First Love

Chapter 2

That was first of many meetings that Anjali and Aditya would have on campus. They ran into each other many places on the campus, at first he would see her and wave at her, but she would shy away and turn pretending not to see him.

He could always spot her in the traditional clothes, she would always dress simple, no artifacts on her, always with minimum make up, hair pulled back, minimum jewelry.

The more he saw her, the more he became curious about her, he didn't know what was happening to him, he wanted to get to know her better, her likes and dislikes, what made her tick. He tried to approach her a couple of times, but she was always with her friend, who never failed to glare at him when he tried to talk to Anjali, and dragged her away before he could reach them.

Then one day he spotted Anjali in the library sitting by herself, her books all spread out in front of her. He approached her quietly and whispered, "Hi, remember me?"

Anjali was startled out of her thoughts by someone whispering near her ear and jumped almost overturning her chair to see him standing beside her grinning like a fool.

She eyed him nervously, looked around and whispered back "Hi, how are you?"

He pulled the chair across from her and sat down, "I am fine, how is the college life treating you, any problems since the first day?"

She didn't want to tell him how his friends, especially the girls in the group, always gave her an evil look whenever he waved at her on the campus, and that's why she never responded and turned away from him.

He waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello, anyone there?" Teasing her because she didn't respond.

She gave him a weak smile and looked around to make sure his friends were not with him, "What are you doing here?"

He frowned because she didn't answer his original question, "I have a big exam tomorrow so I thought I would come to the library to study, how about you?"

She smiled and replied, "Same as you."

"So, Miss Anjali, do you mind if I seat with you and study?"

She gave back as good as she got and said, "No, Mr. Aditya, I don't mind if you seat with me, as long as you stay quiet," And went back to studying.

He was surprised at her response and chuckled then opened his books to study without saying anything else.

***

Anjali sighed and leaned her head against the window and wiped the few tears that had fallen on her cheeks.

Sometimes those days, spent as Aditya's friend, seemed like they were all a dream. She should have realized that his friends had resented her closeness to him. Most of his friends had hidden their animosity towards her when she was with him, but all bets were off when he wasn't around, especially his friend Nick and Anita.

She knew what Anita's problem had been, she was in love with Aditya, but he hadn't returned her feelings and she had felt threatened by Anjali but she hadn't known what Nick's problem had been with her. She hadn't liked the way he had looked at her, always undressing her with his eyes and had tried her best to stay away from him.

Not that there had been anything between Anjali and Aditya, he had never indicated anything more than friendship between them. He had been her first male friend. No one had understood her and Aditya's friendship, even Shruti.

Not all of his friends had disliked her, there were couple of his guys who had genuinely liked and supported her, but in the end even they couldn't stop the destruction of Anjali and Aditya's friendship.