Page 23 of A King's Oath

His body began to tense up, that sinus he had lied about starting to throb at the back of his head. Ava’s pencil slid into his notebook and he froze.

This is a depression —>

She wrote, pointing to the jalebi-like drawing he had labeled Hill. Samarth’s heart stuttered. He could not let this opportunity slip. So he drew another symbol, butchering it mindfully. He glanced at her from the side of his eyes. She wasn’t looking at him or his notebook, her eyes on the board.

Samarth cleared his throat. A little too noisily. All eyes turned to him, including Ms. Shanaya’s.

He smiled sheepishly — “Throat’s starting to get itchy, ma’am… I’ll drink some water. Sorry…” he started to reach for his bag when Ava passed him her own bottle. He took it, elated, opening the cap and pouring a sip into his mouth. The back of his pencil nudged her arm. She startled. Then nudged back with the back of her own.

Samarth smiled, pointing to the butchered drawing he had made. He returned her bottle and made a question mark beside his drawing. Ava huffed, reached out, and wrote —Ravine.

Before she could look away, Samarth brought his pencil below hers in his notebook and wrote —Are you angry with me?

Ava’s surprised brown eyes rose to his. She frowned, a small smile coming to her lips.

Samarth pushed his brows up, nudging his chin to his notebook. She understood, and brought her pencil below his.

Why wud you think that?

He quickly scribbled —Because you didn’t come for my sunday match

Kresha wanted to go shopping in udaipur

Samarth huffed, eyeing her. She began to turn back to her notebook but he couldn’t have it. He flicked the back of his pencil on her arm to get her attention back and quickly wrote —You liked the match?

Yes

We won

I know

You didn’t wait after the prize distribution

We had to go for lunch… mummy-papa sent us with their chaperone friends, they took us out

Ava looked at him then, pushing a lock of hair off her eyes. It cleared her face like some otherworldly planet had risen in the sky. He saw her full face this term then. Otherwise, there was always hair covering the sides of her face, even when she had tied her high ponytail.

Stop looking!She wrote.

Why?

Samarth looked up after writing those three letters and her mouth was slightly open, her cheeks reddening. Shit. Shit. Shit.That otherworldly planet?That was the warmest sun!

Ava turned the page of his notebook because they had run out of space. Samarth stared in horror, and dark amusement, realising he was scribbling in his Geography notebook — a sin for a guy like him, even if he detested Geography with a vengeance.

Finish your symbolsAva wrote.

I’ll copy from you later

She smiled again, and he couldn’t believe that he, Samarth Sinh Solanki, was going for a girl’s smile and red cheeks again and again, faster and harder, more aggressively than he had ever gone for a goalpost.

“Did you finish copying the symbols?” Ms. Shanaya’s voice broke their exchange. Samarth sat up, now a little nervous. Because with the attention she had been showering on him today, it wouldn’t be surprising if she asked to check his notebook.

“Yes, ma’am!” “No ma’am…” “10 minutes, ma’am…”

Samarth loved his class in that moment. All 38 of them. Not as much as he loved Av… he stopped. Glanced at her. She wasengrossed in selecting a pen from her floral pouch. Samarth noticed then that even her bag had some floral print on it this year. Had she come back on a flowers phase?

“Take 5 minutes, not a second more after that,” Ms. Shanaya’s stern voice ended the groans. Samarth put pencil to paper again —Do you have practise today?

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