Timeless treasure

5

All my classmates waited eagerly till the last hour and no news came up. "How can these people keep us waiting till Monday?" someone ranted in the group. I returned to my home with the hope that we'd be in the same class. Together.

The next day

My bus is usually punctual as it arrives even before any attender does. All the windows of the classrooms appeared to be stuck with a few lists. Crossing my fingers, I ran to my classroom window. I felt relieved finding my name on the list. I so wanted to check his name, but who knew his name? I just thought it'd be awkward to ask someone, but I wanted to know if he was placed in the same section as mine or not.

At the commencement of the second hour, we were asked to shift classes. A jinx of happiness, sorrow, excitement wavered suddenly in the air. Every other bade goodbye for someone they befriended for the last month. Luckily, I'd no one to. I befriended no one in the last month. In that case, I'd no one for long for the past seventeen years. Maybe, they did or sometimes I did, but never really lasted. Sometimes, they partied and I stayed at home, never really stepped out. Sometimes they gossiped and I stayed out of it. Sometimes I was left out. So, I stopped caring about someone for a long time now. But, this feels kind of different.

Later, we were issued ID cards.
"Aditi Verma, Roll-CSE03" it read.
At the end of the second hour, I saw him occupying the second bench with three other boys. He seemed normal. Neither happy nor sad. Plain. He's wearing the ID card. The blue tag looks good on him. I wondered what could be his name. "T? K? D? S??.. He looks like an S", I smiled faintly. He answered the roll call with the number 57. "57, 57, 57", I fed into my tiny memory. For the first time, I'd seen someone listening to the class with the utmost attention. Or maybe, it was the first time I was observing someone. Seven hours flew by in a second. The class was dispersed. And I wish to see him. Again.