About Six months later
January 2nd, the first day of a new academic year. Needless to say the school gate was filled with people.
Most of the people present in the crowd were worried parents while the remaining were the unfortunate kids stuck in this crowd, almost about to be caught in a stampede.
It was said that once a gurdian picked their child up from the school, but by the time they came out of the crowd, they were holding the hand of a complete stranger.
Apart from these minor inconveniences, there were actually some benifits too. For example you didn't need to walk or more like you couldn't but instead of that, you could 'float' in the sea of people and...hope that it takes you towards the school.
Arshiya was long used to these situations. She skillfully maneuverd her surrounding and was successfully able to float her way to the entrance.
Right after landing safely she took a breath full of fresh air which suddenly felt very precious to her. Then fixing her uniform, she carefully scanned her surroundings.
It was her first day in this school.
Last year, just after a few days of her match, Arshiya began to experience withdrawal. Everytime she looked at her racket, she felt an itch of unknown origin.
Later she could no longer take it and decided to join a badminton institution again. As for why she didn't join her previous one, there were reasons for it.
Anyway, the hard part wasn't getting to a institute, it was convincing her mother to let her change schools.
She wasn't even going to the playground next to their house if her mother had an objection, let alone go to a different city.
In order to convince her mother, Arshiya decided to take a milder approach since aggressive methods would never work.
She gathered all the possible reasons she could find and also added some theoretical ones that didn't even have any practical evidence. Bunched them together and recited them to her mother, carefully, one at a time, slowly, never mentioning one topic more than once. Also making sure to not openly voice it and only hint at it vaguely, for three months before her mother voluntarily suggested that she change schools.
As for why she decided to change schools...well there was a reason for that as well.
Thinking of the said reason Arshiya momentarily became lost in thought. As she was slowly walking around looking for the class placement notice. She felt a presence behind her, bringing her out of her daze.
Arshiya stopped for a while but the presence didn't move past her, she had to turn her head. But upon turning she wasn't greeted by another person, instead it was... something.
'...what the...!?'
The confusion didn't last long and the magnified object, a flyer, that Arshiya almost ended up kissing was retreaved from her face, revealing the person behind.
It was a boy probably a little older than herself. This person had a sparkling smile in his eyes. With a straight nose and thin lips which seemed to have a natural upward lift to them. His black hair was curly at places, as if too bothered to fix it before leaving for school. However, it only added to his somewhat endearing charm.
The youngman smiled at her and opened his mouth, "You seem to have a nice body. Want to join us?"
Perhaps his voice has only recently started to undergo changes. It still had a hint of sweetness belonging to a young boy but the change was also evident. Contrasting this was his height which could easily tower over Arshiya.
In any other situation, Arshiya wouldn't have missed the opportunity to feel envy at his height but currently she was too stunned to speak. She was too immersed in the words spoken by him.
It was as if...no, not as if, it totally sounded like she was being proposed to do some shady business in broad daylight, in the school grounds no less!!
For a second she even doubted that she had entered the wrong institution but looking at all the people with the same uniform around her, the only possible option was that this weirdo without an uniform was the one trespassing.
Instantly words of disapproval began to form but just as she was about to deliver them, the youngman shoved the flyer he was holding to her face again. And just like that, Arshiya officially had her first kiss with a flyer.
"Time is precious so make sure to brace it young lady. If you are interested, feel free to give it a chance. We don't charge for trials."
Before Arshiya could recover, he left after saying these ambiguous words.
"..."
Arshiya quickly peeled the flyer off her face and looked for the figure. She soon found him, handing out those flyers to other students around her.
Not mentioning anything else, his speed at corrupting people was top notch. In less than a second, he had distributed those flyers to five different students!
Arahiya was stuck to the ground for a good while before storing the flyer in her bag without giving it a glance. Of course she thought of throwing it away but she couldn't find any trash can on sight.
She then resumed her search for her class placement.
. . .
One of the reasons Arshiya's mother agreed to her 'whims' was because of her attitude. Arshiya had to study real hard to pass the admission tests. Her mother had watched her closely in that period of time. And it was enough to tell her whether Arshiya was serious about this decision or not. Witnessing her seriousness, she decided to agree.
Another reason was because of the school she chose. It was specially known for producing excellent results in boards.
Though Arshiya's mother believes that only getting into a good school will do nothing to change one's grades unless they themselves wanted to do so.
As a school with a good reputation, its classroom didn't disappoint Arshiya. The classroom was well organised. It wasn't anything ostentatious but more like everything had a proper order.
The moment Arshiya entered her class she could feel this odd sense of discipline.
The classroom was spacious. The benches were for two students to share. They were placed in three columns.
After a quick look Arshiya chose to sit on one that hasn't been occupied by anyone yet. She put down her bag and sat down.
At this moment, a girl entered the classroom. She stopped at the doorway a bit and looked around the classroom just like Arshiya. But unlike her, this girl took her time to chose her sitting spot.
Eventually her eyes locked on her target. A light smile appeared on her lips as the girl made her way with confident steps.
Arshiya was still deciding on which position to assume so that her awkward antisocial persona wouldn't be too obvious. When she heard a voice, "Hello. Is this seat taken?"
Arshiya was already on alert the moment she realised a pair of feet had stopped by her side. She looked up and confirmed that the newcomer was indeed addressing her. But before she could even answer, the girl had already sat down comfortably.
Realising how lost she must've looked for a stranger to approach her and sit next to her so casually, Arshiya knew she wasn't successful in concealing any of her awkwardness.
They had just sat down and barely had any time to even exchange names when the teacher for the first class was already at the door.
And before they knew it three classes passed just like that.
Arshiya almost felt out of breath and wondered if this was the real pace of an elite school. There was barely five minutes between classes.
But even when time was tight, sitting next to each other hand it's privileges. As long they talked in a low voice, or if even that didn't work, they could just exchange note and the teacher wouldn't notice.
From the data she collected so far, Arshiya found out that the name of this girl is Nupur who coincidentally also happened to transfer from a girls' school just like herself. Her reason was because of her family having to move in this city.
Honestly, Arshiya was't expecting to make friends any time soon. In her previous school, it had taken her a full two months just to talk to the teachers. Though she was no longer as young anymore, talking to someone in a new environment like this one, it was still a high hurdle to cross.
Thankfully Nupur turned out to be quite talkative, so there was no awkward silence even though the two had just met.
While talking about their new school, the topic got to this morning's incident. Arshiya wasn't surprised to hear that Nupur also got those flyers.
Nupur was equally surprised as her but for different reasons, "I was really surprised. I mean it's inside the school after all!"
Arshiya finally found a person to vent to and sang along, "Not to mention, even though he didn't wear an uniform, he seemed like a student. Is this maybe allowed in this school?"
Nupur had shoulder length hair, slightly brown and elegantly curled at the ends. They were tied up in a high ponytail which danced every time she was trying to express something. Overall it gave off a mature charm.
Arshiya found it pretty interesting and unintentionally followed the motion of Nupur's ponytail with her eyes.
Nupur didn't take notice of it and answered casually, "Maybe. After all sports is something every school encourages. But who the heck words it that way."
Arshiya was about to continue singing when Nupur's words made her lose her voice for a second.
'Sports? That was a sports flyer?'
Before she could ask a sudden static noice, similar to those made by microphones, sounded.
In that brief noisiness of the school broadcast system before the speaker spoke, everyone in the classroom quiet down and listened closely.
Then as if percepting their silence, the speaker finally spoke up,
"Class 11, section B, Shaan Chowdhury, please come to the principal's office."
The speaker seemed to be doing their best but failing miserably, at covering their frustration.