SwaRon OS- New beginnings

"Bread butter..yet again' lazy parents" I grumbled and closed my tiffin box in the second row. Rey and I moved to the next desk.

"Forget it Swayam.. The students will come. The students will be back any moment now." Rey said.

"Shh rey"

"I have bought paratha. We can share that too. It's wrong to steal from others."

It was our weekly tiffin raid. We had skipped morning assembly for this. We had ten more minutes till the assembly got over and then class 5 E would be back. We had to find something to eat and keep the tiffin back in the allotted time.

"It's puri and aloo." I said as I opened another lid of yet another tiffin box.

"Forget it." I added and kept the box in a student's bag. My eyes darted from one bag to another.

"This one" I said after I saw a pink school bag in the first row. It looked expensive and imported.

We rushed to the seat and opened her bag to search for the tiffin. We saw a red, shiny rectangular tiffin.

Idlis, a little box of chutney and a large chocolate cake. We'd hit the jackpot.

"I want the cake" I grabbed a huge slice of the chocolate cake.

"Wait" Rey said. "Don't eat the whole cake."

"If I eat only a bit, she'll find out." I scowled.

Rey thought for a moment and then asked me to cut it into two.

"How?" I asked.

"Use a scale" He suggested.

I ran to my desk to get a scale and was back with one. I made a decent cut in the cake. "Fine. Happy?"

Rey seemed disappointed but I did not pay any heed. I had not had my breakfast, so I gorged on the cake.

"You should take your own tiffin Swayam."

"No. It will mean extra work for papa." I said, licking the chocolate cake off my fingers. We heard the national anthem in the assembly. I stuffed the remaining cake into my mouth.

"Hurry" Rey said.

I shut the tiffin box and kept it in the pink barbie bag. "who sits here anyway?" Rey asked.

I fumbled through the pink bag and found a brown colored notebook. It read 'Sharon Rai Prakash, Roll No-10.'

I put the notebook inside the bag and closed it. I ran back to my desk before the students could come.

The students entered chattering. Among them, I saw a girl making her way towards the seat. She was Sharon. We had eaten from her tiffin. Our class teacher arrived soon after and started teaching us. I looked at Sharon. I hadn't seen that much seriousness on anyone's face.

"Eww!" Sharon exclaimed. That one word was enough to distract the class and the teacher. She picked up a chocolate stained ruler from her seat. The back of her skirt had chocolate stains. She was loud enough.

"Sit down" the class teacher told her. She slowly went towards Sharon and took the chocolate stained ruler. She analyzed it thoroughly.

Rey and I exchanged a worried glance. We had left evidence.

Sharon wailed and the whole class laughed on her. She broke into tears. Our class teacher took the ruler from her.

Sharon continued to sniffle. Our class teacher walked along the aisles. "Who bought chocolate cake today?" she asked. She looked horrifying with that dreadful expression.

"I did" Sharon opened her tiffin and realized that her own cake had been eaten by somebody. Her dress was ruined. Her howls reached new decibel levels. "Someone ate my cake."

Rey passed me a glance. "Confess." he whispered.

"Are you mad?" I was horrified at his comment.

When our class teacher walked by, I clenched my fists and stared at the floor. I had not washed my hands.

The teacher took the "evidence" in her hand and read the initials on it. 'SS' . She was clear and loud enough.

"Who is SS?" she asked. All eyes turned to me.

Slap!!

"Stealing food? Are you a thief?" She looked at me as if I had stolen the kohinoor diamond. I hung my head in shame. 5 minutes later, I was standing out of the class. The teacher had asked Sharon to clean up in the washroom.

I leaned against the wall as I saw Sharon coming out of the washroom. She was wiping her tears.

Drama queen..I thought.

I had a pencil in my pocket which I used to scribble on the wall. It helped me pass time. She walked past me, drama queen expression intact, her gaze was fixed on me, face wet.

She came closer to me and was staring at me. "You are scribbling on the wall."

"Go complain! Go!"

"How can you steal my tiffin?"

"I didn't steal it. I ate some of your chocolate cake."

"You are a bad boy" she said and twisted her face.

That night, our neighbour rang the door bell and papa opened it.

"My daughter in law gave birth to a baby girl today. Here are some sweets."

Papa congratulated them and accepted the sweet box. That's when I had an idea. I could compensate for the event that had taken place that very day. After our neighbour went, papa placed the sweets box on the center table. I grabbed two laddus from the box and slipped them into my pocket.

I placed the box in which I was carrying the laddus on her desk. "Here you go"

"What is this?" she looked at me primly.

"I ate your cake. I am sorry" I said.

"I don't like laddus" she said, opening the box. "They make us fat. I don't want to be fat." She gently pushed the box towards me.

"Fine" I took the box.

"You said sorry?" she asked.

"Yes" I said. I noticed her plaits. She looked like a cartoon character.

"Apology accepted." She said.

"Thank you" I said and turned to go.

"Why doesn't your mother give you tiffin?"she made me stop.

"I don't have one" I said.

"Dead?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Okay" she said,

I walked up to my seat and held the box of laddus in my hand. I picked one up and ate it. Sharon came to me.

"What?" I asked.

"You can eat my tiffin sometimes.. Don't take a lot but. And don't take cakes."

"Thanks" I said.

"And don't make a mess. We can eat together during the break, if you want."

"You won't have enough food for yourself" I said.

"It's okay. I am dieting." She replied with a smile.

That's it...It's a small extract from a novel.. And just a vague attempt in the SwaRon way...Sorry if the ending was abrupt...Hope you all liked it.. If you did, please do hit the like tab and comment!!

P.S It is purely an adaptation.. not an original idea.. only one or two things have changed