Kritvik Bhatt

I walked inside the classroom. I turned to my left, looking at the students scattered all around the class in groups as they all chatted. Some were smiling, some laughing, some were serious, and some others were sitting alone, reading books. I turned to my usual front seat in the center, walked to the side of the table as I moved my bag out of my shoulder, kept my bag on the ground beside the table, and then turned to face the blackboard in the front. The white paint behind the algae-like greenish blackboard was ripping off a little, I noticed, as I was moving my butt down on the chair of my desk. Just as my butt touched the wood, a feminine voice called from behind, “Hey! K!”

I turned backward, looking at Sana as she walked to me, and smiled. “Hey, Sana!”

She sat on the desk behind me. “Like, I knew you were gonna come and sit here, like you do every day.”

“So you’re sitting behind me today?”

“Nah, I’m a little behind. You can come there.”

“Why not?” I said with a smile. We both stood up, and she turned back as I walked out of the desk, took up my bag, and hung it on my right shoulder. She came out of the desk, and walked in front of me.

“Anyway, did you stumble across that Aaryan again?”

“No.”

“We’re gonna go home together today. If he tries to do something funny, like, you know what he’s gonna face.”

“They’re dangerous people, Sana. They… do drugs, smoke, bully people, and fight. You better stay away.”

“Whatever. He’s gonna stay away from you when he sees me.”

“They might harm you, man!”

“No one harms a girl so easily in this age and time, you see.” She then reached her seat and turned around, looking into my eyes. She smiled. “If they touch me, I’m gonna shout. It’s useful being a woman sometimes.”

I smiled. “Do it your way then, man. I guess you’re strong.”

“A lot stronger than you think. Really.”

As I was taking off the bag and keeping it down, my eyes still on her, I replied, “No doubt.” I then turned my head down at my bag, and then turned to her again. “By the way, did you call me ‘K’ when you were calling me back then?”

She smiled. “Good, isn’t it?”

“What about ‘Kriti’? Good, right?” I remembered Madhav’s voice.

I smiled at her. “Yeah. Great.”

“It’s cool, you see. And so, I’m gonna call you K, ‘kay?”

“‘Kay!” I replied excitedly.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. We all heard some footsteps. I turned backward to the blackboard of the class. The teacher was walking in toward the teachers’ desk with her books and papers in her left arm, her eyes turned at us. In seconds, everyone walked here and there and settled down to their seats. The teacher stood beside the teachers’ table at the corner, placed her books down, corrected her half-black half-white hair, and then turned to us, watching us with those deadly eyes beneath her crimson glasses. She wore a crimson saree and lipstick, and everything in her outfit matched well with each other, for some reason.

I turned back to Sana and whispered to her, “Even at this age, for some reason, she has not forgotten her fashion.”

“Really,” She replied, looking into my eyes. “That’s sad.”

I then turned to the front again. “No doubt, she’s teaching science now.”

“Like, how can you?” She whispered.

“Yeah.”

***

Sun on top of the school’s building walked some steps in, and soon, the morning turned into afternoon.

The school was over, and with bags hanging on our shoulders, we both were walking straight down the narrow streets filled with apartments on both of our sides. Sana was on the left of me, her face covered with her mask as she talked to me. “Like, why would you even do that to anyone?!” She exclaimed. Apparently she was upset over something. “I told her in advance that we ran away because we were seen!”

“No doubt at it. If you’re seen, aren’t you supposed to just… run away?” I agreed with her. “What we did that night was right.”

“Yeah!”

“Obviously!”

“Like, we were wasting our time watching something we don’t even like, for you!”

“Yeah!”

“And you’re not even… thankful?”

“Damn, man! I can’t believe her. No doubt she’s madly in love with that Vikram guy.”

“Yeah.” Sana turned her head to the front. “And that’s sad. She can’t even see anything other than Vikram.”

“Yeah.”

Just as we were walking, I turned my head to the front and looked at the intersection approaching. It was afternoon, and the sun was at its brightest.

No doubt, that day, too, was the same. The blue sky, the yellow sun, and… Aaryan in front of me. The vision of his frowning face and dominant body came in front of me.

Sana continued, “And you know what, she then even said ‘fuck off’ to me! Like, how did you even get the audacity to do that?!” She then turned to me. “I didn’t know Kavya was like tha…” She stopped midway as she frowned at me, noticing something odd. “Hey, K?” She waved her hand in front of my eyes.

I blinked once and then turned at her. “Huh? What?” I stopped walking.

“You were spacing out,” She told me as she stopped a step in front of me.

“R-Really?”

“Emo, what were you thinking?”

“I, uh… I…” I hesitantly replied, avoiding eye contact as I fluttered my eyes right and left downward.

“Tell me, K,” She softly said as she looked into my eyes. “I’m here for you.”

I looked into her soft warm eyes above her black mask. “I… Some time back, I saw Aaryan here, over that intersection,” I said, pointing to the four-lane intersection about a dozen steps in front of us.

“And, what did he do?”

“I-I… I had seen them with drugs the other night, and-and he thr-threatened me not to tell anyone about it.”

She nodded as she heard me. “Were there more people with him? Or with you? Or around?”

Just as I heard her words, the image of those guys in the all-white uniform like me–standing dozens of steps away, turning to the right–with their heads turned to their backs came into my mind. “Y-Yeah, three more kids from our school…”

“O-Okay,” She turned to the front. “Don’t worry. Today, we’re gonna cross this intersection without any drama.”

“Y-Yeah…” I replied hesitantly as I turned my head to the front too.

“Don’t worry, K. I’m with you today. Nothing bad is gonna happen.”

“Maybe…” I replied, calming down a little.

“Whatever,” She replied as she turned to the front again and continued to walk. “Anyway,” She turned her head to me. “You know about the new update in Jenshin?”

“Yeah, I heard that they added another character, maybe.”

“He’s so cool!” She said in excitement. “He is a paid item, but I know a way to get him for free!”

I turned to her and smiled. “Damn, don’t go around conning games, man!”

“I don’t,” She sternly replied. But the next second, she was excited again. “So, what you gotta do is go to—”

“Maybe I won’t understand these hacks, Sana, nor are they of any use to me, if you remember…”

She looked at me for a second. “Yeah.” She turned to the front. “Poverty gets the better of us. I get it.”

“Stop your poverty jokes!”

“Stop poverty!” She suddenly shouted. “Poverty… bad! Poverty stop!”

I chuckled. “No doubt at it. I agree!”

“I too arg-ar… argree!”

“Now, let’s stop it,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s turning cringe.” She then turned to me, looked at my smiling face glaring at her, and smiled. “But it made you smile, at least.”

“Yeah,” I replied in a lower tone.

“No doubt something had to happen!”

“Kritvik!” Suddenly, we both heard a masculine voice. We both turned our heads to the front together at once.

Aaryan stood in his white and navy-blue uniform in front of us, about a dozen steps in front of us, in the center of the intersection. He was a little shocked to see me. His eyes were frowning in shock, his lips opened wide.

“For some reason, this intersection was becoming some sort of a bad omen for me.”

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” I chanted in a low tone. “D-Damn, man!”

“Aaryan, isn’t he?” Sana asked, frowning angrily. “Don’t worry now. Calm down. I’m with you today.”

Aaryan smiled devilishly beneath his frown. “Ya were the one watching the show yesterday night, right?”

I stood silent for a second in shock and fright. I was thinking about it, “What should I even reply?! Obviously, I should say no, but—”

“Yeah, so what?” Sana replied. “And I was with him. Is that a problem?”

“Yeah, asshole!” He shouted at her. “That’s a fucking problem, bitch!”

Sana shouted back angrily. “Why?! Are you bleeding out?! Is your family dead because of it?!”

“Shut the fuck up, bitch, or Imma—”

“What?! Touch me and Imma fuck yo’ ass up, asshole.”

My eyes opened wide as I turned to my right at her. “Where did she even learn this accent and language from?” Yeah, my focus of shock shifted from Aaryan to Sana.

“Oh, a hard one, right?” He commented with a devilish smile. “Come, babe, lemme teach ya how ya talk to a man.” He stepped to the front at us.

“SAVE US! THIS MAN IS THREATENING ME!” She shouted.

“W-W-What the fuck is even happening here?” I thought as I moved my head from Sana to him, and then back to Sana, and then started to move my head hesitantly at the apartments on both the sides. I looked at a woman standing on her balcony, her eyes on us, and another man walking by, and some kids coming out. I hesitantly turned to her. “S-Sana, stop it. They are dangerous. Better not extend it too far.”

Sana gulped in. That’s when I noticed her. Her forehead was dripping sweat, her frowning eyes scared inside. Her right arm… was literally trembling with fright, for some reason. She was scared herself.

“S-Sana…”

“Like, what does he even think of himself?” She angrily whispered to me, her arms trembling a little.

I held her right arm with both my hands. “Please, stop.”

“Kritvik!” Aaryan called me. I turned my head to the front. “Teach her some fucking manners,” He angrily said and started to walk straight to our left.

I turned my head to Sana again. She exhaled out a deep breath. Then, she said, “S-See, I walked him off!”

I smiled a little. “You’re really brave, Sana. You’re… great.”

“I’m cool!” She tried to hide her fright and calm herself down. “I just can’t believe I did it!”

“Damn, man! You… really did it,” I said in a low tone. “Thank you.”

“Really, I did it!” She then turned at me. “I said it. Don’t worry when I’m with you.”

My smile widened. “I don’t think I ever will now!”

“That’s sad,” She commented with a smile. She turned at me, and looked at my smiling face. “Anyway, what were we talking about?” I left her hand and we both started to walk, both of us looking into each other’s eyes.

“For some reason, she broke the bad luck of that intersection. We both walked through it… without any drama, like she said. And we both were smiling, no doubt. She really did what she said. And man, she’s damn strong! I wish I was like her, so strong, and being able to take a stand. But I just… can’t. Maybe I have a thing or two to learn from her. Still, not really caring about that, I guess that… that day was when… I felt like Aaryan was a human too, and not really someone to be scared of. He, for some reason… was just like me, a school student… with just some added quirks. Yeah, no doubt he smoked, he vaped, but… inside, he’s still a student, finding his way into adulthood. Not anything to be afraid of. At last, I now know some people better than him. No doubt at it.”