Nasaza

VIII

The day passed quite pleasantly.

Kidding.

The rest of the day didn't go very well at all. I felt like I was constantly being judged and scrutinized by my classmates and teachers, and it was honestly a really exhausting and stress inducing experience. It was as if every second, I had to stand up and repeat the same old introduction and make up some boring factoid about myself, which was incredibly tedious and unnecessary.

"'I am Aadesh Malhotra'" Bullshit bullshit bullshit.

Aadrika's unexpected support certainly helped me. Even though she was just giving me a few glances and smiles, it managed to uplift my spirits quite a bit. Her small gestures of support were quite meaningful, and helped make the whole day a bit more bearable.

Then came the wall between us: Sanskriti.

Sanskriti didn't need to say anything, because her very presence was enough to create a barrier between Aadrika and myself. The fact that she was sitting between us, meant that we couldn't interact and communicate directly, without her being there.

She had a very dismissive and condescending attitude towards me, as if she couldn't care less about my presence or who I was.

Everytime I stood up to introduce myself, she would have this irritated look on her face, as if she was annoyed that she had to even look at my pathetic self, or like I was a bug she could just swat away.

She was definitely the star girl in our class, since people seemed to admire her and she enjoyed the spotlight. It's like she was the popular girl that everyone loved and wanted to be close with, and she liked that position.

Aadrika definitely had the more proactive and outgoing personality, while Sanskriti was the one who people approached and tried to get to know better. Aadrika was the one who approached and initiated conversation and interactions with people, while Sanskriti was the one who others tried to get close to first. It was like Sanskriti ignored others and others ignored Aadrika.

I even noticed that during recess, everyone was approaching Sanskriti, who was laughing with her friends while Aadrika had to wander around making small talk with everyone. Only Naina mainly hung out with her.

It's like it was reversed in our class. Aadrika should have been the one who was bombarded with attention and admiration, while Sanskriti should have been the one who was approaching others and trying to make friends.

But who was I to judge? Especially on the first day of school, without much perspective?

✩₊˚.⋆∆⋆⁺₊✧

After a long, tiring and frustrating day of school, I finally got out of the main gate. As I was walking, my mind was constantly filled with thoughts of Aadrika, Sanskriti, and everything else. I couldn't stop thinking about how I could have done things differently, and how I could've talked with Aadrika more, and how I could've ignored Sanskriti's condescending and dismissive behavior.

Speaking of the devil, she was standing near the school gate, buying ice-cream from a vendor.

Just a few feet away were some people I had met earlier, specifically Krish, Shreya, and their gang. I waved at them and Krish, being the first to notice me, waved back and motioned me to join them.

"Hey Aadesh!" Krish clapped my back as I approached them. His friends waved at me with smiles on their faces.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Sanskriti was looking at the interaction from the corner of her eyes. She had this weird expression on her face, something between curiosity, annoyance, and...jealousy? Was that jealousy?