My So-Called Bollywood Life(45)

Winnie knew the right thing to do was cut her losses now. Any pain she experienced with Raj would be nothing in comparison to the devastation that she’d experience if Dev broke her heart.





15





HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM / I GAVE MY HEART AWAY, DARLING





My advice to the heroine in this movie? Sometimes going back to the one you loved in the past is a good thing. And sometimes…well, sometimes it’s time to move on.





Winnie couldn’t help but think about Dev as she walked through the empty school hallways. It had been three weeks since he’d kissed her brainless in his basement, and since then, they’d worked together at the theater, hung out at film-club screenings with Henry and Bridget, and talked about their future. Of course she still had to deal with a gazillion things in her life like school and the festival, but she was happier than she’d been in a long time. She just wished that everyone would believe her. Her grandmother and mother asked questions about Pandit Ohmi’s prophecy so much now that Winnie felt like it was the one plot point in her Bollywood movie that didn’t have closure.

And of course there was Raj. Winnie hated that he kept popping up out of nowhere with “emergencies,” which is exactly what she told him every time he asked for her help.

    Winnie rounded the corner and sighed when she saw him waiting for her in the art studio. Foam boards were propped on easels in a U shape in front of him. The room was empty except for the smell of turpentine and the sound of music playing through the wall-mounted speakers.

“This is the fourth time you’ve called me over in the last three weeks for some emergency,” she said, pushing away from the doorjamb. “First it was a problem with the location, then you couldn’t figure out the agenda, and yesterday the website was down. I have no idea why I bother coming.”

“Why do you?”

She dropped her backpack on an empty stool and peeled off her jacket. “Maybe it’s because I’m hoping in exchange for my time, you’ll report Jenny Dickens to the administration for her psycho behavior.”

Raj shrugged sheepishly. “She’s harmless, but I’m sorry about all the rumors she’s spreading. She’ll get over it soon, I hope.”

“Yeah, because being told that I’m a ho for being with you and with Dev is getting old. She’s stalking you, and now she’s stalking me and sabotaging. She’s like Swimfan or an equally atrocious villain.”

“What about Shah Rukh Khan in Fan?”

Winnie laughed. “Or Kajol in Gupt. So far she hasn’t gone psycho like Kajol, but she keeps posting all of these passive-aggressive messages about revenge. That screams problem to me.”

    Raj straightened his sweater vest before tucking his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants. “I’ll deal with it, I promise. I feel bad because I wasn’t straight with her and didn’t tell you how I felt about…well, you know.”

“I know,” Winnie said. She strolled toward the first poster to study it. There was a movie reel with the lead reading the name of the festival. Underneath that, the Princeton University location and the date and time were stamped in gothic lettering. They only had two and a half months to go before the festival.

Raj stepped up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. She quickly sidestepped out of his reach.

“Raj…”

“Friends can’t touch each other?”

“Not if that friend has ulterior motives,” she murmured, and moved to the next poster. The background image was of a velvet red curtain. The lettering was simple with glitter edges.

“Let’s use this one for the tickets and the posters, while rebranding the website with the same colors and the same artwork scheme. Even though the fund-raiser is next weekend, I think we can get this printed in time for the dance, too.”

Raj didn’t say anything, and when she faced him, he was smiling.

    “What?”

“Nothing. I couldn’t pick one, and you decided in seconds.”

“Well, it’s probably because I spent most of the summer thinking about this in my spare time. Okay, you got this from here. See you later.”

Before she could leave, Mr. Reece appeared in the doorway. “Winnie. Raj.”

“Mr. Reece,” Winnie said. “It’s been a while since you’ve come to one of our events. I was going to send you a meme of the Millennium Falcon just so you’d remember my name.”

“I don’t understand why it’s so hard for you to learn the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek. You picked up physics easily enough. Anyway, Ms. Sealy said that you two were taking up her spare art room for the festival, so I came down to check in. Are we still on track?”

“Winnie has actually covered for me on a lot of the details,” Raj said.

“Raj, we talked about this.”

“I know,” he said with a shrug. “But I have a lot going on. I told you it was too much work for one of us to handle, even with the committees taking care of the venue decorating, the movie submissions, and the judging.”

“I offered to lend a hand so I can show leadership initiative,” Winnie said with a smile. She was grateful that Raj was helping her, but when Mr. Reece arched an eyebrow, she wondered if their joint efforts were working. “I’m handling it, Mr. Reece,” she continued. “We have some time until the festival, and the fund-raiser is booked in the school ballroom for next weekend. The film-club funds are being used for the food, and we have an alumnus playing DJ, so we’re saving money there. I’m operating completely within the rules of how a club should work.”