(Lila walks inside the classroom with her eyes so big) She is basically a shy girl in the class. While everyone is busy talking about stuffs or shoes or eye makeup, she closely walk passes them, to her seat. Samip- a cool guy in the bunch looks and waves. Lila, struggles to wave back at him but, finally when she does it, suddenly she is the most happiest creature.
There is this thing about Lila; she has the most wonderful eyes. Whenever they looked at somebody, it could tell the stories, chapters from them. It was ocean deep. It was blue. It had some mystery, you know! She thought Samip was the best thing ever happened to her. And it already had been a year. It’s already been a year that she had fallen for this guy. Very badly. Sometimes she would just glare at him continuously. It did not seem bad. People knew she liked him. In fact, Samip knew she liked him. And she could find happiness in things. Even in the simplest ones!
She could feel the butterflies fluttering inside her stomach, making moves, making her feel numb and special both at the same time for what just happened a while ago. But, the butterflies died. And emotions subsided when Richa entered the room.
Richa was Samip’s girlfriend OFCOURSE! “The-meant-for-each-other-couple” as other hotties in the room stated.
Richa was smart. And smart people have things in nature. THEY ARE ARROGANT. Richa was smart cause she said it! She was smart because only she would mention it-almost all the time.
“I am cute, funny and smart, no?”
EXHAUSTIPATED (somewhere between disgusted, sad and constipated look), Lila turned by my side.
“Couldn’t that hug be a decent one? She doesn’t need to literally glue her up, with him.”
I could not help myself but smile. We were bench partners from the very first day of our high school. This shy girl and I shared so many things in common. I could just brighten up looking at her. I think I loved her, you know. I loved her from our junior school.
“Lila! Sit down” before I could finish my sentence teacher came in, each one of us settled down. Lila and I started flipping the same book. I generally did not bring any books cause she would carry it all of them. This had made things easier for me. Or maybe I did not bring it because of the just in case mentality that the way our fingers touched, felt so beautiful.
She is always so excited about the lessons that are taught in English classes. Oh! And I should tell you this she loved writing or reading. I had found scribbles, love notes and poems she wrote for Samip. She doesn’t do that for him now. Not after an incident, when the butcher boys (Butcher boys! because their father had meat business in partnership) bullied her showing “I LOVE YOU MORE THAN RICHA POEM” to the whole class .I still remember how hard she cried and how tightly she hugged me that day. She’s basically not the type you know. Or she looked like a one to be taken care of. That day!
Fact is she writes things for me too. I have all of her beautiful ‘how much I love you as a friend poems’ that she gave me. Sometimes she would just pass it on between the formulas of chemistry. Sometimes she would write it, on a paper, or on a piece of paper. I was even accused once for cheating in test, for having the cheat she passed it on to me. She frequently wrote things and gave them to me. I frequently kept them.
Suddenly, out in consciousness I see Lila in front of the class. I did not realize when she woke up and walked from the bench. Maybe I was lost too much today!
Then I remember there was this assignment to write about ‘something’. Oh boy! She was in that moment, reading through the verses, her eyes opened or closed when she explained things. Her hands moved very delicately, were scared to make big moves. There was a big roar when she finished it through. “I should have been attentive” I thought to myself. Later, others came and shared too. I was mostly dwelling between my sleeps.
As soon as class got over she asked me about her piece. Just when I was struggling between the words, I see Samip approaching near us.
“That was a wonderful write up you did there! Can I have it for a while?”
“Of course!”
She was all excited, finding her way through that piece and she barely cared what I said.
And they shared a glance. And their hands touched. Finally she gave it through, the paper. I could feel the inhibition on her side.
She stared at him endlessly. He looked up at her. She smiled.
All this time, I thought I was the larger part of her. Suddenly I felt small and uninvited. I suddenly understood that I didn’t want myself to intrude.
I stood up slowly and walked away quietly .
