Everyone in Arshiya's class quietly listened to the broadcast. After a while they resumed their activities.
Being the new students, both Arshiya and Nupur didn't have any knowledge about how things worked here.
Everyone seemed very used to this. So Arshiya looked at Nupur with an expression that read 'is this also normal?'
Nupur shrugged.
They were about to gloss over the topic when an unfamiliar voice sounded from the back,
"You two must be new right?"
The voice belonged to one of the three boys sitting right behind them.
He was sitting in the middle of the two. As they were sitting so close, he had heard Nupur and Arshiya. And perhaps because his butt was too big, he had to insert it in other people's conversations.
He continued, "The name you just heard is of a senior. He is an 11th grader. Getting called out to the teacher's lounge at least three times a week for various reasons is normal. Though being called to the principal's office like this is quite rare even for him."
Arshiya: "..."
Perhaps it was her imagination. But when the boy said this, the few students sitting around them looked at the three boys with an odd expression.
The boy's enthusiasm to share information didn't sit right with Nupur. She blurted out, "Did we ask…"
The boy had no idea that his goodwill was interpreted as something malicious. He was clearly not expecting such an unfriendly reaction from the two pretty girls and his expression resembled that of a shocked husky.
He then threw himself straight in the arms of the boy on his left while crying pitifully.
That boy caught him smoothly. He comforted him with one hand while his other hand continued to turn the pages of the book he was reading without so much as even looking away from the pages. He was clearly very used to this.
Nupur tried very hard but failed to detect even a hint of moisture around his eyes, despite crying so naturally...
Finally, the last remaining boy spoke up after a short laughter, "Hello, I am Devayan. The one trying to squeeze out tears is Purav, and the one comforting him is Pratik. Nice to meet you."
This time Nupur wasn't so distant anymore, "I am Nupur."
"Arshiya."
Arshiya gave a small nod.
Nupur realised that they seemed nice and just wanted to be friends. She let her guard down and asked, "How is that senior like? Why does he get called out so much?", not particularly addressing anyone but looking at Purav.
Purav considered it as a proposal of conciliation and happily accepted. After his quick recovery he explained, "You must have seen him this morning, the guy who was handing out the flyers."
Nupur and Arshiya who were expecting some kind of interesting story: "..."
'It seemed, even if a school encouraged sports and physical activity, it still couldn't take this extremely suggestive way of advertisement.' the two of them thought narrowly missing the point. That being, someone was distributing flyers inside the school, at all.
They said these few words and the teacher for the fourth period already entered the classroom.
Arshiya was certain this time. The teacher was standing outside the door this whole time! She literally saw them talking to another teacher right outside their classroom door before walking in!
It was really different from her previous school where they were given at least a ten minute break after two classes.
. . .
After the fourth period was the lunch break.
Arahiya had just turned to put her books in her bag. But when she turned back, she saw the seats of their three new friends were empty.
Confused at how they could have disappeared when the teacher herself left less than ten seconds ago she asked, "Where did they go?"
Nupur said while getting her lunch box,
"They rushed off the moment the teacher crossed the threshold of the classroom."
Arahiya: "To do what?"
Nupur: "Fight for food of course."
Arshiya: "...oh."
Seeing Nupur's nonchalant attitude, Arshiya felt something and hesitantly asked.
"Do you bring lunch everyday?"
Nupur was busy inspecting for any inedible -according to her preference- ingredients within the contents of her lunch and answered absentmindedly, "Of course not. My sister packed me lunch today because she was worried I might starve. Y'know it's only my first day here and I still don't know where the canteen is. If not for that, I wouldn't have even waited for the teacher to leave. I used to rush out the back door of our classroom the moment the bell rang."
That made Arshiya quite curious about Nupur's previous school.
Thinking about random things, suddenly Arshiya recalled her previous query which she was unable to make due to being cut off by the announcement.
"Oh right, does the flyer advertise about some kind of sports event or something?"
Nupur: "hahaha you didn't even read what it was about?"
Arshiya hesitated for a bit but decided to be honest in the end, "I couldn't bring myself to read."
Nupur thought about it and felt like she could understand as she stuffed another spoonful of fried rice and casually said, "It's an advertisement about a badminton club I think."
After answering she went back to eating.
Nupur had always been very focused when eating. She rarely got distracted while doing this one thing. But the silence stretched on and even she felt something was off.
Arshiya hasn't replied to her yet.
Nupur looked up in inquiry.
Arshiya was frantically digging in her bag. She was so desperate that she was about to rip her bag into shreds.
Nupur was silent for a while. She then swallowed her food and quietly shifted herself and her precious lunch box to the side to avoid getting caught up in an unfortunate accident.
. . .
Lunch was almost over. The situation was something like this:
The three boys had long returned. They kept glancing around, appearing quite suspicious.
Arshiya was unable to find her flyer and Nupur seemed to have discarded her one as well. Leaving Arshiya in loss.
And Nupur...she was busy eyeing Arshiya unopened lunch box.
"If you don't want it, can I have it?"
Arahiya looked at Nupur expressionlessly.
Her gaze made Nupur feel sheepish. "It's also okay if you don't want to though."
Arahiya hasn't even registered her words until the last sentence when she finally snapped out of it.
"...Why would I not want my lunch?"
Nupur: "break is about to end. When are you gonna eat?"
Arahiya: "No like...even if I don't eat now why will I..."
She stopped talking and sighed. Then continued after a while, "Forget it. It's true that I am not feeling hungry right now. So you can have it, just leave a bit for me."
Nupur happily agreed.
While opening her lunch box she suddenly thought of something. "Arahiya, why don't you ask them, they might have the flyers as well." She pointed at the back with thumb.
Arshiya was quiet.
Nupur couldn't understand the reason for her silence when it suddenly clicked to her. "Uh...do you want me to ask?"
Arahiya finally looked at Nupur. Her eyes shone with an unusual light that made Nupur feel weirded out. "Stop looking at me like that! I am just asking a simple question for you." Nupur felt Arshiya would be willing to even give her the whole lunch box if she were to ask, with the way she was looking.
On one hand, Arahiya had never been very good with strangers. Nupur was fine due to her talkative nature. But other than that, Arshiya rarely talked with strangers on her own accord.
On the other hand, the advertisement was something Arshiya was very curious about since it could be related to some tournament or maybe a coaching center even. Either way, she didn't want to oversee any information on this topic. Hence, Nupur asking them in her place was a huge help to her.
"Purav, do you have any of those flyers on you?"
The moment they heard it, all three of them perked up. Even Pratik, who was laying on the desk, cracked open an eye to look at the speaker.
Purav: "You interested?"
Both Nupur and Arahiya felt the excitement in his voice which was rather unexpected from someone who wasn't even involved.
Nupur took a quick glance. After seeing Arahiya didn't mind it she told the truth.
"Not me, Arshiya wanted to see one."
Purav tried to suppress his excitement. "We have it. Not only do we have it, we...!?"
Purav felt a jolting pain on the back of his hand which was being pinched by Pratik.
Purav was almost in 'real' tears with how viciously he was pinched. He gave a questioning look but found that Pratik had gone back to lay down. But even with his eyes closed to rest, Purav could detect the slight smile at the corner of his lips.
Purav: "..."
'You are really enjoying yourself aren't you!?!'
Thankfully Devayan was willing to clarify.
"Look at the door." He said in a voice only the three of them could hear.
So under Arshiya and Nupur's confused gaze, a teacher that was loitering outside the classroom door, came in with long strides and stood in front of the three classmates.
Only then did Purav understand the situation.
'...Okay. but how the hell did he see that with his eyes closed!?'
Purav didn't get to ask Pratik, the teacher was standing right there.
"Miss Juhi, what happened?"
Miss Juhi was a lady in her early thirties. She had clean facial features and a big smile. "You will know soon enough. Follow me with your bags first."
She stood there until they got all their things and then slowly followed behind her.
While all this was happening, the three seemed very used to this treatment. It was Arshiya and Nupur who had a look of bewilderment and worry.
Just as the last one, Pratik was about to pass by, he pulled something out of his pocket and extended it in their direction.
His actions were so quick Nupur couldn't even see what he was holding in his hands. At this moment, Arshiya leaned over Nupur. She received the folded up paper in a swift but converted move and gave a slight nod which Pratik reciprocated before leisurely following behind the other two.
"What is it?" Nupur came over and realized it was the flyer.
"So they received it as well."
Arahiya got back to her seat. She carefully opened the folded paper and read through the contents.
The bell rang, a few minutes before the teacher's arrival, Nupur stuffed food in her mouth.
When the teacher walked in, she closed the lunch box and looked at Arshiya. "What does it say?"
Arshiya looked up from the crumbled piece of paper. There was a look of despair in her eyes. "It gave the address of a badminton institution."
Nupur was confused. She stole a glance at the teacher and lowered her voice. "Well, shouldn't you be happy? I thought you were interested in getting in or something? Then what's the problem?"
Arshiya nodded. "Because the address is all there is… without any further explanation
Arhiya and Nupur looked at each other, both at a loss for words.