I was anxious about the exam, worry unspooling in my stomach. She nodded.

‘I remember what you said about being a work in progress, Ananya,’ she said as I kept the foil covered packet in my bag.

I looked up at her, surprised. ‘What?’

‘You thought I didn’t understand what you meant.’

My face heated. I didn’t know what to tell her.

She patted me gently on the arm, shaking her head. ‘We’re all works in progress,’ she said.

I stared at her, licking my suddenly dry lips.

‘Think of right now. This moment. You’re as perfect as you can be,’ she said.

I frowned. ‘Easy for you to say.’

The words slipped out though I hadn’t meant to engage with her. How would she know what it was like to be me? To endure what I’d endured.

She shook her head. ‘It’s not easy, Ananya. Never is,’ she said.

I shook my head too, mirroring her action, needing to get away from there.

‘I’ve got to go now,’ I muttered and walked away.

When I got into the auto, I realized I was still clutching the aloo paratha. My stomach growled as though aware of the proximity of food. I had to deny it, of course. Maybe I’d give it to a kid on the street if I saw one. But all the signals were clear and I was near college already, still holding to the damn thing in my hand.

Maybe I could split the paratha with Nisha and ensure that she ate the most of it. I texted her, asking her to meet me just inside the gate. She replied saying she was already near the classroom.

Fine, I texted back, a little irritated. I glared at the paratha like everything was its fault.

The auto sputtered to a stop near the gate and paying the fare, I got down.

The atmosphere in college was strange. There was a silent frenzy—students doing last-minute feverish studying, exchanging various photocopied notes. My stomach clenched in worry.

I dumped the foil-wrapped paratha into my bag and went to the room where I had my exam. Nisha was not in the same room but Anirudh was.

Seeing all the nervous faces around me ratcheted up my anxiety. As I took a swig of water from my bottle, I spotted Anirudh, but didn’t go up to him. He would rattle on about all that he had studied and that would just make me more nervous.

The room where Nisha was writing her exam was just adjacent to ours. I wandered over and found her going over her notes.

She looked at me and smiled, but went back to poring over her notes.

‘All set?’ she asked.

‘I think so,’ I told her, willing the acid in my stomach to stop rolling around.

‘Here, have some of this,’ she said.