IN LOVE WITH MY BEST FRIEND

16

That day, there was an uproar in the Principal's office, so much that the entire school kept mum and listened to the conversation.

Mr Ratan, Raj, and the other parents could be heard roasting the Principal.

"Who gave you the bloody right to lay hands on my daughter? Did I!!? This is NOT why I've sent my girl here. Get that straight!!! If you have any issues with her, call me up. That's what I'm here for!!!" Mr Ratan's angry voice rang from the Principal's office.

"Teach your girl to behave and then maybe no would lay hands on her," followed Mr Shah's response.

"Teach your master's son first. IF you have the spine! IF you have any bit of self-respect!" Mr Ratan barked back.

The victims of Sibal's bullying episode – Punit, Ankita, Edwin, Bruno and Jyotsana huddled outside the office with eyes as wide as gooseberries.

Punit goggled at Ankita in horror. The loud voices were scary. It also reminded him of where Anki acquired her temper. Anki and her dad were very much alike. She was bull-headed, stubborn, wild and aggressive, just like him. On the other hand, her mother was too sweet and gentle, so unlike her.

As for Punit, he really didn't know if he had anything similar to his parents. Their temperaments were so different and so was everything else. Why was it so? It was a question that many wanted to be answered.

He could hear his father too in between. "That brat and his goondas have been torturing and threatening my son and other students for years. He was so traumatized and he never even told me about it! I pay his fees every semester so that he could get kicked around like trash!!?"

The 'meeting' went on for hours. The parents almost swallowed Mr Shah along with his chair. But it didn't end there. The dark secrets of the school and its management were reported to the media. The school and its management were sued after that. But alas, justice wasn't served as usual.

Without further ado, their parents got them transferred to a quiet, new school in town. It was a startup but decent enough. At least, the kids were safe and were assured love and respect.

***

After that incident, Punit and Ankita never saw each other for a couple of days.

Sitting at home, Ankita found her thoughts drifting off to that fateful day. She was still shaken. It all seemed like a nightmare that never happened.

She dwelt upon that moment where she came to know that Punit was assaulted by Sibal and his gang, and the heartache that followed after finding him in a demolished state. Something in her blood boiled and she wanted to put Sibal back together and break all of his bones again. That's when she remembered, her guitar was gone.

Though her father was cool about it, she found it extremely hard to explain how the guitar had ended up that way. I must have literally sledgehammered that scum to break a guitar into two, she thought frightfully. The noise of cracking wood still rung in her ears. It was traumatizing, but she couldn't stop killing him. It was as if she was possessed with the Devil himself.

A dull ache took over her heart. She truly loved that guitar. It was a prized gift from her dad. She'd had it for years. Her interest in music started off as a whim. She told her dad about it and the next moment he got her a guitar. It was that quick. He loves me so much, she realized while pondering over the events of the last few days, of how he'd fought for her, of how he'd quickly shifted her to an all-new school with Punit and her bandmates.

Punit...

The very thought of him made her heart flutter. She'd been having this odd feeling for the past few days. She simply couldn't put a finger to it, as to what it was.

Every time she thought of him, her heart fluttered. Despite the terrible state he was in, he'd thrown himself in between to take all the hits, to protect her. He'd held her close when she was vulnerable. She'd seen the tears glistening in his eyes as she cried, she'd seen the pain it caused him.

He really cares about me, she thought fondly and smiled.

Do I like him, she wondered with a pounding heart, do I love him...?

She knew that she was falling for him. It was hard not to. He was the sweetest, kindest soul she'd ever met. He was too soft, funny and adorable. And... she wasn't sure if it was just her, but she also found him attractive.

On several occasions, whenever she was down, she has noticed how she always ended up laughing in his company. Could he have known that I was upset and made me laugh on purpose?

Something dropped to her guts when she quickly remembered the conversation they had years back.

FLASHBACK -

"I want you to know that it's all rubbish. We're good friends and that's it. I never had any wrong intentions. I only chose that song because... because it's a great song, and not because I wanted to satisfy some of my wild fantasies like these people are saying. I love your voice. I mean, you've got a great voice. And as a musician, I can't let that go to waste, you know what I mean? Did you know about all this, or...?"

"Yeah, I... did."

"And?"

"And what? Like you said, tish-tosh. Rubbish. Hah!"

END OF FLASHBACK

Ankita swallowed the lump in her throat. The discomfort in her chest was maddening. She knew that things had changed. She no longer felt the same about him. A fluttering heart and hot flashes were the norms when she thought about him even by accident. But obviously, he never felt the same as he'd clarified that day. To him, they were just friends. And she was not ready to put their friendship on the line and ruin their equation.

***