A/N: Me? Uploading this monstrosity of a chapter when I have a million other things to do? More likely than you'd think. Anyway, this used to be five different chapters, but then I thought it would be a splendid idea to combine them all into one chapter because I don't have a single brain cell. Enjoy almost 17k of absolute nonsense!

Kriya's POV

Two cups of coffee and seven trips to the bathroom later, I finally take a look at my clock.

Annnnnd I stayed up all night because I was too excited for today. How can I not be? It's all finally happening! I get to dance in St. Louis's ever so prestigious and exclusive rehearsal hall, one that is known for producing some of the best dancers in the country, including the man who donated it decades ago.

Also, St. Louis's website gets extremely fascinating the fifth time around, the graphics are downright magical.

Thank you Universeji for whatever miracle you pulled off to get me and my mediocre grades admission into one of India's best colleges.

Taani would have my head if she ever heard me say that!

Speaking of my wonderful sister… I have never been more grateful in my entire life for the fact that she is easily the heaviest sleeper I know. Anyone else would've woken up ages ago what with my constant clicking and tapping, but Taani was fast asleep.

Just as I shut off my laptop, my bedroom door opens and in walks my mother with that unimpressed, knowing look on her face… as she usually does.

"Were you up all night?"

"No," I lean forward, hoping to keep my enormous jug of coffee out of my mother's sight, "whatever gave you that idea?"

She rolls her eyes and I practically fall off my chair in relief, which my lovely mother thinks is hilarious, naturally.

"Just keep that away from Taani, please, you know how she gets when she drinks coffee."

I shudder at the very thought. "Believe me, I know. I don't need that in my life."

Mom nods and tells me to go see if bhai was awake yet, rushing off before I could have the chance to protest.

I grumble as I trudge over to bhai's room. When I enter the forest of decay I see, other than a big fat mess, my brother's mouth gaping like a fucking Magikarp's.

Great, so he's fast asleep and now I have to actually cross the threshold to a room that should probably be quarantined- god, the shit I do for this family.

I leap over his heaps and heaps of clothes, trying my very best to land on the floor rather than last week's midnight snack, years of ballet finally coming in handy.

"Dammit bhai, why don't you ever clean your room?" I demand, pulling his pillow out from under his head to smack him across the face.

It takes all of five minutes of me trying to annoy him into getting up for me to get annoyed.

"Dude, I will bring maa in here."

He rolls over and turns to the other side.

The nerve, honestly, no respect in this family.

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you rather I bring Taani?"

Bhai jumps out of bed with a jolt, fixing me with a glare. "You wouldn't dare."

I throw a sharp glare of my own his way, practically snarling. "Try me."

"Well, in that case, you enjoy waking her up, 'mkay?"

Why is my entire family so adamant on turning what's supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life into my worst nightmare?

"I will destroy you, bhai, I swear-"

"Sorry, can't hear you, I'm in the bathroom."

"What-" I blink and suddenly my brother's invented teleportation. "How-" I swish my head back and forth like a friggin' tennis ball at the distance between his bedroom and the bathroom, growling as I know what's about to come next. "This is not fair, you know your room's a pigsty to everyone but you." I attempt to run after him, but my aversion to the toxic waste dump that is my brother's room makes it exceptionally hard for me to not watch where I'm stepping.

"Not my fault you're a neat freak."

"I'm not a neat fr-" I stop my train of thought the second I nearly step in an open tub of mouldy ice cream, cringing as I desperately try not to throw up in my mouth. "I am a human being who needs clean air to survive."

"Yeah, well guess what? I like surviving too, and I can't do that with you asking me to do life-threatening shit like going to wake up Taani. We all know that whoever tries to do so gets their head bit off and I happen to like my head. It's attached to my majestic curly hair."

Bhai smirks before slamming the door shut in my face.

I jiggle the doorknob, bodychecking the door with all the strength I could muster.

"Did you lock the fucking door?!"

"Whoops, all your screaming just startled me into dropping your toothbrush in the toilet. My bad-"

"Swayam Shekhawat, you open this door right now!"

"-but really just your bad because you have your own damn bathroom."

"Maa, you're about to be down a child!" I shout over my brother's cackles, earning a mere 'mhmm' from my mother in response.

I march over to my room, grumbling about how downright cruel it is of my brother to use that unused brain of his every time it doesn't benefit me.

I bounce onto Taani's bed, trying not to sink into her unfairly soft blanket, gently stroking her hair. "Taani, it's time to get up."

"Di, five more minutes," she mumbles, curling her blanket over her head like a cocoon.

"Fine. But the minute I step out of the bathroom, you better be up."

She rolls over and turns to the other side in response. Like brother, like sister.

I roll my eyes and head inside the bathroom, deluding myself to thinking that my sister might actually be ready to stop throwing shit at whoever tries to wake her up at honestly any given moment.

I walk out of the bathroom a good ten minutes later, only to find that Maharani Sahiba is still fast asleep. I let out a sigh and say, "Taanu, it's been more than five minutes."

"Five more minutes di."

"Taani, you said that ten minutes ago. Now get up, we gotta' go!"

Her teddy bear hits me square in the face.

"Do you have eyes on the back of your head? What the fu-"

Her body pillow nearly knocks me over.

"Taani!"

I throw her weapons of fury back on her bed and she barely flinches.

"Taani, I am this close to calling ma in here-"

My sister sits up like a robotic zombie, her warm brown eyes turning into deadly fireballs - most likely aimed at me - as she curses at the top of her lungs, using words that I didn't know even existed. Curses soon turned to threats and threats turned to elaborate murder plots as she slams the bathroom door shut behind her.

Making the executive decision to sleep with one eye open for the rest of the week, I saunter over to the living room, making a beeline for the dining table.

"Carbs!" I moan in delight, shoving a piece of toast in my mouth.

Grabbing a pair of sneakers from the hall closet to put on, mainly because I'd already put my socks on - like a moron - and now our apartment floor was like a friggin' slip n slide, I sit down next to my brother, who is quick to grab onto my toast so I could tear off a piece as I prop my leg up to tie my shoes. I send bhai a muffled 'thank you' before switching over to my other shoe.

I glance up at the sound of my mother's laptop being turned on, finding her sitting across from me. Tilting my head to the side, I say, "Mom, I thought we established a 'no electronics at the table' rule. Remember that?"

She simply snorts in response. "How could I forget? You and your brother locked yourselves in your room for nearly an entire day because you were so upset. Anyways, the rule only applies to using them for fun. This is work."

"But you always say that you should never do two things at once and work shouldn't be done at the dining table. Oh, and my favourite, that whatever rules you have for us apply to you as well."

My mother groans, shutting off her laptop. "You know Kriya, if I knew that you'd remember every single little thing I've ever told you, I wouldn't have even said half of it."

"Maasi, listen to di. She only wants what's best for you," says Taani, walking towards us as she puts her watch on.

"Okay, who's the adult here, me or you two?"

Taani and I spare each other a quick glance, obviously holding back our smirks.

"Us."

"Swayam, back me up here."

Bhai's eyes dart between us and ma as he grabs ahold of his backpack and starts walking closer and closer towards the door. "You know what guys, I'm getting really late. Enjoy your breakfast!"

"Man, that boy can run," Taani remarks, watching him bolt out of the house.

"Wait, aren't you two getting late as well?"

"We're just waiting for Saara, mom."

As if on cue, Taani's phone beeps. She furrows her eyes in confusion before turning to me.

"It's Saara. She says that she and Arjun will be here in a couple of minutes. Something about a siren and Arjun being an idiot."

Say what?

"Saara Rai Prakash, if you're not up in the next three seconds I will end you. Get up!" Sharon screeches into her younger cousin's ear.

In her defence, she'd tried just about everything else. She started off by opening Saara's curtains with an ear-splitting fwoosh.

Nothing.

Her bed is beside the window, if not the blinding light of the sun then at least its heat should've irritated her enough to get off her bed, right?

Nada.

Then she tried to pull away Saara's covers from her fucking death grip, only to have to resort to she does best - yelling.

Zilch.

"Di, just five more minutes-"

"Saara, you've been saying 'five more minutes' for the past fifteen minutes, so no, I will not give you five more minutes, get up before I drag you out of bed."

"You couldn't even yank my duvet away from me," Saara grumbles groggily, "badi aayi uthane wali."

Sharon narrows her eyes at Saara, pinching her nose between her index and middle fingers, startling her cousin out of her drowsiness. "Listen up Tiny Toes! I have been up since 4 AM, our coffee machine is broken, and I have four binders full of paperwork to get through - do not test me right now, clear?"

"Crystal," Saara squeaks, her nasally voice prompting Sharon to let go of her nose.

Sharon flashes a bright smile, eerily similar to that of a wolf that just caught its prey. "Great! Be downstairs in ten minutes, I'm making crepes."

Sharon prances out the door before she could hear Saara squawk, "Wait, what?"

"She said to be downstairs in ten minutes, she's making crepes," Arjun reiterates, taking his toothbrush out of his mouth as he walks by her room.

Saara nearly chucks her studded combat boots at his face before slamming the door shut.

Exactly ten minutes later, after having talked herself down and gotten ready for college, Saara emerges from her bedroom and descends down the stairs. Grabbing an apple from the fruit basket on their dining table, she makes her way over to Sharon saying, "By the way, it's just going to be you and Vrushi this morning for breakfast."

"Why?"

"Yeah Saara, why? I thought that we were gonna' help Siren di make breakfast," says Arjun, grabbing her apple just as she was about to take a bite.

Resisting the urge to facepalm herself - and to just let Sharon have at him for the 'Siren di' comment - Saara reminds him, "Because we promised Taani and Kriya that we'd give them a ride, remember?"

"Oh yeah… well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Watching her brother's retreating figure, Saara asks, "Can I just put us all out of our misery and kill him?"

Sharon groans, already regretting the moment she agreed to let her cousins stay with her.

"No, you can't kill your brother."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't have that on my conscience."

Saara almost bursts out laughing, ready to hit Sharon with a 'what conscience?' and make a run for it, but instead, she simply holds her tongue and follows her brother outside.

While in the car, she texts Taani, 'Me and Arjun will be there in a couple of minutes. Sorry we're running a little late, but Arjun's an idiot and almost released the Siren who nearly killed me this morning."

When they arrive at Taani and Kriya's house, Saara walks right through the door, since no one in that family ever bothers to lock the damn thing.

"Good morning Smriti Aunty!"

"Ah, there's my favourite child!"

Taani and Kriya both let out cries of outrage, but Arjun stops it from escalating.

"Yeah, we literally have zero time for your dramatic nonsense, please exit stage left," he says while pushing them out the door, glaring at Saara in the process because being a Rai Prakash brother is tiresome as is, he can't deal with the Shekhawat sisters and their dramatic asses before 9 AM too.

Once they're in the car, Taani asks Saara, "So what's with the weird text you sent me this morning?"

"Yeah, I was actually getting concerned," Kriya adds.

Saara simply shrugs as she attempts to explain her insane family.

Arjun, Saara, Taani and Kriya sprinted to their first class - APS: Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology - the minute they arrived on campus.

Once they make it to class, they see that the professor's not even there yet, allowing them to relax as they go in and take their seats - Kriya and Saara at the front, with Saara being closest to the door, and Taani and Arjun right behind their respective siblings.

A few minutes later, the professor comes in, and everyone swears that they just heard lightning crackle and thunder roar.

"She looks like that doll from The Conjuring," Kriya mutters under her breath, causing her friends to chuckle.

"Good morning future failures!" The terrifying professor's voice booms across the room, immediately shutting everyone up. "My name is Professor Ananya Malik - ma'am, to the rest of you. Not Ananya ma'am, and certainly not Anu ma'am. Simply, ma'am. I will be setting a timer for each class so if you don't understand the lesson by the end, then drop the class." Her icy tone sends chills up just about everyone's spine, prompting them to exchange identical glances of 'are we about to get murdered?', stopping once her laser-pointers-for-eyes sear into their souls.

Saara, on the other hand, zoned out the minute she heard Professor Ananya's voice. Kriya, Taani, and even Arjun are taking notes, but not Saara. Saara can't stand strict, monotone teachers like Professor Ananya. Her attention span is pretty short as is, but once she hears something being explained to her so robotically, that's that. She was in her own, happy little land of food and cartoons... until the bone-chilling voice of a certain dictator- no, professor brought her out of it.

"Miss Rai Prakash! I have been calling your name for the past five minutes, and all you've done is stare up at the clock!"

Saara has half a mind to at least seem the slightest bit sheepish.

"Sorry, ma'am."

"Can you please just answer the question?"

"Um, what was the question again?"

Professor Ananya sighs, rolling her eyes. "What is the difference between anthropology, psychology, and sociology?"

Saara's mind went blank as she stared up at the projector for a good two minutes.

"I'm waiting, Miss Rai Prakash."

That's when Saara's part-time saviour and full-time best-friend, Kriya, nudged her with her foot and slid her notebook over to her desk so that she could live.

Saara clears her throat and confidently states, "Anthropology is the study of the lives and culture of human beings, while psychology is the study of human behaviour as well the human mind. And... oh, sociology is the study of human relationships within social organisms."

"Organizations," Kriya hisses, the word masked by her obnoxiously loud fake cough.

"Tikh se likha kar na," Saara grits out, only for Kriya to stomp on her sandal-covered foot.

"What was that Miss Rai Prakash?"

"Nothing ma'am, I was just surprised by how atrocious my own handwriting was." Saara nearly chokes on her words when she hears Taani and Arjun's pathetic attempts to hold back their laughter. Stifling her own laughter under the guise of clearing her throat, Saara continues. "Um, so, what I actually meant to say was that sociology is the study of human relationships within social organizations."

Just then, a heart attack inducing alarm goes off, causing an irritated Professor Ananya to snap, "Thank you so much for wasting my valuable time, Miss Rai Prakash!"

But Saara didn't care. In fact, she was the first one to dash out of that classroom while shouting "I'm free!" while the rest of the class awkwardly shuffled out as Professor Ananya turned off the timer that she had set.

Once everyone was outside, Taani and Kriya both grab Saara by her arms and demand, "What the hell was that?"

Arjun, on the other hand, was laughing hysterically.

Saara simply glances at him, annoyed. "Oh, so not only am I best-friends with hyenas, but I'm related to one too. That's just great."

"Shut up!" Kriya exclaims.

"Why'd you have to run out like that?" asks Taani.

"She already doesn't like you very much, no offence, so why are you trying to make her hate you?"

"Can we get something to eat first? I'm not trained to answer this many questions at once unless I have an actual meal in my stomach."

Kriya and Taani exchange a knowing glance before dragging Saara to the canteen as Arjun quietly backs away from their nonsense.

The minute they sat down at the canteen, Kriya and Taani began to chew Saara's ear off about making teachers hate her on the first day. Saara refused to listen to a word they said unless she actually has something sustainable in her stomach, so the two begrudgingly head over to get her something that they'd probably throw at her head anyway. Meanwhile, Saara was clearly well on her way to destroying her phone with the way she was furiously texting her brother.

Saara: What kind of brother are you?! Who leaves their one and only twin sister alone in her time of need?!

Arjun: Oh stop it you Drama Queen. First of all, you're technically not my only twin sister, so I'm gonna' screenshot this to Naina, have fun with that. Second of all, this is totally payback for calling me a hyena. Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Saara: You are evil and I hate you!

Arjun: Yeah yeah, love you too. Bye sis!

Saara: Arjun I'll kill you!

Two minutes pass and Arjun has yet to text back.

Saara: Arjun, reply na?!

Another minute passes as Taani and Kriya finally return to their table.

"Hey Jwalu, we got you your favourite -" Kriya begins, but she stops as soon as she sees her best friend's face.

Taani waves her hand in of Saara's face. "Jwalu?"

Taani and Kriya look at each other and yell, "Oh my god, it's Farhan Akhtar!"

"What, where?!" With her eyes wide and her nose flared, Saara scared just about everyone in their vicinity into fleeing the canteen when she knocked her damn chair over while getting up.

Kriya and Taani merely shrug as if to say, 'oh, must be Tuesday,' before sitting down.

Taani smiles brightly at her best friend as she says, "Not here," before diving into her samosas. Saara glares at her, but Taani remains utterly unfazed.

Sitting down, Saara snatches the bottle of ketchup in Taani's hand, proceeding to use it to make her mac and cheese look like a slaughterhouse. Once satisfied with her horrifying masterpiece, Saara is more than ready to dig in when Kriya says, "You need to start paying attention in class."

Saara freezes mid-bite, glancing back and forth between her two best friends. "Oh wait, you're serious."

"Oh, we're very serious," Taani tells her.

"Well actually, I'm more serious than she is because I'm the one who's taking all her classes with you."

"Okay, di, for the last time, that is a choice that you made. Deal with it."

Just as Saara was about to retort, an all of five foot nothing girl practically jumps on her from behind, scaring the living daylights out of Miss 'I watch horror movies so it's impossible to scare me even though I jump three feet in the air when a squirrel scurries past me' Rai Prakash.

"Nisha!" Saara screams at the top of her lungs as if the spirit of Sharon Rai Prakash herself had entered into her body. "Get off me, you crazy monkey lady!"

"It's crazy cat lady you doofus!"

"Well, you're weird, so it's crazy monkey lady for you."

"I'm not weird, I'm special and unique."

"You are literally ruining what little function I have left in my lungs."

"I think you screaming as if you have somehow managed to acquire the sheer power and raw talent of Sharon di, a real-life siren, might have had something to do with that."

"Are you guys seriously just going to sit there and drink your goddamn Frootis while this mad woman assaults me?!"

Said best-friends slurp, loudly, in response.

"I hate you all with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns."

"We love you too!"

"Ugh, I'm bored with you," Nisha drones, finally letting go of Saara and making her way over to Taani and Kriya. "So, what class did you guys just escape from?"

"Our first one," Kriya tells her, "APS."

"Lucky, I've been here since 8. It's the only time my Intro to Child and Youth Care class wanted to take place apparently. Anyway, how was APS? I don't have it until later this evening at 5."

"5?!" Taani exclaims. "When do you end your classes?"

"Not until 7."

"We don't end until 8," Saara groans, gesturing to herself and Kriya.

"Now ask her when she finishes," says Kriya, glaring at her cousin.

Taani rolls her eyes. "5, but I have work right after until nearly 11, so y'all can't really complain."

Before Saara or Kriya could protest, Nisha cuts in. "Guys, she works in retail, we really can't."

"This is exactly why you're my favourite," Taani tells her, hence the finger guns she receives in response.

"So, APS?"

"It's not the worst-" Taani begins to say, only to be cut off by Saara.

"She's being unnecessarily negative, as usual. APS is amazing and Professor Ananya is the best! I actually think you'll get along really well with her."

"Is she for real?" Taani whispers to Kriya.

"Sh, I wanna see how this plays out."

Nisha looks at her as if she'd grown another head. "Seriously? Because teachers don't like me. I mean, come on, they'd rather like you instead and you're a nightmare."

"Not Professor Ananya! She just has this… unique way of teaching that I think you'll respond really well to."

"She is going to get Nisha expelled on her first day," Taani hisses. "And then arrested after Nisha murders her and rightfully so."

"Where's your sense of humour?"

"Residing in the world of knock-knock jokes and sarcastic wit, not expulsion and murder."

"You're no fun." Kriya then turns to Nisha and asks, "Hey Nish, when's your next class?"

"Hm? Oh! It's at 12, Accounting 100."

"Oh cool, we're in that class!"

"Yay!" exclaims Taani, pulling Nisha in for a hug and taking a peek at her watch in the process. "Oh, we have less than an hour left. I'm just going to go explore the campus. See you guys in class."

"Bye Tans!" says Nisha, waving at her.

The minute her sister's out of earshot, Kriya states, "She's going to go look for her quiet place."

"She'll probably end up in one of the old abandoned classrooms. Or in one of the fire exits," Nisha points out.

"Or maybe she just wanted to get away from the psychotic entity that is Nisha Singhania," Saara snipes, getting a balled-up napkin thrown at her face by Nisha.

"Well aren't you a fucking delight?"

"I aim to please."

"Well, in that case, you can come with me to slash your brother's tires."

"Why?"

Nisha shrugs. "Why not?"

"Just don't question her and go," Kriya insists. "You honestly brought this on yourself."

"I did no such thing and frankly-"

"Saara!"

"I'm going, god, you're the worst."

"It's why I'm your best friend."

"Taani is my best friend."

"I'm not getting any younger!" Nisha pipes up.

"Said the December baby," Saara retorts, finally grabbing her purse and getting up.

Nisha rolls her eyes, getting up as well. Before she leaves, she hands Kriya a container. "Here Kri, I made egg sandwiches and-"

Kriya cuts her off by ferociously screaming, "Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!"

Nisha chuckles as she drags Saara away before her friend could get her grubby hands on Kriya's sandwiches.

Halfway down the corridor, Nisha opens the door to the nearest fire escape, gesturing for a confused Saara to follow her.

"Why are we here?"

Nisha simply shrugs. "I honestly don't know, it just seems like a good place to talk."

"We're gonna' be in here a lot, aren't we?"

"Oh for sure."

Saara groans. "Okay, wait, I thought we were going to slash my brother's tires."

Nisha raises an eyebrow, amused. "Would you have helped me slash your brother's tires?"

"I mean... with the right incentives, I could be persuaded."

"Well, then you should probably know that my current level of anger towards Arjun is only at like, a solid four, which is a smidge above mild at best. If I were to slash his tires, it'd have to be at least a seven."

"Seven? Why not a ten?"

"A ten would lead to my wanting to slash his throat. Like, he'd probably have to run over a puppy for me to jump to a ten, which will never happen, unfortunately… I mean, have you met your brother?"

"Point taken. What did you want to talk about?"

Nisha sighs, stepping down to take a seat on the first step of the stairs. She tilts her head to the side, and Saara takes a seat beside her, but not before complaining about how utterly dramatic she was being.

"I wanted to talk to you about Sharon di."

Saara inhales sharply, causing Nisha to squint closely at Saara's face, examining every tick and inspecting every twitch.

"Saara, what is all this dazzler-weakling crap about? This morning, Aashi di said not to talk to her at college unless we're alone because she doesn't want me to become a 'target' or some shit like that."

Saara looks down at her feet, suddenly intrigued by all the different colours on her toenails, as she fiddles with the necklace Sharon gave her for her fifteenth birthday.

"Right... that."

"Yeah," Nisha scoots closer towards Saara, bumping her shoulder, "that."

Saara lets out a tired sigh. "Look, I honestly don't know what exactly caused this shitstorm that Sharon di decided to start. But as far as I know, somewhere between graduation and first year, di did a complete 180 and turned just about everyone's lives into a nightmare. We all thought that she was just acting out because of her mom, that she'd go back to being the same Sharon Rai Prakash who used be every new kid's saviour, who actually took the time to talk to the sweet old lady working in the canteen, who-" Saara chokes, holding back that the tears she knew were mere moments away from making an appearance, "-would never do something as utterly ridiculous as classifying someone by their wealth."

"But she did. It's what she did- god, does no one realize how fucking stupid this is?"

"Aashi di did. It's why she got classified as a 'weakling' and it's why she and di haven't talked in over a year."

"Did no one ever think to ask Sharon di what's exactly going on in that head of hers?"

Saara's grip on the tiny black camera charm of her necklace tightens. "Nish, di barely even talks to Simmi about it and they're just as close as Kriya and I are. What makes you think that she'll talk to anyone else? I know that what she's doing is the worst kind of self-destructive behaviour because it is affecting everyone around her." Saara can't hold the tears back any longer, everything she's been holding back for months now being let loose because it's Nisha. "I have woken up to her crying in the middle of the night, Nisha. She doesn't sleep, she just sits on the living room couch, staring at her laptop, crying her eyes out and I don't know what's wrong and it sucks. I have never been this worried about Sharon di because I never thought that I'd have to be this worried about Sharon di. I don't know what to do."

"Hey," Nisha murmurs softly, resting her hand over Saara's fist, the surface of her ginormous bangles cold against Saara's warm skin, "everything is going to be okay. You, my friend, severely underestimate your own ability to make people open up to you like it's the easiest thing in the world."

Saara snorts through her tears. "Do you not remember my ex-boyfriend in all his elusive, didn't-just-put-up-walls-but-freaking-skyscrapers glory?"

"Karan's a special case."

"How so?"

"He is by far the most emotionally constipated human being I have ever met, and yes, that includes my father."

"I thought your father didn't qualify as a human being."

Nisha giggles, lightly smacking Saara on the shoulder with the back of her hand. "Hey! I'm supposed to be making you smile, not the other way around. What is this bullshit?"

Saara fucking loses it at the sound of Nisha's offended gasp.

"You're insane, you know that right?"

"Yes, but you love me anyway."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope!"

Shaking with laughter, Saara leans her head on Nisha's shoulder, the latter putting her free arm around the former at lightning speed. As Nisha holds onto Saara for dear life, she swears that she'll get Sharon to talk and she swears that everything will be just fine. Saara believes every word the second they leave Nisha's lips.

Everything.

Will.

Be.

Just.

Fine.

Meanwhile, Kriya was lost in her book. So lost that she'd nearly choked on her sandwich twice. It's not her fault that the most intriguing plotline to ever exist was causing her to forget how to chew… and possibly breathe.

She was so lost that she let out the shrillest of screams when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Turning around, Kriya immediately starts to apologize, when she sees a girl in a ruffled hot pink dress - presumably the one who tapped her on the shoulder - sneering down at her in what could only be described as disgust.

"You're in my seat."

Kriya merely blinks at her words.

"What?"

The girl lets out a dramatic sigh. "You're sitting in my seat."

From the corner of her eye, Kriya sees another girl - who she assumes to be the human seating chart's friend - send just about the saddest 'I am so sorry my friend is like this' glance her way, but she can't be bothered with that now, simply getting out of her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Your seat? I'm sorry, but I don't see anyone's name here, never mind yours."

The girl rolls her eyes and points to a sticker. "That sticker means that this is my seat. The 'S' stands for Sharon, as in Sharon Rai Prakash. Now get out of my sight, you bloody weakling."

Kriya tightens her hands into fists. She's dealt with her fair share of mean girls in the past, but Sharon Rai Prakash really takes the cake!

Taking the sticker off the chair, Kriya crumples it up and throws it away. "I know wicked-witch-of-the-west-green is a hard shade to come by, but next time at least try and make stickers that actually match the size of your ego. This one could barely cover a fraction of it."

Grabbing her things, Kriya leaves both girls dumbstruck, swearing that she'd rather be forced to go on a date with Aarav Saxena than ever have the displeasure of seeing Miss Sharon Rai Prakash again.

Ignoring the squawks of fury she'd left in her wake, Kriya continues down the corridor, cursing Sharon under her breath, when a newer and certainly much more welcoming voice graces her ears. She turns around and sees a familiar stranger running up to her.

Once the stranger catches up to her, she says, "Are you completely insane, or do you simply have a death wish?"

Kriya stares at her, dumbfounded. Is everyone at St. Louis this weird, or just plain crazy?

"Excuse me?"

"You just pissed off Sharon freaking Rai Prakash. That's like diving into a pit full of starving sharks."

"Well, someone needs to put her in her place. And where does she get off calling me a weakling?"

"Ah, you must be a fresher. So you see young grasshopper, last year, Sharon created a divide of sorts. 'Dazzler' is a term used to describe all the rich kids and their less rich minions. 'Weakling' is a term used to describe the more… financially challenged students. You know, all the kids with at least two jobs, most likely going to be killing themselves paying off their student loans if they didn't manage to score a scholarship - those students."

"That is literally the dumbest thing I have ever heard. This is college for crying out loud, I thought I managed to kick mean girls to the curb back in high school. And how does one student, no matter how rich she is, manage to turn this place into nothing short of a dictatorship?"

"Because it's not just about money out here, my dear baby gazelle. It's also about power, and Sharon has an unlimited supply. Her dad is Gautam Rai Prakash - ex-choreographer, trustee, and most likely the one responsible for filling his young and highly impressionable daughter's head with his own elitist nonsense."

Kriya raises an eyebrow at her, curious. "You seem to know her pretty well."

"Well, that's because I do. Sharon used to be one of my best friends, I've known her since we were eleven years old. Our birthdays are even two days apart."

Hearing this random, rambling girl's voice crack tugged at Kriya's heartstrings. Grabbing her hand, Kriya leads her over to the nearest bench.

"Hey, it's okay Neha, the human seating chart can't possibly be this insufferable forever."

That earns a choked up laugh from the other girl. Her eyes widen though, when she realizes what Kriya had just called her.

"How do you know my name, strange girl?"

"Because you are literally the only person I know that would ever refer to someone as a 'young grasshopper' or a 'baby gazelle'. Seriously, what the hell? And you have the nerve to call me strange? Especially since I bought you those bombass earrings that you have on."

Realization hits Neha like a ton of bricks as she excitedly screams, "Kriya! Ugh, I can't believe it took me this long to place you. Who else would manage to get herself on Sharon Rai Prakash's hit list in the few hours that she's been here?"

The two girls laugh to their heart's content, unable to run out of things to talk about. Between exams and previously living over 800 miles away from each other, adding in the fact that they'd mainly bitched about Swayam over Facebook the entirety of their friendship, Kriya and Neha had a lot to catch each other up on.

Meanwhile, Taani was losing her mind trying to find an empty classroom, a corridor - something, anything - where she could just be alone.

"What does a girl have to do to find just one place in this fucking country of a campus where she can have a mere moment of peace and quiet?" she asks herself as she walks into what she's assuming is an empty rehearsal hall.

The infamous St. Louis rehearsal hall in all its glory, complete with a life-size painting of the billionaire who donated maybe 2% of his fortune to this one, single place.

It took everything for Taani to not gag.

"Well, this place is also a bust," Taani groans aloud, glancing around the room. "The acoustics are terrible, it's way too big to not distract me from my peace of mind and… who the hell thinks dice are a good substitute for actual chairs-" Taani's mouth hangs open at what she lays her eyes upon next, "Okay, why the hell is there a random pole just there?"

"Anything else, your highness?"

Taani feels a chill claw up her spine at the sharp, shrill voice that just reached her ears. Mentally cursing herself, mainly her big mouth, Taani spins around with the most awkward of smiles on her face.

"I just want to make sure we're up to your standards, wouldn't want a new student to feel unwelcome. And before you ask, I know you're new because you've clearly never stepped foot into this place."

Taani makes quick strides towards the stranger that towered over her in her god-knows-how-tall stilettos. "I am so sorry, I didn't think anyone was going to be here, and I know that's not really an excuse but- you know what? I'll just show myself out, you have a nice day, and um, sorry!"

Ready to scurry past her, Taani stops when she hears her hiss, "These fucking weaklings yaar Simmi!"

Taani whips her head back around so fast that her long, dangly sun and moon earrings slash against her throat, but she couldn't care less.

"What did you just call me?"

"I called you a weakling, a peasant, unworthy of even being the gum under my shoe."

Taani steps forward, toe to toe with the one person at this college that she just decided she might hate even more than Professor Ananya.

"And just where do you get off deciding who I am?"

The girl snorts. "Please, I'm Sharon Rai Prakash, I practically run this college."

"Oh my goodness, I am so, so sorry!" Taani exclaims with a gasp, earning the most infuriating of smirks from Sharon.

That's when she sends one of her own right back at the Dazzler, catching her by surprise.

"I wasn't aware that the frigid bitch with a clearly inflated ego standing before me was actually Principal Shenoy, the person whose job description allows him to, as you said, run this college."

The sound of Simmi smacking her forehead in frustration echoed in the background.

"How dare-"

Taani puts her index finger against Sharon's lips, completely ignoring the way the older girl was glaring down daggers at her.

"I wasn't finished, Sharon."

Taani takes her finger off Sharon's mouth, almost as if she was daring her to say something… except she didn't. Crossing her arms over her chest, Sharon's face shifts from angry to downright perplexed, as if she couldn't decide whether she should be intrigued or plotting this mouthy Weakling's demise.

Simmi sincerely hoped it was the former.

"I apologized for what I said, maybe I shouldn't have said it out loud in the first place. Regardless, I said I was sorry, so I don't exactly understand why you still felt the need to antagonize me. What, did you think I'd just roll over and run off to dry my tears in the girls' bathroom? I don't care who you are, much less who you think you are, but you should think twice before provoking me and backing me into a corner because at the end of the day, you're the one who's going to be running around like a chicken that just got its head chopped off."

Sharon practically lunges at the younger girl, who ducks her head with a cheeky smirk etched on her face, before seemingly showing herself out.

Just as Simmi had managed to calm her down the slightest bit, Taani pops her head back in to add, "Also, Hot Topic called - they want to sue for trying to bring back their early 2000s Avril Lavigne inspired aesthetic, only to make a mockery of it because you clearly can't pull it off. And your friend's shoes are a million times cuter than yours! Now I'm done," before actually making a run for it this time.

Taani giggles as the sound of Sharon's ridiculous screeching echoes throughout the hallway, possibly making its way around the entire college from the sounds of it.

Clearly not paying any attention whatsoever as to where she was going, Taani nearly runs over an absolutely gorgeous innocent bystander in beat-up combat boots and delicate butterfly earrings.

"I am so sorry, I was just-"

"Reveling in your victory of knocking Sharon Rai Prakash down a peg or two thousand? No worries, I've been there and let me tell you, if you think you feel great now, just wait till she makes it her life's mission to make yours a living hell! It gets a million times better when you have to start looking out for her in every fucking corner of the college."

"How much of that did you hear?"

"All of it. From 'frigid bitch with a clearly inflated ego' right down to the mini Hot Topic rant - it was glorious, you're amazing! Not to mention absolutely right because Simmi's shoes are always a million times cuter than Sharon's."

"Who are you, exactly?"

"Do you usually ask this many questions when someone compliments you?" Noticing Taani's flustered expression, she lets out a chuckle. "Relax! I'm Aashi, Aashi Singhania."

Taani lets out a sigh of relief, smiling brightly at Aashi.

"Taani Shekhawat."

Now it was Aashi's turn to look surprised and confused all at the same time. "Swayam's little sister?"

"Swayam's best friend?" Taani says teasingly.

"Touché Baby Shekhawat."

Taani groans. "I'm gonna' be hearing that all the time now, aren't I?"

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't." Aashi slings her arm over Taani's shoulder without a second thought, as if they'd known each other their entire lives. "How much do you exactly know about your brother and Sharon?"

"Considering the fact that I didn't even know that her royal pain-in-the-ass-ness existed until just now, I didn't think that there was a 'my brother and Sharon' to know about. Should there be?"

"How much time you got?"

"Forty-ish minutes."

"Chocolate cake on me."

"You really should've just led with that, we'd already be at the canteen by now."

"Really? You would've accepted chocolate cake from a total stranger?"

"Oh, absolutely!"

"I like you, Baby Shekhawat."

Taani lets out another groan at the use of her new nickname, still grinning as they head over to the canteen.

Outside, an obnoxiously expensive car screeches into the St. Louis parking lot, parking right next to Sharon's, where it belongs. It parks on an intricate star with an 'S' painted in red, strategically placed an equal distance away from the rehearsal hall and the business department. Both spots had once been meant for St. Louis's beloved Vice-Principal and Assistant Vice Principal respectively. But alas, they had mysteriously disappeared, giving one Sharon Rai Prakash the perfect opportunity to snatch them up for her and her best friend before anyone could question it.

The boy in the car gets out, sneakily avoiding the teacher whose class he had missed this morning, making his way straight to the canteen, where he finds his two best friends. Walking over to them, he happily exclaims, "Hey guys!"

"Hey guys ke bache!" Vicky, the taller one of the two - tallest of them all really - yells. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Aw, Vicks, are you and Nilesh finally ready to accept me as your lovechild?"

Nilesh, tiny as he may be, shatters his eardrums by literally screaming in his face. "That's not the point Rey!"

"Okay fine, sorry. Now tell me what's wrong."

"Didn't you get Simmi's text?"

"No, what-"

Vicky cuts him off by shoving his phone a little too close to Rey's face for his liking. "Read it right now!"

"Oh my god, calm your shit, I have my own phone so stop trying to suffocate me with yours."

Once Vicky gets his phone out of Rey's face, Rey gets out his own and suddenly begins to regret ragging on Vicky and Nilesh once he sees Simmi's text.

Where the hell are you guys?! Two girls (freshers/weaklings) told off Sharon and now she's pissed! Come to the Rehearsal Hall right now!

Rey smacks his forehead.

This was not how he wanted his first day back to go.

"Shit, shit, shit!" He turns around, ready to sprint to the rehearsal hall to prevent his best friend from burning the college to the ground, when he collides with someone and gets orange juice spilled on him.

"Ah, crap!"

"Sorry dude, I swear it was an accident -" begins the boy who had collided with Rey, but Rey cuts him off with a gentle smile.

"It's okay man, just chill."

The poor frazzled kid finally lets out the breath he'd been holding in, profusely apologizing before thanking Rey and scurrying off. There was something familiar about him, but Rey couldn't be bothered to wrack his brain over it now.

Turning back to his friends, Rey hurriedly tells them to stall Sharon for him before rushing to the boys' locker room.

On his way out, he bumps into Kriya, looking back when he hears her books drop with a loud thud. Torn between helping her and saving literally anyone and everyone from becoming collateral damage during Sharon's rampage, Rey chooses the latter and takes off.

Kriya, on the other hand, gapes after him, beyond pissed.

"He absolutely saw me, right?" she turns to Neha and asks, only to get a shrug in response. Groaning, Kriya shoves her fallen books into her backpack before running after him, completely ignoring Neha's cries of 'Kriya Shekhawat, you leave that poor boy alone, get back here right this instant' because Neha is just way too nice for her own good.

Kriya shouting for Rey to stop while struggling to catch her breath - because who does this asshole think he is, Milkha Singh? - is what gets Rey to stop in his tracks and turn around.

Taking full advantage of Rey's bewildered state of being, Kriya finally catches up to him, downright wheezing.

"Did you just- did you run after me? Down three hallways, oh my god, are you o-"

"Please shut up."

"Sorry?"

"I said," concerningly loud inhaling and exhaling, "shut up," coughing fit, "for like two seconds," weird foghorn heaving sound, "that's all I need."

"Well, actually, not to be a total jerk or anything, but I kinda gotta go-"

"No."

Rey looks at Kriya as if she is by far the strangest person he has ever encountered, and considering who his friends and family are, that's just rude.

"No?"

"No! Look, it would've been one thing if you didn't notice that you ran over me like a bulldozer, but you fully turned around to look at me, saw what you had done and that I clearly needed help, and dashed off."

"I was in a rush-"

"And that excuses you from being a decent human being?"

"I didn't say that- you know what, screw this! I have somewhere to be."

Kriya is quick to step in front of him as he turns to leave.

"The least you can do is apologize"

"Fine, I'm sorry!"

Rey tries to make his way to the locker room once again, only to be stopped by Kriya for a second time.

"Say it like you mean it."

"DUDE!" Rey's voice echoes throughout the hallway, Kriya's breath hitching as his face is suddenly a mere inches away from hers. "I already said sorry to you! I told you that I'm in a hurry, and yet you keep interrupting me. Bloody Baatcutter."

With that, Rey turns around to rush off to the locker room.

Once Kriya comes back to her senses, she yells after him, "What did you just call me?!"

"Baatcutter!" he yells back, without so much as sparing her a glance, leaving a huffy Kriya Shekhawat in his wake.

Taani walks down the corridor after having left Aashi at the canteen, walking into the girl's locker room to wash her hands.

Just as she's about to leave, she bumps into what she thinks is a wall, but walls don't have abs. Glancing up at her brand new unwanted obstacle, the first thing that comes to her mind when she lays her eyes upon the shirtless wonder is, "Not to quote maasi, but why does every guy think he can be Salman Khan?"

The first thing she says, however, is, "Are you out of your mind? What the hell do you think you're doing in the girl's locker room?"

To this, he retorts, "This is the boy's locker room. What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

Taani furrows her eyebrows at him in confusion. "Boy's locker room? This is the girl's locker room, the boy's locker room is over there."

She points to the sign, causing him to realize that this was 100% Vicky and Nilesh's idea of a joke. He sighs, mentally vowing vengeance on his two best friends. "Look, there's been a misunderstanding. This is the boy's locker room, someone switched the signs as a joke and-"

"Hey Rey!"

Rey turns around and waves back at whoever that was, before turning back to face Taani.

"-by the way, do you have any common sense or what? This room is blue, and the other one is pink."

Rage floods through Taani's body for the second time that day. "That is the most stereotypical thing I have ever heard! What are you, seven?"

"Well for your information, this place was built like seventy years ago or something, so obviously they're going to use pink and blue!"

"Well excuse me for not knowing that! And you know what, maybe it's time for a change."

"Toh phir mera dimag kyun kha rahi ho? Go take it up with the board or something."

Taani stomps out of the locker room while muttering under her breath, "Main dimag kha rahi thi? Bullshit! Agar sach mein kha jaati, then I'd probably end up with indigestion. Why is everyone at this college so infuriating?"

"Maybe you're just way too argumentative for your own good!" she hears Rey call out from behind her.

Counting down to ten in her head, Taani, refusing to turn and face Rey, yells, "No one asked you, asshole!"

And there went the second Shekhawat that Rey had pissed off that day.

Taani just barely makes it to class after her run-in with Rey, taking a seat beside Kriya who is terrifyingly invested in her book.

"I never thought I'd see the day when Kriya Shekhawat starts reading young adult fiction," she remarks as she sits down.

"Shut up, I'm at a really good part!"

"Is it where she kills-"

Taani shrieks as Kriya chucks her favourite pink highlighter at her, completely ignoring the bemused glances they received from their classmates.

"Taani Shekhawat, if you spoil the ending of this book I swear on both your Krishnaji and my Universeji that I will never forgive you, even in the afterlife."

"You are so dramatic."

"Who's so dramatic?"

Both sisters glance at the door at the sound of Saara's voice, watching as she and Nisha walk in to sit behind Kriya and Taani respectively.

"Our best-friend who likes to throw things at me whenever I open my mouth to speak," Taani tells her, earning an unimpressed glare from said best-friend.

"Because you spoil the ending to literally everything," Nisha snipes as she sits down.

"And you don't?"

"Hey! I get excited and spill on accident, you're just a jerk."

"Your point?"

"I'm still mad about-"

Before Nisha could go off, they all heard a clack that they were all too familiar with, followed by a barrage of curses emitting from Saara's mouth.

Before Kriya can say anything, something catches her eye, prompting her to reach for Saara's hand before she could go sit down. She glances up at Saara's eyes, her face crumpled with worry as she takes in the state of her face. Her cheeks were blotchy and wet, her hair sticking to her face, clearly drenched in sweat a mere moments ago. Her eyes were bloodshot, so bright and so red that Kriya wanted to hug her and never let go.

"Saara-" Kriya doesn't finish as Saara squeezes her hand, her eyes desperate and pleading and- fuck Kriya couldn't ask her anything right now without feeling like a jerk. She simply sighs, sending a reassuring smile her friend's way.

"If you hold onto your necklace any tighter, it might just break."

Removing her hand from her necklace, Saara mouths a quick 'thank you' to Kriya before taking her seat.

Before Taani could question her cousin's behaviour, Kriya wonders aloud, "I wonder where Arjun is."

Just then, Arjun walks in, causing Nisha to mutter, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear," under her breath.

Arjun, obviously having heard what Nisha had said, cheerfully greets her with the brightest smile on his face as he takes a seat behind her. Nisha turns around, sporting an eerily similar psychotic smile on her face, her eyes possibly trying to figure how to shoot laser beams in order to eviscerate one Arjun Rai Prakash.

"Seven," Nisha hisses to Saara.

"If you slash his tires, I can't get a ride to school," Saara reminds, "which actually bothers Kriya more than me, so if you wanna deal with that-"

"You're right, I don't need that in my life."

"Hey Saara, I thought you said Rey was supposed to be in this class," Arjun cuts in.

Nisha furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Really? I thought bhai said he was re-taking it next semester."

"He might just have to if he keeps ditching," Saara grumbles.

"Yeah, like you haven't ditched a single class in your life. And for your information, bhai is apparently crashing Sharon di's class because she's going on some rampage."

"Seriously? It's only noon."

"Shut up you guys, the professor's coming!" Kriya hisses, her notebook and pens already laid out in front of her.

Just then, the professor enters. She's a very jolly type of lady, with a loud voice and comforting smile to match. She stands in front of the class, happily exclaiming, "Hello students! Oh, how I love seeing new faces each year! My name is Meera Malik and I will be your Intro to Financial Accounting professor this year. Now," she claps her hands together before continuing, "I am going to give guys a choice: we could do the whole awkward icebreakers schtick and I can reiterate what's already on your syllabus, or I could just let you all go right now if you promise to be discreet and not let anyone catch you? What's it gonna be?"

Everyone in the room glances around at each other before bolting out the door, just in case Professor Malik was kidding and all their hopes and dreams of getting out of this place get crushed.

Once they're outside, Kriya exclaims, "She's my hero!"

"I love her!" says Taani, in awe.

"Why can't she teach all of our classes?" Saara complains.

"Guys! It's only the first day," Nisha reminds them. "Who knows, maybe it's a fluke. We probably just caught her having a good day."

"Is pessimism really your only setting?" Arjun snaps.

"Yes, because the bright side is clearly the only side to look at things," Nisha is quick to retort.

"Oh, glad you agree!"

And there you have it folks, Arjun and Nisha in their natural habitat - an all-out warzone that never seems to find a winner.

While Saara tries to stop them, Taani and Kriya slowly start to back away, running off to the canteen. Once they're at the canteen, they sit down at an empty table, breathing heavily but laughing nonetheless.

"How pissed do you think Saara's gonna be once she realizes that we left her alone to fend for herself?" asks Kriya, leaning back in her chair and stretching her arms up high.

Taani stops just as she was about to take a sip from her water bottle. "You make it seem as though we threw her to the wolves."

"I mean…"

"Okay, yeah, that's basically what we did."

Kriya snorts. "Never mind that now, how did your 'exploring' go?"

Taani groans. "Let's just say it got really sucky at the end."

"Why, what happened?"

"Okay, so I went into the rehearsal hall and may or may not have said a few things that were best left unsaid."

"Translation, you opened your big fat mouth, as you usually do, and someone who definitely shouldn't have heard you, heard you. It's not that hard to grasp."

Taani's lips form into a childish pout, causing Kriya to shake her head as she chuckles.

"Well, I tried to apologize and awkwardly make my way out, but damn that girl was such a bitch. She was being unnecessarily and unreasonably rude, so I gave her a taste of her own medicine."

"Which is code for 'I ripped her a new one and made her wish that she'd never been born' in your case."

"Krishnaji ki kasam di, she was by far the worst mean girl of all mean girls."

"Huh, wonder if I met the same girl?"

"God I hope not- wait, what do you mean?"

"Calm down, it's not a big deal," Kriya assures her the second she hears the slight edge in her cousin's voice. "When I was here in the canteen earlier, there was this girl who asked - no, demanded - that I get out of my seat because apparently, it was hers. She even had a sticker on it!"

"Let me guess? You threw the sticker in her face and said something incredibly insulting."

"Aw, you know me so well Taanu," says Kriya dramatically, wiping away an imaginary tear. Taani merely chuckles at her cousin's theatrics, scrunching her eyebrows together as a horrifying thought races through her mind.

"Was she by any chance wearing a hot pink dress? And thought that just because her name is Sharon Rai Prakash that she's the most important person in the world?"

Kriya widens her eyes. "Huh, so we did meet the same girl."

"And we both despised her!"

"Interesting... very interesting..." Kriya says, using her detective voice from when they were kids, which never fails to cause both sisters to burst into a fit of laughter.

As they're laughing, Taani's eyes fall on Sharon entering the canteen, immediately causing her to gesture for Kriya to look the same way.

"Oh great, just great!" says Kriya, complaining to her Universeji. Taani starts to giggle, but then she sees Saara going up to Sharon and hugging her.

"Di, complain to your Universeji later," says Taani, bringing her cousin out of her own little world. "Look at that!"

Kriya looks to where Taani's pointing. "What the hell? What's Jwlau doing with her?"

Just then, Taani remembers something. "Di, Sharon said her surname's Rai Prakash, as in the same as Jwalu's, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"And didn't Jwalu mention that she was staying with her cousin, Sharon?"

"Yeah, but what's your point?" Taani just gives her cousin an exasperated look, and then it hits her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh... Sharon is Saara's cousin."

"Yeah." Sometimes, Taani seriously wonders what goes on inside her cousin's head.

"Wait!" Kriya exclaims suddenly, causing Taani to come out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"We can't let Jwalu see us!"

"Why?"

"Because, if Sharon sees us, she might try to pick another fight, and we'll probably end up fighting right back."

"Good point. Even though Jwalu would try and defend us, I don't want her fighting with her cousin-"

"Especially because of us," finishes Kriya, nodding her head in agreement.

"So, how do we avoid her?"

"I honestly don't know."

They stop to think for a minute, until Taani shouts, "Got it!"

"Really?" asks Kriya, with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Yes! Just put your earbuds in and walk away. Jwalu knows that when you're doing one thing, you're always focused on that one thing."

"And she also knows that you always have your music on at full volume," says Kriya, catching on to her cousin's brilliant idea.

"Alright," says Taani, putting her earbuds in, "go!" The two girls leave at the speed of light.

Meanwhile, Saara had gone up to her cousin and hugged her while gleefully exclaiming, "Hi di!"

"Hi honey, how's your day been going?"

"Eh, it's okay I guess."

"Let me guess? You had the Jolly Red Tyrant for APS?"

"Oh my god, yes! Is that what everyone calls her?"

"Yup."

"Well, the name certainly suits her."

"Yeah, but Anya di said that she does have a softer side. And very cryptically, I might add."

"Was Anya di being held at gunpoint at the time?"

Sharon snorts at her younger cousin's dramatics, frowning as her eyes land on the freshers from hell.

Coincidentally, that also happens to be the same time Saara sees her best friends.

"Oh my god, di, I almost forgot! I wanted to introduce you to my two best friends."

"God Saara, you're acting like Vrushi," remarks Sharon, gesturing towards her cousin's child-like behaviour.

"Who cares? Taani and Kriya are the best! But you know what, I'm mad at them."

"Why?"

"Cuz' they're mean," says Saara, folding her arms over her chest and stomping her foot.

"And why are they mean?" asks Sharon, immensely amused by her cousin at the moment.

"Because they left me all alone to play peacemaker between Arjun and Nisha!"

"Oh sweetie, if that's the reason, then they're not mean... they're simply intelligent."

"Di!"

"I mean, there isn't enough money and chocolate in the world to make me get in between those two."

Saara sighs. "Okay, so if you're done analyzing my best-friends' intelligence and Nisha and Arjun's constant need to be arguing, then let's-" Saara stops talking when she sees Taani and Kriya leaving with their earbuds in.

"Ugh, damn it!"

"What's wrong?"

"Taani and Kriya just left."

"So what? Just text them."

"Di, when Kriya is doing something, she always focuses on that one thing. Even if her Universeji came and stood right in front of her, she wouldn't be distracted. And Taani always listens to her music at full volume, which mostly consists of heavy metal, so I can say with certainty that it's so loud that even her Krishnaji can hear it."

Sharon can't help but smile at how her cousin was describing her two best friends. "You three are really close, aren't you?"

"Of course. Always have been, always will be!"

As soon as she's far, far away from the canteen, Kriya's 'DANCE' playlist starts to play one of her favourite songs right when she stops in front of the rehearsal hall. The second that 'Getting Lost' began to play, Kriya couldn't help but start moving to it right from the get-go.

Taking her earbuds out of her ears and ejecting them from her phone, Kriya shoves them back into her backpack as she enters the rehearsal hall. Throwing her backpack beside these strange but very cool dice-for-chairs in the corner, Kriya takes off her sneakers and leaves them right beside her backpack. Replaying the song from the beginning, and not on full blast because she's not Taani for god's sake, Kriya's body moves along to the music as if it was second nature.

This rehearsal hall was new, it was strange, and it wasn't supposed to feel like home yet, but to Kriya it did. Kriya Shekhawat lives and breathes dance, Kriya without dance is like a fish without water - a notion so utterly ridiculous that its very existence would shock just about everyone to the core. To some, it may seem dramatic and silly, but dance is easily the most important thing in Kriya's life, so it should come as no surprise that any rehearsal hall, any stage, even just out on the street - Kriya danced as though she'd been dancing there her whole life.

The song was perfect for her. When Kriya danced, she always got lost in her own world, somewhere that was just her and her dance. Her turns and leaps and tricks - it was her world, all hers. No mean girls who thought they had the entire world in the palm of their hands, no stupid boys with the manners of a friggin' walnut and no shitty dads who only seemed to only know how to hurt their kids. No one to be responsible for, nothing to lose her mind over. Her world of dance was happiness and freedom and may last for about five minutes at best, but for her, it always felt like a lifetime.

Unbeknownst to Kriya, however, she'd gained an audience in the form of the king of ill-mannered walnuts himself.

Rey had gone into the rehearsal hall expecting to find Sharon, but instead, he found that annoying Baatcutter from earlier, who seemed to keep getting more and more annoying by the minute as he watched her dance because dammit, she's good. Better than good. He hasn't seen a dancer like her since Vrushika!

You could tell she'd had years of ballet training based on her form, her feet especially, and that she had no problems with contemporary and acro. She could do turns and flips and tricks that Rey knew no one else on his dance team could, and don't even get him started on her flexibility. Her attitude turn was flawless. She made going from a chaîné to probably one of the highest leaps that Rey had ever seen seem like it was nothing. She did six second turns in a row. She was able to do more tilts than Rey could count and the fact that she didn't manage to pull a muscle in doing so was actually kind of scary. She could do illusions, windmills, aerials… all executed with the utmost ease.

Rey was honestly annoyed at how amazed he was by her technique and skill. If he could convince Sharon to put her on the team this year, they'd win for sure. If only she'd stop being such a-

"What do you think you're doing?"

Baatcutter!

She even manages to cut him off in his head.

"Um- I, uh-" Rey stammers, cheeks heating up under Kriya's accusatory glare.

Remember how annoying she is, remember how annoying she is, he keeps chanting in his head.

Thankfully, it works.

"I heard the music, so I figured someone must be practicing."

Kriya crosses her arms over her chest in a way that immediately makes Rey think of Swayam's mom, god knows why. "And you think that justifies you creeping on me?"

"I wasn't creeping, I was observing!"

"That's exactly what a creeper would say."

"You know what, I can't believe I-" Rey stops himself just in time. No need for Baatcutter over there to know that he was actually impressed by her.

"You can't believe you what?"

"Nothing," Rey all but hisses.

An infuriatingly teasing smirk etches upon Kriya's face. "No, seriously, tell me what you were gonna' say-"

"Well-"

"-creeper."

Rey lets out a frustrated growl as he glares at her.

"Your form was sloppy, Baatcutter."

With that, he marches out of the rehearsal in a huff, completely ignoring Kriya's cries of "GET BACK HERE YOU CREEPY WALNUT!" because that girl makes zero sense. Rey couldn't believe that he had thought for even a split second that she could be on the team.

"I don't care how good she is or even if Sharon herself insists that this girl joins the team," Rey grumbles. "There is no way in hell I'd ever dance with her."

Taani's about to head inside the locker room when she sees two girls, most likely not first years, blocking the doorway, attempting to rag a girl who seems unimpressed rather than scared.

Or at least she tried to.

It was not going well for her.

"No tattoo, no entry," one of the girls says.

"And if you don't want the tattoo, then just wear this bikini around campus for the rest of the week," her friend adds.

Taani rolls her eyes.

"Of all the ways you could rag a fresher, you seriously chose the most basic ones?" she blurts out, lacking a brain to mouth filter, as usual, shifting their attention from the other girl to her. "You guys could've had the decency to put some thought and effort into it, I mean, is it really that hard for you to be creative?"

Both girls turn to glare at her, but Taani Shekhawat wasn't one to let other people get a word in, especially not when she was on a roll.

"How many unsuspecting freshers have you managed to actually use this on? Because that is clearly not a tattoo gun, it's one of those pencil sharpeners we all had in our classrooms taped to the half of a compass where you put your pencil and a friggin' dental drill - where did you even find one of those?"

"My dad's a dentist, I stole it from his office," one of the seniors tells her, earning an aggravated squawk from her friend.

Taani gives both seniors a blank look. "I know you guys were freshers once too, so instead of getting us to fear you with gross antics like this, try actually getting us to respect you. I promise that it's not as hard as it may seem. Maybe start with treating us the way that you would've wanted other people to treat you back when you were freshers."

Both seniors clam up at the horrifyingly sincere, almost maternal way Taani glances up at them. They simply look at each other before turning back to their poor victim and apologizing, stepping out of the way so both girls could enter.

"Thanks."

Taani turns her head to the side at the sound of her fellow fresher's voice, soft and serene, barely above a whisper and yet still managed to be heard. It kind of reminded Taani of the xylophone she had as a kid.

She grins widely at the girl in black. "Anytime! I'm Taani, by the way."

"Vrushika," she says, letting a small smile of her own finally break free. "How did you know that would work?"

"Oh, I absolutely didn't. I kinda just hoped that things would work out for the best, and if they didn't, I do have two tattoos that could've gotten us both in here very easily."

Noticing the curious tilt of Vrushika's head, Taani adds, "They're not exactly in the most visible area," with a wink, causing Vrushika to let out the loudest, most Saara Rai Prakash esque cackle that Taani has ever heard.

Taani knew in that moment alone that she and Vrushika are gonna' be great friends.

"So Miss Vrushika," Taani says as she takes the rest of her stuff from that morning out of her new locker, somehow stuffing it all into her small purse, "how are you liking St. Louis so far?"

"I mean, I love Intro to Financial Accounting! Professor Meera Malik is godsent."

"I know- wait, you're not in my section, are you? The 12 to 1 class?"

"No, I'm in the 10 AM class. Besides, I was in Intro to Micro Econ at the time, and I think that I might've accidentally sat beside my cousin's ex."

Taani raises an eyebrow at the taller girl. "Messy breakup?"

Vrushika sighs. "The full and final wala one, yeah. But I never really got to see all the other times they broke up, I mean, I met the guy for the first time today. I just really hope that they don't end up in the same classes or something."

"Here's to hoping!" Taani gently pats Vrushika on the shoulder, releasing the tension that Vrushika hadn't even known was there. "What class do you have next?"

"I'm in that 102 class, you know, Intro to Business Info something."

"Oh, same! Let's go then."

Vrushika smiles brightly, happy that she'll at least know someone in her class this time.

Okay, she'll know someone that didn't break her cousin's heart into a million pieces, semantics.

As Taani and Vrushika walk into class, they see Simmi and Aashi sitting in the back corner.

"Hi Aashi!" Taani calls out with a bright smile on her face, causing Vrushika to gape at her.

Aashi looks up from her conversation with Simmi and grins. "Hey, Baby Shekhawat! Vahan kyun khadi hai? Come sit here."

'Baby Shekhawat' Vrushika mouths to Taani, amused that even a badass like Taani could get embarrassed by a nickname.

"Oh, shut up," Taani grumbles as she drags Vrushika to where Aashi and Simmi are sitting.

"Shekhawat…" Simmi trails off as she watches Vrushika and Taani sit down in front of her and Aashi respectively. "Wait, are you one of Swayam's little sisters?

Taani raises her eyebrows in surprise. "You know my brother too?"

"We all went to high school together, Baby Shekhawat," Aashi tells her, causing Taani to shudder as a terrifying possibility dawned on her.

"Even the Hot Topic bitch?"

"Even the Hot Topic bitch."

"Watch it," Simmi snaps, glaring at both of them, only to receive the most unapologetic of eye-rolls, so in sync that you'd think Taani and Aashi were the ones that were related.

"Yeah, I'm not apologizing for yelling at your best friend. Even you have to admit that this dazzler-weakling crap is such utter nonsense."

Vrushika's eyes widen to such an extent that the others thought her eyeballs would pop right out of their sockets. "You yelled at Sharon di?"

Taani could not for the life of her tell whether Vrushika was upset, worried or impressed… or if it was a mixture of all three. Regardless, Taani did start to feel the slightest bit bad because she actually likes Vrushika, and if the roles were reversed, Taani wouldn't be too happy about her new friend going for her sister's throat either.

"Well, I mean-" Taani stops herself when she realizes what it actually meant for Vrushika to be related to Sharon. "Wait, so if the Hot Topic bitch is your sister, then that means your Saara's cousin Vrushi, right? The one she kept calling a 'life-ruiner' last night?"

Vrushika nearly chokes on the gasp she lets out. "Life-ruiner? That bitch!"

"In Saara's defence," Simmi pipes up, "you're only helping Sharon to further poison you."

"In my defence, this way we at least get to control the poison."

"Vrushi yaar, it's not their fault you're the only Rai Prakash who didn't get the cursed 'everything I make is lethal poison' gene," Aashi points out.

"Yeah, Saara and Arjun made us taste this cake that they made for mother's day and I swear that thing was alive." Taani practically shudders, now remembering the recurring nightmare she had all throughout 11th grade.

"Yeah, Nisha-" It was then Vrushika's turn to be hit by the speeding truck of realization. "Hold up, I know how you know Aashi di and Simmi di, but how do you know Saara… oh, OH, oh my god, you're Saara's Taani!"

Aashi facepalms, as though watching Sharon not realize Swayam's very obvious feelings for her for the millionth time. "Oh for the love of- you guys are just figuring this out?!"

"Oh hush!" Taani scolds, her cheeks heating up. "What are you two even doing here anyway? I thought that this was a first-year course?"

Simmi and Aashi couldn't help but laugh at the lost looks on Taani and Vrushika's faces.

"Courses here don't depend on your year of study," Simmi explains, "you get put into them based on your program or even your grades."

Noticing that Taani was now looking down at her feet nervously, Aashi places her hand on the younger girl's shoulder and gives it a comforting squeeze. "Relax, Baby Shekhawat, you'll get the hang of it eventually."

"Yeah, it's only your first day," Simmi adds. "How do you guys like your classes so far?"

"I hate APS and I hate my best-friends for making me take it with them," Taani grumbles.

Vrushika scrunches her face in confusion. "Really? Nisha said that Saara told her Professor Anannya is amazing!"

"That's because Jawlu has a freaking death wish. I hope you can somehow convince Nisha not to kill both Rai Prakash twins - one is more than enough."

"Please, what do you think I've been doing my whole life?" Vrushika sticks her thumb out towards Simmi and Aashi. "These jerks refer to me as the 'Nisha Tranquilizer'."

"That's so mean-" Taani begins to say, only to be cut off by Aashi.

"-but true!"

"Okay, yeah, I've heard the stories," Taani admits sheepishly, sending an apologetic glance Vrushika's way as she huffs like a toddler.

Simmi groans. "Please don't tell me either of you have any more classes with me."

"Not unless you have Econ 104 right after this, or Marketing 100 right after that," Taani says with a shrug.

"Hey, I have Marketing 100 from four to five too!" exclaims Vrushika.

"Oh thank god! I didn't want to be all alone."

"Bharat is in both of those classes," Aashi informs Taani, who smiles brightly because Bharat is her favourite of all of her bhai's friends.

"Aw, I haven't seen Bharat in so long. Have you met him before, Vrushika?"

"Only a few times, but he always seems to have food with him, so he's my favourite."

"Mine too!"

"Careful, Baby Shekhawat and Siren Junior-"

"Since when has that been my nickname?"

"-baat yahan mere boyfriend ki ho rahi hai."

"Abbe yaar, yeh Professor Ritvik kahan mar gaye!" Simmi groans, slamming her head onto her desk, ready to explode because she did not ask to be in a class with the trinity of headaches - a Singhania, a Rai Prakash, and a fucking Shekhawat.

She knew she should've just taken Psychology with Nilesh.

"Why did we decide to take this stupid class again?" Saara lets out a loud yawn as she interlocks her hands together and stretches her arms up high. They'd finally finished their last class of the day, Problems in Philosophy, and Saara had already decided that she was done with college.

Kriya rolls her eyes. "I had no choice but to take it. You, on the other hand, only decided to take it so we could be in all the same classes."

"Well, duh! Kri, we've been in the same class since we were six years old."

"And you didn't take any more classes with Taani because...?"

Saara looks surprised by the question, as though the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. She shakes it off quickly, instead reminding Kriya that they were already taking Accounting for Taani.

"Yeah, but Taani's taking APS for us," Kriya reminds her.

"Oh, whatever!" Saara blurts out, immediately wishing she'd kept her mouth shut once she sees that 'what the fuck is up with you and why the hell won't you tell me?' look on Kriya's face.

"You've been acting really strange today-"

Before Kriya could say anything else, Saara's phone beeps. After rummaging through her ginormous turquoise purse for what felt like hours - to Kriya at least - Saara finally gets her hands on her phone. She sees a text from Arjun and she clenches her jaw.

"I'm gonna' kill my fucking brother."

Kriya simply sighs. "Jeez, what did he do now?

"That asshole left with Vrushi after their last class, which ended two hours ago!"

Saara swears she sees Kriya's eye twitch, violently. "If he thought Nisha was bad, just wait until I get my hands on him! What now?"

"Well, Sharon di finishes at nine, par voh college ki cultural secretary hai, so I don't know how long we'll have to wait for a ride home."

Kriya prays that Saara can't see the sheer panic that she knew had just slapped itself across her face. "Jwalu, I really can't."

"Arre yaar, di won't mind, I promise! And I bet we won't even have to wait that long, it's only the first day."

"It's not that! I just, um… I told Taani I'd meet up with her, we actually had plans to… to…" Kriya begins to dart her eyes around, knowing that if she looked at Saara she wouldn't be able to lie her way out of this.

"Plans to...?"

"Buy new pillows for our room!" Kriya blurts out, internally letting out a sigh of relief.

"Didn't you buy pillows last week?"

If Kriya could smack herself upside the head right then and there, she would. "Yes… but we need more because… of the bay window! And besides, you can never have too many pillows."

Saara gives her a look and for a split second, Kriya thinks that Saara knows that she's lying her ass off. But all she does is pull her in for a hug. "Point taken. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, yes, of course. Bye Saara!"

"Text me when you get home!" Saara calls out as she heads towards the library.

Kriya lets out a sigh of relief once she sees that Saara is out of earshot. Now she just needs to find a way to get home. She was about to call Neha when a familiar voice spoke up and caused her to jump at least three feet into the air.

"You are still the worst liar on the planet."

Kriya swears that she could feel her heart stop right then and there. She turns around, shocked to see who she finds.

"Karan?!"

Karan simply smiles at Kriya's antics, as if he didn't almost kill her, because it's just Kriya being Kriya and he hasn't seen her in months.

"Hey."

"Hi!"

Kriya can't help it as her eyes light up and oh boy could she feel the tears about spring forth. She steps closer to him, nearly going in for a hug, when she stops. Her smile fades and her eyes darken to the most ferocious of glares.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Karan shuts his eyes as he lets out a dejected sigh. He was afraid of this.

"I'm here because this is the only place that I can be. They let me in on a dance scholarship."

Kriya can't help but step closer to Karan as she scrunches her face in either confusion or worry... maybe both! Karan really couldn't tell.

"Wait, what? What about SPACE? You know, your dream school? The one you haven't been able to shut up about since we were fifteen!"

"My audition was the day after Saara and I broke up."

Karan doesn't need to look at Kriya to know that she looks like she would wring his neck at any given moment.

"You mean the day after you crushed her heart like it meant nothing?"

"Kriya-"

"You and I both know that's what you deserved, you asshole!"

Karan's hand reaches out to grab ahold of Kriya's, but she slaps it away. Her heart doesn't ache at the crestfallen look on his face, not one bit, because she remembers the downright shattered one on Saara's.

"Come on Kri, I know you don't mean that."

"Yes, I do! Saara's my best friend!"

"What the hell am I then?!" Karan screams and Kriya nearly flinches because Karan doesn't scream, at least not when she's concerned.

"You're just the dick that broke her heart."

Karan lets out a bitter chuckle. "That's so funny, because before I was the 'dick that broke her heart' or even her boyfriend, I was your friend. But I guess that doesn't matter because when it comes to Saara, everyone else be damned right? You'll swear up and down how you always do what's right but when it comes to Saara, all of these so-called morals and values you have get tossed right out the window with the rest of us, because Saara's got you wrapped around her little finger and you know it!"

"Screw you!"

"Yeah, stomp away, that's really mature!"

Kriya whips back around so fast that she's sure her hair smacked Karan right in the face.

"You have some nerve- you know what, you're not worth it. When you broke you up with Saara, it nearly killed her, but I think it's the greatest thing that ever happened to her because at least she doesn't have to put up with your bullshit!"

"Well be sure to tell her it's the best thing that happened to me too! In fact, I'll do that myself since I'll probably be seeing her around campus and in class and-"

Karan grunts as Kriya shoves him against the nearest wall and thankfully it was late enough for there to be no students walking in the hallways.

"You are going to stay the hell away from her or I will come after you with everything I've got," Kriya hisses, eyes ablaze, ready and willing gut him right then and there.

But she doesn't. She lets him go and rushes off. Maybe it was the pity in Karan's eyes or that arrogant smug on his face, but Kriya needed to get away.

She needed to get home.

"Ugh, finally this day is over!" Saara exclaims as she enters the house, flopping onto the couch.

"Is this what you've had to deal with every day for the past twelve years?" Sharon asks Arjun, sending an apologetic glance his way as she closes the door behind her, kicking off her stilettos which were cute as hell no matter what bloody weakling said.

Arjun groans, shutting off his laptop and getting up from the couch. "I'm tired all the time, she's a lot, you guys."

"Well, at least now you have us to partake in your misery," Vrushika calls out from the kitchen, her voice muffled as she rummages through the fridge.

Saara glares at her brother and cousins. "I hate all of you. I'd stomp off to my room all dramatic and shit, but the couch won't let me."

"The couch is not a real person Saara."

"Fuck off Arjun."

Sharon regrets letting the twins stay with her for the fifth time that day, before laying her eyes on the youngest Rai Prakash, who's practically trying to climb into the fridge at this point.

"Vrushika, unless you're trying to find freaking Narnia, you better close that fridge door in the next five seconds."

Vrushika sadly closes the door, grumbling, "I was just looking for the orange juice, damn. Are we supposed to make that fresh now too?"

"What an excellent idea Vrushi!"

Vrushika's eyes widen at the sound of pure glee in Sharon's voice. Behind Sharon, she can see the sheer rage on Arjun and Saara's faces.

Dammit, she did it again.

As Sharon skips off to her room, Vrushika gets hit in the face with a cushion by Saara.

"Next time it's a sequined one!"

"Okay, how was I supposed to know that she would hear me?"

"She's Sharon di!"

"Seriously Vrushi, stop giving her ideas," Arjun pleads before heading off to his room.

Vrushika turns to Saara, eyes droopy, lips pouty.

"Vrushika Rai Prakash, don't you dare-"

Vrushika hops onto the ground, crouching down in front of Saara.

"You are literally the worst-"

Vrushika lets out a whimper and Saara rolls her eyes.

"Fine, you're forgiven. Now leave me alone!"

Vrushika happily obliges, ready to head to bed herself, but not before asking, "Do you seriously plan on sleeping on the couch when your room is less than four feet away?"

"Remember how I just forgave you-"

"You do you girl!"

Saara chuckles as she watches her cousin rush off to her room.

Taking her phone out of her purse, Saara's about to text Kriya when someone whispers, "Boo!" in her ear.

She swears she just felt her soul leave her body and then reenter at least four times.

"Rey, what the fuck?!" Saara smacks her best-friend on the shoulder as he shoves her legs off the couch to sit down, unable to stop laughing. "You scared me half to death."

"I thought you'd appreciate a good jump scare."

Rey smiles that classic Reyaansh Singhahia smile of his, the one that says, 'you know you can never stay mad at me so why bother trying in the first place?' which always gets Saara to cave and smile despite herself as she tells him how annoying he is.

"How did you even get in here?" Saara asks, finally sitting upright because her best friend is a jerk.

"You people don't lock your door. I've been standing here for the past ten minutes watching the spectacle that is the Rai Prakash family, and none of you knew I was here."

"Yes, because witnessing the hot mess that is the Singhania family game night doesn't put the Kardashians to shame."

"It's game night, what did you expect?"

"Well, not to be super-glued to the ceiling, for one."

"You were fine."

"Your family makes you seem like a sensible human being, which you are not."

Rey scoots closer to Saara and turns her to face him. "Why are you being so mean to me?"

"Why weren't you in class today?"

"What are you, my mother?"

Rey rolls his eyes and starts to get up, only for Saara to bring him back down.

"Rey, I'm serious. College is not a joke!"

Rey scoffs. "You are such a hypocrite."

"And you are in your second year, egghead!" Saara snaps, slapping him upside the head. "Look, as a first-year, I get to screw around for a little while longer while I figure things out, but you already got your chance to do that. You haven't even declared your concentration yet and you were supposed to do that last year! And on top of that, you've decided to take only four courses both this semester and next semester-"

"I'll get better grades this way!" Rey protests.

"Bullshit! You expect to get better grades without attending a single one of your classes? Really? Kab graduate karne ka irada hai tujhe? Jab voh tere Vansh bhaiya ke bachche college graduate kar rahein hai tab? Rey, two of your classes are specifically meant for first years."

"Saara," Rey says softly, throwing an arm over her shoulder, "I know what I'm doing."

Saara pinches her forehead, shaking her head. "I swear it's like you and Kriya are the same person."

"What?"

"Why is it that the two shittiest liars on the planet keep thinking that they can actually get away with lying? To me? Their best friend who has known them their entire lives? Honestly, the disrespect-"

"You are making zero sense."

"I took notes for our Philosophy class."

"I love with every fibre of my being, please marry me."

"Not even if I was held at gunpoint. Ab chal, go sit at the dining table. Vicky sent me notes from your other two classes and I will not let you leave until I see you write everything down word for word."

"Do I also have to-"

"Yes, Vicky gave me his highlighting legend. I swear he's more anal than Sharon di."

Rey groans, but begrudgingly agrees as he trudges over to the dining table and has Saara throw her blue pencil case and a notebook in his direction.

"Are you trying to kill me or what?!"

Saara rolls her eyes, albeit fondly, as she places her phone down on the table in front of Rey. "Here are the pictures Vicky sent. Once you're done with this you better call him and say thank you! And bring him his favourite smoothie tomorrow morning."

"Kaisi best friend hai tu?"

"Abbe o nautanki, chup chap yeh finish kar, varna mujhse bura koi nahi hone wala. Aur yeh le." Saara tosses a bag of chips and a chocolate bar in his direction, neither of which were hers.

"Sharon's gonna' kill you," he tells her, already digging into the salty goodness that is Lays potato chips.

"Sharon di would never! I'm her favourite."

Rey can't help but snort at the sheer confidence in his best friend's voice. "Haw, Saara tu mere liye apne Sharon di ki daat khayegi?"

Saara simply shoves him she sits down, causing Rey to shake his head with a knowing smile on his face as he got to work.

Rey knew every shove, every twist of his ear, every arm that wrapped around his shoulder and every smile that she sent his way like the back of his hand.

Every shove was a 'why am I even friends with you, you're such an asshole'.

Every twist of his ear was an 'I'm trying to help you, you absolutely infuriating human being'.

Every arm that wrapped around his shoulder was an 'I believe in you even if you can't, egghead'.

And every smile that Saara could not for the life of her control was a 'you're an idiot but I love you anyway'.

"Why is that every time people enter a store, they turn into bloodsucking demons?" Taani shouts as she furiously steps out of her flats and into her white fuzzy slippers, letting out a soft sigh of relief.

"Rough day, Princess?" Smriti asks, handing Taani a tall glass of water which she downs like a shot, slamming the glass down on the table so hard that Smriti and Swayam were sure something was going to break.

"Don't ask," Taani growls, stomping over to her room as Smriti and Swayam exchange identical glances of 'oh well she's Kriya's problem now'.

Taani enters her bedroom, hanging her bag up on the hook behind the door, still ranting to her heart's content. "I mean, is there some sort of universal law that states customers have to be assholes to retail workers? Because I've got a theory!"

Taani takes off all her jewelry, except for her ring, and heads inside the bathroom. She swears Smriti and Swayam could hear her muffled voice from the living room. Once she steps out of the bathroom, she continues, "-and she had the nerve to ask me to call the manufacturer? Can you imagine di?!"

Taani looks over to where her sister is sitting on her bed, gazing intently at her laptop, after receiving pure silence in response. A familiar grin graces Taani's face as she walks over to her sister, the same one she had when she had replaced Swayam's shampoo and conditioner with mucus green hair dye, which he was stuck with for two months. Taani dramatically lays across Kriya's lap with a heavy sigh, finally gaining her sister's attention in the form of a sudden, high-pitched shriek.

"What the hell Taani?!" Kriya widens her eyes in alarm as she glares daggers at her cousin, moving her laptop just in time.

"Arre, what do you mean what the hell? I come home all tired from work in the middle of the night, change, and yet my one and only darling sister can't even bother to say hello, never mind provide a snarky remark as I go on and on about my shitty job. Kya din aa gaye hai mere!"

Kriya rolls her eyes, lightly flicking her sister on the forehead as if to say 'you're lucky I love you more than anything.'

"Chup kar, nautanki kahinki. I swear you're worse than Saara."

"Aye, di, don't insult me like that. By the way, what were you working on?"

Kriya nearly sobs. "One of Professor Ananya's one hundred and one assignments, and yes, I counted."

Taani grabs ahold of her sister's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. She then glances over at Kriya's laptop and eyes her curiously. "So if you've been working on your assignment this entire time, then why exactly is your screen blank di?"

"Because…"

"Because?"

"Because I can't think of anything!"

Taani sends an unimpressed glare her sister's way. "You can't think of anything? You?! Di, I watched you write a twenty-page paper on Hamlet the day it was due! Not even the night before, the day of. Who the hell do you think I am, bhai? Please, you've never able to lie to me, I don't know why you even bother trying. Ab seedhe seedhe batao hua kya hai!"

"I saw Karan."

Taani shoots up immediately, eyes brimming with concern.

"What?!"

"Well, actually I yelled at Karan and he yelled at me, it was all very confusing."

"I will kill him with my bare hands."

"Would you relax? Anyway, I'm just worried about Saara!"

"Arre, don't worry about her, Vrushika probably told her about Karan already."

Kriya widens her eyes, furrowing her eyebrows at Taani. "You mean you knew that Karan was at St. Louis?"

"Yeah, Saara's cousin Vrushika had a class with him."

"And you didn't tell Saara because…?"

Taani simply shrugs. "I guess it slipped my mind. Aaj itna kuch hua hai! I mean, it was the first day of classes, I met Aashi and Vrushika, I got to see Bharat again, and don't even get me started on that Hot Topic bitch!"

"Who?"

"Arre, Sharon! Smokey eye ke naam pe poori ki poori raccoon lag rahi thi."

Kriya outright cackles, causing Taani to start laughing as well.

"By the way Taanu," Kriya cuts in once their laughter starts to die down, "I was laughing because you used to do your makeup the same way."

That earns Kriya a fuzzy pillow to the face.

"Oh please, that's completely different!"

Kriya snorts. "How?"

Taani smirks, flipping her hair in that same insufferable way that Swayam and Kriya do. "I can actually pull it off."

Kriya simply shakes her head. "Don't you have assignments to do?"

"Only for that horrible Professor's Ananya's class as of now."

Kriya lets out a sympathetic hum before opening her laptop back up. Watching her sister type up a storm, Taani suddenly gets a brilliant idea.

"Acha di-"

"What do you want?" Kriya asks without missing a beat.

"Write my first APS paper of the semester for me? Pretty please with chocolate frosting on top?"

"In your dreams."

"I'll do your Accounting assignments when Professor Mallik releases them."

Kriya glances up at her sister with a calculating look on her face. "If you do my management accounting assignments next semester as well, then we have a deal."

"Fine, but this means you'll do all my APS papers if I do the research myself."

"Only if you agree to do all my PowerPoint slides for the entire year," Kriya retorts, pointing her finger in her sister's face.

"Done!" Taani exclaims in response, linking their index fingers together.

"Here's an idea," the girls let out startled screams of outrage as Swayam bounces onto Kriya's already tiny and thus full bed, appearing out of thin air like the freaking ninja he is, "do your own goddamn assignments!"

"Get off bhai!"

"Yeah, no one asked for your opinions!"

"And you're gonna break my bed!"

Their squabbles can be heard all the way in Smriti's room. She simply sighs as she gets her hands on her earbuds in a feeble attempt to block out her screaming children.

God only knows what other headaches St. Louis is going to bring!

A/N: If anyone is interested in seeing what I am basing Kriya's dance off of in this chapter, just search up The Next Step - Extended Dance Thalia Solo "Getting Lost" on YouTube. Anyway, Simple Kaul gives me major Professor Ananya vibes, and Sana Saeed is such a Nisha to me, but OCs are for y'all to use your own imaginations so it's all up to you! Karan to me is Rithvik Dhanjani, and before I forgot to mention this, Professor Meera is also one of my OCs (I would like to imagine Sheeba Chaddha because I love her), and if you're wondering whether or not she is related to Professor Ananya from Chapter 3, I actually don't know because I didn't notice until. I'm an idiot, honestly, I wrote this five years ago and I'm only now noticing that I gave Ananya and Meera the same last names. Honestly, I don't deserve to graduate university, I'm such a moron.

Musical Inspiration: The World Is New by Save Ferris (for the trumpets alone), Nothing Else Matters by Little Mix (MY QUEENS!), Put Your Graffiti On Me by Kat Graham (this song is life, go listen to it, Kat Graham is a perfect angel), Jaane Kyun from the movie Dostana (the movie itself was meh, but the soundtrack is dope)

Translations:

Maharani Sahiba. - Her highness.

"Badi aayi uthane wali." - Yeah, so, I actually can't translate this, I don't know how, but I'm sure you get the gist of it...?

"Tikh se likha kar na." - "Write properly." (it's funnier in Hindi)

"Toh phir mera dimag kyun kha rahi ho?" - The literal translation is "then why are you eating my brain/head?" but it actually just means "why are you bothering me?" (again, it's funnier in Hindi)

"Main dimag kha rahi thi? Agar sach mein kha jaati..." - "I was eating his brain/head? If I actually ate it..." (I swear it's funny!)

"Krishnaji ki kasam." - "I swear to Krishnaji/God."

"Vahan kyun khadi hai?" - "Why are you standing there?"

"Baat yahan mere boyfriend ki ho rahi hai." - "We're talking about my boyfriend here."

"Abbe yaar, yeh Professor Ritvik kahan mar gaye!" - "Where the hell is Professor Ritvik?" (I can't literally translate this, so this is the best I can do.)

"par voh college ki cultural secretary hai" - "but she's the cultural secretary of the college"

"Kab graduate karne ka irada hai tujhe? Jab voh tere Vansh bhaiya ke bachche college graduate kar rahein hai tab?" - "When do you plan to graduate? When your older brother (cousin) Vansh's kids are graduating college, then?"

"Kaisi best friend hai tu?" - "What kind of a best friend are you?"

"Abbe o nautanki, chup chap yeh finish kar, varna mujhse bura koi nahi hone wala. Aur yeh le." - "Oh hello, drama queen, shut up and finish this, or else. And take this."

"Haw, Saara tu mere liye apne Sharon di ki daat khayegi?" - "Wow, Saara you'll get yelled at by Sharon for me?"

"Kya din aa gaye hai mere!" - I genuinely do not know how to translate this, I am so sorry.

"Chup kar, nautanki kahinki." - "Shut up, drama queen."

"Ab seedhe seedhe batao hua kya hai!" - "Now tell me what happened!"

"Aaj itna kuch hua hai!" - "So much has happened today!"

"Smokey eye ke naam pe poori ki poori raccoon lag rahi thi." - "Her smokey eye made her look like a raccoon."