I do not know why, but having talked to Kavya about my doubts, made me feel a lot better.
It felt as if I had untied a tight knot somewhere within me. Even Kavya had appreciated my effort of confronting my feelings and talking it out openly with her. This eventually developed an all different level of mutual understanding between us.
After the Puja was over, our life was brought back on the same old tracks. Riddhi di went back to her hostel, and the three of us had to go back to school.
Time seemed to pass very swiftly, and within a blink of an eye, the session ended. We were all promoted and this changed a lot of things. Most prominently, me and Dhruv were separated.
The students were haphazardly scrambled and distributed to the various divisions of the class, and this meant me and Dhruv could not continue sharing the same seat anymore, let alone the classroom. This was a shock at the beginning, but with the passage of time, I gradually got used to it.
However, this resulted in me getting closer to the other members of our "Back Benchers Gang" who till then were overshadowed by Dhruv's presence.
Amongst them, was Shravan, the studious one. We ended up sitting together through the boring classes, and that gave me a very different insight about the guy.
It is weird, how we seem to form a generalized idea about an individual without getting to even know them properly.
Shravan, though very geeky was quite fun to hang out with. He had this amazing way of story building and a very witty sense of humour, that it was very engaging to hear him talk. The long monotonous periods got way more bearable with him around.
Gradually, I even came to know the things about him, that he probably wouldn't want to be known.
For example, about his crush on Madhushree. The new girl, who had joined the school after me. She too had been alloted to our class and sat at the very first desk of our column.
Since, she was well acquainted with me, from her very first day at school, I could manage a few quick chats with her during the breaks between classes. And all along, I noticed, Shravan's habit of sticking close to me. It took me some time to get hold of the pattern, but once I did, it was as clear as daylight. Time and again he often stole quick glances at her, when he thought no one was noticing. Silly boy!
One day, I decided to confront him. It was a Maths period and every one was busy noting down the answer from the blackboard. All except him. His eyes, as predicted, was fixed on the very first bench. I noticed it, and nudged him on the side.
"Ouch! Hey-" he whispered.
"What were you looking at? The board's over there," I whispered back.
"I know."
"Do you?"
"What do you want?"
"Umm..the truth?"
"What truth? I don't know what you're talking about. Don't you have to copy down the answer?"
"I already did. Now tell me."
"Tell you what?"
I raised my eyebrows. "Madhu".
His face could have been mistaken for a fresh tomato right then. I almost burst out laughing. "Cummon. Tell me," I urged.
"Tell you what? Theres nothing to tell. What about Madhu?"
So the Silly Boy wanted to play games.
"You have no idea of what I am talking about?"
He shook his head.
"Ok," I said and produced a small piece of folded paper from my pocket which I handed over to him.
He unfolded it below the desk, as if revealing a secret treasure map, and his eyes widened unnaturally as he read its content. I just smiled wickedly.
On the piece of paper were written the words- I Love You Madhu!
"I - I- " he tried to say something but the words were caught in his throat. "I don't know anything about this. I didn't write it," he finally managed.
"I know," I said. "I wrote that. And unless you tell me all about it, I am going to give this to Madhu and tell her it was from you."
Now there was a blow he didn't expect. He was aghast with disbelief. Couldn't believe the words he was hearing or the written note in his hands. It was all like a bad dream, from which he couldn't wake himself up. And all of it, was evident, from the look on his face.
"Please vai, don't do this. Please."
He was pleading, but I remained adamant. "Then tell me." And he wouldn't.
Finally the bell rang and the period ended. It was the lunch break. All the students hurried out after the teacher with lunch boxes in their hands. "Shravan, bring those notebooks on the table to the staffroom," our teacher ordered, exiting the classroom.
"Yes ma'am". The ever obedient Silly boy.
As he was walking out of the classroom holding a pile of notebooks upto his chin, he looked at me with one last moment of plea in his eyes. I gave him an evil smile of a reply. You brought this on yourself, it said.
I got out of my seat to walk out. Just as I passed the front bench, I lightly dropped the piece of paper into Madhu's bag.
She would find it, and I knew, if she had to ask anyone about it, it would be me. All I had to do was wait for the lunch break to be over.
