But I Shall Tell

Chapter 7 - Ex - Loony.

2005

"He was in my dream, last night." Kajol said. She was sitting like a pumpkin. Hands folded on the bench and her head resting above it. She was looking at Pooja, who was exchanging secret messages with Alex.

"Who?" said Priyanka. She was balancing a pen at the edge of the desk.

"Maan." She sighed.

"If you want him that badly," adding a second pen, "see the board."

After the janitor left, students cheered for Ram for the spectacular drawing which he made. Anika Kakkar, the girl with the most boy fans, that is after Priyanka had gone and written names on the board. She wore a silver bracelet on her left wrist. One was "Maan" and the other was "Bitch". No one had objected her intentions, though few boys made some noise which was calmed by Priyanka.

The next teacher would be coming in another 30 minutes.

"I wonder what he felt, the kiss was intense." Kajol said. She was paying her attention to the note that was being exchanged between the boy sitting next to her and the girl who was just front of him.

"Damn, that bitch." A pen fill down, and landed near Rihaan Datta, who was across from her.

"Hey! Maan." Alex shouted. He left the note with Pooja.

"Sounds like you have a plan," Kajol said, she looked excited but did not dare to turn her head.

Since Mr. khurana wasn't coming, opening a math book would make no sense. Hence it was time for the next book of the predicted subject, English.

Who pays attention to a language class? And that too if it was the last day of the high school before the summer holidays?

You guessed it right.

Maan looked from the English book to Alex and nodded with a "What?"

"Can I borrow your Kodak Camera?" Alex said. He felt a slight pain on his foot. Kajol had kicked him hard this time. What else was he expecting?

"Sure, when do you want?" Maan said, with a half smile.

"Tomorrow morning."

"Knock, and don't shout my name when you come," Maan said, now he had a complete charming smile. "We have a new neighbor, an ex-loony. You surely wouldn't want to wake him up."

"A what?" The second pen fell all of a sudden. Same destination. This time Rihaan was kind enough to pick it up and hand it over to the class queen.

"You heard me right, an ex-loony." Maan's eyes trailing at Rihaan who was staring at Priyanka. Priyanka noticed his eye and blinked.

Her desk was arranged with two pens, a  tie(which she was supposed to be wearing), and a packet of mango pickle. Plus it looked like a small stall that sold things. She took a bite of the mango pickle. "That's interesting. Any chance we could get a look at him?" Priyanka said.

"I think, you might not want to do that." He shifted himself.

The topic was too thrilling to let it go, Kajol threw a paper ball that had landed on her lap, which then hit Maan's right shoulder. She smiled when he looked at her.

Was just smiling going to achieve anything?

"I just wanted to ask," Pooja said, folding the note and keeping in her pocket, "whether if your neighbor would sign me an autograph. My younger brother is a crazy fan of Asylum Families, Halloween jokers, Mass Murderers, Serial Killers, Lunatics  and Psycho's."

"I would like one too", Priyanka said.

"It'll be all on us, and nothing on you." Alex said.

They all waited eagerly for his declaration. This would mean the last thing to them, and the first from his side.  Maan had never said yes to any of their plans before, except lending things.

There was a split second of doubt and then he steadied himself on his feet and stood. A plane with neat edges and great shape flew above his head and hit the black board. It crashed and fell. Some one shouted, "nice one Vivaan."

"Will I ever be able to live with you guys being butchered by Mr. Gandhi?" Maan said.

"I'll never haunt you," Priyanka said. Which meant he was okay with them coming to his house/ near it. "Though, I cannot vouch for the jealous one, here."

"I'm not jealous," Kajol kicked Alex, again.

Alex let out one of his famous sinister laughs. "So, it's settled, we all go to your house today evening."

With a big sigh, Maan lifted the book that on the desk, kept it in his bag. Kept the bag in one corner of the bench and stepped out.

Kajol's impulse raised like an engines. And it degraded as he walked passed her and through the door.

The sun was bright and killing. Which meant people drank too much liquid to keep themselves hydrated. The section where the school's water tap was installed, was crowded most of the time. One drinking water tap at every floor. High school classes were held on the third and the top most floor.

Boys and girls were drinking water and filling their bottles. It also gave an excuse to come out side of the class. They were done and moved on.

"I can't believe this," some one yelled going back and forth the hall.

Where they even allowed to play UNO in a time like this?

4 boys were playing UNO near the water tap. And not just playing a regular UNO game, but playing with money on the line. What could you expect from kids like this? Looked like someone just got lucky. A boy was collecting money from the rest of the players.

"Do you want to join?" The winner asked as Maan approached the area.

Maan gave a stare, which meant "what do you think?"

"Just asking, we are having a lot of fun. Thought you might be interested." Said the boy.

"It's okay," one of the boys said, "the tap of is all yours." They all moved from the place.

The water felt refreshing, cold and tasteless.

"Let's go, we have taken a lot of time. The teacher might come after us." One boy said. The looked at each other and then after an agreement they dispersed.