Gehna took a sip of Varun’s sugarcane juice. She made a face. ‘Nope. I haven’t told anyone. Not even the . . . nope, no one knows.’

‘But you told me.’ Eram felt proud of this fact, which he recognized was odd since he had done nothing more to earn it than own a pair of functioning ears.

‘Yeah. It felt okay somehow. Like, safe.’ She sighed. ‘I guess I’ll have to tell them some time. Maybe tonight? I don’t know. My mom will absolutely lose the plot.’

‘I’ll come with. I mean, if you want.’

The jury was out on which of them was more stunned by this offer. Eram could hardly believe it himself. He already had enough drama of his own with the nutty professor back home without borrowing more from Gehna.

‘Really.’

It was too late for Eram to back out. ‘Sure. In my experience, parents behave a bit better when there’s outsiders around.’

‘Okay,’ Gehna said. She was again looking at him in that science specimen-y way. ‘Thanks. We should load up on the caffeine before though. I’ll perish if I have to do this thing stone sober.’

‘Pick you up at, what, 6?’

‘Cool. I should go in now. Hey, I meant to ask and then forgot. Why were you running back and forth on the sidewalk earlier?’

‘I was looking for something.’

‘Did you find it?’

‘I think so.’ Eram was looking at her in a way that made her cheeks hot. ‘Catch you later.’ He took off up the road, pale legs pumping like pistons. Gehna admired his calves for a minute until they disappeared from view. A young homeless girl amusing herself by balancing on the edge of a storm drain nearby caught Gehna’s eye. She gave her Varun’s sugarcane juice and wrapped the silk dragon robe around the kid’s bony shoulders before heading indoors.

3

Gehna, after turning her entire wardrobe inside out, put on a black dress that ended mid-thigh. Even though she thought she had reasonably nice legs, she didn’t wear it often because it attracted unwanted eyeballing in the testosterone-flooded streets of suburban Mumbai.

It was the first time she was going out since she had got the news. The home pregnancy test kit had been kind of a gross experience because it required her to pee on a strip. She had been nervous, and got some on her fingers too. She had become confused about whether the two lines meant that she was, or was not, up the duff. The instruction leaflet had confirmed that two lines meant the test result was positive.

Positive. That is fucking hilarious! What’s positive about it, I’d like to know. Here’s me, a talented and beautiful girl—well, talented anyway—with my whole life before me. Then I get pregnant. My friends will hate me now because I’m a trashy slut, I won’t have time to go to school or work, I’ll never be married, and my parents will throw me out on the streets where I’ll turn into a mad person. And not a dignified mad person like that nice old lady in The Notebook who didn’t remember anything. I’m going to be one of those hysterical crazies who tear their clothes, and scream and laugh to themselves. Nobody will love me.