Chapter-1

A Chapter by Anushka

Chapter- 1

It was the beginning of a new session in our school. I had entered 5^th standard then. I was an average kid in academics. Thanks to the sports criteria I became a very popular personality. I played sports like basketball, football, cricket and table tennis and I have many medals and trophies in store because of this. At that time, I wanted to be the Jr. Sports Captain in 6^th standard. I just cannot live without sports! Can you imagine your life without them? I can’t, definitely! They are like addiction to me; I just can’t get off them.

Moving on, I entered the school gate and found my best friend Prateek Gupta. He is of the same height as I am and is a bit fairer than me. He has black, wavy hair unlike my straight spikes. He often says that spikes are not allowed and is very punctual. I’m not scared. I am the one who owns them so I’ll do whatever I wish to them. This is something we are dissimilar at. “Hey Yash! Excited for the new class?” he asked. Guess I forgot to tell you another uncommon think- he loves school! How can someone possibly have that feeling for school? There is no reason for this and as for me, I’m sure I’m never going to fall in love with ‘SCHOOL’ at least. You see, school sucks. Prateek is one of those ninety percentile scorers and always tops the class. I’m proud of him! It’s even an advantage as I get a treat after we get the result of the terms. In my case, I do get above 90% marks in subjects like Hindi, English and Social Science but Maths and Science ruin everything for me. I’m an average person in terms of studies and so, I never join those intelligent students. It never bothered me anyways.

Coming back to my senses, I replied, “Nah! It is always the same. I just want to see who the new admissions this year are. I hope boys will be in majority.” Seriously, girls only make a class boring. I’ve never come across any girl who can be defined as awesome, cool, fun and great or even close to that.

“Be it a girl or a boy, I just want to see if I’ll face a tough competitor or not. I’ll have to save my position in the class.” Prateek told me as we walked towards the corridor.

“Prateek, chill down yaar. Nobody can be as sharp as you.” I patted his shoulder. He smiled and shook his head. Then I saw a girl with one plait moving ahead of us and I assumed her to be Shanya Dutt, a girl from our class. I really like teasing her by pulling her plait because the face she makes on getting irritated is simply hilarious! It can make any grumpy person laugh like a retarded man. So, I hurriedly but gingerly took quick steps towards her and tucked her plait hard, making her scream like anything. There were no teachers around so early- just my luck. At first, I laughed a lot but when she turned at me, I was paralyzed with shock. She was some other girl!

‘Damn! What the heck did I do? What if she reports this to the teacher? No…’

To prevent it from becoming worse, I tried to clear it out, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know that you aren’t the one I was presuming you were. I mistook you for somebody else. Please don’t complain about this to the teacher. I’m really sorry, forgive me. Please? Please?”

Girls can make you do so much when you need their side! “I know your type of boys. You do it intentionally and then act as if it was a bloody mistake! Don’t think about yourself as a good actor because you are nowhere even close to that.” she was scolding me. Can you believe it? I was being scolded by someone I don’t know, for something which was done by mistake and by a girl!

“Just let me explain…I-.” I began but she indicated me to just shut up, “Let me finish! See, I don’t know in which class you’re in but you are in trouble boy. Mind that. I’m not like the other girls around you. So just wait and see!”

She spoke so sternly that it made me shudder. Saying this she went off without giving me a chance to explain. Honestly enough, I had never been so scared from anyone other than my mother. This girl was more ferocious! I saw her entering a classroom- ‘5-A’. And to my disgust, it was my class and it meant that we were classmates!

Prateek gave me a gentle push and we resumed walking. “Prateek, I’m finished.” I said as we moved on, slowly nearing the class.

“But she is cute.” he smiled. I gave him an annoyed look and hoped he would understand. “Sorry!” he said at last. My impression on the teachers was not so good already and now the little bit of it which existed somehow, was also going to vanish. Scared, I entered the class with Prateek and saw her sitting in the last row, on the second last bench. That was supposed to be my seat and now I had to find someplace else. I wasn’t going to fight again with her. We decided to take the fourth last bench of that row. I wasn’t going to sit in front anyway!

They were double benches. A girl named Akriti sat with the new girl. Akriti is a girl who does not complain about boys like me and so, she doesn’t fall in the trouble zone. That new girl, apparently my nemesis, sat so comfortably that it made me feel sick. She had a light skin tone, pretty eyes, brownish hair and she looked good. ‘Shut up Yash! What the hell?’ I had to scold myself for that. Yuck! Never before had I done that to my system.

Just then, our new class-teacher Mrs. Monika Shergill came in. We all stood up and wished her ‘good morning’ in the same singing tone. I was relieved because I had a good impression on her as she taught us Social Science. But it was about to be devastated. I saw that girl going towards ma’am and my doubt became reality the moment teacher called me, “Yashvant, please come here.”

I went to her with the most innocent look of mine, “Yes ma’am?”

“Why did you pull her plait? Is this the way you ought to behave with a girl? Are these the mannerisms your parents taught you?” she asked angrily. First thing, why do they give girls so much advantage? Like seriously, she asked me if it was the way to behave with a ‘girl’. They aren’t VIPs! Secondly, why do teachers involve parents and their mannerism and all that nonsense every time they scold us? If they think that it makes us feel guilty, then they are wrong. It makes us get frustrated because we don’t want this involved.

“Ma’am it wasn’t done intentionally. I mistook her for someone else.” I clarified it.

“Oh! So you were going to pull some other girl’s hair? It’s one or the same thing. Now I’m warning you, if this complaint came to me once again, I’ll tie your hair into plaits. Getting me?” she growled and my clarification backfired on me as the class burst into laughter.

“Yes ma’am.” I lowered my eyes and departed. Such embarrassment! I looked at that girl who stood there, smiling. It was then that I mumbled, “Trouble…”

Now like the usual, Monika Ma’am introduced the new child, “Children, this is Vani Malhotra, who has come here from Jhansi. Let me tell you beforehand, she is a ninety percentile scorer. Be good with her, she’s new and help her adjust”

“A competitor? Damn! I’ll have to secure my position if she turns out to be a threat.” Prateek said.

“No, no. She’s cute, right?” I reminded him and he gave me the same annoyed look which I had given.

“By the way, she will be sitting in front of you during examinations. The alphabetical order, remember?” he told me.

“Hell, no!!” I cried out. If she’ll sit there then my exams are going to be the worst-ever. Earlier, Vaibhav used to sit in front of me during exams and was a huge help in Science and Maths. I somehow survived the questions with his help. Now I’m wondering if it would be the same or not! Most probably, I’m going to suffer.

The school bus dropped me home by 3 pm, the usual time. At last, I was free from school, free from teachers, from studies and most importantly, Vani Malhotra. God! She had caused me so much trouble today itself and I wondered what else was written in my future. What else, that could fiddle with my impression, reputation and mind.

Even in the elevator, these thoughts kept troubling me because of that Vani ‘Trouble’ Malhotra. At last I reached my flat on the fourth floor and desperately rang the bell. My mother opened the door for me. At that time, she worked as a teacher in play school and used to be back home by 1:30 in the afternoon. I stepped in the house with my face red with anger. More likely, it was disgust.

“What happened to my superman?” my mother asked. Well, that’s how they deal with the play-school kids. Apart from the flattery of being called superman, I didn’t enjoy anything due to my spoiled mood.

“Superman gaya tel lene!” I yelled just like I wanted to yell on ‘trouble’.

“Yashvant Singhania, you are speaking to your mother! What’s the matter with you?” my mother spoke in an equally furious manner. And I, just blurted whatever came into my mind, “Mom I hate her! I hate her, I just hate her! She is so sickening, you know? She complained to the teacher about me, she scolded me and she scared me. She took my seat, she is an intelligent student and she is too pretty but she is a girl, a stupid, irritating girl who spoiled my first day!!”

Silence fell for a few seconds. I could hear my heavy breathing and then I noticed mom’s face turning red. I knew what was coming up… she started laughing. Can you believe that? I mean, I told her my catastrophe and she was laughing! I was on the verge of crying. Had it not been the basic ego every boy inherits, I would’ve been crying like a girl- loss of self respect.

My mother was still laughing a bit, but she still tried to speak, “Oh God! Yash, why are you getting upset about such a childish thing? Just because she took your seat, it doesn’t mean that she is bad. She obviously didn’t know about it, right? And I know that you might’ve done something which made her complain about that to the teacher. And the worst part is that you let her scold you, and you got scared. Seriously?”

“Alright, I forgive her for stealing my seat and yes, I pulled her plait which made her do that. But mom, she is very scary!” I said.

“Yash, be a man. And anyways, you admitted that she’s too pretty. Is she?” mom teased me. All boys hate to be teased on this until and unless it is true. And in this case, it was a nightmare!

“Did I? No way! She isn’t pretty or anything. She is scary, I hate her and that’s why I named her ‘trouble’.”

“‘Trouble’? Fine, then just avoid her. Things might get easier for you. Now go and change.” she said and pulled my cheeks.

I was just about to enter my room when mom called me from behind, “But what is her real name?”

“Vani ‘Trouble’ Malhotra.” I replied and it made mom laugh a bit more. It wasn’t funny! I was serious. That girl was unimaginably horrifying and all I could do was hate her. But one thing was clear, even if she was an intelligent person she was no match to me as a sportsperson at least. Right?

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