“Check out that girl!” Kartik gestured toward a girl in a red sweater sitting on a bench in front of a D&B shop. She had a large coffee cup in one hand and her phone in the other. “She’s been looking this way for a while now. What do you think? Do you want to have a go or shall I, like always?”
“I’ll pray for your success.”
Kartik furrowed his brows and tilted his head. A distant memory slowly became clearer in his head. And he asked, “I thought you didn’t believe in god.”
“Exactly,” I told him. He clicked his tongue and started walking toward the girl.
“Don’t forget your lines,” I announced behind him. He flipped me a middle finger in response.

Kartik wore black jeans and a black jacket. I never understood what the girls saw in him, but they always tense up seeing him approaching them. If the girls were in a group they would either grow quiet and look away as if pretending to be ignoring him. Otherwise, they would start pushing the girl of his attention forward like they were sacrificing one for the benefit of many. I couldn’t decide if he was that charming or if he chose his girls wisely. The girls were all next one prettier than the last one. He’d failed plenty, but I never saw him mopping. He always said he was a fisherman and the world was his ocean. I was also a fisherman, one who slept on an empty stomach every night.

This girl in red was as pretty as they come. Then again, all girls look pretty when they pay you attention. She wasn’t my type but that was because my brain was still stuck in limbo.

“Hi there,” Kartik said to the girl. The girl looked up from her phone, holding a smile that carried some expectation with it.
“Here,” He said presenting a long white feather to her.
The girl's head tilted slightly in confusion. The same question she asked with her raised eyebrows.
“You dropped this when you landed from heaven. I picked it up for you.” He told her and she started laughing and snorting.

Even her laughter sounded pretty. What a lucky bastard he was.

Kartik winked in my direction to announce his success. I gave him a thumbs-up in return.

He asked her if she was going to take the feather and she eventually did and said thank you. Then he continued as rehearsed.

“I heard you get one wish for helping an angel. Is this true?” These were some pretty corny lines. The motive wasn’t to really impress a girl but to make the girl laugh and if possible embarrass her. Kartik had told me that girls crave attention. It makes their heart flutter. Do you know what else makes your heart flutter? He had asked me and I told him, love. He called me an embarrassment. And it made my heart flutter. He asked me about it and I told him the truth.

That’s what we are after. He then told me in excitement. Since it’s impossible to make a girl fall in love at first sight. We go with the next best thing, which is to embarrass her. Remember, we are not making fun of her, but putting her in embarrassing situations that make her heart flutter. You do that enough time and she’ll do the rest herself. She’ll deceive herself into believing that the fluttering of her heart is a sign of love.
 
Like he’d said, the girl in red started laughing louder. Her eyes were crinkling; she was shaking her hands, gesturing him to stop, when in reality she hadn’t stopped staring at him.

“Don’t worry I don’t want a lot,” Kartik said. “I just want your phone number. If you don’t mind.”

She took her time before eventually giving it to him. He chatted with her for a while, before coming back to my side bouncing from left to right. He slid to a stop in front of me and flashed me his phone to show that he had really added her number.
 
“Her name’s Harman. She’s a sophomore, studying commerce at DAV.”
“She’s a college student?”
“Yeah,” Kartik said matter-of-factly. “And so are we.” He patted my shoulder. “We are studying mechanics at Saint Soldiers Technical College. Remember?”
I glared at him. “Are we?” We weren’t. We were in 11^th standard and still more than a year away from any kind of college.  
“If you want to have fun then you have to lie, my friend.” He pulled me back to face him when I turned away with a snort. “That’s what Aristotle said.” He added with all seriousness he could muster.
“Did he say that really?”
“Yep,” He said shaking his phone. “He also said, that only liars shall have fun while the rest can suck his gun.”
“I don’t think they had guns in his time.”
He clicked his tongue and poked me softly on the chest. “You see, this is the reason girls don’t like you, man. You are way too serious.”
“Who said girls don’t like me?”
“Is that so?” Kartik said playfully. “Let’s see, then.” He looked around until someone fancied him. Then he pulled me up and pointed toward a group of girls and boys. “You see that girl over there?” He pointed at not just a girl, but the most gorgeous piece of heaven that God most definitely regretted losing on earth, and told me I should go talk to her. He was a specimen all right.

“Yeah, right,” I said getting free from his arms. “And what should I do: Give her a feather and tell her she’s an angel? Do you think she needs any more people telling her that she’s beautiful?”
“You never know.” Kartik gave me a grin that said it was my choice.
“Why don’t you go?”
“I have already. Now it’s your turn.” He said poking me in the chest again. This time it hurt. “Unless you are a pussy,”

Was this any different from telling me to stand up for myself? They really were alike, Abhey and Kartik. Both of them are hell-bent on making my life as difficult as possible. I glared at him, but he didn’t understand anything. I took a deep breath and decided to go. The worst she could do was say no. I hoped so. I nodded to him and started walking.

My feet moved heavily. I didn’t saunter or glide but dragged and pulled myself toward the girl and her friends. A moment came during this exercise when I stopped hearing all sounds.

I was anxious and nervous. She really was just that beautiful. She was wearing crystal heels that put her around my height. She had a dress on, a white something that flowed around her curves. She held a clutch with a pearl handle. They all dressed that nicely, and even then she stood out among her friends. They all looked like college students. I add a disguise to turn some wheels in my favor. I didn’t want to lose too badly. I looked at the glass windows on the way and turned into the best version of myself. That changed my whole personality. The same clothes now looked so appropriate. They were still cheap as hell, but now I carried them rather than the other way around.  

None of them paid me any attention until I stopped in front of the girl. Suddenly the group chatter stalled like the car had run out of gas or the driver had to break because the road was blocked. I now had their sole attention and they watched me like hounds eyeing their prey. My inner voice told me to forget about the rest and pay attention to the girl. That was what I did.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I said in a tone that was too scared, too stiff. Hell, I was still like a board too. I said the words and my mind went blank. I should have made a plan. I felt a storm of embarrassment rising. What the fuck did I get into? I would have run away if it was possible. However, reality proved to be different from my thoughts.

“Yes,” The girl said calmly. She was so composed like she had been in the same situation far too many times to count. My presence didn’t fluster or bother her. Heck, she seemed like she was resting in a lounge with a cup of coffee in her hand.

 I wanted to tell her something but my brain vault had closed, shutting me out alone in the darkness without any thoughts. I didn’t know what to say.  

Perhaps, her friend in a golden jacket saw my embarrassment, or she just liked to make fun of her friend. “Wow.” She said slinging an arm around the girl’s waist. “Did you just admit to being gorgeous?”
“Why?” said the girl in white, glancing at her. “Am I not?”
“Yes, yes, very pretty,” Announced the other boys around in unity and solidarity, bringing the laughter back to the group.

I thought they had forgotten me but the girl in the golden jacket wasn’t done with me. “Oh, we forgot about him. What were you saying?”
“I don’t know,” I opened my mouth and the words fell out. “I forgot everything else.”
“That’s unfortunate.” The girl in white said.
“I think it’s kinda cute.” The girl in a golden jacket said. “He forgot what he had to say because, he, finds, you, so, gorgeous.”

She broke the sentence into pieces and played with my heart at the same time. She was quite talented at embarrassing her friend or she tried to because it didn’t seem like her words had any impact on the girl in white. That girl stood aloof beside her, unbothered by the arm around her neck. She leaned on her friend for support.

I could feel my ears burning. I felt embarrassed and I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Is this your first time picking up a girl?” The girl in a white dress asked suddenly. Even though I didn’t agree, she shook her head and told me, “It's fine if you think a girl is gorgeous or beautiful, but girls don’t like to hear those words from a stranger. If you want to get to know someone, you should start with a simple hey or hi and go from there. You could then ask her about her day or how she’s doing. Build up the conversation to the point where you can tell her that you find her attractive or whatever. And then you could ask for her name and number. If you’d like,”

“Look at the love guru go.” Her pocked.
The girl in a white dress stung back. “Why? Do you want me to tell you how to get together with Sanjay?”
“Oh, shut up!” 

I heard her words and my mind directly reminded me of Sonam. She actually cared about me. Or did she?

“What if,” The words brought their attention back to me. I believe my heart raced faster than it had when I was approaching them. “What if a girl’s interested in you but you are too insecure about it? Do you still ask her out even if you know you will only disappoint her?”
“Hmm,” The girl in the golden jacket jested. “How shameless can you be? You were just trying to pick her up. Now you are asking for elationship advice from her?”
“Shut up,” The girl in white dress slapped her friend’s hand, causing her to hiss in pain and pull away from her.
“How serious is she?” She asked me in return.
Was Sonam serious about me? “Not that serious,” I said conservatively. “But,”
“But?”
“I hear her talking about me all the time.”
“And you say she’s not serious.” The girl in golden jacked snorted out. “Why are all the boys so dumb?”
“I know, right?” The girl in white said.
“Look,” She told me. “Whether she likes you or not isn’t that important. There is only one question here-- do you like her? If you do then you should tell her. Then respect her decision. It’s annoying when boys don’t understand that no means no.”

“Or,” Her friend had a different opinion. “You could grab her hand and whisk her off her feet. Pull her into your arms and take her to dance.” She said grabbing her friend's hand and pulling her to dance.

They seemed like very good friends. I felt kinda jealous of what they had going.

I, kinda numb, kinda jealous, walked back to Kartick’s side. Who stood confused and aggrieved, waiting for me.

“What happened out there, man?” He said. “You were talking for so long and then they started dancing. What did you guys talk about?”
I sighed. “They gave me tips on how to pick up girls.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, seriously?”
“Yeah…”
“What about the dancing?”
“I don’t know. I guess,” I turned around to look at the girls. They were gone. “That’s who they are.”

It was almost seven o’clock when I returned home. I was right about my hyperventilation problem. It was caused by the Sun. I was just too hot. Once I breathed in the chilled air-conditioned air blowing in the mall, I was fine. My face returned to its normal color. I stopped sweating and breathing like a bull and everything was normal. Kartik also lost interest when he saw me calming down after downing three glasses of chilled water. I didn’t have a problem on the way back with the sun gone away for a night out, leaving behind a cool breeze.

Kartik tried the same trick with a few more girls, but not all girls liked his antics. Which one of them proved by throwing the soda she was drinking at his face. At least she didn’t pursue it further and let him go easily. Though the giggles from the crowd sure made Kartik quiet for a while. It added insult to his injury when he tried to call the girl whose number he had gotten and a guy picked up and started listing all the dishes available at their roadside restaurant in a single breath. That was how I realized the girls also knew how to have fun.

I didn’t get much sweetness for my efforts. Even though I had the hardware, the software was still obsolete and way out of date with the girls. I learned a valuable lesson today that perhaps, it wasn’t just my face that pushed the girls away. Perhaps, it was the whole of me. I thought of disguising my insides into something nice and sweet like ice cream. Then I shook my head to disintegrate that disguising thought. Perhaps, a few books on the intricacies of approach and behavior would have better helped me.

Anyways, returning home, I went straight to my room. I didn’t have much to do. I just didn’t find it worthwhile to spend my time fighting with my parents over their delusions. I was somewhat tired and didn’t go to ask for dinner. I simply sprawled out on my bed wondering. Superbrain made sure I wouldn’t want to waste my time on useless things like watching movies. It called my outing with Kartik an experience in extroversion and communication, which it was.

Not in the mood to go online or watch a movie, I picked up a book and started reading. I started with physics, read a chapter then picked up chemistry and read a chapter until Abhey came to my room to call me for dinner.

I was so engrossed in studying I didn’t hear my mother calling. My anger was long gone. I had just expended a lot of energy reading and remembering the books. So I closed up shop and went out with him. My father was already on the table eating. Mother was in the kitchen cooking. Rani sat beside my father looking to get a score. Someone had already laid out a plate for me on the table. There was rice in a cooker and a container full of steaming red beans… my favorite. Was that my mother’s way of apologizing? I didn’t know, but I ate, three plates full of rice.

My mother had taken a seat by the time I filled the third plate and my father was staring at my face as if looking at a circus freak. I didn’t say anything and ate with relish.

I was the last one to get up from the table. I picked up after myself and went to do the dishes. I had made a promise and wasn’t going to break it. My mother had already washed some dishes and I washed the rest. By the time I got free, it was already ten pm.

With some energy back in my bones, I studied for some more until it was midnight.

Tonight I needed a way to store the excessive sunlight absorbed by photosynthesis so it wouldn’t heat up my body and turn me into a steam engine.

[The Daily superpower system has heard your wish!]
[A Battery is a superpower that like a physical battery allows you to store energy. Only in this case, the energy is stored inside your body. You can only absorb one form of energy besides biological energy at lv-1.]                                        
[Task level: D]
[Help a good person.]
[Would you like to accept the task to acquire the ability? Yes/No]