The Religion Factor

Chapter: 1

'Sirat beta, Wake up! It is 7:00am. You have to get ready for school.' Mum says.
'School? What school? OH. WAIT. SCHOOL?' I say in my sleepy ass voice.
'Yes ma'am. First day of New School. I hope you're not planning to reach school late on the very first day.'
'Oh no, not at all. I almost forgot that summer vacation is over. Yaar mumma it's just too difficult to  get back to your normal routine after 3 long months.'
'I know beta, but it's life and life without discipline is the life of an animal. Get up quickly now, I'm waiting downstairs.'
'Yeah ok, I'll be there in 10 minutes.'
I get up and grab my phone.
69 unread messages! No way I'm replying to them right now. I check my Snapchat and then my Instagram. There are 3 messages from my best friend.
'Hey Siri, don't be nervous you got this.
It's going to be an amazing experience in your new school.
Keep calm, be confident and if anyone annoys you let me know, they will be teeth-less the next day.'
I smile at her texts but couldn't stop my laugh at the last text. I tell her that I'll be fine and send her a heart emoji. Rish is my saviour, little bitch is always there to uplift me whenever I'm even slightly anxious about anything at all.

I quickly take a shower and dress up. I go downstairs, have my breakfast and then leave for the school with my father. He motivates me on the way and tells me to avoid unnecessary interactions with boys. NORMAL INDIAN MUSLIM PARENT THING.

Leaving my father at the school entrance and going inside feels like the way you feel when you enter your first ever play school, when you have to be away from you parents and make school your second home. My anxiety and insecurities kicks in the moment I enter the school doors, leaving my father on the outside. I see girls and tall sky scraping BOYS everywhere around me. The experience though is not as burdensome as I imagined it to be, yet. I see a senior holding a placard with '11-I' on it. It is my class's line. I go upto her and join the line behind her. I stand almost at the end of the line. After me there are 5 girls followed by the boys of our class.
Suddenly, I see a guy entering the school doors, he walks towards our line. He slowly comes closer and walks past our line or in other words he walks past me. His eyes locks mine for 3 short seconds and then he breaks the eye contact. He is a 6'1 tall Indian  guy with an enchanting flowing hair and deep brown eyes. He is wearing a huge black coloured fastrack watch and some orange and red threads on his wrist. He exhales in an almost inaudible voice but I hear his breath. He walks away and joins 11-R's class line. What! Am I already intimidated by him? NO SIRAT NO CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS. I convince myself that this is just a one time thing and I'm sure I'll never ever see him again. It's a big school, he probably won't ever be so near to me that I get to see him again. I shake off the idea of ever seeing him again.

I see a friendly face coming towards me. It's Nysha from my previous school who is coincidentally in the same class and section as mine and the only one I know in this new school. She walks towards me and joins the line. I make her stand with me in the line.
'Omg HI Nysha! I'm so fucking grateful that I have atleast one fucking person from our previous school.' I say in excitement.
'Same here siso. Like I never imagined I'll have company here. I know that we barely talked in our previous school but seeing you here feels like home.' She sighs.
We have a little conversation about all the new things we are witnessing here and how they are different from our previous school. She tells me that she drove alone to the school on a scooter and how fun the ride was.
'I wish I would've learnt to drive a scooter too during the vacations.' I say
'Don't worry yaar it's not that difficult, you'll definitely learn it. I believe in you.' Nysha says.

The seniors take us to the school auditorium for the induction ceremony. The seniors present a beautiful programme with mesmerising songs and dances. They tell us about the legacies of this school and how amazing it feels to them to study here. Then the faculty members come up and spoil all the fun. They gives us guidelines on how the school's main goal is to make students academically excellent. They show us pictures and marks of the past students who have scored high percentage in board examinations as well as various government examinations. They make it quite clear that in order to survive in this school, we need to focus on just one thing and that is ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE.