Tia made a habit of wandering aimlessly about the campus during recess. She liked to make the boys feel her presence. In fact, she was famous for her scandalous behavior. She often kissed boys in the bathroom or exchanged love letters. In fact, she had a string of boyfriends in just about every class above her and was so attractive that most people forgot her scandal ridden past.
She, too, was surprised to see Dhruv kneeling in the corridor. She moved closer to confirm it was him and then rushed to find Khushi.
Khushi and Dhruv's name went hand in hand around the campus. Khushi was a loyal friend, and Dhruv loved her for that. Khushi was never seen talking to any other boy except Dhruv. Many rumors had developed over the years of their friendship turned into relation, which started in 6th standard. They both denied being anything more than friends whenever asked. Dhruv was just as loyal.
“Khushi, your best friend has been punished,” said Tia catching her breath as she reached the bench where Khushi was taking her lunch alone in a classroom.
“What?” Khushi's mouth dropped open with her bite still inside.
“Yeah! He's kneeling outside the classroom,” Tia muttered.
“Are you sure?” Khushi gulped down her food without finishing chewing.
“Yes, Damn sure!”
Khushi was too confused to finish her sandwich. She closed her unfinished lunch box and stuffed it in her bag. Dhruv was a higher priority than lunch.
“Lunch finished?”
“Later, Dhruv needs me right now” she ran away to Dhruv’s without any further thought.
She stood in front of Dhruv in the corridor. She blinked several times and breathed in short, shallow breaths to calm down. “Dhruv, why did you get punished?” she managed to ask him.
The familiar voice forced Dhruv to look up. He was surprised to see Khushi standing there.
“Khushi! You…” exclaimed Dhruv.
“Tia told me about you.” her eyes became warm with instant sympathy.
“What happened?” She asked. She stepped closer to him, and took a deep, calming breath.
“Please go away. I'm being punished” he said, glancing up at her uncertainly.
“But why are you being punished?”
She was curious to know more.
“Please go,” Dhruv said. “I said go.” Dhruv clenched his hands like he was praying at Khushi.
“Can’t you tell me why you are here?” She was puzzled. It wasn’t what she expected him to say.
“I will talk to you later.I can’t talk now, If the teacher sees me talking I will get into worse trouble.”
“Which teacher gave you punishment?” Khushi said, not relenting.
“Goooo!!!” Dhruv said firmly. He wasn't in the mood to answer her questions.
“Ok! But don’t forget to meet me afterwards. I'm worried about you,” she said.
“I will come to you.”
“I will be waiting,” Khushi said.
Khushi turned around and stomped out of the corridor, filling the halls with the echoes of her footsteps.
After a long time tortuous time of 10 minutes, the lectures were finally finished and Mrs. Ghosh stepped outside the classroom with her books and mobile in her hands. All the students scattered throughout the corridor as she stepped towards Dhruv.
“There's a test tomorrow, and I would take special care that you get good marks,” she said icily.
Dhruv stood up and wasted no time, he immediately apologized.
“I'm sorry ma'am,”
“You best be prepared, “ she said coldly and handed him his mobile phone. A glow emanated from the phone's face. He couldn't refrain from showing his happiness.
“Thank you ma'am,” Dhruv said. “Sorry, again.”
“Don't thank me. This was your first time. No mobiles again, understand?” she said. Her glasses were perched precariously on the end of her nose.
“Yes ma’am I understand” he replied cautiously.
She disappeared towards the staff room. Dhruv started to check his phone to see if everything was alright, but he couldn't tell. Anshul had just come out of the classroom.
“Anshul!” Dhruv called him. “After I was punished, did the teacher do anything with my phone.”
“What?” he questioned unable to understand the thought.
“Idiot! Did you see her browse the contents of my mobile phone?” Dhruv asked anxiously.
“Yes!” Anshul replied
“Yes?!?!?” Dhruv felt lost for a few seconds
“Sure,” Anshul continued. “She showed your wallpaper to the whole class and said, ‘Look what kind of wallpaper this boy keeps’ and the whole class was thrown into laughter.”
“Any thing else apart from that?” Dhruv asked eagerly.
“No,after that, she kept your mobile on the table,” Anshul replied.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, there were some new messages or calls, because it vibrated for some time before the teacher switched it off,” Anshul said.
“Message or call?”
“Not sure,” Anshul said. “Anyway, I'm going to lunch.”
Dhruv was relieved to find out the teacher hadn't checked to see what he had actually been doing on his phone. He took a deep sigh of relief and headed towards the canteen to meet Khushi.
Tia had a pile of books under her arm from the library that blocked her view of where she was walking. Dhruv was still busy staring at the mobile phone screen. They collided and the pile of books scattered across the room. Dhruv, however, was able to catch his phone before it hit the ground.
“I am sorry,” they each apologized to the other. They both bent down to pick up the books before they realized who the other one was.
“Tia, it's you!” Dhruv said excitedly.
“Dhruv!” Tia replied.
“I just thought it was some hot chick,” he said.
“What?”
“Chuck it. I'm sorry” ," he said, grinning sheepishly. His eyes swept the length of her, and he let out a low whistle. "You look lovely as usual in your extra shot school skirt. I guess your tailor out of cloth?"
“No, Dhruv, I'm sorry. I wasn’t able to see you, all these books, you know,” countered Tia neglecting the comment about her skirt. She always wore a bit shorter skirt then rest of the girls that helped her to reveal her extra thin legs.
“Then Ok! Give me my sorry back,” Dhruv said with a warm smile.
“Sorry? How?” Tia said puzzled. She touched all his fingers as she took the books he picked up from his arms.
“I can’t give sorry back. How about I treat at canteen work,” Tia said flirtatiously.
“Ok!” Dhruv agreed.
To be continued...
