continued from part 7
A sudden fear gripped me. I might
have created an impression that bordered on hate to solid dislike. I’m not sure which it was exactly.
I just hoped the clichéd quote ‘first
impression is the best impression’ is not always true, at least for today,
please!
For the rest of the class I stole some
glances towards her, but she completely ignored me.
While two sets of eyes were boring me, Siri, flashing anger, Rakesh, inquiring with his looks.
Ufffffff!!!
One last class & it'll be over; the day
felt very long & distant. I was sitting alone, it was not new to me, but it
definitely felt vacant. And I was feeling something very strange, is that what
people called that, broken?
I messed it real bad.
“Ravi!”
“Ravi!!”
“Ravi!!!”, my instructor's shout jarred me back
from thoughts.
“Yes, madam”
“Where were you?”
“Ummm! Sorry I was a little lost in thought”
“Can you come to my room; I need you to distribute your class’s answer
scripts”
These were one of those times I despised
being the class representative. I followed her to her room & stacked up the
exam answer scripts, & returned only to find out most people had already gone.
Great! Now I'll have to take care of these goddamn things.
After giving way in the corridor to the streams
of continuous packets of students I finally went to my class, & was
surprised to hear many high pitched giggles in unison.
I waited at the door. Then someone said
condescendingly, “Did you reach your puberty yet? I don't think so.”
More giggles.
Someone added, “You still have a babysitter
at home I guess, and do you still get your milk from your mom?”
More giggles, but this time there was also
a quiet sob. There were a group of girls, maybe 5 of them, some perched on top of the benches, sat around someone. One
girl's hand had a Casper backpack, which gave me the telltale fact of what was
happening.
Sonia was being teased, in a very mean way,
spearheaded by Siri.I thought I knew Siri fairly well, we have
been benchmates ever since, but I never knew she could be so mean.
I dashed across the room, and the girls started
dispersing.
I declared at the height of my voice, “I
like Casper, you got a problem with me too?”
“It was my fault, I accidentally (really?),
told her the place was vacant.”
I turned to Siri, “Of all you can't make
comments about Casper, you made me watch that movie, and you loved the painting
I made”
So this is her girls’ gang, huh! Ok, time
for me to become mean.
There were some hushed voice,s but all
quietened out the minute I brought out the answer scripts.
It’s a fact that no one wants to showcase
their marks before confirming they are flash-worthy, while I’m having the
advantage of knowing all of their marks if I wanted to (Though I’m too lazy to
peek through them).
“Anyway,” I handed over the evaluated exam
scripts to whoever was there.
It was like icing on the cake. Particularly
girls, who are always very cautious about the grades & marks, couldn't
simply let me wave the scripts before they're sure their marks were
wave-worthy.
They silently took their scripts and made
way to exit.
--silence--
The room was very silent punctuated only by
hardly audible and already dying sobs of Sonia.
I sat close to her and whispered, “You know
what? No one should look this good while crying”
Her lips curved ever so slightly, a very
small smile, but that lessened the ton of tension I was feeling till then.
I offered my hand, “Can we go back home?”
The thin tear tracks that etched on her
lovely face caught the glint of the setting sun as she nodded and reached for my
hand.
That moment when she locked her hands,
lacing her fingers through mine, all weariness of the day was gone, giving rise
to a tingling sensation. I don't know how she felt, but I would love to in the
snapshot of that moment, forever.
Hey really beautiful narration. Sooo cuteee :)
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn’t weird, I would have sent you a picture of myself. Because I look totally grateful.
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