taunted her, playfully. "I'm sure the album playing on your phone right now, is the solo album of that one member who's dating."

Gopal was right.

Saina tried to discreetly put her phone away.

Gaurav smiled. "That's actually a good album."

Everyone stared at him. Saina rejoiced in her heart. She always knew she had taste in picking men.

"I'm serious, the album was quite good. Basic pop but pop did well."

They continued staring.

"Don't mind them," Saina smirked, smugly. "They just don't have taste in music." This statement was the immediate cause of the loud protests and ruckus in the backseat.

Gaurav had officially become a part of their gang.

Days passed by. Exam seasons flew by. With much struggle and help from Gaurav, Saina managed to ace her physics and math exams.

Her crush on him continued to grow. She didn't voice it, just wanting to cherish the easy friendship they possessed.

Soon, it was 12th grade. With the looming deadline of entrances and boards, all the students studied hard, slowly turning into zombies, in the process.

Each day was difficult. But it was worth it.

On the last day of school, Saina mounted the bus with conflicted emotions. She was finally done with school. But she wasn't as happy about it as she thought.

She sat down next to Gaurav, a little teary-eyed.

He smiled, sympathetically. "I can relate. I'm gonna miss all this. I'm gonna miss the bus rides and...you."

Her heart fluttered, a little.

"Yeah, I'll be missing all this too." Saina smiled, looking out the window

Gaurav blinked. He glanced back at her friends who shrugged back at him, equally confused. He cleared his throat. "So...um, what I mean to say is-"

"Hey, isn't that the dog that's roaming about in our school?"

"Huh?"

"Over there, do you see that dog?"

Gaurav's expression was that of someone confused and trying to get back on track. "Oh yeah, the dog. Anyways, so what I wanted to say is-"

"So...which college are you aiming for- Oh, you were saying something?"

"Ah, no. You go on."

Gaurav leaned back, with resignation. His disappointment was clear on his face. Saina blinked and leaned toward him. 

"What's up? What did you want to say?"

"It's nothing." Gaurav sulked.

"What is it? I'm sorry for interrupting." Saina laughed, as she coaxed him.

"I just wanted to say that I liked you." 

Saina blinked. Why did he look so cute pouting? Wait a minute. Did he just say what I think he said?

"What did you say?"

"I said I like you. I wanted to ask you out."

Saina beamed. "You like me? Since when did this start?"

"A long time back." He said. 

A pause.

"So? You're dating me?"

"Oh, I don't know." Saina sat back, feigning a blank expression. Her friends nudged her shoulder. 

Gaurav's lips curved. "Is that so? Then, I guess I'll just have to go and date that girl who confessed-"

"No!"

"Hm?"

"You are my boyfriend, is that clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good."

"Great."

"Fine."

"Can you lovebirds stop already?" Gopal muttered.

And that is how Saina and Gaurav began dating.

FIN