Manan SS - Silence Speaks updated End credits!

Nandini walked through the rows of benches in the empty classroom till she reached the one at the end, the only one which didn't have a bag on it. She kept hers on the desk and with the last bit of energy left in her tired bones, she slumped on the seat. What was she doing here, and what was she going to do in the exam, apart from staring blankly at the rest of the class, writing away furiously in their respective papers. Why had her principal called at her home and coaxed, no not coaxed but literally forced Amms into sending her for the Annual exams when both of them knew that she was going to fail. Nothing and no one could change that and for once, Nandini was not bothered.

Yes, Nandini Murty, who was loathed by the rest of her class for topping every year was not scared of failing her class XI final exams. Because, she had recently experienced bigger upsets, well a little bigger than just upsets actually...one of those life altering experiences that divides your life into pre and post-it.

She had lost both of her parents in an accident, less than 2 months ago!

Her eyes were beginning to cloud, for the millionth time. She knew her tears won't leave her so soon and that's why she had intentionally arrived late, to avoid walking into a class full of people with a swollen face and bloodshot eyes. Atleast this way, she could take some time to settle down till her classmates returned from the assembly. But it seemed, God wasn't willing to grant her even those few minutes of melancholy for she heard thumping footsteps coming her way. She didn't raise her head to see who it was. She couldn't care less.

The footsteps got louder and louder till they stopped abruptly, very close to her. She heard a thud on the desk as whoever it was had dumped his/her bag. She moved her eyes slightly up to see the bag and immediately she knew who it was.

She knew that bag, just as well, as she knew her name. She knew it well enough to recognize it even with blurred vision. How could she not, when, for as long as she could remember, she had been eyeing that one bag...the black and red Nike backpack...Because... it belonged to him, the pied piper of her class, the guy who could get any girl to dance on his tunes, the guy who was the rockstar of her school, the guy whom every single teacher and every child from class 1 to class 12 knew by face, that bag belonged to THE MANIK MALHOTRA.

She raised her eyes further to look at him. What was he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be in the assembly with his buddies, the famous FAB5? Why had he kept his bag on her desk? would he not spare her even today?

Their eyes locked, for a lingering extra second. It could have been her imagination, but she thought she saw a questioning expression bordering on concern. She was expecting the usual anger or mockery in his eyes and she did find them eventually, but perhaps a tiny second too late.

"And here you are drama queen, look at you, you have started crying first thing in the morning? Don't you have anything better to do? God! why did I even see her face, now my whole day would be a big mess!" No, she had been wrong. He would always be the bullying monster that he was. He would never stop ridiculing her, no matter how distressed she were. The hint of concern she thought she had seen was exclusively her imagination.

She quickly wiped the tears off her face and looked away. As it is, there was already a lot on her plate. She didn't want to add 'getting mocked by Manik Malhotra yet again' to that list now.

But he showed no signs of leaving. Rather he settled next to her on that corner last bench. 2 months ago, Nandini would have felt a whirlpool of emotions if this had happened then. She would have publicly frowned and privately rejoiced. Her heart would have beaten fast, her throat would have gone dry and perhaps she would have successfully feigned ignorance. But today she was blank, genuinely and actually blank. What else could you expect out of a girl who had just lost her parents and was about to switch gears from being a topper to failing her final exams.

As the bell rang ,their classmates returned from the assembly, one by one. They should have been surprised to see Nandini after a gap of 2 months. They should have come running to give her a hug but all she noticed was an army of inquisitive eyes rolling at the sight of the two of them together on the last bench. Sometimes she just hated everything and everyone around her.

"Manik tu wahan kaise, miss tapri ke sath?" Cabir was the first one to remark. They used to tease Nandini with that name. Tapri for topper, as if she had committed a huge crime by coming first every single time.

"Yeah Manik, come sit with me." Alia was the next to poke, less out of friendship, more out of insecurity.

"I am fine guys... besides, I havent studied anything so miss tapri will help me with the answers." He gave a tiny side glance at Nandini before turning away to wink at his friends.

If what he just said, was not a joke, if he was seriously banking on Nandini for passing the exam, then he was in for a rude shock. Nandini had not touched a single book in the last 2 months, since that fateful night. All she remembered was perhaps less than 30% of the syllabus and that too vaguely. Why didn't he actually move somewhere else, she didn't want to be the reason for failing him as well.

"Sit somewhere else, I haven't studied, wont be able to help you" She muttered under her breath, so softly that only he could hear.

He looked at her, surprised, and then replied in an equally low voice "Don't you get tired of your lies Tapri? Once a topper, always a topper, you know that right? So stop fooling around."

Nandini sighed. Well she had tried her best to warn him but as always he had been stubborn. Now, whatever happened, whether he passed or failed, she won't be responsible for it.

************

There was pindrop silence in the class. People were scratching their heads. To begin with, it was Maths and on top of that, Mr. Deshpande, their Maths teacher had decided to avenge the entire class for the year log torture they had subjected him to, by setting a paper like that. Nandini, though not a sadist, was amused. She was going to have decent company in the failed club because she could count exactly how many would pass that bloody missile of a question paper.

It had already been 40 minutes since the exam had begun and Nandini was pretty much done with answering whatever little she could. She put her pen down to look around at her classmates. She would have submitted her paper but no one was allowed to do so before the last 30 minutes.

Much to her surprise, she saw Manik looking at her. Not exactly looking, he was trying to gesture something. Hadn't she already told him that she wouldn't be able to help him?

She nodded her head and in reaction she saw an angry/frustrated expression on his face. His copy was anyways open, he quickly grabbed a pencil and wrote 'Copy my answers dumbo'

'What the hell!' she thought. Disgusted she looked away from him and suddenly she felt something. He was holding his hand under the table to draw her attention. She turned towards him again. His eyes, they were trying to tell her something, desperately. It was almost as if he was pleading her to copy his answers. This was so unexpected that she couldn't help staring at him wide eyed. Had the sun risen from the west today?

So Manik Malhotra, who literally survived on the borderline, the 40s and 50s, was answering this paper and not only so, instead of asking her to help, he was actually forcing her to accept help to pass. Was it the same Manik Malhotra she had grown up around, the one who had always always teased her, making her feel stupid for having a secret crush on him...the one who didn't give two hoots about girls like her, plain janes like her didn't even exist in his world.

He was still pleading, with his eyes and his hand that was now softly pressing hers.

She complied, less to pass the exam and more to avoid a scene. He kept on writing and she kept on copying and along the way, she couldn't help admire his brilliance. When did this miracle happen? When did Mick Jagger transform into Einstein?