Author's POV

Today was a special day for Mehak. She had been eagerly waiting to go to school this particular day, otherwise she hated going there. She did not have many friends there nor she was any of the teacher's favorite student. But, today she wouldn't care about any of that. The school bus would arrive in five minutes. Therefore, she hurriedly ate her breakfast and bid her mother goodbye before leaving the house. Standing at the gate she looked around and saw a few school kids waiting for their school buses. They were carrying the heavy load of their bags on their petite bodies.  Looking at them she was reminded of her own school days as a child. She remembered how she would stand at her bus stop with the heavy school bag filled with notebooks of different sizes of each different subject. The bag would be so heavy that it made it impossible to be held with one hand. She would curse the teachers and the principal for so much of theoretical based studies and almost no practical based ones. She absolutely hated the existing idea of schooling. But none of that mattered to her anymore and especially not today as it was her last day of school ever. Her chain of thoughts were broken by the honk of her school bus, she got inside and sat at her favorite seat and put her bag beside her, reserving the adjacent seat for her best friend Aanchal. 

The bus reached the next stop and Aanchal got in and looked out for Mehak. Her lips curled up to a little smile on seeing Mehak and she sat next to her.

 "I still can't believe that today will be our last day of school!"said an ecstatic Aanchal.

 "I know! I'm so excited" replied an equally ecstatic Mehak. "It’s funny. I’ve never been this happy going to school!"giggled Mehak. 

Aanchal's POV

After the school had ended, Mehak and I sat at our usual place in the bus.

"So, how does it feel to be 18 years old and ending your school life?" I asked Mehak jokingly.

 "Well, it feels like my life has just begun, feels like now I can finally have the good things in life and follow my dreams"

 I knew she would say that. She had always been waiting for this day. The school bus was about to reach Mehak's place to drop her.

 "So, now that school life is all over, what do you plan on doing next?"I asked her.

 "I'm actually waiting for a call".

 "A call! What in the world did she mean by that?" I wondered. "What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Don't worry, you'll see! As soon as the call comes, you'll be the first to know!"she replied. I was getting all the more curious and anxious to know about what she said and I was getting a little excited on seeing Mehak's happy and excited face when she talked about 'the call'. Soon the bus reached her stop.

 "Bye Aanchal!! I'll call you in the evening" she told me.

 "Ok bye!!" I bid her goodbye and sank deeper into my seat. 

Mehak's POV

I rang the door bell and was greeted by the smiling face of my mother.

 "So, how was your last day?", mum asked me.

"It was great! I must say that I enjoyed every bit of my day at school today", I told her.

 "That's good! Go on then! Quickly change your clothes and sit down for lunch, I’ve cooked your favorite meal today".

I turned away to my room when suddenly she came back to me, "Oh I almost forgot to tell you, there was a call for you today, some people from the AXN Asia Network.”

 My feet froze at those three words and I knew why the call had come. "They asked you to call them back as soon as possible" she continued. I quickly ran to my phone and redialed the number.

 "Hello, this is AXN Asia network, how may I help you?" answered a voice.

 "Hello, this is Mehak Kang calling from India, I had a call from you today", I answered back nervously.

. "Oh yes, I am Mr Brandon Chow from AXN headquarter, Hong Kong and I am glad to inform you that you and your partner Aanchal Asahi have been selected to be one of the 12 teams for this season of Amazing Race Asia."