ArHi SS - My High School Love Life

Chapter one - the early dawn

"There is no hero, there is no Villian…. There is no black and there is no white… Everyone Is a shade of Grey" was the last thing that the teacher said before she concluded her class for the day…

And I couldn't agree more with the statement. On the one hand, I was always called the "nice and sweet" person, but on the other hand, I was selfish.

I was definitely selfish. What was mine, was mine and no one else had a right upon it. This rule applied whether it was my personal belongings, or the people who I thought belonged to me.

One such person who I thought belonged to me was the centre of attraction of our class, Akash.

It was obvious that he belonged to me. I was the person who was literally binding all the girls in our class together as one group of friends, and he was well the joker of the class. The joker of the class who made all classes fun, who had an amazing sense of humour, and that person who the teachers hated to the core.

There was always one such person in every class, no matter which country, city, school, grade or class you study in, and for us, that year, it was Akash.

Back then, there was an unsaid rule or promise that the girls would stay away from guys and vice-versa. So obviously, I never spoke to him for almost half the year, apart from the occasional smiles and the eye locks. I don't know what it was then that drew me towards him…. Maybe it was the smile or maybe that he just seemed to be the friendliest person around.

But I was sure that one day that would change. For the time being, I was happy with the occasional smiles we shared.

But the first guy that I ever spoke to, that year, was Arnav. There was another weird rule that one of our teachers had come up with, and that was that she assigned seats to everyone, and in her class, all of us had to sit in our assigned seats. And as luck had it, I was in between Arnav and another girl who apparently needed my help with the subject.

Arnav was the no nonsense kind of guy. He did all his work and then just kept quiet. And I did the same, with one exception…. I did my work, then did the work of the person sitting beside me, who needed my help, and then kept quiet!

Frankly, it was pretty frustrating that he would just keep to himself and not even bother about the people around him. I thought that I should try to change that but then thought against it..waise bhi, Mujhe kya farak padta hai (Anyway, why does it matter to me?)

This went on for months before Arnav started opening up… there was some sort of a concern that he had for me which he had finally started showing. It was frankly such a relief to see him finally aware of the fact that there were people around him! It was a start atleast.. I thought!

Every now and then, he would look at my work to make sure that I was doing the right thing… Ofcourse he would not say it… He would never admit it… The minute I looked at him, he would look away….

But to be very honest, I found myself smiling every time he checked my work… I liked this concern.. Found it extremely sweet and found it sweeter since he preferred to be discrete about it…. Just a matter of time before he started opening up to me, I thought and smiled.

This continued until one fine day, the teacher called me next to her for some "Important work"…. It was quite a tense 5 minutes for me, and although I don't remember what she said exactly, I knew it had left me worried for a long time….. But the minute I returned to my seat after the teacher had called me, Arnav looked up at me, expecting me to tell him what happened…

Ofcourse I had noticed it and was glad that he actually cared, but at that moment, I was just too engrossed in solving whatever the concern was that I didn't really realise the significance of that look…. He went back to doing his work, but I could see that he was distracted…. But of course, like always he still wouldn't ask me anything directly…..

I was the last person to leave the class that day and that's when I heard Arnav asking the front benchers whether they knew anything about what the teacher had said to me… I smiled and left the place… remember my logic that the person should have the courage to ask me and tell me anything on my face? Yeah well…. Old habits die hard!

The next few days were a huge diversion from the normal school life... Two new class leaders had to be selected and It obviously had to be done through voting.. As always, the girls voted only for the girl candidates and the guys voted only for the guy candidates…

somewhere I was hoping that Arnav would break the odd tradition that we had created for ourselves and vote for me, but I had to be left disappointed that day… A lot of people, including me voted for Akash, among lots of sighs and gossiping in the background… I knew I had broken their so called tradition, and maybe I shouldn't have done that, but once done, it's done. And eventually in the run, I came third after Akash and another girl…

"Akash, If you wan't, you can step down and give the post to Khushi" Was the first the thing that I heard the teacher say after the total number of votes were counted and the results declared. Of course I was shocked, to say the least, but I was hopeful..

I really wanted this position since it meant power, reputation and a lot of responsibilities.. I would soon become the teacher's pet and trust me, that would have a lot of benefits!

I looked up at Akash for what seemed like the longest 5 minutes of my life. He seemed hesitant… Of course he wanted the post too! But somehow he looked straight at me for 5 minutes, without saying a word… Please god, Let him say okay!! I prayed for the 100^th time in those 5 minutes… I wanted this, and If I wanted it, It was mine!

"Okay" He said finally, in a very low voice and my joy knew no bounds! Thank you soo much Akash!! I said thank you to him before I went back to my circle of friends to be able to share my happiness with them..

"Akash did that for you" Was the first thing Lavanya said after I went back to her after Akash's decision. I looked back at her, to see her looking at Akash lovingly. I wondered whether this was right for a moment.. After all Akash was the person who had won it right? Didn't he deserve it then?

But then all the thought left my mind when I was once again congratulated by others, and the only thought that remained in my mind was that somehow, I would pay back to Akash for this decision of his.

The next day, I was walking back into school with a smile on my face. It was the first time I was walking to school as the class leader, and I was really really excited. But before I could enter the class, someone tapped my shoulder. I looked back at the person, and was surprised to find Arnav right behind me.

"Hi" I said to him, with a smile.. I couldn't help but notice how concerned he looked, yet again.. Arre yaar, Is bande ka problem kya hai? (what is this guys problem) I thought when he didn't reply for two minutes and continued to simply look at me.

"What happened that day at the ICT class?" He asked me finally, and I couldn't help but smile. This guy was soo sweet! He was still so concerned about some little thing that happened days ago, which frankly, I had forgotten about, long ago! Now what had she said to me again? I thought about it for a moment, when I finally remembered and answered, and he seemed amused.

"The first class project for the term. The class would be divided into two teams, and the two class leaders would be the two leaders. Come up and select your teams"

"Akash" was the first name I took for my team.. Of course it was time to give something back to him for what he had done for me.

"Lavanya" said the other girl, taking my best friend away from my team… Lavanya gave me a sad smile before proceeding to join her respective team

"Arnav" I said without thinking for a single second, and saw him smile and come up to my team..

The rest of the team selection went in a blur and by the end of it, I thought I had a reasonable team for any task that the teacher could come up with.

"So this is the first group task. For the rest of the term, each team would act as a business and create their business plans and models. A practical, functioning model and everyone has to be involved. At the end of the term, whichever team wins, gets 10 marks extra in their term report" The teacher said finally relieving us of the suspense of the team project.

"Okay guys. Tomorrow, My house at 5.. Khushi, be there at 3, we need to discuss the project. No excuses, no late comers Nothing. Get it?" Arnav said in a stern voice, and looked around the team with a threatening glare. I could see many people gulp with nervousness and then glare at me, probably wondering why I even took him in the team.

In the meanwhile, I had my mouth in a perfect "o". Such a hitler! And I thought I was the leader here!