Soup Splash

Three boys entered the noisy school cafeteria making a bizarre conversation which would stupefy if ordinary people heard them.

"What's the cube of 13?"

"2197"

"Fourth power of 8."

"4096"

"Jatin, is it right?" Bhadra asked as he was orally making up questions, while Aditya would answer them and Jatin would check the answers.

"wait, am searching the button in the calculator for powers and exponents" Jatin scratched his head as he fiddled with his silver iPhone 7 which was released two months back.

"…."

Aditya was relieved when he got a break. These two duffers regarded him as an entertainment tool, asking all sorts of silly questions. They were not bothered by the fact that this was 'not' normal. Instead, they were enthusiastically exploring his capabilities.

Although Aditya got vexed with their questions, on the other hand, he felt assured when he saw his friends not 'alienate' him as he feared. Even though he had faith in his friends, he couldn't stop worrying about the minute possibility of them treating him like a freak. If he genuinely was pushed away by his friends, Aditya's misery would only increase with his parents already missing.

As Aditya knew that he wasn't the guy who could be happy being a 'loner', he liked being with his close ones. He felt his life would become incredibly scary if at all his friends left him while he was already feeling down about with his 'missing' parents and 'dream' rejection of his first love.

" Calculate the square root of 18547."

Aditya rolled his eyes. He swiped his student Id card, which also worked as a meal card as he picked up trays and food plates while handing them over to Bhadra and Jatin and answered, "136.187370927."

The international school Aditya studied in was Stone Mountain International School which was one of the best international schools in India. After Bangalore city transformed into the 'Silicon Valley' and 'Electronics Hub' of India, many expats had settled in this fastest growing city in Asia, giving rise to increasing demand for schools teaching an International curriculum.

In Aditya's school itself, students from over 30 countries studied together. The curriculum was broad and flexible. It gave many options for students to choose from, unlike the curriculum of the Central Board, which was more like a standard scale, inflexible. Aditya had studied Central board curriculum until 10th grade. Hence he was familiar with both educational modules.

If there was one thing he liked very much in this school, it was the food. Just imagine the diversity of food cuisines prepared to satisfy the various students from different countries. You could get anything ranging from Greek salad to Penne, from pesto sauce to fish tikka, from rigatoni to idli dosa.

The chefs were employed from five-star hotels, and the menu was discussed by a group containing representatives from students, parents, teacher, management aside from nutritionist.

The school was built on a spacious area of 34 acres and had a pleasant environment created by artificial landscapes, and small ponds, birds like Indian spot-billed ducks could be seen swimming in those ponds. It was around 15 km from the Bangalore international airport making it comfortable for those international students. As it was away from the bustling city, the environment was more clean and refreshing than in the city.

Aditya was not in the mood to appreciate food these days, so he put some of this and that and went over to an empty cafeteria table and sat, while Bhadra and Jatin were still busy selecting their food.

"Aditya you try this Korean chicken soup jujube something, its good," Bhadra said as he pushed an extra bowl of soup towards Aditya. Aditya tasted it, it was mildly sweet, tasted like dates to him, the chicken pieces were tender, and soup felt nourishing.

Aditya was about to praise the food when Bhadra gave him Jatin's phone on which he saw "1567383748948 / 4745634783". Bhadra had his phone displaying the answer so that he could check immediately.

What cracked up Aditya, even when he was irritated, was that these idiots had typed those numbers in the calculator application itself. Aditya pressed the '=' symbol, and the answer was displayed, Aditya tried to keep a straight face as he repeated the answer. Seeing excited faces of his friends, Aditya stifled his laughter as he gave the phone back and pretended to concentrate on eating.

The other thing Aditya appreciated in this school was the exposure he had to students from various countries. He had friends from people from Dubai, South Korea, China, Australia, Nepal, Philippines. He enjoyed knowing them and their cultures.

At first, it was difficult for him to distinguish among East Asian people (which even included people from Northeast India), but as he got accustomed to them while he was learning Mandarin classes, it became easy for him quickly. Afterwards, he heard that East Asians felt the same facing Indians also, which amused him.

As Aditya watched his juniors, causing a ruckus, cheering, talking loudly, he was able to forget his problems temporarily. The cafeteria had an extended bakery where students who were interested in baking could obtain permission from the school authorities to work in the bakery. Some girl students were distributing cookies they made to all students.

A cute east Asian girl who looked a few years younger than Aditya offered cookies to him and his friends. Aditya smiled and thanked her as he took one cookie for each of them. The cute girl shyly lowered her head when she saw Aditya smiling and walked away quickly. Her cheeks had become flushed as she rushed back to the baking station.

When Aditya was about to continue eating, he heard a loud clank sound from the direction the cute girl had gone. When he turned his head in that direction, he saw that the girl had fallen, the cookies were scattered all over the shiny floor. The clanking sound came from the metal tray on which the cookies were kept. It was still rolling slowly and making sounds.

A tall boy was standing in front of the girl with an angry scowl on his face. He stared at his jersey and shorts which had crumbled bits of cookies stuck on them now. This boy was Karan, who was the son of the administrative dean of the school. Usually, Karan would hang out at the basketball court or enjoy the nightlife in Bangalore city. He was in the same class as Aditya.

Karan attended classes at his leisure. It is said that his father had deep ties with the corporate group, which owns the maximum share in this International school. So, even the principal had to think twice before taking action against Karan for his poor attendance.

He usually wouldn't come to the cafeteria as he looked down on the menu. It was rare to see him here. Jatin looked at this situation and sighed as he went back to his phone. He was sure that the east Asian girl had bad luck today and couldn't escape bullying. Though he also knew Karan could not go too far here. Jatin did not have any mood in watching this scene.

Karan was not in his best mood these days. His father had gotten angry that he had spent a ₹ 75 lakh (100,000 $) last week. So his credit cards were presently blocked. Otherwise, why would he have to come to this shitty cafeteria? Of course, you have to spend some good money if you have to fuck a film actress. It's even a little cheap considering she was an actress working in small regional films. If he had to do the same thing with a Bollywood actress, God knows how many times the expenditure would be. As if his father did no such things.

But if there was one thing Karan liked about this school, it was its diversity. You could get East Asian girls, Arab girls, White Caucasian girls and Black girls.

Though usually, all these girls had strong backgrounds, the innocent mentality they had was enough for him to trap them. So he was looking forward to some fishing today. He was confident in his tall stature and charming personality.

Thump Thump Thump….

Another tall guy, who had excessive acne on his face, came forward while bouncing a basketball. He sneered, "you do know whose clothes you just defiled, it's big brother Karan's. Big Brother Karan is not in a good mood today. So you should do something to please him and ask him for his forgiveness. Otherwise, your credit score might end up being the last in the class."

The girl's face turned white with fright as she heard these threats and could not muster up enough strength to stand up. Aditya sighed as he looked at this scene, where ever you go, there are always this kind of people who bully other people by relying on powerful connections. Though Karan was the same class as Aditya, they did not interact much. Even if they crossed each other, their worlds didn't intersect.

Aditya knew that acne guy was bull shitting about credit scores. These tricks may work when you are in a regular school. But if any expat children were subjected to such maltreatment, it would be a diplomatic nightmare. But it was a pity that cute girl did not know or was too frightened to think about all these.

Karan looked at his messed up jersey and back at the girl who did not get up yet. He gave an icy smile as he said, "what's your name?"

"….."

"Didn't you hear me?" there was a change in his tone, which further increased her fright. In the end, she managed to utter," Yu Yan."

"Yu Yan, nice-sounding name though I don't understand what it means, are you part of Middle Years Program?"

Yu Yan nodded shakily. She had heard many frightening rumours from her friends about Karan, which did not help her condition at all.

"Okay, so I have two conditions for you. One, you have to dust off those cookie pieces off my jersey and shorts with your hands. And, two, you have to kiss me as an apology." Karan lightly smiled as if the demands he made were very generous.

Yu Yan's eyes started becoming red, and tears were threatening to fall at any moment. Though it seemed like a lot of time had passed, it all happened in a matter of a few seconds. The teachers usually had lunch in a separate area. The coordinators, who were present, did not have the guts to prevent Karan. As long as Karan did not cross some limits, they wouldn't step in. Karan's father was the one who paid their salaries at the end of the month. Though, Aditya was a little surprised that at the delay of arrival of the teacher who is in charge of today's cafeteria order.

"Karan, enough of this." Aditya walked towards as he helped Yu Yan to her feet and smiled as he asked her, "Are you hurt?"

Yu Yan felt that the earth had started spinning in the opposite direction. She suddenly felt safe and secure and that nothing was going to happen to her. Yu Yan was still in a daze as she stood up by holding Aditya's hand.

Yu Yan's pale white face was becoming more scarlet by the second as she hid behind Aditya's back. She did that to avoid facing Karan and also to prevent Aditya from seeing her red apple-like face. Bhadra who was standing behind a little saw this with a twinkle in his eyes.

Aditya attributed her silence to her fright. After confirming that she was all right, he turned to look at the twisted face of Karan. Karan knew that Aditya and Bhadra's gang was something he viewed as an equal. So he dared not cause trouble for him. He could only let this pass by.

He sneered, "Aditya I heard that you are sleeping 14 hrs a day. Is it because you have too many wet dreams that you are getting tired and have to sleep more to recuperate?"

Aditya just gave a small smile. He knew that Karan was venting his dissatisfaction. Aditya did not mind taking one or two insults.

When Karan saw that he could not get Aditya riled up, he found that not only has his anger disappeared but increased.

Karan looked around and saw two girls coming into the cafeteria. His eyes shined as he walked near to Aditya. He whispered so that only Aditya and people behind him could hear, "I heard that there was a heavenly beauty in our class called Anupama whom you pursue. Maybe I should also pursue her, and sweet talk her about marrying her and then sleep with her. I think she would be wonderful on the bed. You know, the girls who are usually cold outside usually possess the fiercest hearts. Then maybe I could even give you a chance to bed her before chucking her aside. What do you say?"

Aditya's fists had already clenched tightly and were shaking. He forcefully suppressed his urge to crush Karan's balls so that Karan would not have to chance to think about sleeping with any girl ever again.

Even though Aditya had given up on his pursuit, it didn't mean he would accept dirty talk about Anupama. Even now, she occupied a soft place in his heart.

Yu Yan, who had heard the words of Karan, looked with concern at Aditya. One could also see some disappointment in her eyes when Karan had mentioned about Aditya pursuing Anupama.

Anupama and Kavya had just entered the cafeteria and went towards the serving stations like they didn't notice Aditya. Kavya was signalling towards Bhadra, her boyfriend, with her eyes but Bhadra was more focused on Aditya right now. Bhadra, though didn't hear the words of Karan in its entirety, he got the gist of it. There were six people besides Karan, so Bhadra was preparing to join the fray if Aditya got into a fight with Karan.

Karan saw the red eyes of Aditya and his shaking hands as he laughed triumphantly. He walked by the side of Aditya, deliberately brushing against his shoulder. Karan sat in a vacant chair as that acne guy brought a big bowl of a hot steaming Korean chicken soup for Karan, with a flattering smile on his face.

Karan who was in a good mood right now drank the soup with gusto, but then he heard the most face slapping words he had ever heard in his life,

"I heard that the actress, whom you had slept with last week, has herpes. She had come for treatment at Jatin's father's hospital. It is good if you have used a condom. Otherwise, get yourself checked before bedding another girl. Or else, some poor girl has to suffer because of your negligence."

Jatin, who was drinking pomegranate juice while texting, choked suddenly on his juice when he heard Aditya's words.

Jatin thought, 'This fellow leaked this news, doesn't he know that the said actress had signed a confidentiality agreement with the hospital. If she moved the court, a piece of meat would be torn from my father's company to pay the penalty, not that I care about it.'

Bhadra was holding his stomach as he bent down laughing, he was sure of one thing today, the chances of Karan bedding a girl from this school has just dived to 0%.

The soup spoon suspended in mid-air stopped when Karan heard these words. His eyes reddened with fury as he slowly turned towards the acne guy, who was also standing there, dumbfounded at Aditya's words.

Even the acne guy did not know what to do. When he saw Karan looking towards him, he knew he had to act now. He had to help Karan to gain some reputation back, even if he got himself suspended for some days.

He raised his hand which held the basketball and shot it at Aditya's head with his full force. Though a basketball could not cause much damage to the body, a concussion was possible if it hit your head.

The ball shot towards Aditya who was unaware of the danger. Bhadra was not able to react in time, and Yu Yan let out a shrill cry as she saw that the ball was about to hit Aditya.

Anupama who had been pretending not to care felt her heart stop as she saw the ball move towards Aditya at top speed. The other five guys also dived towards Aditya to get one or two hits in to flatter Karan.

Aditya looked like he saw the ball from the corner of eyes and raised his arms to protect his head. The ball bounced off his knuckles at the last moment. All the people concerned with Aditya let out a breath of relief.

It was only Jatin who continued to look at the basketball movement which was deflected by Aditya, the ball shot towards the wall of the cafeteria and then bounced back at a different angle.

After a few microseconds, a splash sound was heard accompanied by a pitiful cry of a male. It was only Jatin who saw what happened.

The basketball, which bounced off the wall, landed accurately on the corner of the large bowl filled with hot steaming soup. Karan was drinking from that bowl. Karan could not see the ball as it came from Karan's blind angle. The hot soup splashed on Karan's face while he was caught off-guard.

He immediately whipped his head towards Aditya, who had a small winning smile on his face. This smile disappeared quickly afterwards. Does calculation super ability also involve calculating trajectories of moving objects?