Summer of '69

"I got my first real six-string

Bought it at the five-and-dime

Played it 'til my fingers bled

Was the summer of sixty nine- "

"In which year were you born grandpa Jay?" Tervey teased Jay with a devilish grin, while he was singing Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams as they were waiting in a line to get their food in their school canteen.

"Hey ! Stop it already! It is a classic rock song. And also the most amazing song I've heard in my life." Jay said as he ran his fingers through his hair, getting frustrated because of hunger and also to some extent, Tervey.

Finally, after waiting for almost 20 minutes in the line at the counters in canteen, it was their turn to get food.

It was lunchtime at that moment, which meant that the students of the whole school were gathered into the medium sized canteen of St. Xavier's. The canteen, though big for a normal school, seemed to be small for a school like St. Xavier's. St. Xavier's was the most reputed school of Paris till a few years before, when the management was took over by a private institution from the government.

The students of St. Xavier's were exactly like the school. The Best. They were extraordinary in one or the other way. St. Xavier's made sure to admit students with immense talent and skills. They also had super hardworking students.

As Jay and Tervey filled their plates till the point where even a single grain of rice wouldn't fit into it anymore, they set out to find an empty table. It was a tough task. Finally, when Jay spotted an empty table at a far corner of the canteen, they both walked with the maximum speed which would not allow the food in their plates to fall down.

Jay and Tervey had their gazes fixed on and around the empty table, so that they can capture it before anyone else does. As they walked craning their necks on top of the crowd inside the canteen, Jay suddenly bumped into someone, and all his work of blood, sweat and tears went into the drains as his overflowing plate of food fell on the ground.

This incident caused a scene to watch for the whole canteen and everyone looked in the direction where all three of them were standing.

" What the-" Jay was about to curse while looking at all the wasted food (and time it took to get that food), not knowing whom he bumped into, as Tervey tugged at his sleeve to shut up and look who it was.....

On looking up, Jay skipped a beat on seeing whom he was about to curse (he was kinda short tempered). He saw a beautiful girl with sharp facial features, long brunette locks waving in the air like a soft breeze on a spring evening, and a curvy body frequently repeating the word "Sorry" for the damage she caused, with an innocent expression and a puckered up face.

It felt like time stopped around Jay. His pupils dilated, and his gaze fixed on the amazing girl in front of her.

Tervey snapped his fingers in front of Jay's eyes and he came back to the reality after a few attempts.

"Should I get you another plate? It was all my fault, I ruined your lunch." said Rhyme in a sad tone with a cute little pout on her face. She actually felt guilty even though it wasn't her fault.

Such a caring girl, Jay thought, as he said "No, it's alright. It wasn't your fault at all. It was me who was walking without looking forward in the first place. I'm sorry."

His expressions and tone of speaking completely changed from when he was about to curse, after seeing her. He had never felt like this for anyone else before. It was a completely different feeling for Jay. He was instantly smitten by Rhyme.

On returning to the present from daydreaming, Jay realised that both his and Rhyme's clothes were stained with curry. Jay got some of the sauce of the curry on his pants, while Rhyme's white coloured shirt of her school uniform was ruined by a red curry stain near her abdomen.

"Oh ! Your clothes are ruined! I'm really sorry. Give me the shirt after changing, I will wash it and bring it back tomorrow. You do not look good when you have a stain on your clothes." Jay said in a worried tone. The stain on Rhyme's clothes was like a spot on the moon.

"Okay. " Rhyme was flattered at his concern.

Later in the day, all three of them had a music class, which was one of the supplementary subjects. Rhyme, Jay and Tervey were placed in the same music class. They had lectures of the supplementary subjects twice every week so that they can relax and have fun in between studying hard the whole week.

As the bell rang, students gathered in the music room for their first lecture. It was the start of the first term after a short summer break, but it was still scorching hot in the afternoons.

Rhyme wasn't very happy to see the trouble causing guy again and never did she expect him to be in the same music class as her. She did had a weird feeling about him, that she is somehow connected to him and knows him.

Jay chose guitar as his main musical instrument, as he was really obsessed with rock music. Jay knew the basics of playing a traditional guitar. Tervey wanted to learn how to play the piano, so he went for that.

Rhyme had a weird fantasy of playing a guitar since her childhood, so she also went for guitar.

The music teacher then came in and introduced herself and then asked everyone to introduce themselves. After this little game of introductions was over, she assigned pupils to their respective instruments.

She then asked the students if they had any knowledge about playing the instruments, many of them, except Rhyme and Tervey raised their hands.

"You should teach your classmates the basics of those musical instruments you know about. This way, you can brush up on your knowledge of basics, and also make new friends!"

"That's cool! I would love to show off my guitar skills " Jay whispered into Tervey's ears. Rhyme was sitting exactly behind them and she too heard it. What an egoistic guy, he might not even know how to hold a guitar properly, she thought, as his first impression on her didn't go very well. But she still thought that he was very handsome, when he was staring at her eyes like a fool in the canteen. After all, she loved guys with hazel eyes, and his were the most beautiful of all the hazel eyes on this earth.

The music teacher arranged the pairs of students according to their roll numbers, and to Rhyme's and Jay's surprise, they were paired together.

"Get to work everyone. The person assigned with you will be you music partner for the rest of the semester." she said after announcing the pairs for the class.

For the next whole semester?

Jay was over the moon on hearing that he is paired with his newly acquired crush for the rest of the semester. Rhyme was okay with it. It wasn't a really big deal for her as she always focused on studying and learning and she never got bothered by who was with her.

Jay and Rhyme both walked up to the first guitar on the stand and Jay made an attempt to do a small talk

"Hi, my name is Jay. I am glad to be your music partner..... It'll be fun." Jay realised how bad and stupid the sentence sounded only after speaking it. An awkward silence followed.

"The canteen guy right? I am Rhyme. Nice to meet you." What the heck? This became awkward for Rhyme too.

"So, shall we start the practice? You go first."

Rhyme picked up the guitar and soon realised that it wasn't as light as she thought. Jay just saw her struggling with the guitar and let out a little giggle.

He then approached her from the back and leaned in to bring his mouth near to her ear. He then slowly whispered in her ear, "You should just ask for help if you cannot do it on you own. Am I so handsome that you feel awkward to talk to me?" he said, with a sexy smile. It was very rare to see even a smile on his face.

Rhyme got flustered and her face became as red as a tomato. She froze on the spot by this sudden action of Jay and her mind stopped working.

Jay then leaned in even more and held the guitar in his hands with Rhyme practically sandwiched in between him and the guitar.

Rhyme's heartbeat started increasing at an exponential rate and she could even feel his breath near her neck.

Jay then craned his neck to take a look at the guitar. He then took both of Rhyme's hands one by one and gently held the guitar with her hands. (so basically, guitar was in Rhyme's hands and Jay held Rhyme's hands)

Jay then started playing the tune of his favourite song, Summer of '69, and Rhyme was shocked to hear the beautiful melody. It was magical.

Rhyme chose to revisit the day she first met Jay, as she had never been so smitten in love with someone like she was on that day. It was the day when she first experienced the feelings of love and attraction towards someone.