"Hey, wait, wait, wait...," Saim was almost running towards the classroom to congratulate Savera on her victory when Afsah asked him to stop.
"What happened now?" He stopped.
"Just come with me, I'll show you a really interesting scene," Afsah hold his hand and dragged him to the school ground where a heavyweight boy was sitting under the shade of a tree. His mouth was filled with french fries and in his hands, he had two Pepsi tins.
"Hey fatty, what are you doing here?" Afsah asked him with fake aggression on her face.
"I'm just sitting here to enjoy my drinks and fries," He answered while standing up. It seemed like he already knew Afsah so he was looking very scared to her.
"Hey Afsah, why are you teasing him? Let's go to the classroom, everyone would be congratulating Savera on her victory and we are wasting our time here," Saim tried to stop her because he had the idea that she is going to bully that fat boy.
"Just wait for a second," She stopped him instead "Hey you, stop eating fries," She pointed to the fat boy. He immediately stopped. Half of the fries were in his mouth while the half was in his hands.
"Drink all your drinks just in one breath right now," She ordered him. Saim was just looking at her with surprise and helplessness.
"Why...?" The fat boy asked. Fries were still in his mouth.
"I just want to know about your capacity, that how much can you drink in one breath?" She raised him to show off.
"Are you trying to challenge me?" He raised his eyebrows.
"No..., No..., I'm not challenging you but he was the one who said earlier that despite being so powerful and heavy, you still have no guts to drink your both tins in a single breath. I tried my best to convince him that you can do but he didn't believe me," She pointed to Saim. Saim was already surprised further her lie made him crazy instead.
"What? Me? Wh...," Half of his words were still in his mouth when he got interrupted by the fat boy.
"How dare he? I'll show him that I can drink all my drinks in one breath, right here, right now," He looked dumb so he started drinking Pepsi without any further confirmation.
"But I...," Saim tried to complete his words.
"Hey, just wait and watch, I'm sure you will enjoy it," But Afsah cut him out. He stopped talking, hesitantly. The fat boy started drinking cold drinks at full speed. First, he finished one can of his drink and then immediately put the other in his mouth.
Saim was looking at him in wonder, just standing right in front of him.
"Amazing..., great..., you can do it, man..., I told him," Afsah was making him more excited by clapping her hands.
When his mouth filled with the drinks, Afsah silently moved to his back and suddenly, punched hard on both bulging cheeks of his face at the same time. With this sudden attack, all the liquid stuff, filled in the fatty boy's mouth fell on the body of Saim. Both the boys got shocked and Afsah started laughing heavily.
"What rubbish? Are you out of your mind, Afsahhh?" Saim shouted while checking his uniform.
"Hahaha, just chill man... didn't you hear the quote *Life is too short to live depressed*, Just enjoy every moment of it. You should thank me that I gave you the very first joyful moment of your life," Afsah was still laughing madly at his condition.
"Youuu...," Saim fisted his clenched while the fat boy started eating fries in sadness.
"Are you not getting late to congratulate your dear friend anymore," Afsah put her elbow on his shoulder "Come with me, let's congratulate her together," She blinked mischievously.
"Are you kidding me? In this situation? No way" He pointed to his current condition "Thank God, I do have another uniform in my locker. Otherwise, everyone was gonna mock me the whole long day. You are not trustworthy at all. Just move away from my way, I am going to change my uniform," He pushed her away and ran towards the locker room.
"Do I come along?" Afsah was still laughing at his back. Students around them also enjoyed well Afsah's prank.
"Crazy girl...," While opening his locker, he also smiled.
**********
When he came to the corridor after changing his uniform, he saw some of the students in his class waving happily and congratulating each other.
"What has happened? Why do you all look so happy? And why are you congratulating each other?" He asked three questions in a single flow to one of them.
"Don't you know that this time our class has bagged the number one position in four different categories of the competition and became the overall winner class of the school in the annual competition function," His fellow told him very excitedly?
"In four different categories? One of them is Savera who has won the speech competition, but who are the other three?" He asked curiously.
"Come on, from what planet are you? Don't you even know about your classmates' achievements?" His classmate taunted him, keeping in mind his previously quiet demeanor.
"Yes, I don't know, but if you tell me, will you get a tax notice from the government for briefing me?" When quiet people suddenly start talking, their sense of humor becomes quite good.
"Do you have any idea that you have become quite ill distinguished," His mate got shocked at his answer.
"Yes, I have an idea, Sir. But do you have an idea that you are such a stupid person who doesn't even know how to answer someone's question accurately?" He just realized at that moment that Afsah's company had also made him quite sharp-tongued.
"What happened? Why are you arguing with him?" Afsah arrived there and asked him.
"Devil is in the details. Once you remember it, it will come to you immediately," He mumbled seeing Afsah.
Afsah had heard his mumble but didn't say anything. Their classmate left the argument and went to join the crowd to celebrate.
"He just said our class is the overall school champion of this year's competition function. Is it true?" He confirmed with her.
"Yes, I heard it too that four out of six competitions were won by our classmates," Afsah shrugged carelessly.
"Wow..., who are the winners?" He asked her because he realized that she was the only one who can answer him properly.
"Of course, the first one is your favorite Savera who won the speech competition, the second one is your new so-called best friend Waleed who won in a science exhibition by creating some sort of model of the science project, the third one is that jerk Mahir who won boxing tournament and the last but not the least is that our annoying class representative Maleeha who won the dance competition," Afsah gave him all details by making bad mouths.
"So why are you getting jealous of those four, you too would have participated in a competition and won if you were capable," He laughed at her badmouths.
"My shoe is the one which is getting jealous. If I had participated, we would have been District Champions at the time, not the school," Afsah said while hitting the ground hard with her left foot and left to mock those who were celebrating victory. He smiled at her actions.
"There are a total of five people I know in this whole school, four of them became champions.
Great to hear that... They were lucky enough to have me, weren't they? let's congratulate them all," He talked to himself proudly and went towards his classroom to congratulate his friends and fellows.
**********
As soon as he entered the classroom, his eyes alternately fell on the four corners of the classroom, where a champion was standing in each corner receiving the congratulations of the students. The room was so crowded that it seemed impossible for him to reach the champions. Because it was not in his nature to break through the crowd and reach them. So he stood next to the classroom entry door and started looking at them with a smile on his face. They were all very cheerfully collecting congratulations from the students. It seemed like the whole school had become their fan.
In front, their class teacher Miss Samarah was also proudly receiving congratulations from all the faculty of the school.
"I wish! That one day I can make my class and class teacher proud like them," He thought while smiling.
"Are you assuming yourself at their place, so you are smiling like that?" He didn't know when did Afsah come to his side and stood leaning against the wall in the same way that he was standing.
"Hmm, everyone has their unique way to accept others' achievements, as I was accepting their success by assuming myself at their place and you accepted them as champions by gotten jealous," He looked into her eyes and said while smiling.
"Hmm...," Afsah didn't argue at all.
He looked at her with shock. But before he could say anything to her, he saw Savera coming out of the crowd towards him.
"It's not fair at all Saim, you didn't come to me to congratulate me," She complained as she came.
"I'm a bit afraid of crowds so I've been standing here for a long time, waiting for the crowd to clear around you so I can come over and congratulate you," He explained while smiling.
"Okay, No problem. Since now I'm standing in front of you and the crowd is gone, you can now congratulate me," She said while smiling.
"Congratulations Savera, you deserve this win," He congratulated him heartedly.
"Thanks a lot, Saim, your compliment means a lot to me," She happily accepted his congratulations.
"Don't you wanna congratulate her?" Saim asked Afsah, who was standing silently.
"Congrats...," Afsah completed the formalities.
"Thanks...," Savera found her behavior strange but she replied with a smile.
"Saim, I am very grateful to you for writing me the contest-winning speech. Indeed, if it wasn't for you, I might never have won," She admitted wholeheartedly the importance of his writing skills in her victory.
"It was your enthusiasm more than my writing skills that won you over," He also admitted her's speech skills wholeheartedly.
"I even won the competition but my best friend hasn't even bothered to congratulate me yet. Don't you think it's quite unfair to me?" Waleed came and joined them.
"I was just coming your way to congratulate you, congratulations a lot my friend," Saim embrace him warmly.
"Thanks..," Waleed smiled.
"Okay Saim, see you soon, I'm leaving now," Savera left them and got out of the classroom. Saim nodded his head, happily waved her goodbye, and was involved in taking Waleed.
Afsah was also standing next to them, frantically surveying the classroom.
After some time, Waleed had to go to the laboratory for some work, so Saim also moved toward Maleeha. While Afsah went towards the restroom.
"Congrats Maleeha, Eventually your passion for dance won you the competition," He praised her.
"Hey Saim, it's you, thanks a lot. Where were you busy? I haven't seen you anywhere since that day," She warmly welcomed him.
"I wasn't busy, you were so busy in dance practice that we didn't get time to say even hello, hye to each other," He reminded her.
"Hmm, that's right too. But no problem, now the contest is over so we will meet often," She said.
"Yeah, sure," He smiled.
While talking to Maleeha, he caught sight of Mahir who was walking out of the crowd towards the door.
"Okay Maleeha, I need to go now, see you soon," He said goodbye to Maleeha and hurried towards Mahir.
"Congratulations on your win, Mahir," He congratulated him warmly.
"Hmm..., thanks," But Mahir said a quick thank you and left the classroom.
He kept watching him with his mouth open.
"How rude," He felt insulted.