Unfortunately, Bibhabori got caught up in another emergency and had to bail on her siblings. Later, Tanmoy also had to leave early because of an urgent call. Ankita was already sad enough but seeing her brother leave made her completely dejected. Rishav being done with Ankita's gloomy texts, decided to surprise her with a sleep over. Unable to bear their lovely daughter's cloudy face, Trina and Subhashish also joined in his plan.
So, on Friday morning, before Ankita woke up, Rishav sneaked inside the guest room and quickly changed into his pajamas before sitting down for breakfast.
As a half sleepy Ankita descended the stairs Rishav cried in a cheerful voice "Yo, bro, good morning!"
Ankita stopped. Standing there she looked at the dining table, blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes and looked again.
"Am I dreaming?"
"Nope." Rishav promptly replied.
"Rishav?"
"In the flesh." Rishav proudly waved his hand.
Blink. Blink.
"What the heck?" Jumping five stairs at once Ankita appeared before him in a flash.
"What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for breakfast?"
"Tch, no I mean you... Why... I mean... How..." Ankita found herself at a loss for words.
"Dude, chillax and sit." Rishav pulled her down on a chair.
Ankita stared at him with her mouth agape.
"Wait a minute! Why are you in your homeware?" She jumped at him.
"What else does one wear at a sleep over genius?" Rishav rolled his eyes.
"What sleep over?" Ankita asked with visible confusion.
"Surprise, surprise! We planned a sleepover for you two till Sunday." Mr Chakraborty's beaming face emerged from behind.
Ankita stared dumbfounded for a good few minutes and then broke out into tears. Rishav hugged her and cracked some silly jokes. Mr Chakraborty also jumped in. Their goofing helped Ankita cheer up and laugh. Miss Dey smiled in relief seeing the glow back on her daughter's face.
During these three days Rishav never let Ankita sit alone in a corner. He dragged her to help Mr Chakraborty in the kitchen in the morning, sat her with Ms Dey and him to watch their favourite football replays in the evening and revised lessons together at night.
Wednesday morning.
Miss Dutta announced, "Students we have a late joiner in our class. Rai Sarkar. Help her out with the classwork of these nine days. And Bikram, please show her around the school during the lunch break." she said.
"Okay, Miss." Bikram stood up and nodded.
"And Rai remember to come to the staff room to collect your books after your tour." Mrs Dutta turned to the new student.
The girl in a short ponytail and forehead covered with bangs, smiled sweetly "Okay, Miss. Thank you."
There was only one empty seat left, in the row beside Ankita's. So Rai skipped the process of choosing a suitable one and took that seat.
After the classes of first half were over Bikram brought Rai on a tour of the campus. As a late joiner, Rai had a lot of questions about the teachers, their classes, the schedule, and so on. Bikram listened to all of them patiently and politely answered each one.
"Oh, I forgot to congratulate you. Congratulations on your second album release." Rai suddenly paused on the way and gave a thumbs up.
Bikram stiffened for second at the mention of their new album but masked it quickly and nodded in gratitude before continuing with the tour. He looked perfectly calm and focused on the outside but internally, he kept praying that the new student does not start bombarding him with questions about their life. And to his relief, she did not delve further into his public or private life.
"Bikram, thank you for the tour. You may go have your lunch. I can go and collect books myself ." Rai nodded at Bikram as he brought her to the staffroom.
"It's alright. We can just go to the class after this. Since I'm already here I'll help you carry your books. Most of them are quite heavy and carrying everything at once will be difficult. I am free now anyway so it won't be a bother." He shrugged.
"But you would be late for lunch," Rai said hesitantly.
"It's fine," Bikram reassured her.
"Okay. I'll be quick. Thanks again." Rai slipped inside the room.
Rai was lagging quite behind her class in terms of the lessons. Hence she turned to Ankita, the friendliest one around her, to ask about the lessons and other assignments. Ankita had already befriended Rai during lunch time, so when her new friend asked for help, she was even more eager to lend a hand. She helped her log in to NB, the software application they used for all written purposes, and showed her the notes and homeworks given so far.
By the end of school, Ankita and Rai hit it off so well that they became inseparable. When she introduced Rai to Rishav they too bonded pretty quickly. Hence, learning that Rai lived only a few streets across them, they decided to walk back home together every day.
One such day, on their way home.
"By the way Rai, you said you like playing musical instruments. Could you play for us someday? I and Anu can also use this chance to visit your house." Rishav suggested, putting his arms around their necks.
"What do you say, Anu? We can also show her around the neighbourhood sometime, right? Right?" He swung his head like a pendulum as he looked back and forth between Ankita and Rai.
"That sounds like a good idea. You two should come over to my place. I'd be glad to host you and show you my collection of instruments and also play some of them for you." Rai's eyes twinkled in excitement.
"Alright then," Ankita said clapping her hands.
"Since Rai is okay with this plan we will set a date for our meeting. Summer vacation is starting soon so we can just pick a day when all of us are free and we can spend the day at Rai's. Maybe we can also have a small picnic by ourselves. Rai, you told me about that attic of your house, remember? If it's okay with you can we have our picnic there?"
Ankita looked at Rai expectantly.
"It's totally fine by me. I'll ask my parents if they have anything important there and tell them about our plan. I'm sure they won't object. They'll also be happy to meet the two of you." Rai laughed seeing them jumping up and down like bunnies hearing her approval.
"That's decided then. Bye!"
The trio parted ways.