Project: Meera

4. Cheater!

I was woken up by maa who ruffled my hair and softly asked me if I was alright?
Remembering school I quietly replied, "maa I don't feel good can I miss school?"
And I saw a change in her demeanour, she got all worried with tears in her eyes and touched my forehead for fever. I felt guilty and taking a deep breath I decided to tell her the truth about school and if she could send me back to Singapore. "Maa I don't want yo stay in India. I hate the school. Send me back to Singapore please," I muttered quickly. Whoa! There it was all my demands and needs out in the open. I started getting up and look at her. I felt guilty for saying all this, maybe I should have spoken a bit softly with the whole school bit elongated.
She looked at me with crazy and anger filled eyes, "get ready and leave for school. Your lunch is on the table," her voice was all cold and impersonal. I looked at her and saw her leaving the room.
Getting up reluctantly I took a cold shower to feel woken up. I skipped the whole makeup bit and combed my curly mess of brown locks into a high pony tail and tied it with a white scrunchy. Taking care to wear neutral undergarments I wore that uniform. I headed downstairs and went outside without picking the bottle or food. I did not feel the need to eat yet.
As I entered school I saw students rushing before the gates closed. I ran to get in on time. As soon as I entered class I heard a small murmur which I ignored.

Keeping my head down I move towards my seat. As I realise I already call that nerdy front desk my seat. As I settled in Meera offered me a small smile, "hi," I hear her whisper timidly.

"Hi," I offer back. Meera redoes her long black hair into a braid and says, "maybe we got off the wrong way, I'm Meera. Let's be friends." I look at her astounded she looks so pretty with those hair open. "Sure, but I hope its not for that overdressed wedding diva," I say nonchalantly. "Wedding diva," she inquires. "Mrs Bali," I reply.
Meera giggles, "ohh you should see her on school functions she looks like a bride!"

I smile my first genuine smile at her. And we see Mrs Bali enter dressed in a beige saree with intricate golden border. Good morning class! Please keep aside your books and let Seth give you the answer sheets. The question papers will be distributed by Meera. You have 45 minutes to answer them correctly.

Okay, I had forgotten the test. I felt hot and scared. The prospect of failing and being ridiculed in class was scary. My mother's temper tantrums made me feel worse. But then I did not know what to do. I got up, collected the question paper and started distributing them to all the students. I got to check out my classmates too.

The back rows had rowdy good looking boys and the bitchy IT girls who snickered as I distributed the paper. I took the last two for me and Meera.

I knew my calculus and maths from the old school but this seemed a bit different. Meera was already scribbling so quickly that her pen might break.

I wrote my name with my pink hello kitty pen. They were lucky for me. But then I looked around. Mrs Bali was walking the aisle and sat on an empty seat in the back probably to stop cheating. I felt a poke on my knee and turned to see Meera poking her pen. I looked up to see her arrange her answer sheet for me to cheat! She looked at my face and gestured to copy quickly.

Baffled I started copying word for word quickly. Thousands of questions ran in my mind. Why was this girl helping me especially after yesterday? Why was I cheating?
Before I knew it the bell rang and the teacher started snatching our answer sheets.

I'm hungry," I told Meera maybe the cheating had mellowed my while let's feel sad routine. "Okay. Let's head to the canteen, you can grab a sandwich or samosa," she replied. Maybe she was not IT material but certainly Meera was being nice. As we went towards the canteen I wondered why was she being this nice. "Nia the samosa is awesome when its fresh. Do you want one or two?" Her question pulled me out of my thoughts. Samosa it is I replied.

"Uncle! Please give three samosa's and please give me some tea from the teachers quota, Nia is new and is not well," Meera turned to me and winked.

We were handed three freshly fried hot samosa's with piping hot ginger tea. My stomach grumbled. I began eating those crunchy, spicy potato filled samosa's quickly. Ohh delicious. "The adrak chai (ginger tea) is for the teachers but uncle let's girls have it after the school nurse told it that girls need tea for the period pain!" Meera chatted.
"Why?" I asked Meera while sipping the tea. It was strong, sweet and had loads of ginger but it was addictive.
Meera looked confused, so I rephrased my question, "why are you being this helpful?" "Nia, I'm sorry for all I did yesterday let's forget it and be friends?"

I needed friends in this alien school especially if I wanted to fit in and I agreed immediately, "only if you get me more of this chai." And we both laughed.