4.1 The Empty Building

The girls' building stood on the far side of the same campus. It had the same cream paint and morning bell as the boys' building, but Aarav stopped at its gate as if he had reached a different school.

Mother brought him there after school, when most students had left. Riya waited near the staircase after her extra period. Anaya and Kavya had also stayed so Aarav could see the classroom he might join.

Without the morning crowd, the building felt less frightening. A few forgotten steel water bottles stood near the office. Somewhere upstairs, a teacher dragged a chair across the floor.

Anaya showed him the Class 8 room.

"I sit there," she said, pointing to a bench near the middle.

Kavya pointed toward the next row. "There is space beside us."

Aarav remained near the door. The desks looked like the desks in the boys' building. The timetable had the same subjects. Even the complaints written on the blackboard were ordinary: two missing notebooks and too much talking during Marathi.

Mrs. Patwardhan called Aarav and Mother into her office after the short tour. She addressed Aarav directly.

"Your mother has explained what happened," she said. "I want to hear what you need."

Aarav looked at his hands. "The boys don't do those things now."

"But?"

"Nobody sits with me. I keep thinking they will start again."

Mrs. Patwardhan explained the two-week trial. Aarav would remain in Class 8, wear his white shirt and navy trousers, and carry a temporary pass. Only the teachers and staff who needed to know would be informed.

"Will the whole school know why?" he asked.

"No. We will only say that the management has approved a temporary academic arrangement."

She gave him time before asking, "Do you want to try it?"

Through the office window, Aarav could see the boys' building near the main gate. He could return there and sit alone again. Or he could enter this building, where two familiar faces were waiting in his own class.

"Only two weeks first?"

"Only two weeks," Mrs. Patwardhan confirmed.

Aarav swallowed. "I want to try."

That evening, the school called Mother to confirm that the arrangement had been approved.

4.2 The First Morning

The next morning, Aarav wore the same white shirt and navy trousers.

Riya took him across the ground. Anaya and Kavya were waiting near the notice board.

"Go with them," Riya said. "I will meet you at dispersal."

"You are leaving?"

"I have Class 10 upstairs. Anaya and Kavya are with you."

Anaya showed him where bags were kept. Kavya pointed out the lunch shelf and the broken desk near the window. Neither of them asked him to repeat what had happened in the boys' building.

Girls looked at him during the first day. A junior stared at his trousers. A peon sent him toward the boys' side until Anaya showed the temporary pass. Aarav felt exposed, but nobody laughed or touched him.

At lunch, Anaya and Kavya made space under the neem tree. Aarav kept his tiffin on his lap and watched the boys' building through the courtyard.

He still could not make himself go for water alone. When Kavya offered to come with him, he said, "Later."

She only nodded.

4.3 Less Fear

For the first three days, Aarav moved from the classroom to the lunch bench with Anaya or Kavya nearby. It was not freedom yet. It was simply less fear.

On Thursday, the maths teacher asked a question about linear equations. Aarav knew the answer, but his hand rose only halfway.

Anaya noticed. "Sir, Aarav knows."

The teacher waited. Aarav answered in a low voice.

"Correct," the teacher said, and continued the lesson.

Nobody laughed.

That evening, Mother saw him open his maths notebook before she reminded him.

"Homework?"

"Small test tomorrow."

"Are you able to study?"

"A little."

The test was not his best work, but he finished it. The teacher wrote, *Better. Keep trying.*

By Friday, Aarav knew that he wanted to return for the second week. He did not need another meeting to say it.

4.4 Finding A Place

During the second week, the history teacher divided the class into groups for a fort project. Anaya made a list of headings. Kavya chose the chart paper. Aarav was given the outline map because his lines were neat.

"Do not make it too perfect," Kavya warned. "We still have to finish the rest."

"A fort cannot have a crooked wall," Aarav said.

"It can if the glue dries first," Anaya replied.

Aarav laughed without checking who was listening.

For two activity periods, they worked together. Anaya wrote the points, Kavya coloured the title, and Aarav drew the map and border. When their group presented it, the teacher praised the clean layout and asked who had made the map.

Aarav looked at Anaya. She nodded toward him.

"I did," he said.

"Good work," the teacher replied.

It was the first time he spoke before the class without feeling that attention would become danger.

Riya still brought him to the building in the morning, but Aarav entered the classroom with Anaya and Kavya. He could go to the water area with them. He could sit at lunch even when they had nothing important to say.

He was still careful. He still looked across the ground sometimes. But the school day was no longer built entirely around fear.

4.5 The Review

At the end of the two weeks, Mrs. Patwardhan met Mother, Aarav, and the class teacher.

The teacher said Aarav was still quiet, but he was answering questions and completing his work again. His test marks had begun to improve.

"Do you want to return to the boys' building," Mrs. Patwardhan asked, "or continue here for the rest of Class 8?"

Aarav remembered the silent lunch bench in the boys' building. Then he remembered the fort project, the maths answer, and two weeks in which nobody had turned his voice into a joke.

"I want to continue here," he said.

The temporary arrangement was extended for the remaining term.

That evening, Mother ironed his shirt for the next day as usual. Aarav put the temporary pass back into his bag and looked at it for a moment.

It still said *temporary*.

But the classroom no longer felt borrowed.