Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Anki’s next meeting with Punit was, well... awkward. The very sight of him reminded her of all the rubbish that was floating around the school, which she bet he’d already heard of. She only hoped that she hadn’t done anything that made her look like a desperate lovesick looney to him. What if he really thought that I was so desperately crushing on him, bad enough to convince him to belt out a love song for me? Eww! Cringe factor, 100%!

As for Punit, he’d heard it too, and he wondered what her take could be. In fact, some boys and even the girls had already interrogated him, and he’d smoothly denied any such thing. But, coming to think of it, he already had a crush on her, he only wished that she never got a hint of it because what if she never felt the same? That could end their friendship, and he really didn’t want that. Things were going really well as of now.

He noticed that Anki too wasn’t herself today. He could feel the pronounced distance between them. She spoke only a handful of words and avoided his gaze as much as she could, and that worried him. He feared that she did indeed believe in all the gossips and felt uncomfortable with him.

Is everything okay, he was beginning to ask, but before he could, she made her move.

“I bet you heard things floating around,” she said out of the blue.

“Like what?” He asked after a brief pause.

“Like there’s stuff going on between us?” She paused to note the look on his face, whether he had any clue about it, and if he felt awkward about it. “I want you to know that it’s all rubbish. We’re good friends and that’s it. I never had any wrong intentions. I only chose that song because... because it’s a great song, and not because I wanted to satisfy some of my wild fantasies like these people are saying. I love your voice. I mean, you’ve got a great voice. And as a musician, I can’t let that go to waste, you know what I mean?” She said the whole thing in a breath or two.

Punit blinked. His heart sank to rock bottom. Everything was going so well in between them that he did fancy something... well, forget it. In a way, it felt nice (not really) to have the truth broken to him sooner.

Ankita turned pale, wondering what had got to him. “Punit?” she called softly. She felt foolish and wished that she’d first found out whether he even knew about this fiasco in the first place before blurting out like an idiot.

“Huh?” He blinked as he struggled to shake off the crushing feeling in his chest and gather what she really said. “Uhm, y-y-yeah...” He squeezed it out with massive effort. “I-I get it, I get what you mean,” he added.

She watched him intently, her cheeks slowly turning red. “Did you know about all this, or...?”

“Yeah, I... did,” he shrugged, sounding rather uncomfortable.

“And?” She probed quietly.

“And what? Like you said, tish-tosh. Rubbish. Hah!” He chuckled while his heart slowly rotted in his chest.

She chuckled too. “Thank God, I was worried. I thought that you might have thought otherwise.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. People were saying the weirdest of things. Whatever!”

And they discussed all the rumors as if it were a joke. Punit thanked the heavens under his breath. At least, their friendship didn’t go for a toss. He made up his mind to bury the strange feelings that brewed over the weeks for her, to just move on as friends.

***

A year went by, and they grew closer than ever. One evening after school, Punit invited Anki over to his house. He had to force her rather. Being an introvert, meeting new people just wasn’t her thing.

His parents looked strict and much older than their age that at first sight, she thought they were his grandparents. Later on, she learned that Punit was a child they were blessed with quite too late, more like two decades after their marriage.

Anyhow, they were very kind and extremely courteous. They made her feel at home and stuffed her with a lot of tea and snacks.

When Punit’s turn came to visit Anki’s house, his knees were knocking together. He really feared her dad, Mr. Ratan, and he had no clue why. Maybe because of the glare he gave people through those rimless spectacles. He also looked too strict. Whenever he spoke, it sounded like a war general’s instruction.

Her mother, however, was really sweet. Just like his parents, she too stuffed him with his favorite cappuccino, coleslaw, and sandwiches.

They started visiting each other quite often and learned a thing or two about each other. For instance, Ankita had a thing for soft toys, animal figurines, and tall, hot men with sexy beards. Her bedroom wall had a poster or two of celebrities like Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan.

She also had a cute Labrador puppy named Vijay. He was really naughty and drooled all over Punit.

Punit, however, had dainty things like dry flower arrangements, pastel-colored bedsheets, and a steel-stringed acoustic guitar on the wall which he had no clue how to play. His walls and room, unlike Anki’s, were clean. Not even a single poster littered the wall, and his room was extra tidy and well-organized.

Ankita really liked his guitar and offered to teach him how to play it. His joy knew no bounds. After all, they were going to do a LOT of performances together, going forth.

***

Around four years passed by. Punit and Anki were in the 10th grade by now. They were classmates and were never seen without each other.

Punit had grown much attractive, taller, and lankier, whereas Anki too had shot up in height compared to the other girls. Though pretty, she preferred to dress simple, unlike the other girls who tried to flaunt it at every chance they got.

Also, thanks to Anki and her sidekicks (which included other girls and boys), Sibal and his cronies never dared to get too close to Punit all these years. However, this morning, was different.

On his way back from the washroom, Punit found himself cornered by Sibal and his cronies.

“Hello princess, long time no see,” Sibal drawled and leaned onto the wall.

Punit panicked and struggled to stand rooted. Besides Sibal, there were five of them. He was in a way bigger, or at least equivalent to those guys in height, but there was no way he could fight all of them.

“Where’s your girlfriend?” he straightened up and slowly approached Punit with his beefy hands in his pockets.

Punit took a few steps back.

“How come you’re alone today? Huh?” he faked sympathy.

“She’s been with Mr. Beardo since morning,” said one of his cronies. ‘Beardo’ was how they disrespectfully addressed their music instructor Mr. Andrews. As it implies, he had a thick beard.

“Oh, I see! I should have known! You must be really brave, you actually dared to go to the loo without her.”

The others laughed, boosting Sibal’s sick pride.

Meanwhile, Punit’s eyes darted around, looking for a gap to escape.

The bell announcing the end of the mid-morning break rang and he knew that he was in trouble.

***