Part 22 - Frienemy

Tashvin was mostly happy these days. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. His resonance machine was on schedule; he was making a small tracker for Ava, and his school, too, was going pretty well. He realised that he was mostly calm.

He was on his way to the classroom,

" Hey, wait for me," he heard Shekhar's voice from behind him. He was a scrawny boy who mostly wore a loose t-shirt and baggy jeans, and looked more like a rapper than a maths wiz.

They were about to enter the classroom.

" Principal is going to call you to his office today," said one of the boys, standing near the entrance. Danish was a tall boy with a slender body long and pale face, and a long nose. And he liked to poke that nose of his in everybody's business at school. He was accompanied by a shorter boy named Hemant, who had rigid features and a blank expression; both of them worked for the school newspaper. Thought of themselves as true journalists.

" I heard him talking to your class teacher. Looks like you are in a bit of trouble," He said with a taunting grin on his face.

" You have no idea how many times I have been called to Princy's office this year. No need to worry, Dan, piece-o-cake." Tashvin shrugged. He was trying to sound as unbothered as possible.

" If you are looking for a story here you will be very disappointed," Shekhar said, smirking. And they walked away from him.

Danish always showed a special interest in Tashvin. Tash wondered whether he suspected him. But Tash had a normal life. Studies, projects, school work, homework, common stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet Danish always asked him questions and followed him at school most of the time.

After the first two classes were done. His class teacher called him to her desk and sent him to the principal's office. The teacher's expressions were plain, she didn't look angry or even happy. So, he wondered what it was that was waiting for him at the principal's office.

When he entered, he saw the head girl of his school standing near the table, Tilottama Kripakar. She was a perfect student, the one that your mom would be giving an example of. Neatly dressed in their school uniform, a maroon plaid skirt and cream shirt, two perfect plaits on either side of her face. A necktie and a maroon blazer. Straight-A student and head of the orators club of their school, and last but not least, the captain of the Scientific League, a team of students who represented the school at science exhibitions all over the country. Tashvin now had a faint idea of the reason he was called to the principal's office.

" Good morning sir," he said.

" Good morning my boy," Mr. Palloti said. He was a tall and thin man, in his fifties, with dark eyes and heavy eyelids, a moustache and receding hairline." I hope you already know miss, Kripakar here." He said gesturing at Tilottama.

Tashvin nodded.

" Her team is selected for a national science exhibit which will be held next week at Benson's high school." He said

" Yes sir, I know about it. Our school has been the undefeated champions for the past four years." He chimed.

And Tilottama has made a point to flaunt that victory at school every time she'd got a chance, he thought.

"Well, this year, we have had a bit of bad luck. Her teammate, Miss Purnima, has been diagnosed with typhoid and is on a recovery leave. So, she needs a competent teammate." He straightened up," and I am sure that you are capable enough to stand in her place. I couldn't think of any other name." The principal looked at him with eager eyes.

" Sir, I have no idea how the exhibition works because I had stopped participating in such events a long time ago. Even if I agree to participate now, I don't have anything prepared. It's-"

" That's the beauty of it, my boy. You don't have to do anything. She has all the necessary information and the project ready. The only thing you have to do is accompany her to the event and maybe learn a few things related to the project. She can explain it better than me as she is better equipped to answer all your questions." He said nodding at Tilottama.

" Yes," she squared her shoulders,

" as sir said, my teammate is unwell. We have prepared the entire project, except for a few tweaks here and there there is nothing much to do. Your job is to learn the basics of the project in case any of the judges ask questions and leave the rest to me. It's easy."

" What is the project about?" Tashvin asked, curious to know what kind of brain-numbing notes he would have to endure for it.

" The genetic evolution of early humans, specifically from the bronze age." She said, with a confidence that could cut through the air.

" Purnima's notes are pretty basic and easy to learn. I have made them myself. I will be handling the bulk of the explanation and presentation myself. There won't be much for you to do."

Tashvin thought for a while. He was not keen on working with her. In all the years that he had known her, one thing was for sure she was an extremely confident person, very daring and never backed down from a challenge. If she'd got a chance she could handle the entire project on her own and didn't need a partner at all. Purnima would have been there only to fill the criteria of having to enter as a team.

" I don't think I can fill her place, sir," he tried to convince the principal.

The principal stayed quiet for a while and looked like he was contemplating something." Miss Kripakar, would you wait outside for a while?" He asked her.

She nodded and left.

" Tashvin, you have been one of my favourite students," he said and got up from his seat to walk towards him. " And I have high hopes for you. Academically, I have no complaints, but discipline-wise, I had a talk with your class teacher, and she told me that you had missed many classes. I prefer to take no action about that because you have raised the reputation of our school with the patents and projects that you have under your name. I truly believe you will continue to do so, keep the name of your Alma mater high." He looked at him in anticipation.

Tashvin got the hint of threat in his words. The principal would not talk about his missing classes as long as he cooperates with him and does what he is told. If his parents find out about it, they would be disappointed, and his mother would be furious.

" I hope you understand, this is an issue of prestige for our school," he said.

All Tashvin could do was nod in agreement.

" I knew I could count on you. Discuss in detail with Miss Kripakar. I am happy that you are taking my advice seriously." He grinned and patted on his back.

" I will take your leave, sir," he said and left the office.

Tilottama was standing outside, she looked eager to hear from him. As soon as he walked out she came scampering towards him.

" Why did you suggest my name for the project?" he asked.

" I didn't-"

He frowned at her.

" Fine, I did..."

" Why?"

She rolled her eyes, " Because half the students in our batch think Neutron is the last name of an animated character." she sighed.

" What do you expect? I can't work with them."

What she said was true. Most of his batchmates were interested in sports or video games or into mindless internet scrolling. Tashvin loved video games but he was more into the design part of it rather than the gaming. He liked to discuss strategy and skill rather than fighting or the races.

Only a handful of his classmates were into sciences, mathematics or even arts. He didn't have anything in common with them. His only friend was Shekhar with whom he could discuss a few topics. Both of them were mostly an outcast.

"Here," she handed him a file. "All of Purnima's notes are in these. They are very easy to learn."

" Can I at least have a look at the project before I mug up the topic?" He asked.

" Oh yeah, it's at my place. We will go there after school."

" Why haven't you kept it at school?" he asked.

" I didn't want anyone from our school to know what our project was about. Don't want any prying eyes on it. I have kept it safe at home," she looked confident with her decision.

" You think anyone from our school will be interested in our project?"

" Our project?" She said, raising her eyebrows.

" Do you want me to work with you or not?" he said, frowning at her.

" Okay, I will see you after school. Meet me at the cycle parking." She said.

" You come by bicycle every day?"

She nodded, " ever since it stopped raining, I used to walk to school earlier... Come on time, don't be late," she said and walked to her classroom.

They walked to her house, it was pretty close by. It was a bungalow with a large garden in front. They entered through the main gate. There was a security guard at the entrance. She parked her cycle in the garage and gestured for him to enter the house. There were many people around them. They looked like maids, everyone was occupied with their work.

Kripakar's name was synonymous with fame and prestige in the scientific community. Tilottama's grandmother was one among the scientists who researched the human genome and the development of genetic engineering. No wonder Tilottama had taken the evolution of human genes as the topic for the exhibition.

She took him to a large room across the main living room. This room looked like a study and a library. Oh, what would he give to have a room like this? It had piles and piles of science journals and research books. Encyclopedia and reference books, neatly arranged on the shelves, probably coded and serialised. It felt like heaven.

She went to a board which had charts with pictures and diagrams. It was the project. It looked like a labour of love. Each diagram and picture was detailed and elaborated.

She explained the project to him with ease, as if she was telling a story and the details were mind-boggling. She had truly put a lot of effort and research into this project.

" Can I show you something interesting?" she asked after explaining to him. He nodded.

She took out a few files from a cupboard nearby. " Swear to me that you will not talk about this to another soul." She looked at him intently.

" I promise," he said.

She gestured to him to sit on a chair near a study table in the corner of the room. She placed the file on the table. " I am not supposed to tell you this." She nervously looked around as if someone would hear her. " While researching for the project I found these papers."

" What are these?" He asked.

"Swear you are not going to snitch?" She asked again.

He nodded.

" A few years ago my grandmother was part of a team that was going through the DNA of ancient Indians, the genealogy," she paused contemplating then spoke again,

" in the ancestry... they found an unusual strain of DNA."

A bell rang in Tash's mind.

" These were mixed with human DNA. Quite similar to humans but different. Seems like these creatures were living with humans. But that's not a shocking part. The shocking part is what she discovered."

Tashvin was eagerly waiting for her to finish.

" It was a distinct strain, not a mutation, a distinct separate set. She reported the discovery..." There was a strain in her voice.

" Then what happened?"

" She had kept it all in the lab, the test results, the reports, the samples and one day ... the papers... the results were all gone. Not a single trace. The files that she'd kept were all replaced with results that didn't have a single trace of the earlier discoveries. She was so distraught. I was too young to understand at that time. But now I do. How gut-wrenching it is to see your hard work vanish like that. And the weird part is that nobody in the lab mentioned the results after that. No one took the initiative to start it again." she sighed. " I am going to find out the truth, I am just waiting for the opportunity. You will see, I am pretty sure there is some conspiracy. There are big players in this game. And one day I will discover it all. " she said.

A shiver ran down his spine. The council must know about it. For the time being they were successful in hiding the evidence. But people like her won't let go. He wondered what would happen if the truth came out. What would be the state of the world if a secret, this colossal was exposed?

" Is that why you chose the topic for the project?" he asked.

" Of course, yes." she said," I have to start somewhere. I cannot let anyone at school know what we have found out. That's why I have kept the project here. And also the reason why I suggested your name to the principal. I don't think anyone else is smart enough to keep their mouth shut."

He nodded. All of this was overwhelming for him." It's getting quite late, so I should go. We will meet tomorrow. At school, I will learn these within... Um, two days, I think..." He patted his backpack in which he had kept the notes.

" Yes, okay. And I was thinking that I will come to your place tomorrow. So, that I can teach you the details of the diagrams that we have. I will get my laptop. The copy of the project is in it."

" Sure," he said and left.

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Hello, my beautiful readers 💕

The past week has been terrible. My system crashed and all the files that I had on my laptop were locked.

Some of my saved work could be retrieved, but newer stuff was missing.

And those included the new chapters that I had written which I was supposed to upload a few days ago. I had to rewrite most parts. But thank you so much for being patient. You all truly rock.

I might post the new update of The King's Shield tomorrow or the day after. Depends on how much I have to rewrite and edit. But I will post it by the weekend.

Loads of love

RTW❤️