College friendships are built on shared notes, unexpected connections, and little banters.

The moment Riya stepped through the front door of her house, she kicked off her shoes, marched straight into the living room, and crashed onto the sofa with an exhausted sigh. Spotting her little brother, Sunny, sitting nearby, her face instantly lit up with a familiar, mischievous glow.

"Mein aa gayi!" ("I'm back!") Riya yelled dramatically, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around him in a suffocating, extra-tight hug just to rile him up.

Sunny, who was riya's little brother in Class 6 and the primary target of Riya's endless teasing, began thrashing wildly under her grip.

"Mumma! Yeh phir se shuru ho gayi hai! Bachao!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

("Mumma! She has started again! Save me!")

Riya let go, flashing an evil grin as their mother walked into the room, shaking her head.

"Kabhi toh badi ho jao, Riya! Woh chota bhai hai, aise satate hain kya?" her mother scolded gently.

("Grow up at some point, Riya! He is your younger brother, is this any way to trouble him?")

"Okay, Mumma," Riya replied smoothly, wiping the mischief off her face and replacing it with a thoroughly innocent smirk that clearly signaled she hadn't listened to a single word.

Later that same day, Sunny was sitting at his desk, deeply engrossed in his school homework. Riya quietly slithered into his room, completely changing her tone into a sweet, pleading whine.

"Sunny... mera bachcha," Riya cooed, putting on her most desperate, helpless face. "Woh na... graphic design mein drawings ka homework diya hai college mein. I need your help. You know na mein drawing mein kitni weak hoon?"

("Sunny... my baby boy. The thing is... they've given us a drawing assignment for graphic design in college. I need your help. You know how terrible I am at drawing, right?")

Sunny stopped writing, turned around slowly, and stared at his older college-going sister with absolute disdain.

"I am in Class 6, and I need to do your college drawings now?"

Riya leaned in closer, dropping her voice to a tempting whisper.

"Soch lo... mujhe papa roz pocket money de rahe hain college ke liye. Mein usmein se share tujhe bhi de sakti hoon."

("Just think about it... Papa gives me pocket money every day for college. I can easily give you a share of that cash.")

That instantly caught his attention. Sunny spun his chair around completely, crossing his arms like a seasoned businessman.

"Chalo, you are my big sister, toh help kar hi leta hoon. But in exchange, I need my share in cash, and one more thing... ek Kinder Joy chocolate chahiye, woh bhi jismein Harry Potter waale toys aayein!"

("Fine, since you're my big sister, I guess I'll help you out. But in exchange, I want my cash share, and one more thing... I want a Kinder Joy chocolate, specifically the one that has the Harry Potter toys inside!")

"Haan, haan, thik hai! Done!" Riya agreed instantly, thrilled to have outsourced her engineering assignment to a sixth-grader.

Sunny sat down and meticulously completed all the technical drawings for her.

However, while he was busy coloring and sketching away, their father, Raghav, walked into the room.

He stopped dead in his tracks, watching his Class 6 son do the engineering coursework while Riya sat back scrolling through her phone.

"Yeh kya chal raha hai yahan?"

("What on earth is going on here?")

Raghav scolded, fixing a stern glare on Riya. "If this is how you're going to get your work done, how will you ever pass your exams?"

Riya quickly clasped her hands together, flashing her father a desperate, puppy-dog look. "One last time, Papa... please!"

Raghav let out a defeated sigh, shook his head at his daughter's incorrigible antics, and walked out of the room.

The days began to flow rapidly, and soon, a whole month had zipped past in a blur of new introductions, heavy lectures, and blossoming friendships.

Over the weeks, Shivansh and Yash had clicked with another classmate named Akshat, and the three of them had officially formed a close-knit back-bench trio.

Meanwhile, the third and final round of university counseling results were announced, meaning all the admissions were finally locked in and the remaining empty seats at the PVK Institute of Technology, Pune, were completely filled.

Through it all, Isha continued to fight her own silent internal battles regarding her family's legal drama, with Riya remaining her absolute rock, a constant pillar of support who never let her feel alone.

Early in morning, Isha and Riya were sitting at their usual bench, reviewing their notes before the first lecture. Suddenly, a visibly stressed, frantic girl rushed into the classroom and hurried over to their desk.

"I am so worried about my pending syllabus! I haven't come to college for an entire month...thinking I would get better rank in third counselling. can you guys please lend me your books and notes?" the girl gasped out in a single breath.

Riya blinked, entirely caught off guard by the sudden burst of panic. "Yeah, sure, we can help. But... ek baat batao, tumhara naam kya hai?
(At least tell me your name first!)
Take a chill pill, everything will be fine!"

The girl caught her breath, looking embarrassed. "Oh! Sorry, I'm Purvi. Actually, I waited till the third counseling because I was expecting a much better college option over PVK.

But I didn't get any, so I had to report here today. I'm just stressed about how much I've missed."

Isha smiled warmly, instantly pulling out her neatly organized notebooks and handing them over to calm her down.

"Don't worry at all, Purvi. We will help you catch up with everything. Take these for now."

Purvi clutched the notebooks to her chest, letting out a massive, heartfelt sigh of relief. "Thank you so much!"

Later that afternoon, the class was submitting their weekly tutorials. KDP sir had assigned Yash the responsibility of numbering, organizing, and sorting through everyone's sheets number-wise.

As Yash was stacking the papers, his eyes caught Riya's math tutorial. Right at the top, written in thick red ink, was a blunt comment from KDP sir: 'Improve your handwriting.'

Yash instantly burst out laughing right there in the middle of the classroom. During the short break, as the usual banter between them kicked off, Yash strolled over to Riya's desk with a massive, teasing smirk.

"Suna hai... udti udti khabar aayi hai ki teri writing badi buri hai!" Yash mocked, leaning against her bench.

("So I heard... a little bird told me that your handwriting is absolutely atrocious!")

Riya glared up at him, her eyes narrowing. "Tujhe kya? Apne Kaam se kaam rakho?"

("What's it to you? You care about your work.")

Yash chuckled, completely ignoring her death stare. "Jab dekho daant padti hi rehti hai tujhe. Aww... I feel so bad for you!.

("Every time I look, you're getting scolded. Aww... I feel so bad for you!)

Riya glared at yash while yash said,
By the way, I haven't forgotten... you were the one bragging about how I'd get scolded soon. Look who's laughing now!

Riya now has a plan in action to give yash the absolute experience of getting scolded as he misses it.

The moment Yash turned his back to chat with Shivansh, Riya quietly and swiftly glided over to the boy's bench, slipped Yash's completed math assignment register put on the bench away without a soul noticing.

A few minutes later, the bell rang, and KDP sir walked in for the Mathematics period. He was notoriously strict about assignment submissions and demanded everyone line up with their registers.

Yash confidently reached into his desk but there is no book he searched bag but no luck only for his hands to hit empty air. His smile vanished.

He frantically started rummaging through his bag, overturning his folders, checking under the desk, but there was no sign of it.

"Yash! Submit your assignment!" KDP sir's loud voice boomed across the room.
Yash slowly stood up and walked down the aisle to the podium.

"Sir... meri assignment book mil nahi rahi. Kho gayi hai shayad."

("Sir... I can't find my assignment book. I think it's lost.")

KDP sir glared at him over his spectacles, completely unimpressed. "Do you really expect me to believe that you brought it to class?

Kyun? Kya teri book ke paas pankh the jo woh udti-udti chali gayi? Bahane acche hain, thoda kaam bhi kar leta toh accha hota!"

("Why? Did your book have feathers that it just flew away on its own? Your excuses are great, but it would be much better if you actually put that effort into doing some work!")

As KDP sir continued to thoroughly rip into a completely helpless Yash, Riya suddenly stood up from her seat, holding a familiar-looking assignment in her hand.

She walked up to the podium, her face a mask of pure, helpful innocence.

"Sir, yeh maths assignment mujhe class ke bahar balcony ke paas giri hui mili thi," Riya announced loudly, pitching her voice so the entire class could hear.

"Mujhe laga kisi ka kho gaya hoga, toh main yahan le aayi."

("Sir, I found this math assignment notebook lying outside near the classroom balcony. I figured someone must have dropped it, so I brought it here.")

KDP sir took the book, read Yash's name on it, and turned absolutely furious.

"Balcony?! Your assignment register was lying abandoned near the balcony?! Yash, look at your utter carelessness! You are throwing your academic work around the corridors! This is highly irresponsible!"

Yash stood there, taking the brutal scolding while his eyes locked directly onto Riya. He didn't need a map to figure this one out-he knew exactly who had plotted this entire disaster. It was 100% her doing.

Staring at him, Riya slowly leaned back against a desk, crossed her arms, and gave him a highly satisfied, purely evil smirk. Score settled.

The next lecture was Data Structures (DS), and since Purvi was entirely new, she didn't have any textbooks yet. To make matters worse, neither Riya nor Isha had brought their copies that day.

Seeing the predicament, Purvi quietly walked over to the adjacent row where Akshat, Yash, and Shivansh were seated.

"Hey, I am Purvi, new joinee and your good name ?"

Akshat responded,"Hello,I am Akshat"...

" Do you happen to have the DS textbook? Can I borrow it for this lecture?" she asked politely.

Akshat looked up, and the moment Purvi asked, a wide, enthusiastic smile spread across his face. "Yeah, absolutely! Take it, no problem at all," he said, handing over his textbook without a single second of hesitation.

"Thank you so much!" Purvi smiled warmly and walked back to her bench.
The moment she was out of earshot, Yash spun around to Akshat, looking at him like he had lost his mind.

"Kya kar raha hai yaar? We only had one textbook on our bench. Kyun diya tune pagal?

(What are you doing, man? Why did you give it away, you idiot?)

Now what will we read from? Stop acting like a hero, I'm going to go get it back from her."

Shivansh quickly grabbed Yash's shoulder, pulling him back down into his seat with an amused chuckle.

"Leave it, let her take . We can easily grab a spare textbook from the back bench."

They reached back, snagged an extra book from them, and settled down.
Once the lecture concluded and the professor left, Akshat immediately stood up and strolled over to Purvi's desk.

"Hey, Purvi," Akshat began, leaning slightly over the desk with a smooth, friendly grin.

"Today is your first day, right? How is it going so far? I know catching up can be tough, so if you need any notes, have any doubts, or literally need help with anything at all... you can always reach out to me. I'm completely at your service."

Before she could even ask, Akshat quickly rattled off his phone number so she could note it down.

Purvi's eyes lit up, clearly touched by how welcoming her new classmates were. "Aww, that is so sweet of you! Thank you so much, Akshat." In return, she happily shared her phone number with him as well.

Sitting right next to Purvi, Isha and Riya had observed this entire exchange in absolute, dead silence. The moment Akshat sauntered back to his bench, looking thoroughly victorious, Riya leaned over to Isha, her eyes narrowing into a sharp, investigative squint.

"Mmm... Isha, tune notice kiya? Akshat aaj tak toh kabhi humse dhang se baat bhi nahi kiya. Aur aaj bada meherbaan ho raha hai Purvi par!

(Did you notice that? Akshat has never even spoken to us properly till today. And today, he is showering all this special kindness on Purvi!)" Riya whispered dynamically, a knowing grin spreading across her lips. "Kuch to pakh raha hai"

("There is definitely something fishy going on here...and something is cooking!")

Isha let out a soft laugh, shaking her head as she gently nudged her overly dramatic best friend. "Tu bhi na! Tujhe kya yaar? Aise faltu kaam mat kiya karo, chupchap apni padhai par dhyan do!"

("Oh, come on! What do you care? Stop getting into unnecessary things and just quietly focus on your studies!")

But Riya just giggled, looking back toward the boys row. The first month of college was over, and clearly, the real drama was just getting started.

Please take two seconds to smash the Vote button(⭐️) and leave your thoughts in the Comments section below! See you all in next chapter! ✨
Happy Reading!

Also you can follow me on instagram @shiningstarwrites