Coloured Me Grey (Book Two)

Chapter 39

Man, I'm gonna miss these kids. Also, mild trigger warning because mention of self harm? It will take him some time to stop relapsing.

"Don't worry, I'll take the bus."

"Areh, my parents will send me off in a cab anyway, it will not be much of a detour to your rented place. It's summer, Riyaaz, you will melt if you travel in the bus in this heat." But then again, we were sitting outside with the sun beating down on us. It was under the shade of a tree but that didn't make it any less hot. Finishing off the end semester exams demanded some time away from classrooms.

"Might as well start getting used to it. Santiniketan will be even hotter than this, at least by three to four degrees." Soon the authorities would circulate heat wave warnings. But that wouldn't stop anyone from going about their day as they always have.

"Remind me why we didn't think about this before," Yash sighed. He had made elaborate plans of dressing up in traditional clothes to keep up with the 'spirit' of Santiniketan. "All I packed are vests and shorts, talk about being anticlimactic."

"You mean anticlimati-"

"You're not even drunk and you're still making these puns?"

I pouted. "Hey, I don't need to drink to be awesome!"

Pushing my hair out of my face, he set a band between his teeth and gathered all the stray locks to tie them back. "You should stop cutting your own hair. You have zero expertise with the scissors."

"You mean stop doing the thing that makes you touch me more than usual? Cutting my own hair was a brilliant move. I'd be a fool to stop doing it."

"You're horrible." Yash gave me the stinky eye while securing the tiny ponytail with the band. The shorter hairs tickled the nape of my neck as a hot breeze picked up.

I closed my eyes and took a dramatic, deep breath. "Ah, feels like I'm standing in front of the outdoor unit of an air conditioner."

Before Yash could react sufficiently to my neat remark, my phone buzzed with an onslaught of incoming text messages – I was being urgently summoned to some other location on the campus. I took his leave and promised to find him later.

"Hey."

"Marjorie," I made my way towards the senior sitting at the porch in front of the reception office of the building.

"You brat. Show me some respect, I'm four years elder to you."

"Yeah, yeah, what do you want?" I looked at her curiously.

"What? Can't I see my favourite first year?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm literally the only first year that you know of."

"Just- I just wanted to see my successor before I leave these premises."

"Successor?"

"All those long discussions at night about Pramila Ma'am's works – you think I was doing that without any ulterior motive? I mean, yes, even if you were just another junior and you needed my help with something, I'd have helped you. But out of all the senior years I zeroed in on a first year for fucks' sake. I was prepping you up for assisting her."

"Huh?"

Marjorie clubbed my ear. "Pay attention. I've been assisting her for three years now. I started in my third year. She is an awesome professor and artist, but let's be honest here, she's a lousy coordinator. Since she joined a few years back, her students have scouted some of the juniors and have chosen who will take on the responsibility."