As Swati opens the speech, she thinks, “This is not my speech. Wait, this is Naina’s handwriting. What is Naina’s speech doing in my pocket?” she looks towards Naina who smiles and shows her a thumbs up. Swati smiles back and thinks, “Thank you so much Naina. I have no idea how did you come to know that I have lost my speech but you are a true friend. Head girl competition is very important for my self-respect.”
Swati begins the speech:
Goodmorning everyone. I hope you all are doing good. First of all, I am very grateful to be a part of such an amazing school. Among the fantastic teachers and lovely students, I feel this is not just a school but also my family. I have received the golden opportunity of standing for the Head Girl competition and representing the school.
As the speech continues, Naina, Preeti, and Sameer just open their eyes wide in surprise. “Isn’t this my speech?” whispers Naina. “Yes. we talked about all these points and these are the exact lines you wrote in your speech.” replies Sameer. “But you said you have your speech. Just check once again in your pocket.” says Preeti. Naina takes out the speech from her pocket but it is just a blank paper. “How did this happen?” asks a shocked Naina. On the other side, Munna and Pandit are equally surprised by Swati’s speech. Naina calls them and they say, “This is not Swati’s speech. This is not what we prepared.” “This is Naina’s speech.” says Preeti and Munna and Pandit are even more surprised. Hema, who was listening everything, jumps in between and says, “Maybe Swati stole your speech to win.” “Just shut up. How dare you say that? Swati will never betray me or any of us.” replies Naina in an angry tone. “Keep quiet girls and look forward.” says the teacher and all of them stand at their respective places and stay quiet. Naina thinks, “Swati will never do such a cheap thing. I trust her. Anyways, I will think about it later.” “Don’t worry. You are intelligent. You can prepare something and speak.” murmers Sameer from behind and Naina nods. Swati’s speech ends and Naina’s turn comes. Swati joins the line and Preeti whispers, “Did you lose your speech somewhere?” “Yes. I think I forgot it in the washroom. It’s a long story. But Naina is so good. She kept her speech in my pocket, maybe when we were standing in the line, before my speech.” replies Swati. “But she did not keep it. She was herself shocked that how did you get her speech.” tells Preeti. “What? She did not keep it.” replies a shocked Swati. “Girls, this is the last warning. Stay quiet.” scolds the teacher. “Sorry mam.” reply the girls. Swati is tensed and sad.
Naina gets on the stage and says, “I am really sorry but I haven’t prepared anything.” and is about to get down when Swati starts cheering, “Come on Naina. Naina Naina Naina” and all the students do the same. Naina gets motivated and smiles.
Naina begins her speech:
My best friend Swati spoke about many points which I totally agree with. I would just like to say that I have not spent a lot of time in this school and with all you people but it feels like there is a very deep connection among us. Though I am not very confident whether I will be able to manage everything, but I have a very strong belief that if I get the chance to be the Head Girl of the school, you all will push me to work harder and I will grow a lot to be a better human. If you all stand by my side, I will be glad to take the lead and we all will work our best on the improvements. We will pay equal attention towards education and sports and make our school and families proud. Thank you so much.
Everybody claps loud for her. The assembly ends and the students go back to their classes. They don’t get a chance to talk in the class. Finally in lunch time, they talk. “I am so sorry Naina. I have no idea how did your speech come in my pocket. And before the speech, I looked at you and you smiled so I thought that you knowingly kept your speech to help me. I am so stupid. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” apologizes Swati. “Relax Swati, it’s ok. Even if you said that you deliberately did this, I would have slapped you because I wouldn’t believe that. I know you will not betray me. I trust you. You don’t have to give me any explanation.” says Naina. Swati hugs her tight and thanks her. “Next time you say sorry or thankyou, I won’t talk to you.” says Naina. “Okay, I won’t say it again.” replies Swati and they laugh. “But guys, we have to think how did this happen? Naina’s speech was in Swati’s pocket and the speech in Naina’s pocket was just an empty paper. I am sure it was not a random incident.” says Sameer. Everybody gets thinking.
Meanwhile the mysterious person calls Beena and says, “The work is done. But I don’t think this is sufficient. We will have to create a bigger misunderstanding between them.” Beena replies, “Don’t worry. I will think of a bigger plan. You just keep on updating me.” and cuts the call. “This was not a very smart plan. But it’s not the end yet.” thinks Beena.
FLASHBACK
In the morning, Beena swapped Naina’s speech with a blank paper when she went to take a bath and Preeti was still sleeping. She gave the speech to the mysterious person. Then the person kept the speech in the skirt’s pocket that Swati was about to wear from the sports room.