The next sunrise brings Determination in Kathani Sharma's heart as she quickly walked towards to bath area.
She has risked to much to be hear to fulfil her late brother's dream and it's not just that! The knowledge she will gain here as Karan will help Kathani to get governess or her father's old accountant job in Maharajah Palace in India.
All she has to do is adjust sports in her planning and she will be able to stay here. She is determined to fulfil this demand and she won't let these posh, privileged snobs deter her from her goal.
Once she was bathed and dressed in Karan's image she took deep breaths and stared at her reflection and saw her late brother's face looking back through the mirror. "You can do it Kathani, for Karan, for Appa, for Amma and Edwina. You have to do this !"
She quickly headed out and started searching pamphlets for her sports options.
The cricket team was out of question because first years are not allowed and the truth is she is not interested in it like her brother was.
Next pamphlet was of chess team. "Now this is my game!" She felt excited as she went for breakfast.
When Anthony, Simon and Dorset entered the main hall for breakfast they saw Sharma sitting alone going through sports clubs pamphlets.
"Wonder what club he will choose?" Simon mused.
"He needs to get selected in them too." Anthony reminds them as they took table nearby.
While they enjoyed Breakfast Anthony, for some reason, he tried to peer over Sharma table as he sorted out pamphlets in two sections before getting up to leave the hall for the first class.
"Let's see which clubs he will approach." Anthony told them while watching Sharma heading out.
Anthony got his answer two hours later after the end of their second class as he headed towards chess club, the only club that Simon and Dorset did not share with him.
As soon he entered he saw everyone focus on one table as their chess instructor watched a match between Henderson and none other than Sharma while everyone watched their game with intense focus.
"What is going on?" Anthony asks one of their club members who answer him without taking away his eyes from the game. "Henderson is going down."
"What!? But Henderson is our club's best player !" Anthony exclaims in disbelief and the instructor scolds him in an annoyed voice. "Be quite Bridgerton!"
With a scowl on his face, Anthony watched Sharma smirking at Henderson as he flicked his Queen. "Check / Mate."
For a seconds everyone stared at him in complete silence and then a loud clap rang around the room.
"Well done my boy! Well done!" Instructor shake hands with Sharma and joyfully patted his back. "Haven't seen such nail biting game since our finale at 1787 Games with Cambridge! I think you will be a great asset to this club!"
"Thank you sir and I promise that this year I will do my best to win the tournament and bring both glory and trophy to our prestigious university."
And as he and Sharma walked passed him Anthony has this feeling that Sharma smirked triumphantly at his direction.
After successfully entering the first sports club of her choosing Kathani was confident that she would get selected in her second choice.
With that confidence, next day she headed out for the fencing room.
She was sure she would get selected in no time after all she had been trained along with her brother and Princes by none other then great commander of Maharaja.
She was about to grab a sword from the swords stand when a voice stopped him. "What do you think you are doing boy?" The sword master was looking at her questioningly, so she left the sword and answered him. "I was picking up the sword to showcase my talent."
"May I ask why?" He inquires, making Kathani frown as she answers. "To joined fencing club sir."
The sword master flicked his sword at the board. "You are week late boy. As you can see our class is full and no spots left."
All previous confidence drains out of her as she splutters. "But Sir! Please give me one chance! I have been trained in fencing by great soldiers from India alongside Princes!"
"Then you should have come earlier boy! Rules are rules and it will be unfair to other boys if I create a spot for you in already full class."
Kathani's head fell in defeat as the sword master patted his back. "Look boy, what's your name?"
"Sharma. Karan Sharma."
"Look Sharma as you know accident happened during swords fights so even if I can't let you join now, if a student got injured and unable to participate then I promise his spot will be yours. Can you wait until then?"
The sad bit was that even if she agreed to that she still needed to get selected in another club to secure her position in school.
So with that in mind she turned around and left the class and her sadness turned into anger when she saw Bassett, Dorset and that horrible snob, Viscount Anthony Bridgerton, huddled together staring at her as she was leaving and she was sure Bridgerton smirk at her while flicking his sword in X as she passed by.
Over the next few days (Just as Anthony predicted) Sharma has seen approached various teams. He approached shooting next and once again found the spot full.
"The archery master didn't let him enter the field as he informed him that his class is full." Dorset informed others as they watched Sharma huffing and puffing while stabbing her meat as if it was archery master instead.
Kathani was now getting panicked as each day brings another rejection. She has been rejected from her chosen team fencing, shooting and archery and even the sports she didn't selected refused her because she was late to join.
"Our class is full." Skating master told her.
"You are week late." Riding master told her.
She was brutally laughed when she entered Boxing ring the only club that allowed her to showcase her talent.
"Let's see what you got Sharma." Bassett challenged as he stepped inside the ring and then to her horror took his shirt off."
"Shirt off Sharma! The boxing master orders him. "Trust me boy! You don't want blood stains on them."
"Show us those muscles Sharma!" Bridgerton hollered and her eyes snapped to each of them before landing on Bassett's naked muscular chest!
"No! No! Noooooooooooooo!" With a shaking head she all but jumped out of the ring and ran as fast as she could while everyone laughed at her retreating back but when she turned back to see her roommates she was surprised to see Bridgerton was not laughing with everyone else and there was something like pity in his expression that hurts her more then being mocked.
Today was her last day and last chance and unfortunately the last team.
Last night after dinner, the Vice Principal cornered him as he told him in plain words. "If you don't get selected tomorrow then you better pack your bags because you will be leaving by sunset."
All night she couldn't sleep while her roommates slept peacefully probably happy to get rid of lonesome Sharma.
As dawn approaches she quickly get up to start her day, praying that it won't be her last day in this university.
Anthony noticed that Sharma looked extremely depressed today and even though he thought he would feel elation he couldn't help but feel little sorry for this guy.
"Poor guy got extremely afraid of the thought of facing you Bassett." Anthony whisper while remembering how Sharma ran away before the fight.
"Of course he got scared and ran away!" Dorset exclaims while Simon showed them his muscles. " Have you seen the size of this?!" I bet Sharma would be seeing stars with just one punch."
Anthony nodded his head while staring at Sharma, who seemed to have lost his appetite as he pushed his plate away and walked away with a dejected face.
For the rest of the day Kathani was on the verge of breaking down but she still had some hope to salvage this situation.
"You have been thought rowing since you were ten." She reminded herself how her Appa used to teach her rowing on a lake between the Palace grounds and the village.
She and Karan used to row their boat almost everyday to visit the village.
She remember what her Appa once told them as they watched rowing competition during the summer festival.
" It takes more than one person to row faster. One person cannot win this game. Only A perfectly synchronized team can find victory in this competition."
Only being part of a team is a great risk of exposing her true identity, but this is a risk she has to take at all cost otherwise all will be for nothing.
So keeping that in mind, she head outside towards the lake where she can see many boats and students near the lakeside.
Anthony watched as Karan Sharma approached the rowing master and before he could even consider rejecting Sharma started desperately pleading with him. "Sir I understand I am late and accept my foolishness to think that taking part in sports club does not have any significance to my studies."
Everyone watched silently as Sharma took deep to calm himself down before she plead her case to him. "Sir please! I am quite good at rowing. I have been rowing since young age and use it in my day-to day life."
The rowing master looked at him approvingly for a few seconds before he showed him a boat. "If you are as good as you say then let's see how fast you took lap within one mile radius. The record is under five minutes so beat that and you may have a chance."
Sharma beamed as he quickly got in boat and started rowing while everyone started watching between him and their watches.
To everyone's surprise (except Anthony who was not surprised at all) Sharma returned at three and forty-five seconds.
"Bravo my boy! Bravo! With you in our team Cambridge defeat is confirmed this year."
"So am I selected in team!" He asked excitedly.
"Yes! In fact you arrived just in time. You see we have divided students in group of four and it's just so happened that our one group was one member short."
"Oh no! Simon groans while Dorset grimaced as they watched Rowing master bringing Sharma to them.
"Bassett, Dorset and Bridgerton welcome your new teammate."
They watched as four of them stared at each other but no one moved forward to greet each other.
Kathani was accepting this hostility but she remained silent because she needed this spot and just when she thought the awkwardness would grow more a hand moved towards him. "Welcome to the team Sharma."
Kathani's eyes widened in surprise and her heart softened at this nice gesture, but then she remembered Bridgerton's hurtful words from a few days ago. Shaking his hands she leans closer as she told him. "Looks like you are stuck with Peculiar Karan Sharma."
Bridgerton gasped as his eyes widened at these words.
With one last smirk she dropped his hand and walked away not knowing that Bridgerton and his friends were glaring at him.