Ajay Bhandari

Ajay, a character in the High School Story series, is a student at Berry High and one of your love interests. He is first seen in Class Act, Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Ajay has black hair, brown eyes, and light brown skin. He wears a beige suit over a dark red button-up shirt, a pair of black pants, a pair of glasses, and a watch on his left wrist. In Book 2, he wears a gray sweater over a blue button-up shirt. He has a small scar under his knuckle that he received when he was a little boy. He and another boy were play acting with plastic swords, but the other boy was more aggressive in the part than he was.

Personality
Ajay is extremely dedicated to theater to the point that he freaks out when the previous main character breaks his/her leg during the auditions for The Enchanted Kingdom. His priorities are skewed in that he focuses mainly on losing a good actor rather than that the previous main character got injured.

He has a tendency to be controlling. He feels as though he needs to be in charge of everything and becomes stressed when it seems as though he's powerless to change things. Ajay believes he's responsible for everything surrounding the play. When the previous main character was injured, it's revealed in the Chapter 2 premium scene that he blames himself for not organizing auditions more carefully. When locked in the theatre in Chapter 6, he blames himself for not having a backup plan. He is hard on himself for not living up to expectations.

He attempts to maintain a degree of professionalism and is uptight in the beginning. He states that he is a director first, not a friend. He is against in-cast relationships and believes emotions getting involved will jeopardize the play. Throughout the book, Ajay becomes more accepting of relationships as he bonds with your character and befriends the theatre group.

Nevertheless, he also has the desire to help others, as he told the theater club that the proceeds of the play will help a local family pay for cancer treatment.

In Chapter 13, it's revealed that the play is a fundraiser for Rory's mother who suffers from breast cancer. Ajay was one of a few people who knew about it, and thus, was so dedicated to make the play a success and admits having been especially stringent.

Book 2 reveals a protective side on matters concerning his brother Mohit. When their parents Samir and Shruti argue to the point of divorce, Ajay expresses worry that Mohit will be negatively affected.

Class Act, Book 1

 * Chapter 1: New Days
 * Chapter 2: Family Matters
 * Chapter 3: Love's a Game
 * Chapter 4: So This is a Party
 * Chapter 5: When One Door Shuts, Another Opens
 * Chapter 6: Locked In
 * Chapter 7: Homecoming Hijinks
 * Chapter 8: One Last Dance
 * Chapter 9: SOH-CAH-TOA
 * Chapter 10: The Runaway
 * Chapter 11: Couldn't Miss It
 * Chapter 12: Framed
 * Chapter 13: Bend, Don't Break
 * Chapter 14: All the World's a Stage
 * Chapter 15: When All is Said and Done

Class Act, Book 2

 * Chapter 1: Ice to Meet You
 * Chapter 2: Let The Race Begin
 * Chapter 3: Debate Drama
 * Chapter 4: Piece of Cake
 * Chapter 5: All For One, and One For All
 * Chapter 6: With The Fishes
 * Chapter 7: Friend, Fam, or Foe?
 * Chapter 8: An Impossible Situation
 * Chapter 9: Winter Wonderful
 * Chapter 10: Cats and Candidates
 * Chapter 11: If You Can't Beat 'em, Join 'em
 * Chapter 12: Planting New Seeds
 * Chapter 13: Team Green
 * Chapter 14: Be My Valentine
 * Chapter 15: New Roots

Class Act, Book 3

 * Chapter 1: O' Brave New World
 * Chapter 2: Thanks, But No Thanks
 * Chapter 3: I Spy
 * Chapter 4: Clash of the Casts
 * Chapter 5: Cold Feet
 * Chapter 6: Will They or Won't They?
 * Chapter 7: Who Are You?
 * Chapter 8: Boiling Over
 * Chapter 9: Race Against Time
 * Chapter 10: London Ho!
 * Chapter 11: Bienvenue a Paris!
 * Chapter 12: The Heist, London
 * Chapter 13: The Final Bow
 * Chapter 14: The Actual Tempest
 * Chapter 15: Cruise the Night Away
 * Chapter 16: Night Of Our Lives

Your Character
Ajay is one of Your Character's love interests. When they first met, however, he dismissed your character's attempt to greet him because he was focused on getting the play right. You can get to know him better if you choose to help him block scenes in Chapter 2, play pool with him in Chapter 4, convince him to open up about why he doesn't like his cast to have romantic relationships in Chapter 6, dance with him at homecoming in Chapter 7 and go to the art gallery with him in Chapter 9. He accidentally takes a video of you (instead of a picture) at the gallery and tells you that he is going to keep it because you're awkward in it. At the end of Chapter 11/beginning of Chapter 12, when Trevor tells your group that he signed out and left out a theater cube without wheels and everyone except Erin, Rory and Skye believe you pulled out the cube with wheels on purpose, he sides with everyone else and fails to remain neutral or objective. In Chapter 13 when Danielle confesses, he and your theater friends (except Erin, Rory and Skye) gloss over an apology, and weeks of rehearsal pass without notice. When you ask him in Chapter 14 if he believed you did it, he says he didn't know what to believe. If you choose to continue to romance him, you have the option of sharing your first non-stage kiss with him and becoming a couple in the end of Chapter 15. You can also choose to thank him at the end of the play on behalf of the cast and crew of The Enchanted Kingdom.

Kelly and Marvin
Kelly and Marvin appear in a premium scene in Chapter 6 where you can play as Ajay. They were the leads in a theatre play that Ajay directed a couple years ago. It was his first direction ever and he had a crush on Kelly who fell for Marvin during rehearsals. Depending on what Ajay said to Kelly, she not only broke Ajay's heart, she also ended their friendship. Kelly and Marvin continued to date but started arguing during rehearsals until the point where Kelly left the play. They had to find a replacement three days before its premiere which turned into a disaster, especially because the replacement couldn't memorize her lines, and Ajay was never asked to direct again until now. All this caused a change of his personality and behavior towards the actors who star in a play that he directs.

Skye Crandall
Ajay and Skye work well together, Ajay refers to her as his "Right-Hand Woman" as Skye is shown to help with most of the lighting, effects and set design. Ajay cares about Skye as shown when she attempts to run away Ajay goes with Your Character into the mosh pit to find her and is able to talk her out of it. Skye is the only people who is able to successfully explain Ajay's math assignments to him in order to help tutor him, which Ajay appreciates a great deal as it helped him get back to directing the play.

Rory Silva
Ajay and Rory have an interesting love-hate friendship, the two get along well, however they are also shown to annoy each other a bit. Ajay was the other other student that knew the play was for Rory's mom and worked hard to ensure the play would be a success. The two get into a lot of petty arguments on set which usually end in comic relief. When Rory runs for student body president, s/he chooses Ajay to act as campaign manager because of his organization and directing skills.

Trevor
Trevor and Ajay don't talk much during the story, however it is revealed that Ajay strongly trusts his judgement as he quickly believes him when Trevor insists that the Theatre Cube incident wasn't an accident.

Danielle
It is hinted that Ajay is aware of Danielle's manipulative personality as he makes a few backhanded comments about Danielle during the course of the story. If you choose the premium scene to help Ajay with blocking, he warns the MC to watch out for her, knowing that she’s the jealous type. Part of the reason he didn’t cast her as the princess was because he knew about her crush on Rory. It is also revealed that he's not surprised that Danielle was the one who caused the accident as Danielle was never great at safety.

Other Looks

 * -|Class Act, Book 1=

Trivia

 * You can play as Ajay in an exclusive flashback scene in Class Act, Book 1, Chapter 6.
 * In Class Act, Book 1, Chapter 7, if you asked him to dance with you, he reveals that he is a fan of musicals.
 * Last year, when he was a sophomore, he had Psychology class with Cameron.
 * If you visit the art gallery with him, he tells you that he isn't fond of abstract art.
 * He has Physics class with Morgan.
 * The name Ajay is of Sanskrit origin and means: Unsurpassed, unconquered, invincible. The variant of the name is Ajit.
 * The surname Bhandari is of Indian origin and means: Treasurer, keeper of the treasury, store keeper.
 * In the final chapter of Class Act, Book 1, it is revealed that he is a junior, putting him in the same year group as Your Character from the original trilogy.
 * In Class Act, Book 2, Chapter 6, his brother Mohit says he is six and a half years old, making Ajay 10-11 years older. Their last name is revealed to be Bhandari.
 * A writer he looks up to is Samuel Beckett due to his legacy.
 * If Ajay is your love interest, you can visit his room in Book 3, Chapter 1, and you find out he has a record collection.
 * He also has a copy of Waiting for Godot that he normally doesn't let anyone take but allows Your Character to borrow it.
 * If you choose the premium sleepover scene in Book 3, Chapter 8, Ajay reveals an older cousin made him scared of the Cookie Monster when he was four.
 * If you read Emma's yearbook draft in Book 3, Chapter 14, you find out the following.
 * He dislikes song remixes because the singers never get to finish the line.
 * His vision is so bad that he struggles to read the top letter without his glasses in eye exams.
 * Ajay's first academic award was for a paper on water conservation that he wrote in fifth grade. His class received a pizza party as a result.
 * Ajay's grandfather was a supermodel in India in the 1990s.
 * He would eagerly take the chance to spend a month in an isolated cabin, saying he would use the time to catch up on his reading list.