Bus#126W - Chapter 21

Slowly I walked home. I was a little apprehensive about Dhruv’s entry into my life. Of course, it made me feel warm and great and he was good fun to be with, but I couldn’t help wondering if I had warmed up to him because of the attention he had been giving me. To regain something I had lost with Arpit.

Now that Arpit and I had been fighting regularly, was I showering all my affection on Dhruv?

I stopped outside my house. Arpit’s yellow scooter was parked outside. I smiled softly as I walked towards it. I remembered the story of the scooter. He had been begging for a bike but his parents just wouldn’t relent. In the end, Arpit agreed to get a scooter but of his choice. Unlike any normal person who would have visited showrooms, Arpit had scoured junkyards to find this one. Painstakingly, Arpit had restored it and painted it, completely retro style. 

Of course, not many appreciated his tastes then. He was ridiculed for riding a scooter, that too a yellow one but Arpit didn’t care. He knew he had given something special another lease of life.

And I had been with him every step of the day, from the day he visited the first junkyard to the last brush of paint.

“She’s looking good isn’t she?” Arpit’s voice called out from behind me.

Without turning around, I ran a hand over the headlight, “She always does.” I smiled at him. This is how we were, fight one minute, make up the next.  But things would change if we didn’t go to college together. We would hardly see each other, phone calls would be non-existent and then eventually, we would get so busy that we would call each other only on birthdays.

“Why are you late?” He asked. Clearly, he had been sitting at my place for a really long time.

“I had extra practice.” I repeated my lie.

“No you didn’t. I called Pooja.” He came closer, “What’s with the books? Did Dhruv give you these? Were you with him?”

“What are you? My mom? What’s with the questions?” I pushed him away slightly.

He stepped away. “I’m not applying to St. Peter’s.” He said, rubbing his forehead, as though saying it was incredibly tough on him.

I turned towards him, leaning slightly on the scooter. “Did you think about what I said?”

He nodded a little and ran his hand through his hair. He looked a little nervous. “Is that why you are here?” I asked.

 “I thought you looked quite upset in school. Just wanted to check up on you.” He picked up the books I had dumped on the scooter. “I’ll help you take them in.” He said.

“I can manage.” I said moving between the books and him.

He gave me a long hard look. I stared right back at him. Finally, he sighed deeply and put on his helmet, “Get off my bike.”

I stepped away clutching my books with both hands my face starting to contort awkwardly, my lower lip starting to droop.

“Now don’t do that!” Arpit exclaimed.

“Do what?” I said, my voice a little hoarse with emotion.

“That face, this time, its your fault. Not mine. I didn’t do anything wrong.” He started the scooter and revved a little as though he was going to push off.

I didn’t say anything.

“Damn you Naina! What do you want? You don’t want to talk to me, you don’t want me to go! What? What is it that you want?” He took out the key from the ignition and parked the scooter.

“I want us to be normal again.” I said slowly, dumping the books on the ground and sitting next to him on the scooter.

“So you’re not mad about St. Peters?” Arpit asked.

I shook my head slowly, “Your life, your choice.”

“You don’t want to know why I changed my mind.” He said it more like a statement, than a question.

“I do, but I think I already know.” I averted my eyes. I could sense another impending argument.

“It’s not because of Sneha okay? And I want you to stop holding her responsible for all our arguments.” He said snapping his fingers at me.

I gasped. “Don’t you snap your fingers at me!”

“Ok I’m sorry!” Arpit deflated pretty quickly, “but listen, I want you to be okay with this.”

 He took my hand in his and squeezed gently. I nodded, “I knew you were interested in research, just didn’t know you wanted to pursue that. I just didn’t see. I wanted you to be with me in college.” I wiped an imaginary tear away. “But you’re right, St. Peter’s is not the place for you.” I hit him lightly on the arm. “Why didn’t you tell me all this while?”

He shrugged, “Didn’t seem important. Anyway I would have told you eventually.”

“And Sneha?” I asked hesitantly. She was a sore subject for me.

His face creased into a smile, “Actually, she’s trying for St. Peter’s. Wouldn’t it be great if you are classmates??”

My jaw dropped, quite literally. Classmates? Sneha and I?

No! Dear God! No!!

Bus#126W - Chapter 20

I made my way tentatively to the bus stop and sat down. As the bus pulled away slowly, I wondered whether I should have done what I did. I stayed rooted to spot even though I knew I was being stupid. There was no guarantee that he was going to show up and even if he did, what would I say if he asked me why I was here.

Half an hour passed and there was no sign of Dhruv. For no reason whatsoever, I could feel tears gather at the back of my eyes. I felt like an idiot. I couldn’t even start to understand why I had gotten off in the first place. I picked up my bag and wondered why I should do next. The next bus would arrive only after half an hour.

I couldn’t make up my mind, whether to cut my losses, grab an auto and leave or to sit there and wait for some god forsaken reason. I know the choice seems obvious now, but it didn’t seem like that to me.

I waited.

Ten more minutes passed, then twenty.  The bus rolled along on time and I got in it, averting my eyes from everyone.

“Hey, you had to stay back extra hours too?” I turned around in surprise and there he was, with a big pile of books in his hands, his hair in a mess and a big smile on his face.

“Let me help you with that.” I said, taking the books from his hand, unable to control the reciprocating smile on my face.

“Thanks, I’ve dropped them a zillion times already. It isn’t really easy for me to pick them up you know.” He said, indicating towards his cane.

I collapsed on the seat under the weight of the books he handed to me.

“Uff! What are these for?” I asked, surfing the titles.

“Oh nothing, just some study material.” He sat down besides me, placing the cane next to the window seat where I was sitting.

I rolled my eyes, what a geek.

“So why are you late?” he asked once he had settled down.

“Oh,” I stuttered, “Nothing, just extra practice.” I lied easily. There was no way in hell that I would tell him I had waited for him.

“Really??” he peered at me. “I think you’re lying.”

I almost gasped. “No I’m not!” I said defensively. How had he known? Maybe I just didn’t look tired enough?

“What were you doing at my stop? Were you waiting for me?” he asked softly.

“No!” I denied vehemently and looked out of the window.

“I think it was very sweet.” He said kindly. I didn’t know what to make of the tone. I half turned towards him.

“But I didn’t.” I said softly, refusing to meet his eyes.

He laughed a little, “Well, if you did, it was very sweet.” He stopped for a moment, “A little silly, but sweet.”

“I didn’t.” I knew what I was saying and the expression on my face were totally contradictory. I didn’t care. I was feeling positively giddy with joy that he could take one look at my face and tell when I was lying.

“So how was your day?” he asked, changing the subject.

We chatted about how our day was and everything else under the sky until my stop came.

“Will you be able to take all of this on your own?” I asked as I handed him back his books.

“Actually, half of them are for you and your friend. You know, sample questions and the works. I had them lying around.”  

“Oh, thanks.” I took the books from him, “You’ve been so helpful.”

He smiled, took my hand in his, “You’ve been a big help too. I know you don’t realize it. But thank you.”

For the second time in a row, Dhruv had left me utterly confused with his last words.

Bus#126W - Chapter 19

“Is that all you have to say?” I was shocked to say the least. We didn’t miss any opportunity to gather information about St. Peters and here was Arpit telling me it was nice?

“Yeah, I am thinking of trying for some other colleges.” He said, shuffling his feet.

I’m not kidding, when he said that, my jaw dropped. Literally. Instinctively, I glared at Sneha.

“Let me guess, you’re trying for the same colleges Sneha is trying for?” I said, my voice filled with contempt.

A look of surprise passed over his face, “What if I am?”

“When did you become such an idiot!?” I couldn’t believe it. 3 days! That’s all it took. 3 days, to change all his dreams. Urrgggh! I could have killed her at that moment.

He bit his lip, “You’re not going to believe me if I say it’s got nothing to do with Sneha right?”

“Bullshit!”

“Then I’m not going to try. Look, I don’t have to justify to you but I happen to be interested in other things. Things that St. Peter’s doesn’t offer.” There was silence around us as I tried to digest what he was saying. After years of working towards it, suddenly Arpit was claiming he was never interested.

“I want to get into research.” He said slowly.

“Research??” I asked dumbly.

“Uh huh.”

“And what does Sneha want to do? Research as well?” I asked spitefully.

An awkward smile appeared on his face, “She said you would say that.”

“What? You gossip about me now?” I asked incredulously.

Arpit put up his hands, exasperated. “Gosh! Naina, I don’t know how to deal with you anymore. You get mad at every little thing! You know I don’t.”

“I just don’t know you anymore.” I said softly and walked away.

Was it Sneha? Me? Or Arpit? I couldn’t tell whom to blame. All I know was that before this Sneha episode we were happy. We had our differences, but never so serious that I thought about them afterwards.

I avoided Arpit like plague after that. I wasn’t ready to forgive him just yet. But I looked at him openly, willing him to see the hurt he had caused me. At least my look was making him miserable. Somehow, even though it sounds sadistic, it made me feel better. Misery certainly loves company.

I got on to the bus as usual, anticipating St. Peter’s arrival. I peeped out of the window as we approached the stop.

No Dhruv. I was puzzled, Dhruv should have been here. Not like we had planned to meet up, but he usually was at the stop by now. I kept an eye on the people getting in, cursing Dhruv under my breath for missing the bus. As the bus started moving away, I took one last glance at St. Peter’s gate, no sign of Dhruv. I had to now turn back completely to look at the gate.

In that split second I made an odd decision. I got off at St.Peter’s.

Bus#126W - Chapter 18

The next morning, I was sore all over. The vigorous training schedule was taking a toll on me and my under-utilized muscles were aching in protest. I had half a mind to skip the session in the morning when I remembered Dhruv stressing the importance of co-curricular activities.

I willed myself to get ready exhaustion seeping from all my pores. I even dozed off on the bus and managed to miss my stop. The good thing was, all the other trainees were in pretty much the same condition. Our initial enthusiasm had worn out and we were aware of the effects each training session had on us. It wasn’t making us any stronger, it was just zapping all energy out of us leaving us too weak to face the rest of the day.

“Hey,” A dispirited Pooja flopped down next to me after the training. “This is inhuman, I’m thinking of quitting. I didn’t sign up for this.” She said in disgust.

I nodded in agreement. “Seriously man, my calves are killing me. I can barely walk.” I complained.

She smiled halfheartedly, “We both know we’ll be here tomorrow.”

I sighed while tying my shoe laces, “Unfortunately.”

“So how was yesterday? Did you go?” She asked, making small talk.

“Yeah, but I didn’t spend much time with Sneha and gang. I met another..” I paused, “friend.” I smiled softly. I liked the way the word had rolled off my tongue.

“Hmmm, just as well. They’re not like us. Look at them now.” She said gazing over my shoulder.

I turned around, she was right. They were like a class apart. While most of us wore our uniforms awkwardly with skirts too long, ties too tight, socks too high; they managed to somehow transform our uniform into something cool.

And there in the middle of the group was Arpit. He waved at me, calling me over. I shook my head and nodded at Pooja. I would be infinite times more comfortable with her.

Just a minute. He indicated.

 “I’ll be right back.” I told Pooja and walked over casually towards them. As though I belonged.

“What?” I had shoved my hands deep in my pockets and kept my head low. I didn’t want to mingle with this crowd. Somehow they made me feel inadequate.

“Yesterday! What happened?” He said, grabbing my arm and pulling me aside.

A smile touched my face. “We spoke.”

“About!??” Impatience was dripping from his face.

“St. Peter’s. ” I said calmly. I knew that would get his heart palpitating.

“Oh.” Here it goes, I thought to myself. “Nice.” He said.

I took a step back. Nice?