Indhu's POV
The afternoon sun hung lazily in the sky, spilling golden light across our classroom floor. Shweta, Charlotte, and I were huddled near the window, trying our best not to laugh too loudly over something that felt far too secretive for the rest of the class.
Just then, Rohan walked in, casually swinging his pen like it was a sword.
I looked at him with a sly smile and silently mouthed,
"Friday gossip day."
His eyes lit up instantly.
"Ah... that one, right? Okay, okay, okay," he whispered back before immediately getting distracted and starting another pen fight with the boy sitting next to him.
Some things never changed.
Across from us, Aditya had been watching the entire exchange.
He leaned forward, eyebrows knitted together with curiosity.
"What gossip?" he asked. "Come on... spill it!"
Charlotte dramatically covered her ears.
"Stop! My ears are bleeding."
Aditya completely ignored her.
Instead, he leaned a little closer to me with the tiniest grin.
"Fine. But I also have a secret about Shweta. I won't tell you unless you tell me the Friday gossip first."
He even wagged his finger like he was some professional negotiator.
I laughed.
"A secret, huh? Then you tell me yours later... but first tell me the gossip."
I glanced at Shweta, and we both exchanged a mischievous look.
"Maybe..." she whispered.
"Maybe we should."
I nodded slightly.
"Okay... we'll tell you. But only after you tell us at least a little about your secret."
Aditya leaned back with a confident smile.
"Deal. But first... Friday gossip."
Charlotte watched all of us with an amused expression.
"This feels like a drama scene," she said. "Except everyone's holding pencils instead of cameras."
That made me laugh even harder.
Finally, I leaned closer and lowered my voice.
"So..."
I paused dramatically just to annoy Aditya.
"Last year's Friday gossip... was about crushes."
He blinked.
"Me and Shweta were talking about school crushes."
I paused once again before smiling.
"And Shweta admitted that during eighth and ninth standard..."
I looked straight at Aditya.
"...you were her crush."
For a second...
Everything froze.
Aditya's pen stopped in mid-air.
His eyes widened slightly.
"Wait... what?" he muttered, his cheeks slowly turning pink.
I couldn't stop laughing.
Beside me, Rohan burst into laughter so suddenly that he almost fell from his chair.
Aditya looked at him in complete disbelief.
"You... knew about this?"
Rohan simply shrugged with a grin.
"Of course. At first I thought she liked you. But later I realized she liked me, and well..."
He smiled proudly.
"...I like her more than anything."
Aditya looked completely lost.
It was obvious he was trying to process everything at once—the teasing, the misunderstandings, and whatever thoughts were running through his mind.
He stayed quiet, only absentmindedly tapping his notebook with his fingers.
Charlotte shook her head dramatically.
"This is officially better than every drama series I've watched."
"I'm appointing myself the director of this chaos."
Meanwhile, Shweta and Rohan had already started mock-arguing again.
Watching them made me laugh even more.
The classroom echoed with laughter, teasing, and endless chaos.
Only Aditya seemed unusually quiet, though none of us really noticed how deeply he was thinking.
---
The final bell rang.
We packed our bags, still laughing about everything that had happened.
Outside, the evening sunlight had softened into a warm golden glow.
I noticed Aditya walking beside me, still looking unusually quiet.
I gently nudged his shoulder.
"Hey..."
I smiled.
"It's okay, man. Don't look so stiff."
He looked at me and forced a small smile.
"I... okay. Yeah."
Just then, Shweta called from ahead.
"Indhu! Come on!"
"I'm coming!" I laughed before running toward her.
Aditya followed behind us at a slower pace.
Ahead of us, Shweta and Rohan were already playfully pushing each other.
Charlotte walked behind everyone, pretending to trip over an invisible stone just to make us laugh.
Seeing all of them together made me smile.
As we continued walking, I slowed down just enough to walk beside Aditya again.
Leaning slightly toward him, I whispered with a grin,
"Friday gossip... huh?"
"I never thought it'd become this dramatic."
He looked at me for a brief moment before giving a small smile and nodding.
He didn't say much.
At the time, I simply thought he was embarrassed after all the teasing.
I had no idea what thoughts were quietly running through his mind.
For me...
It was just another unforgettable Friday filled with laughter, friendship, and a little too much gossip.