The Zeroth Law

CHAPTER 13: THE QUARREL

"Ah... I am so hungry I could eat a bear", I said at the end of the day inside Robowars arena which was now being dismantled by workers. We were sitting on chairs there, all of us too tired to even move a limb, few of us staring at the stars while others sighing once in a while.

"I don't doubt you could kill one", Rudraansh replied with his neck resting on edge of back of his chair and eyes counting the stars above. I didn't even have it in me to glare at him, let alone respond to it. "I bet you even kill blameless little panda cubs", he murmured.

"Oh please don't. Both of you, for God's sake, don't get started", Vaibhav groaned and I looked at him with an offended look, "I have been working like a mule on labour duty all day, that's all", he hastened with his damage control.

"And I have been riding unicorns and bathing in chocolate fountains all day now, haven't I?" I said with a beaten voice.

"Even your concept of Utopia is so stereotypical", Rudraansh commented.

"Like your concept of Utopia is so not predictable. I am sure it's all filled with strippers and hookers bouncing on meringue pies and plum cakes", I commented back with a drone like voice.

"That's Bangkok you are talking about", Rudraansh said with a snigger, "and leave my poor food out of your lewd imagination."

"My lewd imagination?" I straightened up and bared my fangs.

"Oh stop it, stop it", Arpita raised her voice and I and Rudraansh looked at her in alarm, "stop talking about chocolate fountains and meringue pies and cakes. My stomach's been growling like Toothless for last one hour."

"Relax woman", Rudraansh said to her before going back to contemplate the stars. "Don't act up like a hungry bear else Adira will eat you."

"Yeah, if you are so famished, get up, go straight, take a left and they have set up food tables for feast there", I said to her. At the end of three long days, College administration provides free food to all the organisers as an appreciation for their hard work for success of the event.

"I don't think I can ever get up", she said to me pitifully, "even if White Walker comes down this way on his horse."

"Winter is coming", Vaibhav said with a drag and Arpita joined him, after which both of them engaged in Game of Thrones quotes rapid fire round.

"Do you think they might have exhausted ice-cream supply by now?" Nitika, co-ordinator of Finance team asked me.

"There's a great possibility of that happening", I said to her, "and with that possibility increasing, my motivation to leave this chair is decreasing."

"Anyway it would be the regular vanilla scoop", Aniruddha, who belonged to Infrastructure tried to provide solace to everyone's craving tongues by his statement. "You actually got the stomach bug from the feast food last year, remember?" he loosely pointed his hand at Karan who was sprawled on the temporary wooden bleachers which were now half uprooted by the workers.

"Hmm?" Karan looked at him puzzled so I guessed he must be lost in his thoughts, "Yes, Adira had to be my proxy attendant for lectures for three days."

"Someone had to do it", I said staring at nails of my toes, vividly conscious about Karan's eyes on my face, "So who better than me?" I hadn't planned to make it sound nasty but my hostility was just slipping out of cracks these days. I am not going to defend my reaction with any kind of intelligent psychoanalysed pretentious sounding banter - so to put it eloquently, I was being an asshole; as simple as that.

"Lucky jerk", Aniruddha said with his envy filled eyes on Karan, "you should thank God every day that Adira always has your back. If I had managed to skip as much Euphoria work as you, I am pretty sure I would have been kicked out by now."