1.2 — A Sneak Peek Into My Life

Divyanshi Innani.

…I’m sorry, that was just too sappy and cringe and ugh, I hate myself for wording it that way.

My embarrassing thoughts aside, Divya was my classmate. A girl with a long neck and long hair that was tied into a high ponytail. And, as you might have guessed already, my crush. I leave no room for subtlety, do I?

She was leaning against the bus stop wearing our college uniform because the idea of wearing casual clothes seemed to be considered a heavenly sin by our college.

Although, strangely enough, while our uniform wasn’t made of the most impressive shades of colour—I mean, geez, white and grey? Can it get any duller than that?—Divya managed to make even those dull grey colours shine bright.

She was just…beautiful, in every sort of way.

…Man, I have got to stop watching those high school romance movies. They're hindering my ability to think like a normal sane human.

The point being, if only you all could just see her, you would understand but for now, just take my word for it because, after my last comment, I don’t want to risk making any more cringe descriptions about her.

She adjusted her glasses and looked up from her book. I couldn’t read the title from my distance but pretty sure it wasn’t one of our class textbooks.

She smiled and waved in my direction.

Obviously, the time stood still and my heart leapt up like a frog only to find its legs were somehow turned into stone. You know, classic one-sided romantic stuff.

Except, unlike popular beliefs, at that moment I felt more nervousness and fear than actual happiness.

All sorts of thoughts raced through my head—did she notice me staring at her? Is she creeped out by it? She’s smiling though. Why is she smiling? Does she know me? Does she have a secret crush on me too?

And as I slowly lifted my hand to wave back—awkwardly, of course—a gentle shove from behind brought a stop to my mindless ramblings.

She was smiling at her friend, not me.

Suffice to say, that was one of the most embarrassing moments in my entire life.

And sure, on a larger and grander scale of things, seventeen years of life might not seem like that huge of a sample size...but it is, unfortunately, my entire life.

Can’t wait to grow up.

On the bright side, she didn’t notice me...because she doesn’t know me...because she doesn’t probably even know I exist.

Suddenly the bright side doesn’t seem that bright anymore.

“Having fun, Mr Stalker?” A voice asked from behind me. Seriously, what’s with people coming up from behind?

The voice this time wasn’t from a dead soul, though.

It was Idris, my friend.

One might even say my only friend...except you know, my other only friend Naina. Infact, Naina was Idris’ senior in terms of our friendship considering I’ve known her since we were practically 2. Older even but who remembers stuff before that.

Sure I have other friends but they were more like friends by extension since they were all initially either Idris’ or Naina’s friends. So while we all talked, they never really felt close. Not like these two, atleast.

The curse of popularity never fell on me.

“I-I’m not a stalker,” I said. Which, while true, was also not true if you took my recent action into account.

“Ah yes, so you taking this longer route over the shorter one has nothing to do with Divya?”

…okay, so slight addition to my previous statement, yes, she was also one of the reasons why I took this route.

That doesn’t mean that the stuff about planning things for the day wasn’t true. A guy can multi-task.

So, with no proper response in my mind, I just glared at Idris.

He was a tall guy—not by much though, just half a head taller than me.

But, as it so happens in my life, that half-head of difference negated any effect my glare would’ve had. He simply pushed his glasses back up and turned his bag around. He pulled out a black notebook and handed it to me.

While glad to know he had my back, it also irritated me to think he just expected me to not do the assignment.

“Don’t give me that look,” he said, zipping his bag shut, “you said you’ll do the assignment at night after finishing the episode which in your language means ‘I’ll binge-watch the season and forget about the assignment’.”

“Eesh~you know too much about me, maybe you’re the stalker,” I said with a suggestive grin.

He looked at me.

He stared at me.

And then, he made a facial expression of mock shyness. “Oh, Aarav, you got me,” he said with a high pitched voice, “but now that the truth’s out there, will you go out with me?”

“Depends, will you always help me with the assignments?”

“Yes!”

“Will you also help me during the exams?”

“Yes!”

“Will you cook dinner for me?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

“Hmmm, guess that does it,” I said, stroking my beardless chin, “I decline your proposal. You’re too clingy for my taste.”

And with that, Idris hid his face as if crying over the rejection.

The expression didn’t really suit him.

While just seventeen, he already had a slight beard growing at the tip of his chin. If anything, the image just brought a smile to my lips.

And that’s how it’s always been with him and me.

Friends since we were eight, he’s always been the more dramatic of us two, and the more athletic, and the more academic, and also the more social too.

It always felt strange to me that he was my friend.

A very close friend, infact. And despite my many insecurities, one thing I am completely sure about is that he thinks of me as his close friend too.

“But, jokes aside, why not just talk to her?” he asked—leaving Divya and her friend behind who probably were waiting for another member of their group—as we began our walk to the college.

Sure I had the cycle but I hated riding it slowly. Plus it’s good to use the legs before they get rusty and oh my god, I’m becoming my Uncle!

Guess the kids were right.

That's a thought that'll keep me up at night. That is if I survive this monster running behind me. (Heh, almost forgot about that, didn’t ya?)

Now I’m wondering if kids have an ‘Uncle radar’ built into them that breaks out by itself once they grow up.

Fascinating thoughts to have.

“Well, I don’t know,” I said, shrugging, “Maybe the fear that she will say—”

“No? Well, ofcourse, she will, dude. She’s way above your league.”

That answer came way too quick. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Really appreciate that.”

“Ah, don’t mention it, mate. That’s what friends are for,” he said nonchalantly.

“Guess I’m at the point in life where I should dump some of them then,” I said.

Not that I would.

I’m confident that I would need help with assignments in future too…but also because friends are a good thing to have in life, yes, that too, not thinking selfish thoughts at all.

“What do you mean by them? I’m the only one you have. Unless,” he trailed off, staring at me all horrified, “have you been cheating on me?”

“See? Clingy,” I said and he made the funny crying face again.

I was about to resume the earlier conversation but with the college in sight, I dropped it. It wasn’t that important anyway. It’s not like talking about it would help me out in any way.

Well, after that, the usual college stuff happened—lectures, assignment hand-ins, break, staring at your crush, more lectures, and then, surprise-surprise, even more lectures; until it was one in the afternoon.

I parted with Idris, promising to come to his house on the weekend to play some badminton and made my way home.

I took the long way back again—and no, not because of Divya. I just like being consistent with my routine.

And that’s when it happened.

The encounter.

The convergence of destiny and bad luck.

The moment that would bring an end to my life as I knew it.

One that would show me a new perspective of it.

And it all began with a little kid in the park being surrounded by three older kids in black kurtas with floating books.