Soothing the Heart of the Sea

Chapter Two

There were six children on the boat already. Yamuna's boat was the seventh stop for the Polka Barrage ( that's what the school boat was called)

''Hi Yamuna!', said Rajan, the boy who lived two boats away, as she climbed onto the boat.

''Hey Rajan"'

Rajan was 14 years old. He liked a soap. Things he did in his free time : clean. No seriously, he was a clean freak. That morning, he was wearing a plain, clean blue t shirt and a pair of clean beige shorts.Neither his shorts nor his t -shirt had a single crease and were perfectly ironed (he probably ironed it himself)

Yamuna glanced towards where Chitu and Miss Pointy-Nose were standing, '" Who''s that?", she asked Rajan 

"No idea, but Chitu seems to like her a lot"

Yamuna went into the school room where her friends Ganesh and Karu were playing a game of chess.

"And..... Checkmate! " yelled Karu.

"Karu man! That's the fifth time you've won! Its so unfair!'' whined Ganesh.

"Hey guys", said Yamuna ,smiling

"Oh hi Yam", said Karu.

Yamuna sat down next to the chess board.

"Want to play another one?'',asked Karu slyly

"No", said Ganesh,"I'm tired of losing, let Yamuna play.

''Wanna play Yam?""

""Sure!"

They set up the pieces again and started to play. Yamuna took Karu''s queen, Karu took Yamuna''s queen,Karu took Yamuna's bishop, Yamuna took Karu''s knight, Karu took Yamuna''s castle, Yamuna took Karu''s other knig-

Basically, it was an intense game.But just as Karu was going in for a check, the chess board flew away and hit the schoolroom wall.

Now you may be wondering, is this book turning into some magic thing like Harry Potter or something?    Well don''t worry, it's not.    What just happened has a perfectly good, non-magical reason.

 The board had been kicked by Ilakiya, the 10 year old girl. 

Now you may wondering, is this book turning into a rivalry story of a 10 year old girl with anger management issues? Well don''t worry, it's not. 

Ilakiya was the most clumsy child in all of Quile and...well you can imagine what happened when she walked onto the slippery floor of the schoolroom.

"Ilakiya! Watch where you're going!", sighed Balaji,"" God this boat is going to fall apart one day because of you"      

                                                                                                                                                                             Balaji was a tall 15 year old who always thought he was the best at everything and could rule over everyone.

Everyone hated Balaji. Except Ilakiya - she was afraid of him.

She bit her lip and mumbled a sorry.   Karu rolled her eyes

Balaji opened his mouth to say something but Ilakiya was saved by the entrance of Chitu, along with Robin, Krishnamurti, Bear and Mandira and of course, Miss Pointy Face.

Our class had 11 children.There were only 10 today.

''OK", Chitu looked around the room, "Sundaram wont be coming today but -"

"Why? What happened to him?"', asked Ganesh.

"He's sick", said Chitu 

Yamuna looked at Chitu, why was he acting so secretive? He always told them everything in detail.Or maybe he was just excited about the day's class. Something seemed fishy.

"Anyway, said Chitu rubbing his hands together,"Today's going to be a fun day".