The Gospel Truth

XI. WHAT'S THE MATTER

Amy's school was the school beautiful in the lap of the city beautiful, Chandigarh. With 20 acres of area, it had two playgrounds, one big and other comparably small both on the right side of the facade and a big three-storey grey color building on the opposite , a good number of green trees like tamarind, neem and mango were the planted as the partition between grounds and the school building. A cemented plinth was constructed around every tree, which could accommodate six to seven persons on an average. And the plinths were the favorite places of the students in their leisure time. The school bestowed a quality education to approximately 6000 students from nursery to class XII and was equally good in sports also. Admission in the school was once the guarantee of success for the students. The brand value of the school faded with the passing time but still, it was considered a sign of good luck for the students to get admission into.

After the Morning Prayers, the students were taking their respective seats. Amy seated in hers but was looking for her best buddy, Animesh, who would sit beside her always right from the class seventh, when he got the admission in the school. Animesh, Amy's best friend, was tall and handsome, with a face always ready to smile, having a charming disposition.

Animesh's father, Vijay Kant Tripathi, possessing middle height, bald-headed, with a bulky belly was a devotee of Lord Hanuman. He was working with the banking sector and had got the transfer from Lucknow to Chandigarh when Animesh passed the sixth standard.

Om was to acquire a floor for the extension of his coaching institute for which he had applied for a handsome loan amount. Vijay Kant was very happy to sanction the loan for such a highly reputed coaching institute in the Tricity. Om was much impressed by the branch manager and paid high regard for making the formalities simple. Their further meetings unveiled the fact that they both belonged to the same city, Lucknow, and the same area too. The same native place brought them closer and put the bonding between the two families very strong.

Animesh was admired by all his friends for his shyness, his intellect and above all, the soft, caring nature. An insatiable reader by nature, he always wanted to live his life full of its value. His nature and intellect forced Amy to open a gambit of friendship when he came to her home with his family for the first time. With the passing days, this friendship continued to be stronger and stronger......just like their family bonding.

Amy glanced over the class but didn't get the sight of Animesh.

"Where the hell has he gone? I saw him in the prayer. Within minutes the class is about to start and he is lost." She thought.

"There is an altercation at the entrance of school." One of the students who just entered the class shouted. All but Amy rushed to the scene.

A notable gathering at the gate was witnessing the altercation. Sachin, the bully of the class, accompanied by his friends, had held the Animesh' collar in his hand. The matter was easy to understand. Sachin was in one sided love with Amy, teenage love; not exactly the love but the attraction and was envious to Animesh for obvious reasons. Sachin had warned the latter many times to maintain a distance with Amy but for aught, he cared all the warnings and the ultimatum. Sachin then decided to teach a tough lesson to Animesh and make the day doomsday.

"I warned you many times to remain distant from Amy but you didn't care at all. Actually, it was my fault for letting it go this far. I should have finished the matter a bit earlier."

"She is my friend, Sachin. Why should I get away from her? It's your problem if she doesn't give a damn to you. I have never stopped her."

"I see."

Ruchika, a friend of Amy, rushed back to the classroom and informed Amy breathlessly that Animesh is the central attraction of the fight.

"I know you never ever tried to stop her. But she will take a dim view of mine until you accompany her and that's my actual problem." Sachin said.