Episode - 8
755 Words
Part 16
Four months after the Plus Two exam.
On the first day Aaron and Lisa joined the engineering college, some of their Plus Two batch friends were also there. Each one was admitted to different departments. In every department, everyone got new friends. The place where they all gathered together was the college canteen.
On the first day at college, inside the canteen—
Lisa asked Aaron:
“Jennifer isn’t here in this college, right? Has anyone seen her?”
Aaron replied:
“Who cares to look for her? Did she even come here? I don’t know. The last time I saw her was on the day of certificate distribution.”
One friend added:
“If she had come here, everyone would know. So for sure, she hasn’t joined this college.”
Another said:
“She definitely wouldn’t have come here. She was the school topper, right? She must have gone to study MBBS or maybe preparing for NEET.”
A newly acquainted friend in college, curious to know who Jennifer was, asked:
“Whom are you all talking about?”
Aaron explained in detail:
“She was in our school for Plus One and Plus Two. She was a clown in front of everyone.” (he laughed) “You can call her a fatty, a fatso, whatever you want. Because of her, our Plus Two life was fun.”
He told everything, right from the beginning till the end, including the competitions and all.
But two of their new friends, Sania and Kishore, disagreed with Aaron.
Sania said:
“You should never talk about someone like that or body shame them. Do any of you know why she was overweight? What if it was due to some illness? Even if it wasn’t, we should never make fun of anyone. It could happen to us too.”
Someone opposed what she said:
“She became fat because of overeating, not because of any illness. Her father and mother are also like that.”
Sania replied firmly:
“Never speak like that. Tomorrow, it could happen to you or me, to anyone. And don’t drag her father and mother into this. Whether a person is fat or thin is their personal matter. We don’t have the right to interfere in it or mock them.”
Aaron, displeased with her words, said:
“Why are you feeling so much about what I said?”
Sania answered:
“I didn’t say it just for her. I said it in general. I don’t even know this girl called Jenny. And… I don’t agree with what you’re saying, that’s all.”
(In Sania’s mind, a spark had already been lit.)
Aaron:
“If you want, you can agree. Nobody is forcing you here. Sometimes, we just say things casually. If you don’t like it, you can leave.”
Sania retorted:
“You’re arrogant. One day, you’ll get the result of that arrogance, somewhere, somehow. Just wait and see.”
They quarreled, and it turned into a heated argument. Finally, Sania and Kishore said they didn’t want any friendship with Aaron and his group, and they walked away.
Sania told Kishore:
“If we remain friends with him, it’ll only affect us. Kishore, are you coming with me?”
One of Aaron’s own friends supported the two who left and said:
“What they said is correct.”
Aaron, angrily, told him:
“Then you too can go with them.”
He denied it at once, saying:
“I only said what they spoke was true, that’s all.”
Meanwhile, Jennifer knew nothing of this. Nobody knew where she was. No one had seen her after that day. She wasn’t even aware that people were arguing because of her. That day had been the last time anyone saw Jenny.
After that, Aaron and his friends, and Sania and Kishore, became bitter enemies. You could say there were “two gangs.”
Later, Sania and Kishore, after leaving Aaron’s side, talked to each other:
Sania:
“If what Aaron said is true, and Jenny was the school topper, then she must have gone somewhere else to study. And if she hasn’t gone anywhere, then we should bring her here.”
Kishore:
“But is there any chance? After being humiliated so much in school, she probably thought the same thing would repeat in college too. Maybe that’s why she didn’t come…”
Both Sania and Kishore felt a strong desire to meet Jennifer. They began their mission to somehow find her.
- Writer
