The Reunion - 8 - The Science Project

3^rd October 2000

Okay, so it turns out, that Aryan has run away from home!! Aakruti was so upset, I had to ask her what was wrong. His family isn’t looking for him either, isn’t that weird?

For a moment, I was tempted to tell them that Aryan had given me a phone number before he left. After all, he hadn’t said anything about not telling anyone. But I decided not to. Why had he given me that number? I’m sure it wasn’t because he wanted to catch up with me. I mean, would he run away if he wanted to?

Anyway, Aakruti was almost on the verge of tears throughout the day and kept to herself. Nobody seemed much bothered with Aakruti today though. I mean, after the few questions, “What happened? Why are you upset?” everyone switched to the other HOT story of the day. Nikita’s call to Priyank!

Everyone except Vishaka. She sat close to Aakruti, without saying a word. I don’t know whether Vishaka was being nice or she was just glad that someone was okay to sit next to her.

Turns out, she didn’t even talk to him, just harassed him with prank calls. Finally, his father had come on line and screamed at the unknown caller. Here’s hoping they do not have caller id, for Nikita’s sake. For the rest of us, it’ll be pure entertainment if they do.

Should I tell my parents about Aryan and the phone number? They’ll know what to do right? On second thoughts, maybe they’ll think we’re dating or something. After all, why would he give ME the number? He hardly knew me! Forget it, he’ll come back once he runs out of money.

My puppy is so darn adorable! She already recognizes me and is at the garage door when I come home, whining very loudly. I’m sure mum knows about puppy but as long as she doesn’t bring it up, I’ll keep my mouth shut. Okay, got to go, someone’s at the door.

It was Aakruti! For some reason, her mum got her over. And she’s staying over. She’s sitting on the far side of the bed, with her head in her lap. Now that no one’s around, she’s crying silently. I tried to talk to her, but she didn’t react. So I have left her alone. When I went over and tried to move her hands off her face, she winced at my touch. That was demeaning!

What’s more, I offered her my shorts and t-shirt. For some reason, she was wearing this bulky night suit, she must be dying in it in this heat. But she refused. If she can’t stand me or my things, why the heck is she staying over?

I called Anjali, I didn’t tell her about Aakruti’s brother and her crying, but I did tell her about the wincing and the funny night suit. Anjali too couldn’t understand why Aakruti would agree to stay over if she hated me so much. Probably her mum forced her to?

4^th October 2000

Today, Aakruti was wearing a pullover to school!!! It’s so hot!! She told the teacher she had fever, but I knew she didn’t have fever. I gave her a suspicious look, but she just kept her eyes on her books. Slowly, everyone’s fascination with Aakruti is ending. I mean, she’s no longer fun. Besides, she is not even a nice person. Vishaka is her constant companion. They look so odd together, Aakruti, gorgeous, smart, funny when she wanted to be and Vishaka, the person no one wanted to be seen with. For some reason, Aakruti has taken to Vishaka. She even defends her when someone makes fun of her. Maybe she’s not all bad. After all, I wouldn’t go all out for someone like Vishaka.

On another note, we have to do some science projects for our assignments and the teachers want the sections to mix and do a project in pairs of twos. Guess who my partner is? Priyank!!! Thank god the teacher’s are picking out partners for everyone. Otherwise Nikita would have killed me! Nikita seems to look at it as an opportunity though.. Her master plan is to get me to introduce them.

Lets see, I need a good partner for this project. If he’s not smart enough, I’m going to ask for a change. Tomorrow, whole day, we have to sit in the laboratory and figure out what kind of project we want to do. So, should I go talk to him? Or wait for him to talk to me? 

The Reunion - 7 - The Secret

Okay, that was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. Sagarika and Anjali were busy hanging out with Nikita and I was left with Aarkruti. And guess what! I did feel like a side kick. People who didn’t even know her were talking to her and I was just sitting there, trying to carry on a conversation with the least popular girl in class, Vishaka. She looked at me hopefully through her chunky glasses and I was thinking, god, I hope no one sees us talking!

Anyway, Aryan didn’t drop us, we had to take a bus!! And while coming back, my dad’s picking us up. I don’t know what prompted the change of plans. We are waiting for him now. Aakruti is sitting silently next to me. I bet she thinks I’m boring and why she got stuck with me..

There’s the car now. Thank god the day is over! 

1^st October 2000

I’m writing only because I’m so terribly bored! Sagarika and Anjali have both, very conveniently fallen sick, so for today, I’m sitting with (no prizes for guessing) Aakruti and Nikita.

And, Aakruti is back to her being her chatty self. Nikita is bursting with some news. I know she wants to tell someone, but will she tell me?

So, I am now one of the ten people who know Nikita’s secret!!! She has a super big crush on this guy called Priyank. I wonder who is. He is from the other section, have never seen him. He was at the birthday party apparently. How could I have missed that!

I saw him!! He’s okay, nothing great. He has a great smile though. And Nikita can’t stop talking about him. He’s apparently a teacher’s pet, the sports captain of the school and the best dancer in the school! Tomorrow, Nikita is going to call him for the very first time.

Vishaka keeps coming up to me for no reason. I hope she doesn’t think we’re friends or anything. People avoid her like plague! Sometimes, I feel bad for her, but I have my own problems to worry about.

2^nd October 2000

Holiiiiiiiiday!! La la la! You won’t believe what a marvelous day I had today! Well for starters, I didn’t have to hang out with Aakruti! She went out with her family somewhere, so I had the whole day to be all by myself. I went exploring around the colony today. Its pretty neat! Its huge and has all these parks and courts. Annndd! I found a puppy! Abandoned, the poor thing was. I picked it up and got it home but mum didn’t let me keep it. She said a flat “NO” , and then when I went to ask dad, he said “Ask your mum!”.

Sometimes, I wish dad would stand up and take my side for a change.

Anyway, so, I took the puppy out of the house and made a comfortable little shelter for it near our garage. Its at the far end of our garage, hopefully mum and dad will not realize it. So, then, I went to buy some dog biscuits. I didn’t take my cycle, I didn’t want mum to wonder where I was going. And I walked all the way to a departmental shop where they didn’t know my mother. And then, on my way back, I heard someone call out for me.

“Hey, Kid.. Get in the car..” for a moment I was petrified, and then I realized it was Aryan! I almost fainted with delight..

And once I got inside the car, he seemed very uncomfortable. “You are Aakruti’s friend right?” He had asked. As if he didn’t remember me!

I was so mesmerized by him, I didn’t utter a single word! I must have seemed so foolish clutching the dog food. As I was stepping out of the car, he handed me a slip of paper, “Aakruti doesn’t have access to a phone and I’m going away for a couple of months. If you think she ever needs me, call me on this number?”

He was going away, that made me sad, but! HE GAVE ME HIS PHONE NUMBER!

And then, as I took the number from him, he had smiled at me and said “Thanks Ramya.”

HE KNEW MY NAME!

The Reunion - 6 - The New Neighbours

28^th September 2000

So, the new girl, her name is Aakruti. Okay, now this girl is really really really pretty. Pretty and smart, everyone was like wow! Of course, now everyone wants to get to know her and I’ve been sidelined. I do have Sagarika and Anjali who sit with me now, but all the attention is now focused on Aakruti.

Like today, during lunch, everyone was sitting around Aakruti and asking her all sorts of questions. Nobody did that for me. In fact, nobody had even bothered that I was there when I had joined. And you are not going to believe this! Even the guys are falling over themselves to get themselves introduced to her!

Whatever happened to “We don’t talk to girls” rule?

Anyway, not like I care…..

Besides, now that the attention is shifted off me means I have been accepted as one of them, which is a good thing right?

Oooh.. I almost forgot, Nikita gave out her birthday invitations today and guess what, I am invited, but so is Aakruti. She’s been in the class for just one day!

29^th September 2000

Guess what! Aakruti is practically my neighbor! Mum made me go to the new neighbor’s house inviting them home for coffee and guess who opened the door! I was so stunned that I didn’t say anything for a whole minute. She was ecstatic to see me! Maybe she thinks she’s got some kind of side kick to bask in her glory. Oh, when I went to her room to help her unpack, she had these beautiful paintings lined up made by… guess? HER! And there were all this trophies in athletics carelessly tossed around in a cardboard box, all hers!  

Is there anything this girl is bad at!? I almost didn’t introduce her to my mum. I just know what is going to follow, the constant comparison!! Urrrgh!

Her family seemed nice. All but her dad, he kind of frightens me. He didn’t smile at me at all!! Her mum was very timid. She looked so nervous.. All that packing and unpacking must have exhausted her.

My mom on the other hand, is thrilled that Aakruti is going to be our neighbor. I could practically see her plan. Ramya and Aakruti become best friends, Ramya and Aakruti hang out together and then Ramya becomes good at everything Aakruti did. Oh man, I have some unpleasant times in front of me.

On another note, Aakruti does have a very very cute brother. Aryan. Shhhh, this stays between us! He is a little older though. Okay, a lot older. He’s in final year of college. When I was walking into Aakruti’s room, I caught a glimpse of him playing some alien tune on his very cool guitar. I have to admit though, he wasn’t very good at it.

He smiled as I walked past, don’t think he saw me though, he was too involved in his “music”

I think, being friends with Aakruti isn’t going to be as bad as I thought.

30^th September 2000

Aakruti and I go to school together now. She was so weird in the morning. She practically ran out of her house today and kept glancing back. As we got closer to school, she transformed into the person I had been introduced to in school. Once we reached school, Aakruti was swarmed by the other people and she quickly forgot about me. What was I expecting? She has to pretend that she’s friends with me at home. In school, she has cooler people to talk to.

Nikita’s party is the only thing anyone could talk about. And guess what! Aryan is going to drop us AND pick us up!

Okay, so I’m going to go get dressed. Give you the dirt when I get back. Wish me luck!

The Reunion - 5 - Settling In

24^th September 2000

Strange, no one’s treating me like the new girl anymore. I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I’m still sitting alone though. All the girls already have a pretty strong group formed and I don’t fit anywhere. Every time its our class teacher’s class, Anjali slips back to sit with me and as soon as the class is over, she goes right back.

Anjali introduced me to some of her friends. There was Sagarika, Anjali and Sagarika were inseperable. For the one class that Anjali moved back to sit with me, she always had Sagarika in tow. I don’t mind. I quite like her, she’s soft spoken, calm, the exact opposite of Anjali, who is quite like the hurricane actually. Nikita is another girl who seems to be a little like me. I mean, I have spoken to her only once. But we really clicked.

The worst part about being the new girl is remembering all the names. I mean, its easy for all of them to remember my name, they just have to remember one name. I have to remember FORTY!

From what I can gather, its Nikita’s birthday soon and she’s throwing a big party. I hope I’m invited, but why would she call the new girl? She hardly knows me.

Anyway, the teacher’s here. Later.

25^th September 2000

Still no invitation. But that’s fine. Even if she doesn’t invite me, its okay, because if I was in her place, I wouldn’t have invited someone I didn’t know. Today Sagarika shifted her place to sit next to me. We’ve been having a blast the past couple of days. The other day, during Math class, we played Bingo. We kept our heads down and kept mumbling random numbers, everyone assumed that we were studying. It was so funny! Even the teacher fell for our little trick. Each time he would pass by, we would pretend to pour over our books and then get back to the game.

We had a hard time convincing everyone that we were, in reality, playing a game.

I just realized something funny about this class. The girls and the guys, they just don’t interact! Its sort of taboo. I asked Sagarika about it, and she too had no convincing answer. Just some phase the guys are going from, she had told me.  It apparently started when they moved to this grade. How weird is that? My old school was hundred times better.

Nikita and Anjali are the few girls who talk to the guys and there too, their conversation is limited to a couple of sentences at the maximum.

On another note, mum’s here finally. So things are settling in around the house too. Of course, she’ll keep shuttling between the two cities for some time, but we have more or less moved. Makes me kind of sad. I had hoped, that mum or dad would realize that they didn’t want to stay in the new city, but nothing of that sorts happened. Mum actually loves it here, so does dad.

I like it here, but I preferred it back there. Where everybody knew my name.

26^th September 2000

O-h-k-a-y!!!!! There is another new girl in class!!!!