The Rules Of Pursuit

8. Paradise

"MY MAAAAN! YOU ARE MY MAAAAN!" Mandy gave me a bear hug from the back.

"Damn girl, you sure know how to land punches." Mia beamed. We were walking back to our rooms. Rizwan had called off the ragging after I smashed his face.

"I just hope they don't remember it." I said nervously.

"Don't you worry puke queen," Mandy said letting go of me and messing my hair. "If they try to mess with you, they would have to go through me."

"Through us," Junaid corrected him.

"Hey let's have a pact." Mandy said enthusiastically "No matter the consequences, we shall always have each other's back." He stopped abruptly and laid open his palm."Oh come on you sissies."

"Done," Mia clasped his hand. I and Junaid followed her and pressed our palm on top of theirs.

I felt better when I lied down on the small bed of my room with Brute huddled at my feet. May be college was not going to be as horrible as I had feared.

****************
Even though the first few weeks were hectic, things soon settled down. I always felt a pang of jealousy whenever I found Damini throwing herself at Avinash Chauhan. However, as Mandy said, that Demigod was way out of my league.

Our Mondays meant Decoding with Luke' D Costa in the first half and International, National History and Current Affairs with Ankita Tripathi in the second half. Tuesdays meant Varun Dixit, making us sweat it out on the fields with the hurdle tracks, then straining our muscles with shooting lessons in the firing range, and finally making our skins peel off with swimming lessons. Mentor Dixit's Agility and Fitness, was my second least favourite subject.

Wednesday we were made to endure Jeevan Rathore drilling Ethics and Codes of a Spy in the morning, afternoons with Mohini Agarwal, lecturing us on the International and National Statutes, she felt would come handy in our future endeavors as a spy.

Sakshi Krishnamurthy took up most of our Thursday first half with Emergency Medical Applications, explaining the anatomy and working of human body. We were given an extended lesson on the immediate first aid and self-medication that we may require to apply upon ourselves at times of Emergencies. Gadget Studies followed it, where Rohit Biswas taught us the working of different advanced gadgets, which were only available to spies, also how to hack regular gadgets. I had no idea even an analog clock could be hacked.

Our most favorite however was Art of Deception with Kavya Bakshi on Friday mornings. It was about how good a liar each of us can be trained to become. The last class of the week was my least favorite. It was Sports and no, it did not include cricket. Rather we were forced to play, soccer, volley ball, basket ball and tennis. Unlike my school's P.E. teacher, Rudra Sangwan wasn't someone who could be fooled with stories of never ending menstruation, which meant I had to scramble my best to coordinate my limbs with the rest of my body.

"Hey Mandy," one of the boys from Avinash's and Danish's group walked up to where we four were trying catch our breath on the bleachers. Rudra Sangwan had made us play soccer for an extra hour that day.

"Yeah!" Mandy panted, wiping the perspiration on his forehead with the back of his hand.

"We were scouting for people to fill up the spots vacated by the pass outs and Avi, oh here he is..." He broke of as the demigod strolled to us.

"Hey Mandy, right?" Avinash Chauhan smiled at Mandy. I so wished it was me in Mandy's place. Even Mandy was surprised, by this sudden cordial approach, nodding vehemently.

"Well the boys are saying that you have quite the moves on field, so...you want to be a part of the college soccer team?" Avinash raised an eyebrow.