Nothing But Love by Swapnil Patil (summer reading list .TXT) 📕

smile instead. Shriya was befuddled. Confused, she entered the classroom. Arjun placed his bag pack on the floor and vacated the seat next to him for her, but she didn’t happen to notice. Instead, she appeared to be searching for a seat in the first row. She threw a glance and was delighted to locate an empty seat on the very last bench. To add to her glee, Jai had taken the seat adjacent to the vacant one. She quickly covered the distance, claimed the vacant spot, kept her sack down and smiled at him. He gave her a ‘whatever’ look, that Arjun happened to notice from exactly the opposite corner of the classroom but she couldn’t recognize even though she sat next to him.

The electric bell riveted to the wall outside the classroom rang and there were smiles all over. Arjun breathed a sigh of relief. He had spent the entire day sitting alone, wondering why she had preferred sitting beside Jai. Being completely lost in his thoughts, he was the last person to leave the classroom. He saw Akanksha and Shriya waiting for him in the corridor. Akanksha saw him coming and smiled at him. He smiled back.

“Why” she asked Shriya, “would you sit alongside Jai?”

“Is sitting beside Jai such a big deal?” Shriya asked back in a high pitch.

“You sit with Arjun every day, don’t you? Akanksha made sure her pitch was higher than that of her bestie. “And besides, he saved a place for you. What’s up with you?”

“It’s okay Anna,” Arjun said, calming her down, “not a big deal!”

“That’s what. What difference does it make?” Shriya asked, confused.

“Shriya?” asked Akanksha, “Do you like that guy?” She was more angry than curious.

“I don’t know! I mean, he does look cute to be honest. And he has that special something. But—” Arjun had already stopped listening. He was too busy mending the first crack on his soon-to-be-broken heart.

 

***

 

“Arjun?” her sweet, childlike voice sanctified his ears through the telephone speaker. The night had fallen. It was ten past ten, which meant it was time for their daily phone call— time for Shriya to call him up. It was like some unwritten tradition of theirs. The only time the phone call would not happen was when the two of them were together.

“Hey!” he said, trying to sound cheerful, “you’re late.”

“I know, I know” she said in a voice that sounded a little blue, “listen up, I wanted to ask you something important”

“Yeah?” he said, nervous.

“You hate Jai?” she asked, and bit her lip. She corrected it instantaneously saying, “I mean, you too hate Jai?”

“Hate? I don’t know” he said. “I mean I hardly know him. The guy joined our school just weeks ago.” He- hated Jai like no one else did.

“I mean the way Anna reacted in the morning,” she said in a shaky voice, “I thought you hate him too”

“Does that even matter?” he asked casually

“Of course it does, Arjun. Yes of course!” she cried. “If you don’t like him, I won’t talk to him, ever. I swear! Ever”

“And if you like him,” he said as he gulped the truth down his throat, “I can never hate him.” She smiled.

“Pumpkin Pie,” she hushed softly. She called him Pumpkin Pie for she thought he was equally sweet. “Okay, quickly tell me the schedule for tomorrow then”

“Organic Chemistry, Literature, Biology, Calculus, and Domino’s after school” he summed it up.

“Copy that, captain!” she shot back, straightaway.

“And don’t forget, in the evening we have to accompany Anna to shopping too. She’ll go nuts if we don’t. You, to be precise, not ‘we!’”

“Yeah-Yeah. I get that” she sighed. “Should I hang up then?”

“Yeah” he said clearing his throat, “Good night Shriya!”

“Arjun?”

“Shriya?”

“Is there,” she whispered, “something else you want to say?”

“No?” he was bewildered as always.

“Okay then!” she said quickly, “See you tomorrow. Good night!”

 

***

 

“Where’s Shriya?” Akanksha asked him, as they exited the classroom together. Arjun looked around and then looked down at his feet as he suddenly remembered something. “I won’t be attending the classes tomorrow,” she’d told him on the phone the other night. “Got some important work” she’d reasoned. It had been two weeks since that incident and things hadn’t improved at all. In fact, they had worsened. Shriya was now hanging out more with Jai, ‘totally smitten by him’ as Akanksha would describe it.

They entered the cafeteria and walked up to the counter. He ordered a Decaf Mocha while she waited for him at the table─ a table that was─ by all accounts─ reserved for “the three musketeers” as everyone called them, one amongst whom, was missing, until her chain of thoughts broke and she saw her third musketeer─ Shriya─ sit at another table with Jai. She had a toast sandwich in her hand, and so did Jai. Akanksha looked at her in disbelief while Arjun, who had now returned to their table, just stood there, devoid of expressions.

“She hates sandwiches!” Akanksha finally let it out. “What is she even doing with one? Analysing why she hates them?” She seemed quite disgusted at the sight of Shriya having a sandwich in her hand.

“Well,” he said with the coffee cup in his hand tilting to a side, “people change Anna. For the good!” he smiled at her─ a forced one, one that had some sort of grief woven around it. She gave him an I-know-what-you’re-doing-there look. After what seemed an eternity, Shriya spotted them, asked Jai to excuse her, and joined them at their table. She understood from Akanksha’s looks that they were quite mad at her.

“What’s wrong with you guys?” she asked, puzzled.

“What’s wrong with us?” Akanksha sprang up with a counter-question. “What’s wrong with you? Bunking lectures for Jai? Lying to us? And Sandwiches?” she was furious.

“Calm down sweetie! Will you?” Shriya placed her hand on hers. “Jai is a good guy, you know. He’s new at school, plays soccer and has invited me for a game today.” Anna and Arjun looked at each other in disappointment. The three of them always left school together, and now that final exams and holidays and drifting apart were just a few weeks away, the need for it was highlighted. “Look, Arjun, I know it’s Friday and you have to run your errands, but I really don’t want to miss the game. So, I suggest you guys leave. I’ll leave after the game. You guys don’t need to worry about me, you know,” she assured. “I’m a big girl!”

“Yeah” Akanksha said looking at her, “I hope the last line was true.”

“We’ll wait” Arjun hopped in. “You finish up your game.”

“Really? Wowie! I so love you guys! Hey why don’t you both join the game too?” Shriya offered. “Come on. It’ll be fun. What say?”

 

***

 

It was time for the game. Arjun and Akanksha had decided not to play, and to wait for Shriya instead. Jai suggested it would be better if they had a little warm-up and executed a bicycle kick during the practice which Shriya seemed to have relished completely. The game kicked off finally.

“What an asshole!” Akanksha said, eyes fixed on Jai, as she and Arjun watched the game from the bench.

“You’re not supposed to say that Anna” Jai smiled at her.

“Say what? Asshole?” She seemed utterly agitated. “Just look at him. Showing off his bicycle kick to impress a girl? He thinks his skills are clinical? Who is he? Wayne Rooney?” she sighed. “What’s wrong with our musketeer though? She knows more about soccer than he would ever know, and just look at her! Pretending like it’s an absolutely first-hand territory. You know what I think? I─”

“ARJUN!!!” Shriya screamed as she had a fall. One of the opponents had given her a brisk push to dispossess her and she tumbled over a stone, as her foot started shedding blood. Arjun and Akanksha ran towards her as she sat there, holding her right foot, unable to stop both the blood that gushed out of her foot and the tears that flooded her eyes. As soon as they reached, Akanksha started wiping her tears while Arjun lowered her stocking, having a look at the foot that was hit and pressed his palm firmly on the bruise, and the two of them started consoling her. Shriya had always had this habit to be pampered. Since she had been raised by her mother alone, thanks to her parents’ divorce, she was a mollycoddled kid. Akanksha and Arjun too─ since they knew it─ were always protective of her.

“These things happen. But crying on such silly things? Jai snorted. “I like strong girls you know” he told to his friend who stood nearby, “babied girls are such a No!”

Anna looked at him with a ‘you-asshole’ look while Arjun was furious. “Hey! Look─” he said as Shriya shook Arjun’s hand away, tied her kerchief over the bleeding foot and stood up. Arjun couldn’t believe her as she decided to continue with the game.

 

***

 

“Heya!” he heard her voice through the telephone. He looked at the clock that hung on the wall nearby and found out it was just half past nine. “What you doing?”

“Not much” he answered, “Just done with dinner.”

“Are you mad at me Arjun?” Shriya’s voice sounded like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

“Uh-No” he mumbled. “Why would I be mad at you?” he countered quickly.

“Because after the game, neither Anna nor you listened to what I wanted to tell you both. You guys were quiet all the way to home, dropped me off and then left in a hurry.” After the game, she had tried telling them about the perfection and precision of Jai’s soccer skills, but Arjun and Akanksha turned a deaf ear to her. They were just too furious to even react. “Won’t you listen to me Jai?” Shriya asked him back, each and every word layered with innocence. And he couldn’t say no. He never could.

 

***

 

He looked around. ‘Style Perk’ was a poky, confined store that provided excessive diversities of clothing for women and was easy on the pocket. As a result, it was always jam-packed. The AC tried its best to pump conditioned air through the numerous dresses hung one after the other, in vain. There were open shelves that were accorded specific varieties of apparels. The store was so modest when it came to space that it wasn’t possible for more than two people to stand in between two adjacent shelves.

Arjun took a seat next to the one-piece shelf as Shriya browsed through the outfits. She had called him up and asked him if he could accompany her to shopping, and there he was. What was strange was that Akanksha had apparently declined the offer as she had some important work. It was obviously strange, because Akanksha was a shopaholic, had the best choice when it came to clothing, and the three of them always shopped together. Always, he thought. Always, until now.

After looking through the same collection thrice, and staring at a handful of them for some time, she pulled out a couple of them and turned to face Arjun. “Which one?” she asked him, holding a strapless, purple one-piece in her left hand and a white, full-sleeved wear in her right hand.

“The white one looks better” he responded, “to be honest.”

“You think?” she asked, now having a look at both the outfits.

“Well, the purple one might seem better, when it comes to colour, but” he gulped, “the white one looks really rich, you know.”

“Okay then” she concluded cheerfully, “the white one it is!” He waited for her outside, at the entrance of Style Perk, while she paid the bills. A couple of girls offered him a what-the-hell-is-a-guy-doing-here looks as he just kept looking at his feet, red-faced. “Thanks for coming yaa!” she patted his back as she exited the store.

“You say that every time, Shriyu!” he said, making a poker face. “Well, anyway, I was thinking if, you know, have a coffee or something?”

“Oh!” she exclaimed, her pitch descending, “Actually, I can’t. I have this really