Chapter 18: It Was A 3-game Match And...

“What happened? I want to know!” Aarav’s voice came from the doorway.

The two adults jumped, startled by the sudden voice.

Turning towards the door, Aakash cast a curious gaze at his son, who still hadn’t changed into clean clothes, “Didn’t you go upstairs to change?”

“Oh, that.” Aarav pointed at the racquet in his father’s hands, “I remembered that I forgot to keep it back so I came back down.”

“You could have done that after changing since you already forgot.” Aakash smiled and tossed the item to him.

Catching the shaft, the teenager spun it to then catch hold of the handle. The boy returned his attention to the two grown men and asked, “So, what happened? To your match?”

“Go up and change. We’ll talk after you’re done.”

“We’ll be gone by then.” Cabir reminded him from the couch. “We have to go shopping, remember?”

“Aanya’s not gonna be happy about this. Just look at your clothes...she doesn’t like it when you roam around the room in dirty clothes.” Aakash sighed.

“I’ll run up as soon as your story’s done! C’mon, Dad! It seemed fun! How did the match turn out?”

“Fine...” Aakash gave in. “But you go change as soon as I’m finished? Okay?”

“Yeah, Dad!” Aarav made a face.

Aakash gave a tired smile and sat on the couch’s armrest, “It was a 3-game match and...”

*****

“Cosco racquets are the best!” A voice resounded in the classroom.

“I agree!” Another voice rose with support.

Then an utter silence.

Every student in the classroom stared at the two boys who were waving their racquets near the teacher’s desk. Noticing the sudden change in the atmosphere, one boy cocked his head to the side while the other frowned.

One of the students, a boy with spiky hair, stepped up and asked, “You two are agreeing with each other? Did your brains get short-circuited?”

“I’m sure we beat you up together that first day pretty well too.” The frowning guy made a menacing face.

“Uh...” Harshil went tongue-tied.

“Oye, Harshil! Don’t you agree that Cosco is the best?” Aakash called from behind the menacing Cabir, ignoring Harshil’s earlier comment.

“Huh...ye-”

“Brand doesn’t matter. It only matters if you can play.” A boy stood up from the back row; lanky in frame and sporting light-blonde hair.

“C’mon Jeet! You need a good racquet to play with! Better brand means a better-made racquet and so, obviously one will play better.”

“As long as the racquet is game-worthy, anyone who can play well will win against a branded-racquet carrying but unskilled player easily.” Another boy spoke in a measured tone.

His eyes gave off an intellectual vibe and they gave off such cool confidence that the two boys brandishing their new racquets in front of them staggered a little.

“Oh, yeah?” Cabir challenged him, quickly recovering his confidence. “That’s only if the player with branded racquet is very bad! If he knows how to play, like me, then with how good the racquet is, our shots will connect better too, got it, Jatin?!”

“You know how to play?” Jatin scoffed.

“Hey, you! You think you can play? Prove it!” Cabir pointed his racquet at him.

Jeet spoke from the last desk, addressing Aakash, “You think so too, right? I mean, you agree with Cabir, right?”

“If you put it like that...” Aakash made a face then after a few moments relented, “Okay, fine. Yeah, I agree with him.”

“Then, let’s play a match. You two against the two of us. Let’s see who wins. The third period is P.E, let’s have a match then.” Jatin challenged Aakash and Cabir earning a nod from Jeet.

“Wait...the two of us...on the same team?” Cabir asked haltingly, his voice made it clear that he wasn’t that big a fan of the plan.

“Ugh...” Aakash too made an irritated grunt.

“What? You afraid?” Jatin asked. And as the two hesitated, he snorted.

“Fine!” The two boys snapped at the same time. The derision in Jatin’s snort was the last straw.

“We can play better than you!” Aakash twirled his racquet.

“Yeah!” Cabir agreed. “But about the court-”

“We’ll deal with it.” Jeet assured the two. He sneered at them and sat back down; burying his head in his arms.

Soon soft snoring was heard in the almost quiet class. Sensing the debate was over, the students then went back to chatting with their friends and soon engulfed his gentle snores.

“Did he just doze off?!” Cabir asked.

“Cabir, actually, I don’t think-” Harshil began saying something but then he seemed to remember something else and stopped in mid-sentence. He just chuckled softly as he returned to his seat.

*****

“...That’s how two of us played a game against those two maniacs.” Aakash sighed.

“Maniacs?” Aarav asked, confused.

“Yup, maniacs. As I said, it was a 3-game match and...we lost all three. Miserably.”