Chapter 4
The bell rang for break, and students heaved a sigh of relief. Ya, for the first time,the bell rang for break, and it wasn€™t greeted with yells and screams, but SIGHS of relief. I stared around at the bunch of mad and crazy monkeys,also known as boys in our class, and suddenly wondered whether they€™d taken an ageing pill. But I guess it was more of a pill of another kind, one called, studies-in-class-11-science-stream. I shook my head in disdain. The first day back, four periods, and TONS of homework!! No, not countable in numbers, but in units of quantity!! I sighed too. This was certainly hell! Whoever said life after boards was easy?
€œComing to the canteen? I€™ve got money today.€ said Vineet as he passed by. Allie nodded, and we all followed the man-with-the-jungling-pockets outside. As usual, we were greeted by a mass of juniors pushing into the crowd,trying to get comething to eat before the €œhelpful,friendly seniors€ began to hog. No such luck for the babies. As the guys pushed the kiddies out of the way, we gals stood aside to watch the scene.€Poor things€, I murmured as I saw the babies scuttle out of the way. Alli snorted,€Ya right! Come on Diya, we all faced the kindness of our seniors when were that age. It€™s a tradition!€ Ya, a tradition to terrorize those kiddies! I mean, they ooked so small and helpless!! I know I was never that tiny! And plus, I remembered all the terror stories we heard when we were in sixth. I really did feel bad, as I rushed forward to help the guys,who just emerged from the crowd holding plates of burgers,and noodles ad bottles of Coke. €œWell,that€™s the lot!€ said Arjun as he handed Allie her plate. He would obviously only hand ALLIE her plate,and leave the reast of us to get our own. GOD! The things €œLove€ does to a person. And for all his €œLove€ the way Allie treats him.
I was shaken from my thoughts by the sudden yell of one of the twelfthies €œHey look!! Nerd Gang€™s here!!€ I turned to look,though I knew what they were talking about. Divya Khare and her group of friends stood,just behind the crowd of sixthies, waiting to get in. At the call, the entire crowd of seniors turned to look, and Divya turned a bright red. But, she ignored. €˜WHY WHY WHY??€™ my mind screamed! €˜Get the hint Divya, and get out!€™ but,well, I guess geniuses aren€™t very well acquainted with everyday tips of survival. She moved on, slowly, but surely,making her way to the stand. Suddenly, WACK! A bottle of Coke smacked her from behind, an OPEN bottle of Coke, and she was drenched, in Coke. EEEWW!! Laughter rang through the canteen, and a teacher came running up, €œWHCH ISH GOIN ON??? Qu€™est que c€™est??€ Ah, Goduuu, aka, Godavari Sen, our French teacher of three years. She spotted Divya drenched,and hurried up, €œWHO?? Qui a-t-il??€ (Who did this?) she screamed. €˜No Divya,don€™t take the name,€™ my mind begged her.I knew she knew who did it. I did too. Vineet, he was the only one who had the guts. €œNo-o one, Ma€™am€ stuttered Divya,as she shook her head. She held her tears, and Godu Darling shook her head. €œC€™est impossible!!€ she murmured,and left knowing it was worthless to tr and do anything. This was an everyday ,atter. Some nerd who was brave enough to walk into this canteen got drenched,everyday, and failed to take the name of the person who drenched him. Teachers finally grew tired,and left the matter. And since our Princi is too busy influencing top politicians and businessmen, she has absolutely no time to even know who topped the boards this year for class 12 from her school. That€™s the way it€™s always been.
Other than these, nothing of special interest happened the first day. It was pretty much studies,studies and studies. You would think that teachers would pity those who slogged for boards for ONE YEAR!! But alas! No justice in this world! Oh well,school€™s always been this way. The only excitement in my life till now has been the unknown. And no,I€™m not being some kind of over-spiritual astrology-freak or whatever. My life,which till now seems highly routine and boring,actually DOES have some source of fun. This certain surce of fun started last year,when my parents bought a new computer, for me and my sis. Since my sis usually is too nto text messaging,she gave me the comp to myself. My brother uses the old one,since he has no better work in life than computer games, so this computer is mostly all mine. And it was throught his computer,that I discovered the wonderful new source of fun. A source,which made me laugh more than anything in this world,a source,which taught me more than my over-famous school ever had,and a source,without which I€™d positively have gone mad during my boards.
I reached home,dumped my bad on my bed, and switched on the comp. my mom wasn€™t at home, (probably out for a Kitty meeting. Kitty,which is basically a group formed by all bored housewives on our colony. T never really had a name,but since we all used to call it Kitty, the name just stuck.) My sister was out for college,and my bro, I remembered,was staying back at shool for cricket practice. So, ya, I was alone. I heated the food Mom had left out as the computer started up, and got the net connected. I logged onto Yahho, and
€˜Offline messages-yo lighty! how was ur first day back at school?? had fun?? And ya I messaged soldier,he says he has the bombs ready, we€™ll fire soon as the sweets are done with their lecture!€™
I excitedly sent a reply to this message,
€˜whoa cool!! frst day,was first day. u no d usual stuff€.well, gr8 bout d bombs! i hv my rifles aimed too, jus need to giv d signal now! well, I€™ll catch u usual time,since ur off now€c ya!€™
I know it sounds mad, but I was more excited with this one offline message,than I had been the whole day! As the microwave beeped its irritating beep to tell me the food was hot, I rushed to get a plate,my mind working nineteen to the doxen. I was sure going to have a lot of fun!