Seventeen

Chapter 1

9 Years Later

(Ishan)

This is so embarrassing. Totally utterly embarrassing. EMBARASSING in capital letters.

I am 17 years old, in 12th std and I am standing outside the class with my hands raised, as punishment. Can you believe that???

And it's all because of this little devil. I gave an angry glare to Adithi who was beside me doing the same, standing with her hands raised.

"Wait till the period is over..." I hissed over to her.

"As if I started it..." She hissed back.

Some girls from 11 B passed by, and looked at us and broke into a laugher. I closed my eyes in embarrassment and bit onto my lips... Ugh! I should just go and die after this. Even Suhana is watching from inside the classroom. In front of her..being like this. So embarrassing...

I looked back inside the classroom. Arjun, Farhan and Jiggy were grinning looking at us. Cruel bastards are having fun seeing us like this. Now they will make fun of me till I die...

The girls from 11 B who had gone to the staff room, was walking back, with giggles and whispered something to each other while they passed us.

Yeah...! Laugh. I am just this big loser who is standing here with hands raised. Kicked out of class by the teacher, because Adithi and I were kicking each other under the desk. Well, she started it. She kicked me first...

"Sorry..." Adithi mumbled suddenly.

I looked at her.

"Sorry... You might be feeling super embarrassed as those girls saw us as well and all. And the girls in the whole class did too." She said, looking a bit sympathetic. She seemed genuinely sorry. And knowing Adithi, she was being honest. "Sorry,"

"It's fine. I kicked you when you kicked me too... If I had not, the situation would not have come to this..."

"But I really thought you first kicked me." She said.

"My leg accidentally stepped over yours. It was not intentional..." I said.

"Okay." She said.

"But... what about you? Are you not embarrassed?" I asked. "To stand like this?"

She looked just confused. "Hm...Not much." She said, totally honestly.

Even when the whole class boys are watching.... But then, it's Adithi. She never bothers about things like that. Because... Well because she is just Adithi.

I looked back into the class and watched Suhana taking notes. Arjun is lucky. He got to sit next to her. On the first day of the academic year, he was quicker than the rest of us and got the seat next to Suhana. (It's two seats in a column arrangement). I am not sure if Arjun did that intentionally or it just turned out that way... Because he is the one who shows the least interest in Suhana.

When we were younger, we used to be head over heels for Suhana. All four of us. But as we got older, it began to feel a bit weird, because she and we had become more closer friends. So it became weird to be gaga over her.

When we were kids, we used to talk about her, among us four boys. About how pretty she looks, what did we talk about with her etc. As we got older, the talks dried down. And she was just a friend...

But...still somewhere deep inside, did we still have a crush on her??

Or more like, all of us liked her in our own way but would rather die than admit to each other openly than we liked her. Or was that just me who didn't want to admit that fact?