Her glasses toppled off her nose as her forehead hit the forgotten, open book gaping at her on the table. She was dreaming again, so lost in a world far away that she barely heard what the professor had asked her, she blinked twice, and stood up clumsily. Mrs. Khanna watched her curiously while saying "Would anybody else care to explain this equation while we allow Ms. Gupta to go back to her dreams".
"Not again!" she exclaimed as she walked out of the crowded classroom in despair, after being awarded another detention. "Khush, so what time are we going for the weekend sale, let's go right after school?" her best friend Diya, enquired excitedly rushing to meet her after her Biology class, which was the only period she and Khushi spent apart from each other. No, D...I got another detention" Khushi replied quietly, her voice painted with so much guilt as they walked by the noisy corridor filled with students rushing to classes while some mindlessly engaged themselves in throwing paper balls at each other. "What?! Another one already, Oh please don't tell me you stumbled back into dream land" Diya mocked making a hand gesture and schooled her expression, trying to not get irritated. 'I'm sorry...urghhh...I just need to get some sleep, I'll be over this soon".
Khushi chewed her lunch in irritation, her mouth sulking as she sat beside Diya and Akash in the farthest end of the cafeteria. Their chatter making no sense as her eyes remained glued in annoyance at someone else seated in the middle of the cafeteria, as though on his throne, surrounded by a bunch of friends who couldn't hold the admiration in their eyes for him. " He is the biggest jerk in school Khush, and here you are staring at his perfect hair and twinkling eyes...really what is the matter with you, get over it woman" she chided herself and shook her head furiously, Diya's snapping fingers woke her from her daze. "Again? Khushi what is the matter with you", she asked with concern. "It's nothing man, just a little annoyed with this second detention, all in a week" she said trying to look lively and reaching for the sandwich in Akash's lunchbox. She spent the rest of break listening to Diya and Akash argue about something to do with Diya's pet dog and sneakily glancing once in a while at somebody's brown eyes smiling at a silly joke as his hand occasionally flicked away a strand of dark hair falling over his forehead. Khushi just sat there and sighed.
Now let me tell you a little about how this day dreaming had begun. Last week as Khushi walked back from school, humming one of her silly bollywood songs, skipping slightly as she walked underneath the evening sun, utterly enjoying the spring breeze she waved at Mr. Rogers her neighbor, driving on his way to his night shift. She continued walking and heard a loud joyful bark from one of the houses, given her adoration for dogs she looked around, in search of the beautiful creature and her eyes landed upon something that would torment her by seeping into her dreams and every idle thought and waking moment for the rest of the week. Arnav Singh Raizada, who according to her was the biggest jerk in school, especially after he had laughed at her for forgetting her lines during the school play in fifth grade, and here he was playing with his handsome Labrador underneath the sun. He was laughing loudly, and it sounded beautiful to her ears as she watched his face glimmer as his eyes seemed to laugh and smile too, he was still in his school uniform as he tickled the dog, his hair taking on a heavenly shade under the suns magical rays. Khushi just stood there and hiccupped and then suddenly he was looking up at her, and just when he raised his arm to wave at her, she scooted, as fast as she could, away from there, away from him, away from something weird stirring in the depths of her heart. This is how the image of a smiling Arnav with laughing eyes underneath the sun glued itself to poor Khushi's mind and almost all her dreams, this is the reason her eyes dissolved into another world each time she remembered that laugh.
Khushi kept staring at her desk during detention, her eyes absently falling over the stupidest things students had scribbled over schools desks. It was just her today in a classroom so quiet that she could hear herself breathe, she hated so much silence, and each time she even looked up she would find Mrs. Khanna's angry eyes boring into hers. So she looked down, swearing never to think of him again, and just them Mrs. Khanna exclaimed exasperatedly "Arnav! Late for detention too, this is heights of irresponsibility young man". "Sorry ma'am, I kind of lost track of time" he replied guiltily yet not masking the mischief glittering in his eyes as Mrs. Khanna waved him inside with annoyance. He smiled at Khushi's wide eyes before taking a seat in the bench before hers.
Khushi groaned inwardly as she put her head down on the desk. "Oh no, not this, not right now" The next one hour went by quietly with Khushi involuntarily gazing at his head and then admonishing herself for it, the only time things seemed unsettled was when Arnav passed a note asking Khushi to help him sneak out to which she replied a huge capital "NO!", to this he simply turned back and smirked at her and went back to tapping his feet, the boy was too restless.
After the bell, Mrs Khanna uttered a stern warning and walked out of class. Khushi picked up her bag and rushed out, not thinking, she just wanted to walk back home as soon as possible before he invaded her thoughts even further.
Yet soon she found him right next to her, walking casually with his hands in his pockets and a sling bag around his shoulder. When she looked at him questioningly he simply replied "My house is a few blocks away, I'm just walking home, not following you" he said. They walked in silence for a while, she occasionally looking up at the sky and wondering why she deserved this while he kicked almost every pebble on the way.
"Hey I saw you the other day, is your house on Peters lane?" he asked just to break the silence, she looked at him blankly for a second and then replied "No, on the corner after that", she blinked twice and just realized they were talking and didn't want to refrain from contributing to the conversation and sounding impolite, "You have a very handsome dog" she said with a smile, he looked at her and said "Yeah, Dex is a pretty awesome chap, we got him when he was just a baby, so you like dogs?", "I do but mum hates them and wouldn't let me have one, but each time we visit our grandparents farm my mum has to literally drag me away from Zoe and Tiffy when we head back home" she said with a small laugh watching his eyes lift in a gentle smile. They talked about school and what they were doing next at the end of the year, when he asked her if she would be joining the annual school play since this was their last year in school, Khushi tripped and almost fell, her bag had been open and all her books had fallen, Yikes, clumsy me' she grumbled as she picked up the books hurriedly, Oh her glasses she wondered as she held the bundle of books close to her, "Here", Arnav said with a silly smile and placed her thick dark glasses back gently on her nose, his fingers lightly brushing across her ears. Khushi's mind was emptied of any coherent thought as she watched his smile, "So will you be joining?" he asked once again and resumed walking as she was shaken back to reality abruptly. "No, not after how I forgot my lines, urghh...I don't want to ever relive that ever again" she said quietly looking away from him, "When did this happen?" he asked curiously. She laughed, her laughter tinged with a hint of irritation, "Don't you remember, Fifth grade?, how can you not, you were having the time of your life rolling over with wild laughter." She said accusingly. " Oh wait, the Alice play...I am so sorry Khushi...I was a kid man, I was so stupid..." he reached for one of her fingers and grabbed her attention "Hey I'm really sorry, really" he said quietly and she just smiled back "Oh forget it, it was way back then anyway". As they came around the corner of his house, he stopped for a while and said "I'll make it up to you, why don't you common in and play with Dex, he will love it". "No Arnav, that's fine I'll just walk home and catch up on all the homework" she said with a smile, "Oh stop being such a spoilsport Khushi" he said and literally dragged her as he held her hand within his and he whistled for Dex.
That night as Khushi lay in bed she remembered them playing with the dog, this time she could notice how his eyes almost turned golden when the rays flickered on to them. She thought of him walking her home and holding her hand gently before saying goodbye and apologizing all over again. He somehow got her to agree to being in the play this year and with him being the president of the drama club this meant she would be seeing more of him and the scary part was he wasn't a jerk at all. As she turned over and buried her head into the pillow, Khushi sighed one last time and closed her eyes in sleep not before remembering the way his eyes smiled when he helped her wear her glasses, "his smiling eyes" she whispered and drifted off into a land of dreams.
Cricket
Anupamaa
