An ordinary Wednesday
In a room full of laughter, ambitions, and unfinished assignments, Wednesday begins like any other day.
The minutes before a lecture always belonged to the students.
Science B section had already claimed the room long before any teacher arrived. Bags lay open across benches, chairs scraped against the floor, and conversations overlapped until none of them made complete sense anymore.
Near the back row, Rohan leaned forward across the desk.
“Sid, did you watch that podcast that dropped last night?”
Amit spun around in his seat before Siddharth could answer.
“Bro, I watched the whole thing. Two hours. Two hours of that podcaster pretending the guest wasn’t a scammer. The guy literally ran away to another country and he’s still defending him.”
Rohan scoffed. “He used to be my favorite.”
Siddharth Sharma finally looked up from the notebook he had been pretending to write in.
At nineteen, Sid looked like the kind of person no one described with dramatic adjectives. He stood about five-foot-three, lean and compact, with fair skin and slightly messy black hair that rarely stayed in place. His face was simple—nothing sharp or striking—but there was something easy about it. A face that people trusted quickly.
He closed his notebook.
“It was paid,” he said calmly. “Half those podcasts are sponsored redemption tours. Why’d you waste two hours on that?”
Amit shrugged. “Because I thought he was genuine.”
Sid raised an eyebrow.
“Did you at least finish the biology assignment? Avantika is collecting today.”
Amit froze.
“Oh no.”
Rohan leaned back with theatrical disappointment. “You didn’t.”
“I forgot.”
Sid exhaled slowly.
Rohan finally grinned. “Relax. Barde ma’am’s absent.”
Amit blinked. “What?”
“Since Monday.”
Sid frowned slightly. “Weird. She never misses classes.”
Rohan shrugged. “Maybe she’s sick.”
Amit leaned back in relief. “Thank God.”
Sid shook his head. “Just finish it tonight anyway.”
The classroom door opened then, and the quiet ripple of attention that followed didn’t need explanation.
Jannat Sheikh had arrived.
If anyone in Rivanta Central College asked who the most beautiful girl was, the answer rarely took more than half a second.
Jannat walked in with the effortless confidence of someone used to being noticed. She stood about five-foot-six, taller than most girls in the class, with a poised posture that made every step look intentional. Her heart-shaped face framed sharp features and luminous fair skin that seemed almost polished under the sunlight streaming through the windows.
Two girls behind her whispered immediately.
“She literally looks unreal today.”
“She always does.”
“She and Dev would break the internet if they dated.”
Jannat heard them. She simply chose not to react.
She slid into her seat near the front, calm and composed.
Across the room sat Dev Maheshwari.
Even without trying, he drew attention.
Dev stood around five-foot-seven with a build that leaned naturally athletic. His face carried a kind of symmetry that made people stare longer than they intended—sharp jawline, balanced features, clear fair skin. Everything about him looked like it belonged in a magazine photoshoot rather than a crowded classroom bench.
Two girls near the aisle whispered quietly.
“I swear he looks like a model.”
“He is the hottest guy in this college.”
Dev didn’t respond.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes briefly, looking as though the room itself bored him.
Two rows behind him, Tanya leaned toward Sanvi with a mischievous smile.
“Hey,” she whispered. “Dev is staring at you.”
Sanvi straightened instantly.
Sanvi Jain stood around five-foot-two with warm tan skin that suited her features perfectly. Her oval-shaped face carried soft but well-defined proportions that gave her a naturally elegant look. Her beauty wasn’t loud like Jannat’s, but it lingered longer once noticed.
People often said she was the second most beautiful girl in the class.
Sanvi adjusted her hair without realizing she was doing it.
She glanced toward Dev.
He was asleep.
Tanya burst into laughter.
Tanya herself looked entirely different from Sanvi. Petite and expressive, also around five-foot-two, with bright eyes and a soft cat-like face that gave her a naturally cute appearance. Her fair skin and slightly clumsy movements made her seem innocent in a way that often made people underestimate her.
Sanvi mouthed a dramatic insult.
“Idiot.”
Tanya covered her mouth, still laughing.
Near the window in the last column sat someone who rarely joined these conversations.
Zavian Malhotra.
Eighteen years old, around five-foot-five, with dark skin and a symmetrical face that appeared ordinary at first glance but oddly balanced the longer someone looked. His posture remained relaxed, shoulders slightly slouched as if he preferred observation to participation.
He didn’t talk much.
He simply watched the room move around him.
The chemistry teacher finally entered.
Conversations dropped only halfway.
For the next forty minutes, the class drifted between half-attention and whispered side conversations while formulas slowly filled the board.
Dev spent most of it pretending to listen.
Sid actually did listen.
Amit tried to stay awake.
Rohan drew something in the margin of his notebook.
Zavian occasionally glanced outside the window where construction workers were stacking bricks near the college’s main entrance. Steel rods leaned against half-built concrete, part of a new laboratory wing the administration had recently approved.
When the bell rang, a small break followed before the next lecture.
Students stretched, phones came out, and Avantika walked into the room carrying a file.
“Biology assignments,” she announced.
Groans followed immediately.
One by one she moved through the rows, collecting notebooks.
When she reached Amit, he smiled nervously.
“Avantika… listen.”
She looked unimpressed already.
“I forgot mine at home.”
“You forgot.”
“I’ll bring it tomorrow.”
She flipped open her list. “Then your name goes here.”
Amit leaned closer.
“Please. Just this once.”
“No.”
“Please.”
Sid and Rohan watched with amusement.
Avantika sighed.
“Tomorrow morning.”
Amit straightened instantly. “Thank you.”
“If it’s not done tomorrow,” she added, “your name goes on the incomplete list.”
Amit nodded rapidly.
“Deal.”
The English period began shortly after.
Mrs. Mehra entered and dimmed the lights.
“I want you to watch something.”
The projector came alive.
A reporter stood in a bright city park holding a microphone.
“What’s your dream?”
“To be rich.”
“I want a million dollars.”
“I want to be famous.”
A girl smiled confidently. “I want to be beautiful and rich.”
Some students in the class laughed quietly.
Then the video changed.
Dusty streets replaced green parks.
Broken buildings replaced glass towers.
The reporter asked the same question again.
“What’s your dream?”
A thin boy answered softly.
“Food.”
Another child said, “I want to go home.”
A girl stared at the camera.
“I want my brother to be alive.”
One small boy frowned.
“What dream is bigger than being safe?”
The room grew quiet.
When the video ended, Mrs. Mehra looked around.
“What do you understand from this?”
Her gaze settled on Sanvi.
Sanvi thought for a moment.
“Ma’am… the first group has comfortable lives, so they want more money or fame. But the second group… they’ve seen war. They just want safety and family. Survival.”
Mrs. Mehra nodded slowly.
“When life is comfortable,” she said, “dreams grow larger. When life becomes dangerous, dreams become simpler.”
No one joked after that.
Lunch break arrived soon after.
The cafeteria sat on the far side of the campus, a long walk away from the science department building. Rivanta Central College was large enough that moving between departments sometimes felt like crossing small neighborhoods.
Students spilled into the pathways, moving toward the food court area in clusters.
Sid, Amit, and Rohan walked together.
Amit was still talking about the assignment.
“I almost died back there.”
“You deserved it,” Sid replied.
Rohan laughed.
The cafeteria was already crowded by the time they arrived.
Across the room, Dev sat with his usual group.
Not far away, Jannat and her friends occupied another table, their voices rising above the general noise.
Tanya and Sanvi sat together with trays between them.
Zavian sat alone near a window, eating slowly while watching the movement of students across the courtyard.
After lunch, everyone returned to class for the final lecture.
Math results.
The teacher distributed answer sheets one by one.
When Sanvi received hers, she scanned the marks quickly.
Fourth.
She nodded quietly.
Dev barely looked before sliding his paper into his notebook.
Sid checked his result carefully.
Rohan looked relieved he had passed.
Amit stared at his sheet dramatically.
“I survived.”
The room slowly settled again as conversations resumed.
Outside the windows, the construction workers near the main gate continued stacking bricks under the afternoon sun.
Inside, Science B section moved through another ordinary day at Rivanta Central College.
For now, everything still felt exactly the way it always had.