You know that feeling when you feel like you're in eternal peace? That you just don't want to deal with anything from this world and keep living in that particular moment infinitely. When all your worries seem useless and everything feels right. You know what I am talking about? You do, right?
Well, I was experiencing the same. I didn't want it to get over. I could just stay like this for the rest of my life and never complain about anything.
"Don't fall asleep now. I am almost done."
"No, mom. You can't do this to me."
"I can."
"I am your only daughter."
"Such a dramaqueen. Get up now, my legs have gone numb."
I pouted and moved my head from her lap. She stretched her legs and went in the bathroom to wash her hands. She had been applying oil to my hair for half an hour now.
But still I wanted her to continue with it. She had magical hands. As she massaged my head, I gradually laid my head in her lap and if she hadn't woken me up I would have fallen asleep.
You don't need meditation. You could just simply lay your head in your mother's lap and reach Nirvana. I grudgingly got up and tied my hair in a bun. Today, Nikhil's family was coming over for dinner so I had to help mom with cooking.
I sucked at it so mom only made me do small tasks like cutting the vegetables or kneading dough. How come I didn't inherit her culinary talents? Even dad was a great cook. Why God? Why so much injustice towards me?
By the time dad arrived, we were done with preparing dinner. Nikhil's family also arrived soon after, but one person was missing.
"Nikhil didn't come aunty?" I asked.
"No beta. He said he had to do group study at a friend's house."
"Oh. Okay."
"How's your preparation going? Exams are next month, right?"
"Yes, aunty."
"I am thankful to you that you are helping Nikhil with studies. That boy only loves sports. If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have even taken admission in a college."
"Yeah. He loves basketball a lot. He is a great player aunty. You should be proud of him."
"Yes, I know. But studies are important too. That's what's going to pay in the future."
I just nodded at this. I didn't know a proper reply to this. Moreover, I didn't want to get in a debate with her right now. I was hungry. What's with studies being more important than sports? We all know so many star sport players. They were earning quite well.
Whatever. If I began on this topic, I wouldn't be able to stop speaking for years. I took my seat at the dining table and as usual all the talk was about exams, job, marriage etc. etc. And since Nikhil wasn't here, I was the only prey. All the questions were directed at me and most of the times I controlled the urge to bang my fists on the table.
Every generation got a problem with the one after them. Why do they have to compare everytime? I hated it. I quickly finished my dinner and dashed to my room before Nikhil's mom started talking about finding a groom for me.
Come on aunty. I was just 18! Let me live my life. How dare Nikhil leave me alone to take all the bullets?
He was at a group study. Lucky him. I should have made a plan for myself too. Surbhi even asked me if I wanted to sleepover at her house.
You are an idiot, Sandhya.
I should have accepted her offer. Downstairs, I could hear the elders laughing and making jokes on youngsters. Seriously? I just heard something and shook my head. That was a lame joke dad.
I jumped on my bed and grabbed the laptop. Let's do some stalking. Don't judge me. It was a nice timepass. It wasn't like I was plotting a murder or something. I was just keeping myself updated with other people's lives. Some of them I didn't even know personally. So productive, Sandhu.
I threw that sarcastic comment away and skimmed my fingers on the keypad. First target, Ayush. He wasn't that active on social sites; only few pics from every year. Was he in hiding or something?
After going through his profile which only took me seconds, I turned to Tanya. Let's see what was she had uploaded.
Hm? Nothing new. The last pic was of us four outside a movie theatre posing in front of a life size poster of Hugh Jackman. We enjoyed so much that day. Tanya treated us because her younger sister won a gold medal at archery. Wasn't her sister great?
My eyes glimmered with mischief when I saw Ved's profile. I saved a pic to my PC and imagined all the things I would do with it. I opened up Photoshop and edited his pic. I laughed so loudly at my artwork that I got scolded by mom. Control Sandhya, control.
I could use it to make fun of him. Just like that, I spent two hours photoshopping some photos and sharing them with Surbhi. I believed in spreading happiness and joy.
Fortunately, Shree submitted the report on time and I could relax now. He was so scared when he saw me. Was I really that scary? See. I could be intimidating too. Ved was just making empty threats to me. After that party where he threw ice water at me, he had toned down his pranks. Must have gotten scolded by Mayank and Rajeev.
Just wait Ved. I am going to ace the exams and show you your real place.
With that determination, I shut off my laptop and studied till 4 am in the morning. Wow. I was so well versed with each chapter that I could recite it even in sleep. I closed the books and crawled back in my bed.
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I couldn't believe I slept till 9 am. Why didn't mom wake me up? Didn't she love me? She had gone for her morning walk with her friends and as you could already imagine, she would return after two hours.
They did more of gossiping instead of exercising. And by the time she returned, I would have left for college. But today, I switched off my alarm and dozed off like I was sleep deprived for months.
Luckily, I had no gym today. We were practising the same moves from last week. I had gotten quite a hang of it now. I was a quick learner you see. I moved at a ninja speed and got ready for college. I would be able to reach for my third lecture in time.
I rushed out of my house and ran towards the bus stop. I instantly got the bus. Yay! The bus drivers had finally decided to be merciful on me. After a forty minutes ride, I reached my college.
"Where were you? I called you twenty times and you didn't even pick up," Surbhi complained.
I had switched off my phone to charge it faster. I told her how I fell asleep again after shutting off my alarm and didn't realise it was time for school. She nodded and we decided to go to the cafeteria since I missed my breakfast.
"Hey, what happened to your face?" I asked Nikhil. He had bruises and cuts all over his face. Was he in a fight?
"It's nothing." He waved off my question.
"Did you get into a fight?"
He rubbed his face with his palm and exhaled loudly. Why wasn't he answering me? Most importantly, did his parents know about this?
"It's okay if you don't want to answer. How was the group study?" I told him.
"What group study?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"The one you went to yesterday night? Has all that studying really affected your brain?" I joked.
He glanced between me and Surbhi, and his eyes widened a bit. He was so slow. How could he forget where he was last night?
"Oh yeah. I remember now. It was good." He let out a small sigh.
"What was good?" Ved asked as he stood beside him.
"We are taking about studying Ved. I doubt if your brain can handle it," I mocked.
"You like to talk about yourself indirectly a lot. I sympathize with you."
"Where's Ayush?" I questioned.
"Why do you care?"
"I haven't seen him yet."
"That's better that way."
"Mr. Mehta told me to inform him about something."
"I can do that. Just stick to your own business."
"Moron."
"Jealous bitch."
"Donkey poop."
"Rotten trash."
"Asshole."
"You have limited vocabulary. I am not surprised."
Surbhi and Nikhil observed our exchange and I turned to them for help. They put up their hands in surrender and shook their heads. Traitors.
"Don't worry about me. I am going to top this semester and then we could have a long discussion about this," I boasted.
"In your dreams."
"We all know who's the smartest here. So don't even think about competing with me."
"I wasn't."
"What the?!"
"You will never get ahead of me. Unlike you, I don't have a low self esteem."
"How dare you?"
"Let's go, Sandhya. We will be late for the lecture." Surbhi grabbed my arm and dragged me away. I threw daggers through my eyes at Ved who was busy smirking arrogantly.
I will become the topper and slap that smirk off his face permanently. I felt like I could do anything now. Just need that motivation everyday. I was done with submitting my assignments and now only revision was left. Good job, Sandhya.
We reached the classroom and took our seats. The lecturer wasn't here yet so we started chatting about random things.
"Sandhya, I need a little help," Nikhil said.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Um... You see how mom is so strict about me and my studies. She wouldn't even let me play now till the exams got over."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Tell me what can I help with."
"Thanks yaar. I just needed you to make some notes for me. Really short ones covering the main topics. It would be a huge help since I won't have to go through thousands of pages just before exams."
"Hmmm.... okay. I would do that. It will help me too. Maybe I can print some of mine."
"Actually, can you do them in writing? If mom saw me with printed notes, she will make my life hell."
He was really scared of his mother. Even more than his father. It was hilarious. Well my mom was the same too. I could understand what he had to suffer.
"That would be a lot of work, don't you think?" I asked.
"Umm... I know. Sorry I didn't take that into account. It's okay if you don't want to do it. I would just find some other alternative," he said nervously.
"Just kidding dude. I will do that."
"Thanks, Sandhya."
"I am doing it just because you are my friend. No need to thank me. Now go to your practice and win the match."
"That's for given." He gave me a huge smile and left.
"That was so cute~~~" Surbhi sang.
"Jealous?"
"Why would I be? He is your friend but I am your best friend," she boasted, and I pinched her cheeks.
After two lectures, Surbhi left for her class while I made way towards mine. It would be better if the lecturer didn't come. I wanted to take a nap or play some games. I entered the classroom and took my seat.
I started Plants VS Zombies and got lost in it. It was so addicting. Someone tapped my shoulder but I ignored it. If they wanted to ask about how much I had studied, they could do it later.
"Sandhya?" I looked up and saw Ayush looking at me. Hm? What did he want now? And why was he even talking to me?
"Yeah?" I asked and went back to playing.
For some seconds, I didn't hear him say anything. Argh! I paused the game and turned towards him.
"What's troubling you?" I asked. He adjusted his specs and glanced around.
"Ved is not here, so spill it."
"I... Um... Could you.... How should I say it? You see... Mr. Mehta call-called me. He told me.... Um... He told me that I-"
"That you were lagging behind. I know. He told me to call you for that but your girlfriend jumped in before I informed you."
"Don't talk about him like that."
"Acting protective now? Suits you."
I giggled and he frowned a bit. I enjoyed teasing him. A lot. His expressions could beat Madhubala's. He took a book out of his bag and skimmed through the pages. He stopped at one page and furrowed his eyebrows.
I snatched it from him and told him to take a seat. He just wouldn't ask when he needed help. Still hadn't overcome his shyness. He slowly sat down beside me but kept a distance. He kept looking around and I got frustrated.
"Trust issues? Come on Ayush. He is at the basketball court right now. Stop worrying already."
He let out a deep breath and asked me some questions. He could have asked for help from someone else too, but I knew how he was. He didn't have many friends in college unlike school. If you didn't see him with Ved or his few friends, he would be lurking alone and avoiding people like a disease.
"Don't tell Ved about this," he said after our study session was over.
"He is got a lot of control on you."
"It's not like that. Don't speak if you don't know anything," he fired back. Wow. Whenever Ved's name came up, he acted like a mother; wouldn't accept a single bad word against her son.
Instead of arguing with him, I decided to keep my mouth shut. What if Ved got to know that I was troubling Ayush? You could imagine how he would react. I was jealous of their friendship. Why couldn't they just let go of the past and move on?
Ayush got up and left without saying a word after that. So ungrateful. But then again, he wasn't my friend. Why should I expect anything from him? I wished I could turn back time and undo all the things I did wrong to him unintentionally. Would things have been better now?
Well, who knows? I couldn't control what happened. There's no use mulling over spilt milk.
I stretched myself and got up to leave for lunch. Food was the solution to all problems. I won't sadden my mood just because of one person.
I smiled when I saw my friends already seated at the table in cafeteria. They smiled back when they spotted me and I hopped towards them. What if I had a crack in my life? I had them to fill the gap.