The bell rang, signifying the end of club activities. Vihaan slid his notebook into his backpack with a half-sigh, the kind that came from solving one too many logic puzzles during the science club meet. He liked this part of his day, tucked between school and home, where numbers and theories had their own language and nothing demanded too much feeling.
Vihaan pulled his bag over one shoulder and stepped out, adjusting the strap. Today's activity about Fluid Dynamics had been interesting and left his mind buzzing with ideas for the upcoming group project.
Just as he stepped into the corridor, he heard the adjacent room's door swing open. The artist club was letting out, a small crowd of students spilling into the hallway with laughter and chatter, hands stained with colors. Vihaan moved to sidestep them and just like that-WHAM.
"Woah—sorry!"
He'd collided with something, no someone. A sudden shift of weight, a breath that wasn't his, and then—a blur of hands, his physics book went flying—Only to be caught mid-air.
Vihaan blinked. The boy standing in front of him held his book with an apologetic smile. Clay-streaked fingers gripped the spine. The title was visible: Principles of Physics. Except now, the 'P' was partially smudged in what looked suspiciously like blue paint. Or—clay?
Vihaan looked up.
"My bad," the boy said, handing the book with an easy grin. "I'm Kavin, Artist Club." He wiggled his clay covered fingers conspicuously.
"Vihaan," he replied with a short nod, taking the book back carefully. "Science Club."
"I know," Kavin said, his smile widening. "You're the one who corrected Mr. Sharma when he messed up that equation in Physics last week. That was pretty cool."
Vihaan blinked, surprised that someone had noticed—especially someone from the Artist Club. "It was just a simple miscalculation," he mumbled, but felt a tiny surge of pride anyway.
Kavin leaned against the wall, completely at ease. His jeans were streaked wildly with blue. Vihaan studied the boy's paint-splattered jeans and wondered how anyone could be so unbothered by the mess.
"That's a lot of... blue," Vihaan commented, nodding at Kavin's hands.
Kavin grinned, examining his fingers with mock seriousness. "My masterpiece decided to fight back. The clay and I had creative differences."
Despite himself, Vihaan chuckled. "Who won?"
"The jury's still out," Kavin wiggled his eyebrows. "Though my shirt's definitely the real victim here." He pointed to a smudge near his collar.
"Guess creativity comes with a laundry tax." Vihaan said half jokingly.
"Hey, still cooler than anything that happens in math class!" Kavin exclaimed in mock offence.
"You're in math class with me, you know."
"Exactly why I know how boring it is," Kavin replied with a wink. "Speaking of cool things though, we're having this ceramics workshop coming up. Nothing fancy, just messing around with clay." He gestured at his hands.
The invitation hung in the air between them. Vihaan shifted his weight, something about Kavin's casual confidence had caught him off guard. As far as he knew, Kavin had only recently transferred to the school but he already seemed to be settling well, making friends and all.
"Can't, I've got a science club meeting" Vihaan replied "We're working on this hydro-powered model for the district fair, and I need to finish the calculations for the turbine design."
"Oh, cool! That sounds—"
"And then I need to finalize the research topic for our project. Deadlines," Vihaan added with an apologetic smile.
"When?" Kavin inquired.
"When what?" Vihaan asked back.
Kavin tilted his head, an amused smile playing on his lips. "When is the deadline, cause I never mentioned the time and date of the workshop"
Vihaan's eyes widened slightly. "Oh. I just assumed—"
"It's on Friday. At four." Kavin's eyes crinkled at the corners. "Is your science club meeting on Friday too?"
"No," Vihaan admitted, feeling heat creep up his neck. "It's, uh, tomorrow actually."
"So technically," Kavin said slowly, "you could come to the workshop."
Vihaan fidgeted with his bag strap. "I guess so, But I'm just not interested."
"Without even giving it a shot?" Kavin raised his eyebrows.
"I'd be out of place, I'm really not the artsy type."
"And I'm not the calculus type, but I still think what you do is pretty awesome," Kavin shrugged with a smile.
"I'd probably just mess up whatever I try to make," Vihaan reasoned, adjusting his backpack strap.
"That's literally the point," Kavin laughed. "Its a workshop and not a training session for a reason" he said easily. No one's first work looks good. Mine looked like someone sat on it."
A reluctant smile tugged at Vihaan's lips. "That's... Comforting? But mine would probably just be... flatter."
"So... Friday?" Kavin asked, eyebrows raised hopefully.
"I'll think about it," Vihaan said, surprising himself.
Later that night, Vihaan sat at his desk, organizing his textbooks for the next day. His fingers paused when they brushed against something rough on his physics book. The blue smudge stood out against the glossy cover, a small blemish on his otherwise pristine textbook.
He ran his thumb over it, feeling the slight texture of dried clay. He got up and grabbed a dust cloth to clean it off, then decided against it. He could always clean it off later, right?
Maybe it was the memory of Kavin's easy smile, or the unexpected way he'd caught the falling book. Whatever it was, Vihaan found himself setting the book down without cleaning it.
"It's just a small smudge," he murmured to himself." It wasn't such a big deal anyway.
He picked up his calculator, double-checking that he'd completed all his assignments, when his mother's voice floated up from downstairs.
"Vihaan! Dinner's ready!"
"Coming!" he called back, getting up from his chair. He shut off his desk lamp, and went down for dinner, the workshop invitation lingering on his mind.