#3 Bestie? | Fiction Series – High School Never Ends

This is a first-person narrative from the point of view of Anahita Sahani – the protagonist of High School Never Ends – a book my sister, Kritika, and I are working on. The story published here is based on the same characters, the timeline matches the events in the book, and the narrative style is exactly the same. However, these stories are in addition to what’s in the book, ergo, exclusive. 😛

Previous Episode –> #2 Ass on Fire

First time here? Start here –> #1 A Good Listener?

Saturday
May 10, 2014
8:40 AM
Film City, Mumbai.

A major part of our jobs included being slaves to the Channel’s demands. So when the Deputy Channel Head called an urgent meeting, we were expected to drop everything and say, “Present J,” when Jugnu Happa asked for us. I don’t believe that every representative of the Channel is such a GIANT PIA, but Jugnu had to be one of the worst.

He expected to be waited on the moment he walked in and thankfully, it was only a latte that he asked for, not a footman. And even though his chauffeur-cum-personal assistant followed him around, he was too good to serve Mr. Happa when there were lesser beings around him.

But if I had to commend Jugnu for something, and there would be only one, it would have to be the fact that he was always on time. ALWAYS. If he called a meeting at 9 AM, he would be here at 8:55 so that he could settle down and look at his watch for the next five minutes and feel extremely important while others felt uneasy. This would also give him the chance to tap his foot until his latte arrived and it couldn’t be any later than 8:59 because the first sip of his latte was like dahi-shakkar to him.

And while the rest of the staff scrambled to get everything in place for the Boss Man’s arrival, I was pouring over the budget report Neel had handed over to me, and trying to make sense of all the numbers.

“Why are you hovering?” I asked Neel, who effortlessly looked over my shoulder with a six-inch advantage.

“I’m just amusing myself watching you try to figure this out,” he smirked.

“Well, help me then. What are all these numbers for?”

“Here’s the “real” work that needs your attention. The Aarti scene. Vikram said I need to get your ‘okay’ on everything before Anurag says ‘action.’ And it needs to look like we’re all working hard when J arrives. We don’t want to give him an opportunity to find more faults,” he told me.

“Let’s go,” I said and I felt my phone vibrate in my jeans.

Considering that I’d missed some pretty important information by choosing to sleep, I thought I’d at least take a look.

It was a Facebook notification.

Pinky Grewal has tagged you in a picture.

I had no memory of being in a picture with her.

Oh my god! What has she uploaded???

It was a picture of flowers and the caption was:

Some friends are like flowers, they fill colour in your life.
Glad to have such a good friend, Anahita Sahani.

He was still peeking.

“Awww. It’s your girlfriend,” he grinned.

“Shut up,” I said, putting the phone on DND before it went back in my pocket. I wasn’t missing a thing.

“Oh, okay. Then your best friend?”

“I am her best friend. She is not mine, even though she thinks she is,” I said as I looked around the set.

“If only she knew what a bitch you are, she would probably find a new best friend.”

“Well, she knows, actually, but thinks I’m being funny. Also, she needs to believe that I am her friend right now because her real friends are busy being friends with each other,” I said, fluffing a pillow on a ginormous couch and feeling satisfied that we still had ten minutes before show time.

“Phew! Everything looks…”

SLAP!