Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating(58)

Is Nik really going to get married without Ammu and Abbu? Without me?

This must have been why Abbu was reassuring me that I was on the right track. Ammu and Abbu have given up on Nik. The thought of it unsettles me. Fills me with a kind of dread I’ve never felt before. Sure, I knew that they were angry at her. I knew that she was frustrated with them. I know what Abbu and Ammu are like.

But I didn’t think they were really going to go this far. How could they miss their eldest daughter’s wedding?




By the time Principal Gallagher calls me into her office for the interview, I’m a mess of emotions. My nervousness about the interview and becoming Head Girl has somehow combined with the sudden dread of Nik getting married without the rest of us. I try to take a deep breath and forget about the latter as I step inside the principal’s office and take in her plush maroon carpet and cream walls covered with all kinds of academic certificates. I can’t let my emotions sabotage my chances at Head Girl, even if it suddenly doesn’t feel that important anymore.

“Ishita.” Principal Gallagher gives me a tight smile as I sit down. Ms. Proudman, the guidance counselor, is supposed to be in here with us too, but there isn’t a chair for her. Instead, there are two chairs placed on either side of me, like they’re expecting more people to interview with me.

“Good morning, Ms. Gallagher,” I say hesitantly, trying to maintain my friendliness and politeness. “Um, are we expecting more people?”

Principal Gallagher maintains a tight smile as she takes me in.” Actually, we are … postponing the interview this morning.”

“Oh … then why—”

Before I can ask the question on my lips, the door to the office bursts open and Ammu and Abbu pour in.

“Is everything okay?” Ammu asks, at the same time that Abbu demands, “What happened?” in a gruff voice.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dey, please take a seat.” Principal Gallagher fixes them with that same tight smile and points to the two chairs on either side of me. I feel a sense of dread rising up within me. Something is wrong. Something must be gravely wrong for my parents to have been called in. There’s something sinister behind Principal Gallagher’s smile.

My parents sit down, Ammu on my left and Abbu on my right. But there’s no comfort in having them here. Actually, it feels kind of suffocating, and for some reason all I can think about is Nik and how quick they were to cast her out when she wasn’t exactly who they wanted her to be.

“One of our students has brought a serious matter before me, involving Ishita,” Ms. Gallagher says, looking from Ammu to Abbu but not glancing at me at all. She reaches under her desk and pulls out two sets of papers and sets them down side by side. The top of both say: Fifth Year Biology, Ms. Taylor.

The names at the top of the tests have been covered up with sticky notes, but I recognize my own messy handwriting on one, and Aisling’s loopy writing on the other.

“The student told Ms. Taylor, Ishita’s biology teacher, that she suspected Ishita had cheated off of her test. She didn’t want to say anything at the time because she was afraid of what Ishita might do, but … well, the evidence is right here.”

I can only blink at the tests in front of me, as the realization slowly dawns on me. How could I have been so ignorant? How could I have let Aisling manipulate me like this?

“I didn’t cheat,” I say, finally looking up and right at Ms. Gallagher. “I wouldn’t do that. Aisling is the one who cheated. She was looking at my test and copying off of it. You can look at my other results; I always get similar marks, because I study. Not because I cheat.”

“Well.” Ms. Gallagher sighs, like I’ve not consistently been the top student in all of my classes ever since I started school here. “You have had excellent results in all of your classes in the past, but we’ll have to open an investigation. We’re going to be conducting interviews with some of your peers—”

“That’s bullshit!” I stand so quickly that my chair almost topples over. “I have never cheated. I’ve never needed to. I study—”

“Ishita Dey, that’s enough.” Ms. Gallagher’s voice doesn’t rise. She just eyes me with an almost bored expression on her face. “We have to investigate this matter, as it’s been brought to our attention. That’s just the normal procedure when—”

“Is Aisling being investigated too?”

“The student who brought this case to our attention hasn’t—”

“You just have to look at her other results to know that this is unusual for her. That she’s the one who—”

“—been accused by anyone of cheating. For the time being, I’m afraid we can’t consider you for the position of Head Girl, as I’m sure you understand, Mr. and Mrs. Dey.” Ms. Gallagher looks at Ammu and Abbu like I’m not even there. Like they’re the ones who have spent five years working their asses off.

“This is fucking bullshit.” I clench my hands into fists. It’s all I can do to not reach over and break something on Ms. Gallagher’s desk.

“Ishita, we can’t tolerate outbursts like this in—”

“But you can tolerate false accusations and lies and—”

“Ishu.” I feel Ammu’s hand around mine. “Raga ragi kore kono lab nai, Ishu. Ekhon amra bashai choli.”