Chapter 41

Numera

@Numera*

Chapter 40

            So the day the gang has been waiting for finally arrives. Today is their graduation day, not to mention a very chaotic day as well. So early in the morning they have to report to the cafeteria, they all hurriedly get dressed for their final visitation to their college and prepare to leave as well. They casually stroll into the college, fully knowing they can't be reprimanded anymore for petty things like arriving to class late. They walk in on a lecture from their principal about what a great bunch of kids they have been in the last years. Same old story, everyone is sure he uses the same speech on every graduating class because he doesn't look capable to come up with several unique speeches. They only reason they are actually present in the cafeteria is for the mandatory beach party…sounds like fun right? Try again…picture a cafeteria, not with a pile of sand, but tables with center pieces that represent the beach… how exciting… NOT! This is basically everyone's reaction to the lame attempt at a beach party, in any case people just came for the free breakfast and to just chill at college one last time. Camera's begin clicking away at their own crews, while the gang sits and relaxes. They know for sure they would remain friends even after college so there is no point in engaging in this hoopla! They just spend time with their love and talk about random things until it is time for graduation rehearsal.

             Soon after the lengthy and tiresome rehearsal, the students all go home to get ready for graduation. They girls straighten their hair leaving slight curls at the end so that the caps would fit perfectly. The girls also stop by a salon and get some manicures and pedicures. The girls are going all out for their last hoorah as college students. The guys aren't exactly thrilled with the idea of having to wear these hideous caps that hide their gorgeous heads' of hair. The guys just decide to take really long naps to compensate for the loss of sleep the past week due to their all nighters for finals.

             Now it is time to actually get ready for graduation. Kripa wears a red dress with black laces, which hugs her curves perfectly. Anjali wears a cream colored halter and a light blue skirt. Prachi wears a black and grey dress with lots of laces and with lots of persuasion from the girls. Mukti wears a pink dress, which is strapless. Aaliya wears a white dress with little yellow flowers.  Angad wears black pants with a red shirt and black tie. Kavya wears black pants, crme colored shirt with a silky light blue tie. Neev wears black dress pants, metallic grey shirt with a silver tie. Prem wears black pants, a pink shirt with a light pink tie. Josh wears black pants with a yellow shirt. When they are all ready, they take a bunch of pictures with their parents and friends, and then all go to the ceremony.

             As soon as they arrive, they are all escorted to their seats. The senior class is sitting all together in countless rows. Every other row is to enter from the right side of the stage, while the following row is to enter from the left side of the stage, but all this is to happen at once. In one row Josh, Angad, Anjali, Neev, and Prem sat. Directly behind them sat, Aaliya, Kripa, Kavya, Prachi, and Mukti. Their ordering is to make sure the couples would be entering the stage at the same time just from different sides. The ceremony soon begins and then so does the mischief.

             The principal welcomes everyone for coming to the ceremony and invites on stage the valedictorian of the senior class, Kamlesh Patel. The boy walks up to the podium, not looking too well, in fact he looks rather queasy, impatient, and seems to be acting a little fidgety. Kavya laughs at the guy, while he thinks back to the beach party this morning.

FLASHBACK

            Kavya was in a rather mischievous mood and soon finds his pray, which happens to be Kamlesh since he is the most hated guy on campus. It isn't because he is so smart and everyone is jealous, it's because he is so stuck up. He tends to act like a chic repellent ON PURPOSE, which is why the girls all hate him and suspect him of being gay! He is a pompous jerk, who everyone can't seem to stand since they have all been insulted by him several times over the years. This accounts for why he is beaten up so often, yet his nose remains high in the air as if superior to all. Anyways, so Kavya walks up to Kamlesh's unattended food and takes out his secret weapon…laxatives.  Kavya dissolves it in Kamlesh's drink and mixes some crushed tablets in his food. Kavya smirks thinking, "Have a great time saying your speech while you have DIARRHEA!!!"

END OF FLASHBACK

            So this Kamlesh guy is trying really hard to say his speech on stage. The numerous people in the audience doesn't seem to be helping his constipation situation either. Kamlesh says, "I am honored to be your… ugh (stomach grumbles as he holds it)… to be your val… YOUR VALEDIC… I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!!" He runs off stage towards the bathroom, while everyone breaks out into laughter and applause. Kavya is laughing like a madman and shares his story with the gang as they all give him high fives for putting everyone out of their misery!

             When some boring speeches begin to tire the audience, Neev falls asleep on Anjali's shoulder and starts to snore rather loudly catching the attention of most of the graduates. Anjali just points and laughs at her brother's silly behavior. Josh urgently remembers something and needs to use the bathroom, so he quietly gets up and walks towards the restroom. Now it is finally time for the names to be announced and the diploma's to be handed out. One by one, all the students in each row arise and walk towards the stage. Just watching the students go up, Prem starts to get really nervous and panicky. Kavya notices Prem's strange behavior and pulls out a bottle of coke. Kavya quietly tosses Prem the bottle to calm him down. Kavya knows that coke alone wouldn't calm down Prem, it is the special ingredient added to the coke that would do the trick, which happens to be alcohol. Prachi notices Neev is still asleep and smacks Neev on the head to wake him up. Neev is half awake half asleep while he mumbles complainingly, "Mumma five more minutes!" Everyone around Neev turns to look at him and start laughing at his stupidity, while Neev laughs nervously yet blushing slightly.

When Josh returns from the bathroom he finds Angad, Anjali, Neev, and Prem already in line on the left side of the stage to receive their diplomas. Meanwhile Aaliya, Kripa, Kavya, Prachi, and Mukti are in the line on the right side of the stage. There is a man handing out diploma's and a male announcer on the left side, whereas on the right side are two women. The man announces, "JOSH KAPOOR", while on the opposite side of the stage they hear, "AALIYA SACHDEV" Josh quickly rushes in front of Angad in line and goes on to the stage. As soon as Josh receives his diploma he looks towards the audience and strips off his gown and tosses it aside. Josh starts running in nothing, but his boxers screaming, "YEA!! CLASS OF '07 ROCKS!!" He runs right down the stairs of the stage, past the graduates, and out the door as fast as he can while being chased by security. The whole hall breaks into laughter, while the principal has a huge frown on his face because he looks like a complete fool. Aaliya looks at Josh running and is completely embarrassed, while the rest of the girls gawk at Josh's body and praise his boldness.

A man then announces, "ANGAD KHANNA" while on the right side the woman announces "KRIPA SHARMA" Angad goes on stage and starts yelling, "YOU'RE TOO DAM* GOOD JOSH!!" Angad applauds loudly at Josh's entertaining display of excitement. Angad is too caught up in all the enthusiasm himself that he keeps walking forward on stage and trips on a wire that is carelessly placed in the middle. He falls right on top of his lady love, taking Kripa down to the ground in utter shock. Kripa is just flabbergasted while she lies underneath Angad. He keeps staring into Kripa's eyes as if lost and just won't move off of her. All Kripa can do at this point is blush. In order to not get caught up in the whirlpool of emotions, Kripa turns her face to the side not wanting to gaze into Angad's eyes and notices the thousands of amused eyes looking at her and Angad. Kripa looks embarrassed and tries to nudge Angad to get off of her, but alas nothing can be done. The loud cheering and applause from the audience and seniors seems to do the trick. Angad hears people faintly screaming, "HOW CUTE!!" "GET A ROOM!!" "TAKE A PICTURE IT LASTS LONGER!!" or "AWWWWW!" Angad looks at everyone embarrassed and jumps off Kripa. Angad and Kripa then dart off the stage immediately, both feeling rather shy but none the less still smiling.

The man soon announces on the left side of the stage, "ANJALI KHANNA" while the other side the woman announces "KAVYA SHARMA" Kavya yanks at Anjali's arm as she is walking away with poise Kavya's presence. Anjali looks at Kavya now rather annoyed and with lots of attitude. Suddenly Anjali can't seem to feel her feet touching the ground any longer and looks up at Kavya while he scoops her up in his arms. Anjali looks shocked at Kavya and protests, but as usual her protests are unheard. Kavya laughs at Anjali's pout as he carries her down the steps with the senior class cheering them on. Anjali just blushes and laughs at everyone's reaction to Kavya's mischief.

Then Neev steps up onto the stairs as his name, "NEEV KHANNA" is announced by the man, which is then followed by the woman announcing "PRACHI SHARMA" Neev is standing before the man to accept his diploma, but soon catches sight of Prachi entering the stage and he freezes on spot. Neev just refuses to take the diploma in his hand since he is too busy staring at Prachi. The professor on stage has to nudge Neev hard in order for him to accept his diploma, while the whole audience laughs. When Prachi and Neev get their diplomas, Neev pulls Prachi close to him on stage before she can leave down the steps. Prachi gets rather nervous and stares out into the audience scared about what Neev is planning to do. Prachi catches sight of their parents and then feels Neev's lips touch her cheek as he whispers sweetly, "Congratulations jaan!" Her mouth drops open in shock, while their parents happily click away at the beautiful couple and laugh at Prachi's cute facial expressions. Neev and Prachi escort each other down the aisle holding hands, with Neev whispering lots of lovey dovey comments along the way.

Well finally it is time for a very very tipsy Prem to make his way towards the stage as his name, "PREM MALHOTRA" is announced by the man. A moment later the woman announces, "MUKTI SINGHANIA" Prem starts to stumble forward and continues walking straight. He manages to get his diploma and shakes the professor's hand several times, making even the professor annoyed. Prem is just too excited about his diploma and thanks Kavya in his mind for calming his nerves. But to Prem's bad luck, he manages to walk straight off the stage, but definitely not by taking the stairs. Prem completely misses the stairs and walks right off the edge of the stage, falling right on the floor, and landing on his butt. Everyone is dying of laughter, the whole audience is roaring at how clumsily Prem fell off the stage. Prem looks towards everyone rather embarrassed and rushes down the aisle trying to avoid everyone pointing and holding their stomachs while laughing at him. Prem sits down holding his head in his hands, his buzz is DEFINITELY GONE!

Well the entertaining event soon comes to an end by a speech from the very embarrassed principal because of the appalling mishaps throughout, though everyone else thought it was a rather enjoyable ceremony! The principal's speech, thanking the students and giving them a lecture about the future is cut short by Angad, Kavya, Neev, Prem, Josh (now fully clothed, but security watches him like a hawk after all they had to tackle Josh), Kripa, Anjali, Prachi, Mukti, Aaliya applauding in the middle. Everyone joined in the applause and so the poor guy couldn't even get through the whole thing. The principal just fixes his wig and walks off stage rather annoyed by the children.

The ceremony ends with all the kids making their way towards their parents as they laugh at all the mishaps. It happens to be a very fun filled evening for all and a very memorable experience, one that they would never forget. Prachi starts to tear up as she hears everyone speak so fondly about their college experience. Just then Neev screams, "YAY!! WE GRADUATED!! NO MORE COLLEGE EVER!!!" That is enough to set off Prachi into a crying frenzy. Neev just looks at her quite shocked because he wasn't expecting this outburst of emotions from her. By looking at Prachi cry the rest of the girls tear up as well leaving the guys to take care of their loved ones. The guys awkwardly try to make the girls feel better, while the girls start sobbing uncontrollably and speaking while wailing in languages foreign the guys. The guys pick up random words in between their sobs like, I will miss you, college, I love you, friends forever, etc. And then the day finally comes to an end by Dilip and Surya treating the kids to dinner and they just enjoy their day of celebration, their graduation and the beginning of a new life.