Dusty Corridors

Even though the school was pretty new, the lack of maintenance made it hard to realize that the building was only 6 years old. Anirudh strolled down the passage, passing by the classrooms bustling with overenthusiastic children screaming and jumping, although he didn't seem to be annoyed by the noise. As much as he hated the unnecessary noise, he was not bothered by the small children jumping, running, playing with each other. He sat down on a slab against the disfigured pillar, and focused on the two slices of bread he was holding. His mother had asked him to carry something more to eat, but he would mostly ignore her requests.

"Eating alone huh! Didn't even bother to call me, and you say I'm so important to you."

A familiar female voice lightened up Anirudh's face a little, and he looked up at the girl who had seated herself comfortably beside him. Pretty lean frame, beautiful eyes, and long flowing hair, its somehow weird that she isn't the most popular girl in the class.

"You're late, Atreyee. I was waiting."

"Yea yea go and smack the history teacher for me, she was making me run errands in the freaking recess! I swear someday I'll slit her throat."

"Don't get so worked up, Atreyee. She's an old woman."

"You and your stupid considerate crap. I'll have to punch some sense into your head, you realize that?"

With that came a flurry of mock punches, and Anirudh was pretty efficiently dodging most of them, making the little girl go practically nuts.

"Let me hit you, stupid boy! I swear if you dodge again, I'll chase you with my shoe."

Anirudh sat still for a moment, and a barrage of punches and slaps landed on him. After that Atreyee was satisfied.

"Something wrong dude?"

Atreyee could sense the heaviness around Anirudh, and she wasn't pleased by the fact that the only guy she cared about was in some sort of pain.

"You can tell me, you know, stupid boy", poked Atreyee. Anirudh seemed pretty unfazed by the question, which did annoy her, but she overlooked his cold ignorance to her concerns, it's not the first time, it won't be the last time, and Atreyee has seen this boy for far too long to be hurt by such trivial instances.

As they walked along the dusty, littered corridors of the school, Atreyee remembered the days when she first met Anirudh. She had just joined the school and was pretty much the topic of gossip among the girls of the class, and another girl to impress for the boys. Although she got quite the bit of attention from almost everyone in the class, she very soon spotted the quiet boy sitting quietly in his place, intensely busy with his pencils and his drawing sheet.

"Those strokes are pretty well done; did you learn to draw?"

Anirudh was startled to find someone talking to him, which was a rare occurrence in his school life. He composed himself, looked up at the new girl standing in front of him, almost pouring over his sketch.

"Anirudh, na? The lady looks so beautiful in your sketch! Someone you love?"

Anirudh was having trouble finding words to reply to the question he was suddenly faced with. He was panicking, and Atreyee picked up on the situation pretty quickly, noticing the sweat drops forming on his forehead.

"Must be important to you, right? Tell me about her sometime. By the way, I'm Atreyee. It's a pleasure to be your friend."

Remembering those days brought a nostalgic smile across her face. She glanced at Anirudh's face, walking beside her, who has been exceptionally quiet today. She was quite worried about him, but she convinced herself to hide her worries and just smile for him.

After all, she understood how important a small gesture such as a smile can be for a person who's crumbling from the inside.