First day of 11th. New sections on the notice board. Mira scanned the list, found 11-B, and pushed through the crowd. She'd been in this school since 6th, but 11-B was uncharted territory.
She walked in 2 minutes before the bell, spotted one empty desk by the window, dropped her bag on it.
"Occupied," a voice said from behind her.
She didn't need to turn to place it. Aashish. Science topper from 11-A last year. The guy whose name was always one rank above or below hers on the merit list. They'd orbited each other for 5 years — same assemblies, same inter-house, never the same section. She knew his stats. He probably knew hers.
"Don't see a name on it," she said anyway, turning.
He was there, leather-strapped watch, shirt sleeves rolled, math textbook under his arm like he owned the subject. "Aashish. State-level football player. School topper last year. This was my desk all through 10th. So yeah, occupied."
"Different section, Topper. This is 11-B now." Aanya sat anyway. "Mira. District-level debate. NIOS scholar.State level chess and badminton player. We've been in the same school since 6th and never had a problem. Don't start now."
The bell rang. Sir walked in before Aashish could retort.
During attendance, he leaned over when her name was called. "NIOS, huh? Heard about you. Let's see if you survive Pawan Sir's physics without crying."
She didn't look up from her notebook. "Heard about you too. Worry about keeping your rank now that we're in the same section."
He clicked his pen once. "Competition makes winning sweeter."
She finally glanced at him. "Only if you win."
Neither admitted it, but they both took longer to pack up just to see if the other looked first. Five years in the same building. First day they actually had to share air.
Hehe knew you'd say yes 😏 Here's Chapter 2 — forced proximity starts now.
Second week of 11th. Physics lab smelled like burnt wires and failed experiments. Pawan Sir walked in with the attendance register and zero mercy.
"Partners for optics practical," he announced. "I'm pairing you myself. No best-friend drama."
Mira prayed to not get stuck with the guy who slept through theory. Aashish prayed to not get stuck with someone who'd drop the lens.
"Aashish, Mira. Bench 3. You're both toppers, let's see if you can work together."
The whole lab went ooooo
She grabbed the ray box. He grabbed the lens holder. They reached the optical bench at the exact same second and stood there, refusing to move.
"You heard Sir," she said. "Work together. That means you don't get to command."
"Wasn't planning to," he muttered, setting the lens down. "I got 99 in the unit test. I think I can handle a convex lens."
"I got 100." She plugged in the ray box without looking at him. "So I'll handle the readings. You write."
"Of course the NIOS scholar wants to do the smart part." He clicked his pen. "Fine. But if you mess up the focal length, I'm telling Sir."
"If you mess up the focal length, I'm telling the whole school you can't measure." She slid the screen an inch. "Move. You're blocking the scale."
They bickered through object distance, image distance, three wrong readings, and one near-argument about significant figures. But the final value? Dead accurate. 15.0 cm. Clean.
Pawan Sir checked it, raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Maybe putting two storms in one lab was a good idea."
While cleaning up, Aashish didn't look at her. "You're not terrible at physics."
Mira capped her pen. "You're not terrible at following instructions."
High praise. From them.
Walking out, he was half a step behind her. "Try not to enjoy being my partner too much, Quiz Kid."
She didn't turn around. "Try not to need me next week, Topper."
Both of them were already thinking about next week.
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