Page 68 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove
Snickers. TJ stays frozen to the stair rail, cheeks burning. She can’t. She can’t go up any farther and face them. Maybe she could turn around and go back. But this stairwell is too narrow, and she has no idea how many people are behind her.
As if to prove her point, a voice at her back snarls, “Move.”
Chandani. Too shocked to snap back, TJ takes the last few steps to the platform. The two guys loitering by the waterslide look up, see her, and sheknowsthey know she heard. They don’t say a thing, no apology, no chagrin, nothing. They look through her like she’s not even there.
Chandani pushes past TJ so brusquely she’s knocked forward a step. She’s got her hands on her hips, looking scorching hot in her tiny yellow bikini, ponytail swaying as she sashays up to the guys.
One of them—tall, gorgeous—smiles at her. “Hey, Chandani.”
“Hi, Trent,” she purrs. Twirls her ponytail with one finger. TJ decides it’s time to go, before she barfs. She brushes past them and clambers into the slide. But before she can push herself down, Chandani says to Trent, “Do you think I’m pretty?”
Wait. What? TJ turns to listen.
Trent doesn’t seem as confused by the uncharacteristic question as TJ is. His eyes do a slow perusal of every inch of skin Chandani’s bikini reveals. Wow, he really wants in her pants. “You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
“I know.” Chandani pauses. “I’m also hairier than your dad.”
His smile starts to fade. TJ’s jaw drops as she continues.
“If I don’t wax every other week, I’m evenhairierthan TJ here. Which is why I take offense at the shit you just said.” She gets in his face. “Grow up, Trent. Girls don’t look like the actresses on the porn sites you’ve got bookmarked. They look like fucking human beings.”
The platform is dead silent. No one moves, the soccer players or their classmates on the stairwell witnessing the whole thing.Chandani, unbothered, turns towards TJ, who’s still sitting at the top of the slide.
TJ opens her mouth, to speak, she doesn’t know what—but before she can, Chandani gives her a strong shove.
TJ loses her grip and tips into the slide. The water instantly sweeps her away, and then she’s whipping through the tunnel in an ungainly heap, her limbs colliding with the walls at every turn. It should be thrilling, but she can’t process a single thing that’s happening. All she can think is:What the hell just happened?Since when did Chandani—
She crashes into the pool. She turns her head back where she came from, just in time to see Chandani hurtling through the tunnel after her. TJ dives away to avoid getting smacked in the face with Chandani’s leg.
When they resurface a little ways away, TJ splutters, “What the hell? You’re supposed to wait ten seconds before you go down the slide after someone!”
“I got impatient.” Chandani readjusts her ponytail and gives TJ a baleful look. The effect is somewhat diminished because her mascara has smudged all over her face.
“You look like a raccoon,” TJ informs her.
Chandani’s hands fly to her face. She dabs under her eyes, then looks at the black smear on her finger. The edge of her mouth turns down in displeasure.
They look at each other, both unsmiling. Then TJ breaks into a grin. Chandani follows suit. And just like that, three months of radio silence fall away.
“I knew that waterproof mascara on clearance was too good to be true. That saleswoman is gonna meet my chappal whenI get back.” Chandani wipes under her eyes. Pauses. “Listen. What I said to you after Winter Break... that was uncalled for.”
It’s as close as Chandani will ever get to an apology. TJ takes it as such. “I’m sorry I called you a bitch.”
Chandani arches a perfectly threaded brow. TJ crosses her arms.
“Okay, fine, I’m not actually sorry for that. But you call me a bitch all the time, so I don’t see why you were so offended.”
At her teasing tone, Chandani’s mouth quivers. “Come here.”
TJ reaches in to hug her, and as she does, she notices the tiny black dots on Chandani’s jaw that signal hair growing back in. She embraces her; her heart melts. Under the chlorine spray she still smells faintly like expensive perfume and mehndi. God, TJ’s missed her.
Chandani’s arms tighten around her once, tight enough to make her lose her breath, and then let go. People are staring. TJ ignores them; and wow, it’s so much easier to do that with a friend at her side.
They sit at a nearby table, one where the nachos are still untouched. Chandani plucks one out, digging it into the dip, and it’s all very surreal, seeing as this morning TJ still thought they were enemies. Their friendship generally seems volatile to outsiders, but they haven’t had aseriousspat since seventh grade when Chandani spilled red nail polish on TJ’s favourite white jacket. That time, it took their moms staging an intervention to get them to talk to each other. So, this time, it begs the question...
“Just ask,” Chandani says, raising the loaded nacho to her lips. “I know you’re dying to.”
TJ snatches the nacho from her fingers and pops it in her own mouth. “Why today?”