Khushi felt herself trip and expected to hit the ground hard, scraping her knees.
But instead she felt strong hands in her waist and was found back to her feet. She looked up and noticed the she was standing in Arnav's arms.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. Arnav let go of her and turns around to leave but heard her voice behind him, "Thanks."
"No problem," he replied back with a smirk and walked away with the other guys that were ahead of him.
Just then Lavanya came beside her, "Are you fine? I saw you falling but apparently some guy caught you before you did fall."
"Yea I'm good, Arnav happened to be also passing by since they were also going outside and happened to catch me," she said.
"Arnav, isn't he also new to the school?" Lavanya asked.
"Yea, he is," Khushi replied back and they started walking out towards the field. After all the girls had finally come, the coach started speaking.
"Try outs will now begin, only 16 girls will be able to make it to the team," she said.
"Please form a single line, so we can start the try outs," the coach said. The girls did that and then started the try outs. It included running, flips, previous experience and ended an hour later.
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After his classes had finsihed, Arnav went outside to the field where the tryouts for football were being held. He went and stood there waiting for the coach to start.
While waiting, he felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around.
"Hi, I'm NK," he said and extended his hand forward.
"I'm Arnav," he said shaking his hand with him.
"So are you here for the football tryouts," NK asked.
"Yea, you?" Arnav said.
"Same," NK said.
"You probably have tried out here before, right?" Arnav asked.
"No, actually I'm from Australia," NK said.
"Hmm. Nice. I'm also new here," Arnav said.
"So you don't no anyone else here either, friends then?" NK said.
"Sure," Arnav said. The coach and told them to go change into their gym clothing so they can start. All the boys made their way to the locks room and got changed. Arnav got out of the lockeroom and was about to leave for the field. While leaving he heard the sign of another door opening and Khushi coming out. She was lost in her thoughts and was about to trip and Arnav quickly ran up to her and caught her before she fell.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. Arnav let go of her and turns around to leave but heard her voice behind him, "Thanks."
"No problem," he replied back with a smirk and walked away with the other guys that were ahead of him.
Arnav went and sat by NK on the bench.
"So who was that?" NK asked.
"Who?" Arnav asked back wondering who he was talking about.
"The girl you caught. Is she your girlfriend??" NK said.
"What the?! No! She's just a friend of mine," Arnav said.
"Do you like her?" NK asked.
"Like? What do you mean? We've only known each other for like 2 days," Arnav said.
"We'll then maybe you have a crush on her," NK said trying to reason with him.
"And why would you think that?" Arnav asked.
"Because you don't just go run like that to save your friend of 2 days," NK said but got no response from Arnav
"What's her name?" NK asked.
"Khushi," Arnav said. NK was going to talk further but just then the coach came to start the tryouts.
"I need for everyone to chose a partner they are going to work with," the coach said.
NK looked up at Arnav asking if he wants to work with him and Arnav nodded.
"Now every group please grab a football so we can start," the coach said. All the groups grabbed a ball from the bin and began their tryouts. After an hour of sweating in the heat, the tryouts were finally over and everyone left to go home.
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Khushi stood by the gate of the gym with Lavanya. She took out her phone and texted Arnav
I'm waiting for you outside the gym door.
A few seconds later she got a reply from him
Stay there, I'm coming.
A few minutes later Arnav from inside the gym with a guy next to him. He went up to Khushi and said, "All done?"
"Yea, lets leave," Khushi said.
"Ok. And NK this is Khushi," Arnav said motioning to Khushi.
"And Khushi this is NK, he's new here from Australia," he said to Khushi.
"Hey," Khushi said to him.
"Hi," he replied back.
"Oh," Khushi said looking back at Lavanya, "Arnav this is Lavanya and Lavanya this is Arnav."
"Hey," both of them said to each other.
"So shall we leave?" Arnav asked Khushi.
"Yeah, let's go," she said picking up her bag.
They all walked to the exit of the school, Khushi turned to Lavanya and NK and said, "Bye guys. See you tomorrow."
"Bye," they replied back. Arnav and Khushi went to the drivers car and got in while Lavanya went to her brothers car that was waiting for her; NK got in his dads car that had come to pick him up.
The driver started driving Arnav and Khushi to the Raizada house.
"So how was your tryout?" Arnav asked her.
"It was good, yours?" Khushi said.
"It went well also," Arnav said, "But the results aren't out till next week."
"Yea. I met Lavanya there today, and I think she will make the team even though it was her first time," Khushi said.
"And how about you?" Arnav asked, "Do you think you made the team?"
"Hopefully, I tried my best," Khushi said. The driver pulled up into the driveway of Arnav's house and said, "Sir, we are home."
"Thank you," Arnav said getting out of the car and Khushi followed him out also. Arnav went and knocked at the door. A few seconds later he heard footsteps approaching the door and Hari Prakash opened the door. He moved aside to let them in.
"Come in," Arnav said looking back at Khushi who was still standing at the door. Arnav made his way to the living room where his parents and Naniji were sitting.
"Arre Chotte, you're home?" Nani asked, "How were your tryouts?"
"It was good," Arnav said.
"Nani, Mom, Dad," Arnav said getting their attention and then looked back at Khushi, "This is Khushi, she's a friend of mine and also my partner for our English project."
"Namaste," Khushi said folding her hands and greeting them.
"Namaste Beta, you look a bit familiar, have I seen you before?" Nani asked her.
"Well you know Anjali's friend Payal right? She's actually Payal's sister," Arnav said.
"Oh, no wonder you guys look alike," Aarti said.
"We're going upstairs to work on our project," Arnav said and left for his room with Khushi following him up the stairs. He entered his room and placed his book bag on his bed. He turned back and noticed Khushi just standing there, "You can sit down you know, make yourself comfortable," he said. He went over and opened the outside door to the pool area.
"Here, you can go out there, I'll be back, I need to go change," Arnav said and left for the bathroom.
There was a small pool in the center that had an area to walk around all sides of it. Khushi looked around the pool area and noticed that there many beautiful flowers planted there, of all colors. There were roses, lilies, sunflowers, orchids, carnation.
Arnav stepped out of the bathroom and put his clothes in the laundry basket. He noticed Hari Prakash had left some snacks on the coffee table; he picked up the tray along with his back pack to the pool area. He noticed Khushi was standing the far corner. He paused and placed the tray on the table along with his back pack on the seat and then he heard an, "OUCH!!" from Khushi.
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