Chapter 3-A new Friendship?
It had been a week since the two were studying together. Rumors were flying like crazy! Maya had heard about twenty theories as to how the two began dating.
And when after two days Maya was done with Rudra’s shit, she forced him to attend classes,something he hadn’t done in the last 4 year and wasn’t expelled or debarred from answering the exams only because of Mritunjay’s pressure, the whole class collectively had a heart attack.
“People are talking about us,” Rudra said as he bit into the bland sandwich.
“As if I care!” She remarked as she continued highlighting important notes on his book.
“So, you won’t mind if I touch you?” He smirked.
On the third day,he accidentally pulled her hand while fighting for a pen and she threw a huge book at him, making him laugh his guts out. Maya didn’t think it was funny, but Rudra did because he is stupid.
“I still have the book with me, and this time I’ll throw it from a distance with much more force breaking open your skull!” His smirk dropped.
He liked her, no,not that way! Yuck! She treated him how he wanted to be treated, she respected him, that was evident, but she didn’t mind calling out his bullshit. That was a change for him, whose father had forced people around him to treat as if he was a princess who’d burst out crying if he was denied anything. He still wondered why she was teaching him.
“Maya, seriously,you needn’t do this, I’ll manage! There are apps that tutor, YouTube, and Google are still there,”
“Look, this is the third time in the week I am saying this, but I don’t mind, teaching you helps me revise and doesn’t affect me much,”
“But it affects your social life!”
She shook her head and focused back on the book. After the college, she would go back to the hostel room, freshen up and pick a novel and read. If it had sex description,she wouldn’t touch it, no matter how much she wanted to complete the story and then study till the dawn before grabbing sleep for a few hours, and hoping that she doesn’t have nightmares.
“When was the last time you opened this book?” She flipped through the pages that looked so new,that the book could be resold for its original price, had Maya not highlighted it.
“When it was delivered,” He chuckled.
Maya looked at him and rolled her eyes. She liked him for being this normal with him. The rest of the college behaved as if she was a fairy that descended on the earth and shouldn’t be touched. Boys would stutter around her and the girls spoke carefully as to not hurt her. She missed normalcy. But she couldn’t let her guard fall,no matter how much Diya encouraged her to make friends, it scared her.
“Have you seen my phone?”
“Nope!” She popped the "p" but ignored the iPhone that lay below the book, watching Rudra empty his bag on the table.
“What the f**k, I think I forgot it in the hostel,” He said as he removed a plastic bag and almost flung it in her hand. Maya stared at it curiously and was about to tell Rudra that the phone was right in front of him when Mr. Jha’s voice startled her.
“Aah! Mr. Roy!Everyone said that you have been doing us the favor of gracing us with your presence, and I couldn’t believe them, they weren’t lying then?” He faked a smile on his face. Maya wrapped her fingers around the plastic bag and slid it in her bag discretely, while Rudra sassed the professor who huffed and walked away.
“There you are, you piece of shit!” He yelled as he retrieved the phone.
“Oh shit! They have printed my sketches on the Collegites’ front page! I got an email! Can I skip this one, I need to see the hard copy, now! Ok, bye!” Before she knew, Rudra leaped out of the seat and was out of the cafeteria.
Maya touched the bag and breathed heavily. Her heart was racing at a pace that was making her giddy. Maybe even she should take the day off.
She texted Rudra that she was bunking and went to the hostel.
She locked the plastic bag away and instead tried focusing on her routine but failed. Was it a drug? Was Rudra doing drugs? He didn’t look like the kind of person to drugs,but then neither did Maya look like the person who had scars all across her whole body. The thoughts started weighing her down and she dozed off, losing track of time.
She woke up with a start when she heard the door knock rather loudly. Pulling hair out of her mouth, she opened the door to see the warden eyeing her angrily.
“There is a young man who is trying desperately to enter the hostel, asking for you and yelling his guts out! May I know what is going on, Ms. Jaisingh?”
“I am sorry, what?”
The warden walked away from the door and Maya ran her fingers through her hair as she jogged the length of the corridor to keep up with the huffing warden.
“Shameless! No ethics at all, whoever speaks to such kind of boys?” Even though the warden was trying to keep her voice down, she failed miserably, only making Maya more upset and confused.
She was surprised to see Rudra staring at her with tears in his eyes almost fighting the watchman.
“I’ll be in my cabin Ms. Jaisingh, I hope you can deal with this,” She eyed the watchman,silently telling him not the leave the two alone and walked off.
Rudra spoke without waiting for a second, “Maya, did you see a packet,”
Maya held his hand urgently, throwing a glance at the watchman. Rudra breathed heavily, calming down a bit. She pulled him out of the watchman’s earshot.
“I have it with me,wait I’ll get it. But Rudra, you need to stop doing drugs!” She whispered sharply at him.
“I know, and I had stopped, it's just that,” He rubbed his face with palms and sighed. Maya went to her room, pushed the packet in a book and returned to see that the watchman was suspiciously eyeing him.
“What is it with you boy?” He snarled at him. Maya gave him the book and slid a card in his hand.
“Call her, she works at a drug rehabilitation center as well, she will surely help you,”
“I cannot afford a therapist,”
“But you need one,”
She patted his arm lightly and left for her room, throwing a glare at the watchman.
Edited by _._shibani_._ - 5 years ago
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