Chapter 5
The next few weeks passed quickly.
Exams were approaching, and suddenly everyone in school seemed to be panicking.
Even Meera.
Her notebooks were filled with half-finished notes, highlighted paragraphs, and messy reminders written in the corners of pages.
"Focus," she muttered to herself one afternoon while staring at a page of biology notes.
It was strange.
A few weeks ago, most of her thoughts had been about Rohan.
Now things were a little different.
Of course, she still thought about him sometimes—like when she saw him walking across the corridor or laughing with his friends during break.
But exams had a way of forcing reality back into people's lives.
And right now, Meera had bigger problems.
Like passing math.
One morning, however, something unusual happened.
Because Meera walked into school looking slightly different.
A few days earlier she had gotten clip-on bangs for a drama performance she had participated in.
She had decided to wear them to school that day just for fun.
At first, everything seemed normal.
She was standing near the corridor with a few of her guy friends, chatting casually, when she suddenly noticed something strange.
Across the hallway, Hirsh was standing with his usual two friends — Rudra and JK.
And the three of them were clearly laughing.
More specifically…
They were laughing while looking at her.
Meera narrowed her eyes.
"Oh, really?" she muttered.
Without thinking twice, she walked straight toward them.
The three boys immediately stopped laughing when she approached.
Meera crossed her arms.
"Why the hell are you guys laughing while looking at me?"
Rudra and JK tried to look innocent.
Hirsh just shrugged.
"Nothing."
Meera raised an eyebrow.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I didn't say anything," Hirsh replied calmly.
"Come on," Meera insisted. "Just say it."
Hirsh looked slightly amused now.
"You might get offended."
"I won't," Meera said quickly. "Just tell me."
Hirsh tilted his head as if thinking.
"Well…" he said slowly, "you kind of look like someone."
"Who?"
He named an actress.
Meera paused for a second.
She recognized the name immediately.
The actress was from a horror movie.
But she was actually pretty attractive.
Meera shrugged.
"Well," she said casually, "she's pretty good-looking. So if you're comparing me to her, I don't really mind."
Rudra tried to hide a smile.
JK looked like he was about to laugh again.
Hirsh simply shrugged.
"Sure," he said. "If that's how you want to take it."
"What does that mean?" Meera asked suspiciously.
"I didn't say you look exactly like her," Hirsh replied calmly. "I just said you reminded me of her."
Meera rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"You are impossible."
Hirsh looked completely unbothered.
Meera sighed and shook her head.
"Whatever."
With that, she turned around and walked back toward her group of friends.
Behind her, she could still hear Rudra laughing quietly.
Meera resisted the urge to turn back and yell at them again.
Instead, she sat down at her bench and opened her notebook.
But even while pretending to study…
She couldn't help thinking one thing.
Hirsh was unbelievably annoying.