Us │✔

19│Everybody Wants To Be A Cat

Jivika~

"Aarush, why did Anne miss her grandmother?"

Mr. Rane asked the question to one of his favorite students, while fiddling with the English textbook. Diary of Anne Frank, the chapter was alright I guess, but our teacher's repeated pronunciation of 'Annie Frank' was getting on my nerves.

"Sir, she loved her a lot and when her grandm—"

"She loved her a lot, okay, good. But Mr. Dixit, the question is, who do you love?"

Mr. Rane's eyebrows were shooting up and down, wriggling even, as the boy stared back at him, flustered all of a sudden.

Fair enough. I mean, which teacher asks such questions? And rubbing salt to the wound were the hoots and whistles erupting from the boys row, screaming out an insignificant name, 'Manasi'.

"Uh ... sir ... my parents?"

Shameful but hilarious at the same time was how his statement came out more as a question. And Mr. Rane chose not to douse the fire of laughter burning bright.

"Mr. Dixit, I know everything. I was asking to you about the person with whom you have your late night phone calls and all. You don't need to do that with your parents, living under the same roof, right?"

An embarrassed 'Mr. Dixit' was clearly an entertaining sight. Red faced, he ducked his head. Mr. Rane was in a total mood today.

"Those dimples, my god! So cute!" whispered Lavanya, pointing towards the victim of Mr. Rane teasing. "What? You find those cute?" countered Krish, who was sitting behind us. "I was gonna say he would make a 'cute girl' but seems like you find him cute!" she fired back. He fought back, trying to win an argument which he was going to lose, "Please, my choice is way better than yours!"

"Says the guy who had a crush on Milind Soman!"

"I did not have a crush on him!"

Sharing a look with Kiara and Maahi, I realized why great minds think alike. What's cooking? But that's when Mr. Rane broke my train of thoughts by starting with the next chapter.

"There is a languid, emerald sea,  where the sole inhabitant is me — a mermaid, drifting blissfully."

Maahi ducked her head to avoid getting hit by Mr. Rane's hand. This man's poem recital is equivalent to a really wild Bhangra. Amaan has gotten hit twice because of him. That reminds me, where is he?

Glancing across the room, I saw Amaan and Parth, their heads resting on the bench, hands underneath. Not actually believing what they were doing, I squinted my eyes, trying to figure out what was happening. I perfectly knew that it was not my business, but you can't blame a person for being curious, can you?

Once I spotted the Redmi Note in their hands, the picture was clear in my head. God! What they were doing and what I thought of them doing! A light chuckle left my mouth as I chided my over imaginative brain. Suddenly, he turned around, waving his hands.

Questioning me laughing at them.

However, in that process, he knocked down the phone, plugging off the earphones along.

The phone was caught at the right time, otherwise Sourav, its owner would have thrown a fit. But the unmistakable ringtone of  'The Clash Of Clans' ringing throughout the class, probably did not do any good to those two. Mr. Rane, not knowing whether to laugh or to scold, had his face captivated by a confused expression. His confusion was cut short when a random kid entered the class to make an announcement.