New Feelings
1504 Words
Ankita was jittery as she strolled to the grounds and lined up with the rest of the girls. She glanced at the sea of heads before her. As usual, she was the last in the row, thanks to her height. She was taller than most girls and it seemed that she wouldn’t stop growing. Many a time, she has pondered over how tall she would be by the time she hit twenty.
The chatter was deafening, and she wondered what they had so much to talk about! Unlike others, she could barely start or keep up with a conversation.
Her gaze rested on the girl before her. Her hair was greasy AF and chock full with lice and dandruff. She couldn’t take her eyes off the pest, several of them, crawling through the girl’s thick, greasy hair. Doesn’t she know? she thought curiously.
Out of nowhere, Ritu broke into the line, sweating and panting. Ankita stepped back to make room for her. “Hi,” Ritu breathed through her pearly white, horsey teeth.
“Just in time.” Ankita smiled.
“Right!”
“Where’d you go, anyway?” she queried.
“Sports room... to meet Mr. Dhavan... our P.T. instructor...” she said breathlessly.
“Into athletics?”
“Shotput,” she answered.
“Wow, that’s cool!”
“Thanks!” she flashed her teeth again. “Sports day is just around the corner.”
“I’ll be vouching for you,” Ankita smirked.
“Thanks!”
The chatter died and a round of hushed whispers swept through the grounds as the principal sauntered out of his office with prayer books in his hand. Unlike her previous principal, Mr. Chicken Poop Shah, this man was tall and sturdy. He was in a simple pair of dark slacks and a light formal shirt rolled at the sleeves.
“Mr. George Abraham,” Ritu informed over her shoulder in a hushed voice.
“Oh,” Ankita mumbled, her eyes shifting to the principal.
In around forty-five minutes, the assembly wrapped up, and the students dispersed to their classes. Though lengthy, it was pretty interesting, with Mr. Abraham quoting a verse from the scriptures and then sharing several instructive, eye-opening stories. On her way to class, Ankita heard some of them complaining.
“Can you believe it? Almost an hour since we’ve been standing like trees. I think my legs are about to break!”
“Mine has broken already! Someone, please call in a tow truck.”
“Speaking about trees, I escaped by just about a hair’s breadth! A second later I would be drenched.”
Ankita felt her skin curl. She noticed how the enormous tree they were standing under was home to several hundreds of pigeons. One shot of creamy, mucky mess from above was enough to ruin one’s day.
“Some boy wasn’t that lucky, unfortunately. I saw him rushing to get cleaned up.” The conversation continued. She noticed these girls head to the class just next to hers.
“Aw! Poor him! Who was it?”
“No idea. He’s new from X-A. But he looks cute.”
Ankita’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be Punit they were talking about? She wasn’t aware of any other new boy in her class.
In class, she took the back seat. Girls and boys sat separately. She took an eye full of what they believed to be Punit’s bag. From what she knew, it did look like his bag. Where is this guy, she wondered anxiously, didn’t he come at all? Then whose bag is that? Could it be that someone else has a similar bag? It tempted her to get someone to open it and check.
“Hi,” said the girl next to her.
“Hey,” Ankita smiled.
“Vaani,” she introduced herself.
“Ankita,” she replied.
“I know,” she responded. “The girls have been talking about you.”
“Um... really?” Ankita worked up a smile. Wonder what they were talking about?
Just then, the teacher walked in, a woman in her thirties, and the entire class rose to their feet. “Good morning, ma’am,” they drawled.
“Morning, sit!” she instructed and began math lessons.
Throughout the first couple of minutes, Ankita stared at the teacher with a confounded expression.
Vaani saw the look on her face and smirked. “Not your cup of tea, it seems,” she remarked.
“Mm-hmm,” she nodded. When it came to mathematics, she felt like there were marbles crammed into her skull, rolling back and forth, knocking against each other. To say that she ‘hated’ the subject would be an understatement. She loathed it. With all her heart and all her being.
It made no sense to her, all those laws and calculations. All those x’s and y’s. It was not justifiable. She has never seen her dad or any adult using this in day-to-day life. Well, engineers maybe. Or programmers. Or scientists. Whatever! But this was not how she wanted to start the day.
Just then, there was a knock at the door, distracting all of them.
“Ma’am,” the guy called out breathlessly.
Ankita felt her breath catch in her throat. Everything around her seemed darker, as if the lights were being dimmed out. Am I blacking out? She wondered with a pounding head.
“Yes?”
“May I come in?”
“Are you in this class?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She glanced at her watch. “Why are you late?”
“Actually ma’am, a pigeon... shit... over me... during assembly, and so, I had to clean up.” His voice trailed away to nothing as he said that.
The students laughed.
So! It was indeed him that the girls were talking about, she realized. She couldn’t believe this guy. He had to get into trouble on day one. Well, it wasn’t like he invited the birds to bless him early in the day. But knowing him, he was highly likely to do it. Without knowing it, a smile crept to her lips. She recollected how the other girls thought he was cute. It made her feel kind of proud.
“What’s your name again?” asked the teacher. She couldn’t help but smile too.
“Punit,” he answered.
“Come in,” the teacher waved him in.
He headed straight to the last bench where his bag was and settled down. Like Ankita, he too sat next to the aisle.
Unable to suppress her smile, she continued watching him with bated breath. She just wanted him to turn, notice her, look at her. Just once! Though it’s hardly been a few days since they’ve seen each other, it felt like ages!
She wasn’t sure if it was a feeling unique to her, but he looked more attractive than she last saw him. His satiny, wavy hair had grown a bit from then, and a couple of strands fell over his forehead, making him look oh-so-gorgeous. Suddenly, she felt so stupid. She has never had such thoughts before! Where the hell am I headed to? She smacked herself mentally.
“Feeling very happy today, eh?” The teacher’s voice rang out of the blue, startling the ghost out of her. She snapped her head away from Punit and turned back to the teacher, looking pale as death.
“You’re the new student, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Y-yes, ma’am,” she swallowed, her face flushing red. Even without looking, she knew all eyes were on her, including Punit’s. Getting called out for being inattentive, a nuisance, or simply a pest, was not something that existed in her records. She was always attentive, serious, and studious in class.
“Ankita, right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” she responded, a bit surprised. How come she knew her, but not Punit? He was new, too! Was something different entered in her records in the office? Probably that she was notorious, or something like that...? She wasn’t notorious, was she? Um...
The teacher had a different smile on her face, as if she knew something more than she needed to. Ankita grew frantic. Did she know about how the entire g**g, including Punit and herself, ended up in this school? Did she know about their relationship? Could she, by any chance, read minds? Did she know how she felt about Punit? Suddenly, she felt like the entire class could read her mind.
“Okay. Settle down. Pay attention.” The teacher threw a glance at Punit before turning back to the board.
Ankita’s face was burning. Though she kept her eyes down on the complicated calculations in her book, she could see some of them snickering at her plight. She always wondered why they found it funny when the other got picked. Well, she did not differ from them either.
She felt a prod on her side, and she knew who it was.
***
- Writer
