Chapter 4
The Royal Academy. A prestigious school with high standards when it came to education and activities. It wasn't an exclusive school for rich and famous only unlike its many contemporaries and that made it more respectable. Students from all kinds of social classes attending this school. Though the distribution was disproportionate with the upper class students taking most of the seats followed by the middle class students. The lower class people were allotted only a handful of seats in every session. Not that there was any sort of discrimination to such students, it's just that the scholarships were quite costly as they covered the expensive tuition fees while providing all sorts of requirements to join a club in the school if the student was willing to.
In exchange of such privileges, the student only had to have a exemplary academic record from any school of the country. Plus,the entry test for the scholarship students was tougher than most of the papers set for the annual exams.
In other words, scholarships provided in The RA were exclusive.
His dream always had been to break away from the chains of poverty that were binding him. He had always been ambitious. His father, an honest police constable, had always misinterpreted his ambitions as dishonest as he believed that the only way to big money is the wrong way. But Keshav had decided to prove him wrong.
The RA was the first step towards it.
Though he had been prepared himself mentally to face all the challenges of being a part of the crowd which was mostly made of rich brats; he was still a little displeased at the way he was being glared at. Yeah his shoes were a little old and worn out, his dress wasn't perfectly new but at least it was clean! Why the hell were they judging him by his looks anyway?
Oh well, at least he figured out his strategy for the next four years. Lay low and mind your own business. He wasn't here to waste time doing useless activities.
A group of girls walked passed by him, giving him glances and giggling among themselves. Right, whatever. He almost rolled his eyes when a voice made him pull out of his chain of thoughts.
"New student?"
The voice belonged to a girl and was coming from behind him. Turning around, he saw a chubby girl looking up to him curiously. Dressed in a new uniform with a pretty bag hanging on her shoulder and a bar of chocolate in her hand, she definitely looked like one of those rich girls who had been smiling contemptuously at him since the moment he had arrived here.
He turned away from her just as casually he had turned towards her. Well, if she had some brains she would understand the signal. But that wasn't the case. The next second she was standing in front of him.
"Maine tumhe pehle tou yahan nahin dekha. New ho?" The curiosity was still in her eyes and there was a firm determination in her voice. Already, he was frustrated and now she was interrogating him. He had to bite his tongue to not lash out at her. Instead, he just ignored her and started walking.
But she was too determined because she started following him.
"Arey! I was just asking you because I thought you might need some help. Ye school dikhne mein aisa hai lekin first day pe bohat sare students gum hojate hain." She giggled behind him and he stopped.
"It's okay." He said plainly and looked at her. She was munching on her chocolate bar without looking at him. Releasing a deep breathe, he shook his head a little and walked ahead.
"Konsi class mein ho?" She kept her pace with him and asked casually. He felt like ignoring her completely but seeing her harmless curiosity, he replied, "9th."
"Wow! Main bhi 9th mein hun! Lekin tum 9th ke liye thore bare lagte ho." She gave him an analyzing look from head to toe. He felt a little uncomfortable and didn't meet her eyes. The girl was getting too friendly, too fast.
"Hmmm." He didn't reply and walked towards the building at the end of the ground.
"Wahan jaake koi faida nahin, that's the sports building. Now unless you want to sign up for the cricket team, wahan pe aur koi kaam nahin hoga abhi." She didn't follow him and told him from behind. He stopped and looked around. She wasn't looking at him but was waving at someone. He followed her gaze and saw a group of girls walking in an adjacent building. When she was done, she turned to look at him and smiled simply.
"Administrative building wahan hai." She pointed towards her left. "That building is for the indoor activities." She pointed towards the building where the girls had disappeared. "Baqi all the classes are in that building." She pointed at her back and towards the largest building. His eyes had followed her pointed fingers. He examined the neatly distributed buildings and noticed that they matched exactly in the pictures in the prospectus of the school. How could he have missed that?
She was looking at the gate from where students were coming. The regular classes had not yet started but the school was open for the new admissions to finalize all the details and familiarize themselves with the school and for the students involved in extra-curricular activities. That was why the crowd wasn't much in the school but it was still noticeable.
"Phir bhi agar koi problem ho tou wahan soft board per directions to the main areas of the school likhi hui hain. You can refer to them!" She turned her attention towards him and pointed towards the soft board outside the wall of administrative building.
"And by the way, you're welcome. It was nothing big." She grinned at him casually and he stared at her. Oh yeah, she had helped him.
"Thank you." He said, though a little late. She chuckled.
"It's ok! I am Panchi. 9th-C ki student hun. Batch mate tou hum hain hi, qismat mein hua tou classmates bhi ban jaen ge." She smiled at him before waving him goodbye and rushing towards the gate. His gaze followed her as she hugged a girl who had entered the gates and started chatting happily with her. His hand traveled to the pocket from where he took out a neatly folded form. He read it again but this time his eyes sought only one sentence which he had previously brushed it off when he had gotten the letter.
'...as a student of class 9th, section C starting from 1st August, 2010.'
-----------------------
I know, I know! This sucks and is totally not what I was intending to write! But it had been so long since I updated and I had to write something. Plus, I am a bit tired at this moment. As a compensation, the next chapter won't be a complete flash back, will move the story forward and will be posted soon. Probably in 2-3 days.
No jootas and chappals please 😆 Likes and comments are always appreciated! 😳
Fan Fictions
Love Friendship Dating and Relationships
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
Itti Si Khushi Sab TV
Cricket
