The Abandoned Office

By Mohammed Ahmed

Summer of 2018, WaktStal, Himachal Pradesh, India.

“Here’s the last box!” A worker said with a grunt as he handed a heavy box to another worker to be kept in a van.

“Phew! The heat hasn’t gone much done even though its night time. Guess we’ll have to face a harsh summer this year, don’t you think, Samay?” The worker asked as he wiped the sweat of his face with a dirty cloth.

“Yeah… I guess.” Samay replied unenthusiastically as he finished shutting the shutter of a truck. The worker scratched his head disappointed with that reply. He kept his gaze on the 5’9 tall man with dishevelled hair and unkempt scruffy beard. The only thing which looked clean about him was his worker clothes making his appearance a stark contrast to the other workers. Ignoring it, he called for the other workers in the warehouse to move on with the work.

“The consignment this time around feels quite important. They’re making us work extra shifts for quite a while.” A supervisor asked.

“This might continue for a while now; these new shoes are very much in demand. I am guessing…”

As the workers began to chatter among themselves while carrying on the work, Samay took a glance at the supervisor’s sheet and noticed that the consignment contained shoes of one of the most popular brands in the country.

After a few more hours of work, Samay finished his long shift, got changed into his casual clothes and returned home. Returning to his small apartment in a worn-down building Samay flicked his shoes off his feet in the one room apartment as he slumped back on his couch kept in the middle.

The apartment was poorly maintained with paint peeling off here and there, shabby wardrobe, floor littered with papers, plastics, empty bottles of alcohol. Opposite to the couch was a small television screen. A small table stood in between the couch and T.V.

He switched the T.V. on and began unwrapping the burger he got from a nearby fast food on his way back.

Not much later just as he was about to drift to sleep while watching the T.V. his phone began ringing with messages. Feeling irritated by the noise he reached for the phone on the small table in front of him. Just as he was about to put it on silent, he read one of the messages…

“2018 Alumni event, St. Michael’s Boarding High School!! Every alumnus is invited…”

…

“Yeah… no, I’ll be returning tomorrow night. It’s roughly a bit over a 5-hour journey to Pune, mom.” Sanjana said as she arranged her clothes in a bag.

“What do mean if something’s wrong? I just don’t feel like working here anymore- Friend? I told you I am completely fine with living alone- I have friends okay! No- I…”

Feeling that this was going nowhere Sanjana decided to hang up quickly. “I still have to wrap up some things around here, I’ll call you back! Bye!” Sanjana said as he ended the call and fell back on her bed with a sigh. After laying on her back staring at the ceiling in silence she abruptly got up, wanting to wrap up her work. She looked ahead in front of the large mirror placed besides her study table.

She was dressed in loose white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. She took a deep breath as she tucked her hair behind her ears letting her pretty but glum face show. She tied her hair in a pony tail determined to finish up today.

Regaining her will to get out of this town she resumed packing her stuff. But not even whole ten minutes into it. Her phone began to ring with messages. Irritated she grunted thinking that her mom was now nagging her with messages. She decided to put her phone on silent as she quickly reached for it on the bed. That’s when she noticed it too.

“2018 Alumni event, St. Michael’s Boarding High School!! Every alumnus is invited…”

‘This…’ Her thoughts walked back down memory lane remembering about this place. One person in particular. She quickly walked to the small wardrobe beside her bed and pulled out the second drawer. Inside was kept a single thing. A golden feather bookmark with a silver chain covered in a plastic. It looked very exquisite and sophisticated.

Sanjana picked it up and observed it closely. It reminded her of a certain someone. Someone whom she couldn’t help but remember each time she used this bookmark.

‘Right… Since I’m leaving everything behind, this should go too…’

The next evening Sanjana drove to her old school, St. Michael’s Boarding High School around 7:30 p.m. Half an hour earlier before the event started. Yet people had still started coming in, excited to see long forgotten faces and places. To experience the nostalgia again.

But Sanjana wasn’t here for that. As she got out of her car, she looked at the large gate towering in front of her and through its bars, the school’s campus behind. It was a sight to behold. She quickly walked showing her invitation to the security guards at the gate. Not much had changed from what she remembered as she strolled deeper inside the school campus.

There were a few gazes on her from the people who had arrived and had already started to socialize. But the glances didn’t linger for more than a few seconds. Sanjana on the other hand didn’t bother to recognize anyone as she hardly ever remembered anyone and neither did, she expected anyone to remember her.

Recollecting her memories about the in and arounds of the school, she made her way to the auditorium which was a separate building from the main school building. The football field was adjoining to it. As she made her way through the field towards the auditorium the sounds of grasshoppers entered her ears while the temperature got lower. It eased the summer heat.

Crossing the field and walking on the pavement she entered through the gates of the fences built around the large building. Instead of entering through the main door she walked around to reach the back door. It opened near the last rows of the hall and completely opposite to the stage. The back door was usually unlocked and the janitor locked it late at night after sweeping the area. Small lights attached at the ceiling were on covering the hall with some light making it possible to walk through the rows and rows of red chairs.

The quiet made the whole place seem haunted. The silence was almost deafening. Sanjana though associated with such an atmosphere still wanted to get things done with it. She began walking towards the stage. The sound of her quick footsteps reverberated like chaotic music throughout the hall.

Once upon reaching the stage, she found an opening at the corner for the backstage. After looking around for a short while she found the stairs which went down to the changing rooms. Once she descended them, there were doors on either side of the narrow corridor. Sanjana had to use her phone’s flashlight to descend safely and afterwards looked for switch board. With luck she found it and switched on the bulb hanging from ceiling.

Sanjana continued walking not entering in either of the rooms but instead went to the far end of the corridor with a single door. It was an extension which opened to a set of stairs that led to a small office room. During her time here it was never really used by anyone and no one bothered much to clean it up.

She followed the stairs to the storage room and opened the heavy door made of oak wood. It made a loud creaking noise which made her heart drop due to the sudden noise. Releasing a heavy sigh and calming herself down she entered the room. She flashed her phone light around to find the switch board until she did and turned the lights on. There were several cartons arranged here and there, two shelves of books lined in front of each other, rags and dusty old carpets. There were windows on the wall but nothing could be seen on the other side due to the heavy dust settled on them.

The room was such that it had another door on the far end that directly opened to the forest behind the auditorium. Sanjana wondered what was architecture planning with having such a room. As far as she knew when the auditorium was first made the head of the dramatics society would use this as their office. But it seemed not anymore.

Sanjana shook her head as if to clear unnecessary thoughts and removed the feather bookmark from her pocket. She walked up to one of the bookshelves and read up and down their titles randomly until she stopped at one.

‘Can’t believe it’s still here…’

She removed a big heavy book from one of the shelves and opened to one of the pages randomly before placing the feather bookmark in between.

‘I wonder why I hanged on to this for so long… I suppose I am a rather lonely person with no friends, just like you.’

Sanjana didn’t linger for longer as she quickly exited auditorium. On her way back, outside the main building’s garden she noticed some sort of a commotion. She saw a man dressed in a shabby looking brown blazer and black jeans walking up to a group of four people with two being women and other two men.

“Yo! Missed me much? My friends!” Samay asked loudly as he walked up to his old friends from schools. But ‘friends’ was a rather misleading word for what was about to take place.

Every single person in the group had either awkward expressions or a foul one. One of them stepped forward.

“Hey, Samay… it’s been a whi—

Before the person could complete his sentence, he received a slap on his face. Everyone in from the group including the onlookers gasped at the situation.

“Hello Bobby! Ah this brings back memories, doesn’t it? Didn’t we used to slap each other like this back in the day?”

Suddenly the other man quickly grabbed Samay by the collar and held him back while the two ladies rushed to Bobby who had been slapped and seemed a bit wobbly.

“What are you doing Samay?!” The person grabbing him asked in a low and threatening tone.

“What? I was just saying hello, just like in the old- OH!” Samay tilted his head and looked at Bobby rubbing his cheek and made an expression of realization on his face. “Sorry I guess I forgot we slapped on the back, Oh but I guess you guys stabbed in the back?”

“Are you still on about that? Bobby was your best friend!! And yet—

“Leave him be, Ronak, he’s drunk.” Bobby said trying to calm Ronak down.

Ronak scowled at the smirk Samay had plastered on his face before he pushed him back.

“Woah… Easy there Ronak.” Samay said as he stumbled back.

“You’re going to let him talk to me like this Bobby? Juhi, Rachel What about you guys? How have you two been? Clearly busy enough to not even invite me on your weddings ha!” Samay blabbered influenced by the intoxication of alcohol as he again attempted to get close to them. But before the situation could escalate further, he had been stopped by guards and was escorted out of the school. Sanjana who had not even bothered to stay for a minute not interested in the scuffle.

“Fine! Fine! Let me go!” Samay fought as he broke free of the two guards hold.

“I’ll find my way from here.” He growled as he exited the school gates. But it hadn’t been much time since the guards had been hired by the school. They didn’t know the ins and outs like him who had spent 9 years of his life here.

Some half an hour later, the door connecting the office room to the forest near the auditorium opened as Samay walked in. It took him a while but he managed to get in by taking the forest route. Out of breath he took a seat on a nearby chair and removed his bottle of alcohol and began chugging down on it as if it was water to quench his thirst.

Grunting, he got up and tried to walk in the darkness. The moonlight coming in through the open door helped a bit but the aid was akin to nothing to the drunk man as he stumbled on his own foot and crashed into one of the shelves tumbling it down.

“AH… hahaha… huh…” He began groaning and laughing in pain as he tried to get up but was too intoxicated to do so. He tried to find some kind of support as his hand grabbed a book fallen from the shelf. Without any thought he lifted it up and tried to read what’s on written on it with the help of the moonlight.

He rubbed his eyes several times in hopes to read it but found it difficult to make out a single word. Unknowingly tears had started to roll down his face. He was angry and irritated. Not at the people who he called friends but rather on himself and his choices. Frustration gripped his heart as he lifted his head and banged it backwards several times before knocking his own lights out.

…

Monsoon of 2010, St. Michaels Boarding High School, Waktstal, Himachal Pradesh.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

It was just before lunch break for the students, when the sound of desks banging and someone singing could be heard in one of the 12th std’s classroom. One of the teachers, Mohit Khanna who was on his way to the staff room stopped in his tracks after hearing these noises. Even a few other teachers present in the staff room came out to take a look.

The sounds were originating from a classroom on the far end of the corridor. In the middle of the corridor towards the right were the stairs to the upper floors. As soon the teachers passed it, two people quickly walked down the stairs and walked in the opposite direction from the teachers, making their way towards the staff room.

Upon reaching the door, Mohit and the other teachers saw that the students in the class were apparently conducting their own orchestra while Samay Thakur, a notorious kid known for always getting into trouble was on the teacher’s podium, holding the duster as a mike and singing “Sheela ki Jawani”, a latest hit song from a Bollywood movie.

While Samay sung in his less than melodic voice, his best friend Bobby who was standing beside him was holding a broom and acted like he was playing an imaginary guitar using the broom. As for the rest of the class they were either singing along or dancing around.

Though the banter quickly died down as soon as the class saw who appeared at the door. It was their math teacher and he didn’t seem in the best of moods. Not to mention the other teachers behind him. Samay and Bobby unaware of their appearance facing the class noticed the direction of their gazes and turned.

“My name is Sheila… Shei- Mo-Mohit ki jawani... I- I mean…” Samay choked on his own words and almost said the last part aloud. Though the everyone else in the class heard it as they quickly turned their faces around or became extremely focused on the details of the floors and ceiling trying to control their laughter.

Bobby and Samay, the two gave each other side glances as Samay quickly gestured with his eyes towards the broom. Bobby quickly understanding what it meant placed the broom against the wall for it to rest and quickly stepped down from the podium along with Samay. Not even a few seconds later the broom fell. Bobby resumed to place it properly but failed again.

This scene made the students wanting to roll in laughter but they tried their best to stop it. A few chuckles escaped but it couldn’t be helped. By now Mohit was flaring with anger.

“Whose class is this right now? Who’s the teacher in charge? Where’s the—

“What’s happening here?”

Before Mohit could continue, Chirag, their economics teacher asked from behind the small gathering of the teachers.

“Do you have a class here now Chirag sir?” Mohit asked.

“Yes, why? What’s the matter?” Chirag asked as he entered the classroom.

“What took you so long Chirag sir? The students were making a banter.” One of the teachers asked.

“What? I was just on my way- wait… is this why you suddenly wanted to discuss Alfred Marshall’s theories all of a sudden today?!” Chirag said in a scolding manner as he turned around to look at a student. The student walked up inside the class, trying to feign ignorance. It was none other than Ronak.

About an hour later.

Samay walked out of the staff room rubbing his ears. His demeanour seemed rather heavy as if he was lectured quite badly. He felt as if ears had become numb from all the lecturing he just heard. Outside, Ronak and Bobby were waiting for him, having completed their share of scolding before him.

“So, how was it?” Ronak asked with a half joking smile.

“What do you think?” Samay rolled his eyes before continuing to walk towards their classroom. Ronak and Booby followed suit.

“He took some extra time for you though.” Ronak commented.

“Yup, precisely 20 minutes more than us two.” Bobby said smiling as he put his arm around Samay’s shoulder.

“It’s the same old… but this time around he went into my studies and academics and what not. He was rather serious this time around. Well, I guess he seemed disappointed too to be honest. It was quite awkward you know.” Samay said as he scratched the back of his head.

“Yeah, whatever as if you feel bad.” Ronak mocked while jokingly punching him.

Samay was silent for a moment before smiling from ear to ear breaking his character of trying to be sad.

Bobby signed helplessly while the other two chuckled. Their banter continued as they reached near the classroom. If one looked at them now, no one would be able to tell that this trio had just received quite a heavy scolding not long ago.

Before they reached their classroom, they took the stairs in the middle of the corridor and went up directly to the terrace. Upon reaching the terrace entrance Samay knocked on the door in a specific manner. As he did, the door to the terrace opened up.

Two girls greeted them with smiles as soon as the door opened. It was Juhi and Racheal the last two members of their notorious group.

“Took you guys long enough.” Juhi taunted while rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, as if you two were the ones who got publicly reprimanded in front of the whole staff room.” Bobby quickly gave back a response.

“Oi, the last time it was me, her and Samay who got caught for—

“Okay, okay, end it here.” Ronak said hurriedly trying to stop an argument from breaking out. It was rather common for their group to have them but now was not the time for one. Their goal at the moment was something else. Something for which they had just now suffered.

Racheal quickly went to a corner and removed a big school bag. Quickly placing it in the centre she removed the Chapatis and butter chicken which they had smuggled inside the school. As soon as the teachers from the staff room were attracted towards the banter, Racheal and Juhi had sneakily exited the main school building passing the empty staff room on their way.

Having spent so many years here and with a little contact on the outside the two girls were able to smuggle the tasty foods inside.

Samay and the bunch began feasting on their butter chicken while laughing and narrating their adventures while executing this operation.

While there existed just unreserved kids, having fun at every opportunity they get, there were others too with quite opposite personalities.

“This year’s literature award for best non-fiction writing goes to Anjali Khanna! Anjali, please come on stage and receive your reward!” The anchor announced to an auditorium filled with students and teachers.

It was the time for the yearly literature competition of the school. Students from 9th to 12th std took part in this to prove their talent. Their writing submissions were reviewed by renowned authors from around the country. It also includes many benefits, one of which was a scholarship for the best literature programs in prominent colleges abroad. This provided great opportunities to jump the student’s careers.

Naturally the competitions for these were intense and Anjali stood at the top of it for this year. As she walked onto the stage, there were a lot of hooting and cheers from the boys. There were clapping too but much more from the boy’s side as compared to the girls. Many who had seen Anjali for the first time were smitten by her beauty and aura. If one were to describe her beauty it would be a mix of matureness by the way she holds herself and prettiest girl around in school.

Her pitch-black smooth hair was neatly tied back in a pony tail. The anchor went on to speak a few words about her material for the competition and showered her with praises. Apart from the first prize trophy and certificate, the principal walked onto the stage to present her with a special gift.

He stretched his hand forward holding a rectangular wooden box for Anjali to hold it partially as the two posed for a photo. The lid of the wooden box was opened and inside was a golden feather bookmark with a silver chain. It was specially crafted for the winner of the competition. Many students and teachers were in awe of the bookmark as its design was something they had never seen before.

The next day after the award ceremony for the competition, Anjali had gone to visit the school’s library. She was hoping to get some reading done in her free time. As she skimmed through the books on one of the shelf’s, she heard some conversation. Her hands froze in mid-air while her head tilted down concentrating.

“Can you believe it?! How did that loser get first place? Her writing’s not even that good!” A girl’s voice entered Anjali’s ears.

“Shit! I think, she must have seduced one of the members of the judges panel, there’s no other way.” Another girl scoffed.

“That’s quite possible, you know there are already rumours about how she has fooled around with some boys from the senior classes before. They’d definitely give her what’s most likely for the exams.” This time it was a boy.

“Heh, explains those good scores of her every time. She—

Before one of the girls could continue, the sound of footsteps walking away made her bite her tongue. The three of them looked around only to find no one.

“Do you think someone heard us?” One of the girls asked worried.

“Does it matter? It’s not as if we were discussing something secret, it’s common knowledge.” The boy mocked.

Unable to continue to hear them speak about her, Anjali had walked away and took a seat in some corner of the library. But that didn’t make her feel easy as she could feel numerous gazes on her. If this was the after effect of becoming popular, she wouldn’t have mind. But in heart she knew these gazes weren’t of awe and respect but rather of doubt, jealousy, ridicule. She could make out the other students moving their mouths while stealing glances at her.

This wasn’t something new to her but it was rather obvious today. It must be because her name surfaced again yesterday. All the gossips and rumours come to breathe again. Frustrated with this Anjali got up from her seat with a jolt causing a loud noise in the library. The next moment she exited the library with quickened steps.

“Oh, Anjali!” A boy said aloud startled at the sudden appearance of Anjali exiting from the library. He was on his way to meet her.

“Sorry, you are?” Anjali asked hurriedly not wanting to linger around for long.

“Ah, yes… I am Mayank Sheth, we are in the same class though I am from C division. You might not remember me but we were in the same—

“Sorry, but can you get to the point, I am in a hurry at the moment.” Anjali said tapping her feet on the ground.

“Straight to the point, I like that.” Mayank muttered while smiling.

Anjali gave him an eyebrow raised look asking if he said something just now.

Mayank quickly straightened his face. “I want you to become my girlfriend, I’ve had a crush on you for…” Mayank went on to explain how he came to like her and wanted to date her. Despite in a hurry to get away from the library, Anjali kept her calm and listened to all that he had to say.

“No, I decline. I am sorry but I don’t have any feelings for you.” With that she quickly took her exit leaving Mayank in a daze. This was not what he had expected. He thought with his popularity around school, he would surely get her. In truth Anjali, did had an idea about who he was since they were from the same std. But since she never had any interaction with him before, she chose to ask him just to confirm it.

Not to mention, the popularity which Mayank thought he had did not exactly displayed him in a positive light amongst the students. Setting aside his reputation, Anjali felt something off about his attitude. Regardless love was not the thing on her mind at the moment. Thus, her quick words to come off as precise and clear. After this wasn’t the first proposal to her.

As Mayank stood in his place unmoving, a group of his friends walked up to him.

“Hey, what did she said?!” One of his friend’s asked.

“Did she say yes? Oi Mayank, are you listening?!” Another one shook him. But Mayank kept looking at the direction where she had gone. First there was confusion which was overcome by rage as his face distorted in anger.

Time soon passed by as their unit tests were conducted. The results were out and things seemed rather grim for Samay. He had failed in three subjects and was on the brink of failing his remaining ones. This time around he was quite severely reprimanded by his teachers, not to mention by his dad.

As for his friends, they had done alright to well, with Ronak and Bobby having average scores in their subjects while Juhi and Racheal did good on almost every one of subjects.

Samay scratched his head as he looked at his test papers sitting in the cafeteria.

“Someone seems rather stressed right now.” Juhi commented while poking him. Samay immediately swatted her hand away.

“Oh, feisty, are we?” Ronak asked making everyone chuckle.

Samay gave them an uninterested look.

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh. Didn’t knew I had snakes up my sleeves.” Samay taunted as he resumed looking at his papers.

Bobby, “Oi, what do you mean?”

Samay, “You guys could’ve asked me too before you all started studying.”

“Actually, we did… you just never joined.” Racheal said putting a hand over his shoulder. Samay blinked in confusion before remembering when this happened. It was then that he realized that they had indeed asked him from time to time though not all of them together but separately to join them for some studying. He never really cared and thought of doing it later.

Samay then slumped on the table with a heavy sigh feeling tired.

“Man… I am beat! Wish someone could help me.” He sighed as he glanced at his friends in a dramatic way.

Everyone shook their heads at his drama.

“Fine, it’s just three subjects, right? We’ll help you.” Juhi comforted. Samay’s reaction quickly turned into a smirk as he gave them a thumbs up.

The next day being a weekend they sat with him in the school’s common area to help him prepare. But not even two hours had passed and they were all clutching their heads in frustration. Samay’s base concepts of the subjects were quite weak which made it difficult for them to teach him anything. It was to the point where they wondered how was he able to advance into 12th std.

Everyone’s head turned towards Bobby who quite coincidently always had a roll no. next to Samay making their seats close to each other during the exams.

“Dude, you’re re exams is in a week. I doubt we could get you up to speed with the basics and then proceed with our syllabus.” Ronak said as he blindly turned the text book pages.

“It’s alright we can still salvage the situation a bit… you can mug up for the two theory subjects as for math, well… we can try to help you with the weighted questions I guess.” Juhi suggested.

“Y-Yeah that might work.” Racheal agreed. Just like that they began to cover important topics for him.

Although they were doing all this, the main question still remained whether Samay would be able to pass these re exams. If he failed, although it wouldn’t affect him much, his track record would be quite spoiled. Samay who had stopped listening mid-way through had slouched back on his couch resting his head back as he stared at the ceiling.

Suddenly he heard talking going on about not far from them. He could see a few students walking around with the same kind of book in their hands. Many could be seen deeply engrossed in it while others were enthusiastically discussing their contents.

Samay’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he asked, “Why are so many people up and about studying when it wasn’t long ago that our tests ended? Did all of them failed too?”

“You idiot it’s the compiled literature book which the school issued. Don’t you remember the literature competition that happened recently?” Juhi asked

“Hmm…” Samay folded his hands as he went in thought.

“Is that the one where many people were cheering and stuff and some students were getting some awards?” He asked recalling it.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Bobby confirmed.

“Nope sorry, I slept during that like a baby.” Samay said with a sheepish grin. Everyone sighed at his response. They didn’t expect any less from him.

“You should try it sometimes you know? It might help that damaged brain of yours.” Rachel taunted.

“Whatever, this stuff alone is on the verge of killing me!” Samay exclaimed as he buried his face in a book.

Soon after they resumed his study session only for it to come to an end.

“Hah! …it’s alright, just let it go. I’ll do some extra work during the mid-terms.” Samay said as he began packing his books, tired of studying.

“Oi, Samay what are you doing? You can still make it—

“No worries, buddy, I’ll manage the re exams for now, just give me the highly weighted topics.” Samay said as he made a shooing away gesture with his hand. Bobby and the others still tried to convince him that he should try to pass the re exams but Samay laughed it off.

Although Samay knew that his friends won’t mind putting in the extra hours for his sake, he was still reluctant to do it. He realized that he was really far behind his peers. It wasn’t because he was ashamed of asking his friends for help that he decided to call it quits on the exam but rather because of the building frustration inside him upon finding it difficult to grasp things.

Regardless his friends were persistent in trying to get him to study. However, as if answering his prayers to escape them, a boy suddenly appeared and informed that a teacher, Ms. Amelia was looking for him. The theatre club was getting ready to prepare for their school’s annual function’s program. But work can’t be done until Samay, who was acting as temporary manager for the time being helped with things.

With that excuse he made a narrow escape from his friends. About an hour and half later Samay made his way towards the backside of the school’s library. Dragging his feet his fell back on one of the garden benches there. The backside of the library was surrounded by a boundary wall and before it was a small garden that ran along the boundary walls. Beyond the walls in the distance, one could catch a view of the peaceful scenery of the Himachal mountains. This was his go to place when he wanted to take a break. It was a place which was visited by extremely few people.

Amelia had told him to arrange for a plethora of things from appointing assistants to arranging for props and getting the word around for auditioning. He wondered if she knew what a temporary manager meant. Right now, he simply wanted to take a quick nap before diving into work.

With the warm sun rays momentarily dancing on him passing between the shades of the leaves and the strong yet gentle winds hitting him, it didn’t take long for the exhausted boy to fall asleep.

Time passed by as Samay found himself waking up at evening. Roughly two hours had passed since he slept. After gathering his senses, he realized that he had overslept his nap. He quickly got up and made his way towards the school’s auditorium. He had to make sure whether there were any left-over props in the old office that could be used.

By the time he reached the auditorium, the sky had turned dark. Luckily, he was given a set of the auditorium’s keys to lock it down after his job was done.

Samay entered the pitch-dark auditorium except for a single light at the far end near the stage. Not wasting much time, he quickly made his way towards the stage. The silence was creepy but not unbearable for him. This wasn’t his first time coming here. He had performed quite a few dares and sneaking past the prefects at night to steal something from the auditorium was one of them.

He didn’t waste time making his way down the old stairs backstage and continued through the corridor reaching the door that led to the old office. Just as Samay grabbed the cold knob of the door, he stopped in his tracks as he noticed something strange.

Light! He could see the lights through the gap below the door. The lights inside were switched on. But that shouldn’t be possible was the first thought that entered Samay’s mind. The reason was simple because no one knew about this room except for a few select people. The door at the end of the corridor which led to these stairs, it was always closed and no one was allowed entry into it. Even for him this was his first entering this office.

‘I didn’t notice any when I was walking up just now… or did it switch on now? Did someone enter it on their own accord? Maybe a dare? Or…’ All sorts of thoughts were swirling inside his mind right now. Some part of him now wanted to return back, a bit afraid of what might lay ahead. After all, even this school had his fair share of ghost stories.

Regardless, Samay wanted to prove to himself that he wasn’t afraid of it. After releasing a heavy sigh, he bolted inside the office.

“WOAHH!!”

*Thud*

“AAHH!!”

Loud shrieks of being startled resounded in the silent office. Samay was currently in a crane pose maybe hoping that ghost from his nightmares would be scared away with this. But the only this he managed to scared was a girl who shrieked and fell back on the floor.

As the silence settled, the realization followed. Samay rushed to Anjali’s aid who was startled by his sudden appearance.

“Ow! Ow!” Anjali rubbed the back of her head to soothe the pain.

“Are you okay?” Samay asked before regretting his words as he got a glare in return.

Samay stretched his hand out to help her up but Anjali was swift in ignoring it as she got up on her own.

“Is striking a pose as soon someone enters a new way of saying hello?” She swiped at him sarcastically as she picked up the book she was reading earlier.

“Ah… no well, you see- wait a minute, who are you and what are you doing here?” Samay asked quickly realizing he was being seen as the wrong one.

Anjali paused as she blinked in confusion as she was caught off guard.

“Ahem… I could ask the same to you.”

Samay swinged the keys of the auditorium around his fingers and said with a smirk “I am the owner here.”

Anjali simply rolled her eyes still waiting for his answer.

“Yeah… fine! I am Samay Thakur, the manager of the theatre club. I came in to find something and I …found something indeed” Samay said the last part with a grin.

Anjali almost felt a tingle down her spine with that cheesy line as she didn’t attempt to hide her displeasure.

Samay ignored it and continued, “And you?”

“Anjali Khanna, I came here to find peace and finish my book, okay? You can now go ahead look for what YOU actually came here to look for.” She gave him a meaningful gaze before taking a seat back again on a sofa and continued her reading like nothing happened.

Samay’s eyebrows twitched as he wanted to retort to her indifferent behaviour but felt he should really get a move on with his work first. After that he quickly began to move things around here and here looking for any old props that might be usable. In the process, it kicked up a lot of dust causing Anjali to cover her mouth and sneeze.

The place had not been visited for years, naturally it was bound to accumulate some dust even if the windows and doors remain closed. Anjali herself had dusted the sofa thoroughly before using it.

“Can’t you work more properly?! You’re kicking up a lot of dust around!” She reprimanded.

To which Samay replied by shaking the mat vigorously causing all the dust underneath to kick around in the office.

“Oi!”

Samay, “Sorry didn’t heard it! Hehe—

*Cough* *Cough* *Achoo*

Samay immediately regretted his decision as he began sneezing and coughing too.

After about half an hour later, Anjali had to again spend her time dusting the couch while searched for some props, without causing any trouble this time.

As he checked every closet to cabinets and draws and came up with nothing, Samay decided to leave. Just as he did so, did Anjali. It was almost time for dinner.

Making their way towards the auditorium’s exit, the atmosphere was rather tense. Unable to complete her book and also having the need to take a shower again made her irritated. And the person walking in front of him was responsible. She couldn’t help but stare daggers at him.

She wanted to give him a proper lecture. But she can’t act carelessly since he was from class 12th too. As for how she knew, since he claimed that he was the manager for the theatre club and showed her the auditorium keys, she had no doubt he was in the same std as her. Of course, she can’t necessarily recognize him since there are so many students from div A to F.

As they reached the double doors of the auditorium Samay said “I know you already know this but, the office down stairs is out of limit for students. If I happen to find you there again, I won’t have a choice but to report it.”

“Sure, go ahead.” Anjali responded indifferently as they exited the auditorium.

Samay who was locking the doors widened his eyes in surprise as he turned to look at her.

“I am not joking here—

“Neither am I, of course, when you tell that be sure to also tell them about the time at which you found me.” Anjali said with an innocent smile yet it made Samay internally shiver.

It was prohibited for students to visit the auditorium after 7:00 p.m. in the evening. That included all the club members and the managers if any. Naturally Samay was no exception to the rule. The final nail in the coffin for him would be that the theatre club was overseen by Amelia who was very particular about such things. While Anjali might be severely reprimanded, he won’t go unscathed too.

‘Mutual destruction…’ Samay thought to himself wondering if Anjali was really so bold. With his recent shenanigans he was already a bit of hot topic among the teachers. They’ll be sure to join this in his long list of troublesome schemes.

Samay had a hesitant face not sure as to how to reply to this. But Anjali didn’t wait around for his answer as she gave him a smirk and took her leave.

Samay sighed while scratching his head.

‘There’s a first for everything huh…’ He thought before making his way towards his dorm.

The next day, Samay was aimlessly walking the school hallways. He had just gotten off the phone with his dad. The news about his unit tests made him quite disappointed in him. Even though he didn’t reprimand him about it but rather encouraged him to do better next time, he could tell that there was some disappointment in his voice.

Right now, he was having mixed thoughts about working on the re exams. Just as he walking with no particular aim, he came across a bulletin board. It was having the names of the top scorers this unit test. The school usually did this to have students focus more on their academics by igniting a sense of competition. Of course, not to mention it boosted quite a lot of people’s sense of achievement.

Just as he was randomly reading out names his gaze shifted to the top of the list. His eyes widened is surprise as he found a familiar name. Anjali Khanna. She had secured 1st place.

‘Huh… a nerd, well that explains her yesterday …hmm…’ Right now, Samay was cooking something up in his mind as began to smile by himself as if concocting an evil plan. The other students passing by gave him a weird look before moving about their business.

Anjali was again in the library looking to return a book and take another. Beside her was another girl who had a stack of books in her hand at the librarian’s desk returning them.

“My you sure, are doing quite a lot of reading, Sanjana, are these two the ones you are borrowing?” The librarian asked as she picked two books separately placed by her on the table.

‘Sanjana…’

“Are you Sanjana Roy?!” Anjali asked quickly realizing something.

Sanjana who was startled by her turned to look at her.

“Huh… oh you are…” Sanjana couldn’t help but look at the person in front of her with awe.

“Waah and here I thought you didn’t exist! You wrote that comment on my boo- om—

Anjali was cut off mid-off by Sanjana as she covered her mouth before quickly looking around to see if someone hear her. After confirming that everyone was busy in their own thing, she released her hand.

“Yeah… that was me… but I didn’t mean too… um I was trying to get it remo—

“Huh why would you try to remove it?” Anjali asked in confusion causing Sanjana to be dumbfounded.

After the competition was over, the works of the students were published within the school to have everyone else have a look at it. Everyone was free to leave their thoughts about it, which were directly sent to the author. The reason why Sanjana was dumbfounded was because, compared to everyone who only sent praises on her and her books, she was the only one who was able to find a flaw in it.

Although some things were criticised by the judges panel, it was nothing of much importance. But with Sanjana’s, she was able to get some deep insight in her own work and realized that she had much to learn.

“You shouldn’t remove it. Ah by the way, I read your work too.” Anjali said with a smile.

Sanjana was taken aback. Her writing didn’t even make it to the top 30’s yet she had read it.

“To be honest, I felt the special mention belonged to you.” Anjali said thoughtfully as she began to sign the library card.

“You don’t have to be nice about—

“I am not being nice.” Anjali cut her off. She then continued, “I am only speaking the truth for your work like you did for mine. I could tell you were a beginner but your work had better potential than of the others.”

There was silence for a moment as Sanjana wondered whether she was dreaming or not. After all it wasn’t every day, you get praised by the people who inspired you to start something new. Yes, Anjali’s work since she joined the school had somewhere brought about that encouragement in her.

“Oh! I am running late, tch! Well, I’ll see you around then, Sanjana.” Anjali quickly said realizing the time by looking at her watch. She gave Sanjana a quick pat on her shoulder before quickly taking off.

That day Anjali visited the old office. Upon entering she got surprised finding not a speck of dust in there. The next moment Samay turned around sitting in a swivel chair behind an office table to the far end of the room.

“You did this?” She asked raising her brows.

“Who else do you think will do this?” He asked as he got up from the chair and began making his way towards her.

“I’ll be straight with you here…” Samay said with a poker face.

Anjali slightly leaned back slightly afraid of what he might suggest. The atmosphere became a bit tensed as she found it difficult to read him.

“You help me study… and I won’t tell anyone about you.” Samay said pointing at her.

As Anjali felt an anticlimactic feeling she sighed. “Didn’t you hear me yester—

“Oh, I did, sure I’ll have to face some consequences because of my carelessness but I’ll be removed as the ‘TEMPORARY’ manager at most as for you, what will an excellent student like you will have left to show?”

Anjali’s eyebrows twitched. He was right, the one at a greater loss would definitely be her. If he really was a temporary manager, that’ll be the most he will have to face. But for her, she’ll get into some trouble. Truth be told Anjali knew this but acted with confidence yesterday just to make her bluff seem real. She didn’t expect for Samay to return with a comeback.

In reality it was the other way around. With Samay’s past track record the management would definitely grab his neck and might be more than willing to look the other way for their top student. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he might face expulsion. This time he was bluffing and counting on the fact that his past was hidden from her.

Seeing as how Anjali was thinking something Samay decided to strike while the iron was hot. “The deal isn’t that bad. Just 10 days, teach me just enough for 10 days and I’ll forget about this place.”

Anjali had second thoughts about his request. She had never seen someone who would ask to be tutored here. Not to mention they had just met yesterday. She never thought someone would request something of her like this so quickly after meeting her.

“Tomorrow… in the assembly hall, after the prayer concludes just tell me then if you agree otherwise, it’s you, me and Amelia during lunch time. I’ll be waiting near the entrance. Be sure to meet me before breakfast.” Samay said before taking his leave.

“Hmph!” Anjali scoffed not please at him threatening her. This was the one place she had found to get away from all the toxicity around her. She can’t stay at the library and bear the silent whispers, not at her dorm where the girls would openly mock her, not in the classrooms where the boys joined in.

Later that evening when she was returning back from the auditorium, she was passing by the main school building. The sun at had almost completely set. Even the students one could see around were fewer, each back at their dormitory or at the cafeteria.

As she passed by, she noticed something on the wall from outside the building. Since the ground floor was still open, she decided to go take a look. A notice board was on it with various notices on it.

‘Was this always here…’

“Oh, look the selection results for the football team is going to be announced tomorrow. Do you think I have a chance?”

“Don’t know man… I did terrible…”

Two other boys who had come up to check upon it began talking among themselves. Anjal was about to leave when she heard a familiar name.

“It’s the re-exam list for the recent tests.”

“Did anyone from our class got on it?”

“No… heh but look, that Samay’s name on it, he’s broken a new record. He always duped a subject or two but never saw him for three!”

“Oh, that explains I recently saw his gang holding a study session in the common area.”

“Really? Never thought I would see the day when that guy opens a book.”

“Yeah… I guess it didn’t work out… they were talking about something and he just got up and left after someone called for him.”

Anjali who was pretending to look at the board was listening in on their conversation with an indifferent face. A memory of a man flashed in her mind. The man patted her head while explaining how people didn’t change. But she thought otherwise.

The next day at the Assembly Hall.

As the prayers were going on, Samay looked around to find if Anjali had come in. But with so many students he gave up on looking for her. As the prayers got over everyone was to head for breakfast. Samay told his friends to go on ahead. As he looked around the crowd getting thinner and thinner, he wondered if she exited first. He quickly made his way towards the entrance to meet her there.

Anjali who had been pulled aside at the backstage amidst the crowd didn’t get a chance to see if Samay was present.

The ones who pulled her away were a trio of girls who’d always have something bad to say about her either in her presence or absence.

“I heard you rejected Mayank! You must be flying quite high now that you won the competition and all. To top it all off you even rejected him!” One of the girls named Jenny scoffed.

“Yeah… must be so good right hogging all that attention.” Another girl scoffed named, Mansi.

“If you guys don’t have anything important for me, I need to be somewhere at the—

“Hey! I haven’t allowed you to bark yet!” The third girl and seemingly leader of the gang cut Anjali off in a threatening manner as she leaned forward.

“Mayank’s my man! Don’t you dare work your charms on him like a fox. I’ll fu*k you up!” The leader named; Tanvi sneered as she pushed Anjali back.

Anjali was taken aback with this aggressive side of hers. But she wasn’t one to take things down.

“If he’s your man then why don’t you take better care of him? Why did he came wagging to me and not you? Oh, I see… he might not be interested with you, after all you didn’t even make it into the top 5…” It was just this much that Anjali had to say before Tanvi lost it and reached out to grab her hair but Mansi and Jenny quickly held her back reminding that this wasn’t the place for it.

One of the main reasons Tanvi was so aggressive towards her recently was because she lost to Anjali and not just by a few places. The gap was big between them. Anjali maintained an indifferent face at Tanvi’s advance but she was tensed. Her nails were digging deep in her palms as she clenched them tightly.

“Come on, everyone, don’t linger outside the assembly hall and make your way to the cafeteria in an orderly manner.” A voice over the microphone resounded.

“I have no interest in him, he’s all yours just leave me alone you lot. You three want to say mean things about me, go ahead but I don’t respond to threats well.” With that Anjali quickly took her leave.

Tanvi was on the verge of exploding as she snatched her hands free from the other two and stomped her foot. Even Jenny and Mansi were feeling pissed. They didn’t want to accept Anjali’s reason but wanted to establish their superiority.

As Anjali made her way outside the assembly hall, she was breathless. Her heart was beat was quickened. She was scared. But didn’t want to succumb to their bullying. After walking a few minutes more she found herself getting calm and relaxed. Her earlier confidence was just a bluff. She simply hoped that they’ll just lay off her now.

“Oh Anjali! You’re still here?! Breakfast time has already started you need to hurry up.” One of the teachers who were present in the Assembly Hall noticed her.

“Um… yes, miss, just give me a minute I have some—

“Not at the moment young girl, come along now.” The teacher stated firmly. Now that she was on her radar Anjali had no chance but to comply.

As the lunch period approached and Anjali was sitting through her classes, she almost expected for someone to call for her. But against her expectations, even after classes were over no one called for her. She looked for Samay but couldn’t find him any of the classes.

She didn’t expect him to do nothing after she ditched him. Thinking of finding him at the auditorium she passed by the library and decided to go make a visit. And she was glad she did. In the corner of the library at an isolated desk she saw a boy all confused and trying to make sense of something.

As Samay tried to decipher what was what he felt a pat on his head. Looking up he saw Anjali with a light smile.

“Working hard at it I see…” She commented as she took a close look at what he was doing.

“Go away, I need some privacy here.” Samay said quickly as he covered his books like a child from her.

“Hm? So, we aren’t going to study in the auditorium’s office?” She asked sarcastically.

“Yeah… no we- wait! You—

“Close your mouth and follow me, we don’t have much time.” Anjali cut him off as she grabbed some of his books and gestured to come along.

Samay didn’t wasted a second and packed his stuff to catch up with her.

After some small talk here and there, Anjali asked him. “I do want to know, why did you ask me for help? Surely you must have some friends whom you can bother to help teach you if not the teachers, right?”

“Oh… well… you’ll see soon enough why I am enlisting a genius’s help.” Samay with an awkward grin.

Even though this didn’t answer Anjali’s question, she soon understood what he meant. She realized his basics were quite bad. Just within minutes of her starting to tutor him, she knew why Samay approached her. Realizing this she began to think something.

Seeing this Samay immediately put it out there, “Well, this is my case. You don’t really have to put this extra effort if you don’t want—

“Will you shut it for a while?!”

“Huh…” Samay was startled at being reprimanded at.

“I am trying to think of a way. You’re passing isn’t impossible, I just need a method…”

And just like that Anjali started to teach Samay with the basics. Though her method of teaching was quite different it was rather easy for Samay to understand it. He never felt this level of comprehension was possible for him.

For 10 days straight the two continued to meet in the office after classes for Samay’s tutoring. And they would continue to stay late so far as even having dinner there. It wasn’t a big deal for Samay to have it smuggled out of the cafeteria beforehand.

Since the backside of the office opened up to the forest, they’d often heat their food there by lighting a fire. Trekking and cooking in forests was skill the students of St. Michael’s school were lucky enough to learn. For the first three days they focused on his basics, while he prepared for the theory subject on his own. Then they gave two days each to each of the three subjects covering as much of the important topics as they can.

Samay had a hard time these 10 days but he managed to keep up with Anjali’s intense study schedule. Samay was fortunate she was the genius that she was. Otherwise even people like Juhi and Racheal were also excellent academically when it came to certain subjects but even, they weren’t capable of teaching like how she was.

Over these 10 days they didn’t talk much about other stuff except for their usual small harmless bickering. They solely focused on his studies. For the exam period it was decided that Samay won’t meet with her and revise as much as he had done. That would be the most efficient method.

Finally, the exams were over. Since these were retests and number of people who appear for them tends to be very few, the results came out within a week. And Samay was over the moon, he scored in the range of 30-35 in all the three subjects. The passing was 17/50. Usually, these tests were for standard 20 marks but with the school’s extra emphasis on academics they kept it at 50 marks instead of the standard.

*BANG*

The auditorium’s office door opened with a loud noise as a proud Samay walked in with a small result card and a paper bag holding something. As he walked in, he looked around to find Anjali only feel her absence or so he thought.

“Ouch…”

He heard a weak voice from behind the couch. As he approached to examine it, he found her rubbing her head as she tried to get up.

“OH! Um… did I- did y- are you ok—

The fumbling Samay stopped mid-sentence as soon as he got a death glare from her. He decided it was better to shut it if he wanted to keep his life. Samay kept the bag and card aside as he extended his hand.

Anjali sighed before grabbing it to get up. After some 15 minutes passed, Anjali congratulated him on passing the retests. Though she wasn’t as surprised as he was since she had first hand seen him trying to get better. This much was well within her expectations.

She then glanced at the bag. “What’s in there?”

“Pastries!”

“Pastries …I see, wait! Did you say pastries?!” Anjali blinked in confusion. This was because the school didn’t give out cakes to students except for a special occasion. The fact that he brought one in here meant that he sneaked it inside the school.

“How did you…”

“Heh, it’s no big deal for me. I felt like doing a small celebration of sorts. Well do you like chocolate?” Samay asked.

To which Anjali shook her head still processing the shock of how he smuggled it in.

“Thought so, here’s a blueberry one for you, I’ll take the chocolate one!” Samay as he handed her pastry box.

“Are you sure no one saw you?!” Anjali was still rather troubled that they had pastry with them. If they get caught with this the consequences aren’t light.

Samay nodded as he began to open his.

“Are you sure? What if we get caught?! We’ll—

“Then it’ll be you, me and Amelia at lunch, along with some pastries of course. But I don’t intend on sharing them with anyone so don’t worry we won’t.” Samay reassured with a confident smirk.

Anjali didn’t know why but it made her blink in bewilderment as she tried to process whether he was confident or just plain stupid. Regardless it made her crack. It was to the point she stumbled back on the sofa and laughed out loud.

Samay had never seen her laugh before. He wondered if he did something “funny”.

As she settled down, Anjali asked as to why he never reported her to Amelia. After all she never did meet with him after the prayer service. Samay had indeed waited near the entrance and while he was disappointed that she didn’t come, he wasn’t so petty to actually report her. Although he might look like someone who’s a bit round around the edges and has nothing on his mind except for fun, he was rather sensitive to people.

He knew no sane person would like to sit all alone in the auditorium’s abandoned office. The fact that she did and was reading a book, told him volumes that the person in front of him was looking to find some peace. And over days they have been here together he could tell this place provided her with some sort of solace.

As to answer her question Samay laughed it off as him not finding it worth to create trouble for himself after reporting it. Though he said that Anjali was perceptive. Regardless his reason, she knew his intention for her was pure.

With that the room witnessed a new friendship blossom. Soon the two would meet regularly in the auditorium’s office. They will either do their own thing or talk about their day or Anjali might tutor him from time to time.

Just one of the days like this, he asked “Why do I never see you at the cafeteria.”

To which Anjali shrugged. “Too many people… not to mention, I like to eat in open space so—

“So, no friends huh?” Samay interrupted.

“Huh? Where did that come from? Just for your information I do have friends okay!” Anjali harrumphed as she turned to look away.

“Okay name two for me then.” Samay said playfully.

“Name them?” Anjali asked hesitantly.

Samay nodded with an innocent smile, clearly about to enjoy this.

“Well… there’s Roma, Sara, then…” As Anjali acted to think, Samay rolled his eyes.

“Aren’t those the name of our teachers?”

“What can’t they have the same name as stu—

“The exact one’s about whom we just now discussed half an hour ago.” Samay clarified.

“Tch!” Anjali felt frustrated at getting caught.

“No man’s an island you know… friends tend to be necessary part of your life. Make the first move if chance doesn’t bless you with a friend. You—

“Cut the saint talk, I do actually have one!” Anjali said flustered.

Samay looked in anticipation for her to answer.

“Oh, there’s one!! Sanjana, Sanjana Roy!” Anjali said excitedly as if she found a treasure.

Samay tried to think if they had a teacher named ‘Sanjana’ in all their grades but couldn’t come up with one.

“Hehe, bet you don’t know her!” Anjali mocked.

“I see… she seems quite close to you, you two must be best of friends considering how she is the only one whom you can name.”

Anjali’s eyebrows twitched. Apart from academics, Samay seemed quite shrewd at finding fault with her. It annoyed her to no every extent.

“Y-Yeah, we’re quite close. You know I like to keep unnecessary interactions short, don’t you?” Anjali said looking away with an air of fake confidence.

“Hmm… okay then introduce me!” Samay said which again startled her.

“W-What why do you want to meet her?” Anjali asked.

“Well, I just do, if she’s pretty, I’d like to date her. It’s last of my school years, might as well enjoy them don’t you think?” He asked with a probing smile.

“Then what about studies and stuff aren’t you focusing on them now?! We have boards this year—

“I’ll manage, I have been working hard these days… besides I have you, so no worries there. So, tomorrow? After classes I guess or during lunch just give us a quick intro and—

“Wait, stop, stop, stop! I haven’t agreed to anything yet!”

“Welp, can’t help it now. Who knows your friend might take a liking to me. Anyways, I have some plans for the evening so see you in the cafeteria tomorrow!” Samay said his piece as he quickly left the office not giving her a chance to refuse.

The next day, as Anjali’s class and another class were being taken to the art room for a joint session. Her mind was constantly thinking about her conversation with him yesterday. She knew that Samay is aware of her. He was no point when he said that she had no friends. With people looking at her and talking about her the way they did how would she have any.

‘If only those rumours never started…’

“Okay everyone find yourself a partner, we’re going to have an object for each pair.

Suddenly Anjali looked around and found herself alone. While she day dreamed everyone had formed their pair or so she had thought.

“Um… Anjali… want to sit together?”

Anjali turned around to the familiar voice. Fate must be smiling upon her as she found Sanjana. She readily agreed. Now she only needed to ask her help for this.

45 minutes later when the class got over.

Anjali still hadn’t asked her about it. After all, how could she? She didn’t know her barely over a few minutes. She wondered what excuse she’ll make to Samay when she remembered some of his words.

(Make the first move if chance doesn’t bless you with a friend)

“S-Say… since it’s a free period you want to grab a bite to eat? W-We could maybe talk or maybe discuss or if you want whatever s-stuff if you like?” Anjali managed to speak out.

It had been quite a long time since she was able to make the ‘first move’. She wasn’t concise about it. If someone saw her now their image of her mature and wise persona would be completely shattered. Just like how Sanjana was experiencing now.

Sanjana looked at her for a moment before taking a deep breath and asking, “I’d like to have some juice right about now… and I’ve been reading some of Agatha Christie’s works recently…”

Anjali who was expecting to be rejected, experienced confusion before relief swept over as her face bloomed with a smile. Leaving their things behind they walked together.

Just like the abandoned office, the art room had experienced the start of a friendship.

A bit over a week had passed by. Samay hadn’t had the opportunity to meet up with Anjali. The responsibility for the temporary manager called in. From co-ordinating with Amelia, the head of the theatre club to spreading news about the upcoming annual day announcement. Not to mention getting various approvals from the management. It was a bit tedious task this year since the last year had turned out to be a mess.

Amelia wasn’t taking any chances this time around. Samay had currently climbed to some height of the stadium steps and let his body fall back on one of the seats to take a break. He could see that the football field was empty except for 3-4 boys kicking the ball around in the corner of the field. He was exhausted with the constant moving around and finally gotten a break. As his gaze swept throughout the field, he caught something from the corner of his eye.

A line of students was exiting the school’s garden nearby. And he recognized one of them. It was Anjali carrying her art bag, laughing and chatting cheerfully like he had never seen before. There was some girl with her. Samay didn’t recognize her. She seemed equally cheerful as Anjali as the two walked out the garden. As the students, they were dispersed to go have their lunch breaks.

After speaking a few things to her friend Anjali waved her goodbye as she seemed to be walking towards the auditorium. But on her way, she might have felt something for she quickly turned her head around several times and spotted Samay. The two waved at each other as she made her way towards him.

“Haven’t seen for a while! Where have you been?!” Anjali asked all smiles.

“Manager responsibilities. Tired. Watching football.” Samay deliberately said in proper nouns looking at Anjali as he rested his head on his palms taking support of the front seat.

Anjali looked out towards the field before asking. “Football?”

Samay blinked before he shifted his gaze to the corner of the field only to find it empty.

Samay, ‘Did they leave…’

“Anyways! Good timing, I was just heading to the auditorium to see if I could find you and voila, here you are.” Anjali explained.

“Oh… somebody finally remembered to come meet me huh?” Samay teased knowing that he was the busy one unable to meet her.

Anjali rolled her eyes as she pushed him to the side causing him to fall on the neighbouring bench.

“Hey what’s—

“Bet you haven’t had lunch till now?” She asked before he retorted.

“No, but how did you guess?” Samay asked shaking his head.

“Have you seen yourself? You look like a malnourished skeleton!” Anjali teased before taking a seat beside him.

“Is there such a thing like that?” Samay asked sarcastically wondering how her sense of humour worked.

“You are a living example- Anyways, here let’s eat!” Anjali said as she removed several things from it. There was a well packed lunch box and another lunch box which the school cafeteria provided.

“What’s this?” Samay asked surprised at the packed lunch box.

“Well, to kill some time, I had taken a basic culinary class recently. Today was a bit special class, so they taught us to bake some cake. Hope you like it.” Anjali said slightly nervous.

Samay tasted some and paused for a while.

“What is it?” She asked worried. The teachers all said it was well made but that wasn’t what Samay’s reaction told her.

Samay turned to look at her right in the eyes making her worried even further. He made it as dramatic as possible until he got pinch on his arm.

“Ouch okay… it’s not bad. Guess its edible.” He commented but immediately regretted it as Anjali took the box from his hands and began to pack her things!

“Oh-Okay! Stop! Stop! I was joking alright!” Samay said hurriedly as he snatched the box back and began to eat large portions from it.

“S-Seuu… a…mm… eating… i…t!” He said in between munches. Anjali who had an irritated face couldn’t help it anymore as she broke into giggles and quickly offered him water. Samay’s rest of the lunch time was well spent as though the previous fatigue had vanished into thin air!

Things continued normally for the two. Samay never asked about the friend ‘Sanjana’ Anjali claimed to have. He was at rest with the matter. Not to mention Anjali did used to mention her several times in their conversations. After their interaction on the stadium steps, their meeting had become quite frequent. Rarely would they decline to hangout, that is if they had some urgent work to attend to.

Today was one such day. It was out of the blue. But she didn’t show up near the stadium steps, their usual lunch spot. Part of him wanted to go look for her but he decided against it. Instead, Samay had come to the cafeteria to sit with his friends.

“If it isn’t Samay, the great. Where are your feet oh great saint, my eyes have been blessed by your sight!” Bobby said teasingly as he grabbed him.

“Cut with the act!” Samay said irritated.

“~Yeah Bobby, cut him some slack, after all, he’s just fallen in love~” Juhi said teasingly.

“What in the—

“Uh! Uh! It’s alright Samay, forgetting your friends when you get a girl… I get it… but I always thought you were on top of it! Oh God, how betrayed I have been!” Ronak said dramatically standing on his bench in a loud voice attracting the surrounding attention.

Samay quickly pulled him down and covered his mouths.

“You guys are enjoying this aren’t you?” Samay said with a helpless expression as he looked at his friends with beaming smiles. All of them nodded simultaneously in response.

Samay sighed. As they resumed to eat their lunch, he noticed that Bobby was reading something. He asked about it.

“Oh this? It’s a one day visit to Milan hill station. You know the one built in the middle of the forest and village. I was wondering of going on it.” Bobby explained.

“Oh! A trip?! Count me in!” Samay said excitedly.

“Oi, stop deviating from the subject at hand! So Samay~ do tell us, are you ever going to introduce us? What’s her name? What is she like?” Racheal asked eager for some gossip material.

Even the others were curious. In truth none of them had seen Anjali clearly. They’d sometimes notice the two together happily talking and walking here and there but they never really went up to Samay at the moment to avoid being a third wheel.

“She’s a friend alright—

“Listen here child, I’ve known you since 1st std. So, you can lie to yourself but never to me!” Bobby said as he put his arm around his shoulder and gave him a smirk.

“Okay, clearly anything I say won’t convince you guys about my relationship with her otherwise. I am taking some time off!” Samay said clearly flustered and irritated at their antics.

They called out to him in embarrassing voices and tried to be dramatic but it only made him walk out of there even faster.

Making his way out decided to visit his dorm, since he wanted get some things. On his way he made a quick detour to the washroom. As Samay flushed and got ready to exit the washroom he read something on the door. Since the toilet was located in the boy’s dormitory it had some scribblings here and there. From the walls to the doors. Each generation of boys leaving some art or messages behind. The supervision wasn’t as strict compared to the school’s washroom which should be maintained properly.

As Samay read on, his eyes furrowed as his blood seemed to boil. There were writings mentioning someone by the name of Anjali K. in it. To put it nicely, there were some vulgar things written about her. Things which could easily tarnish a person’s reputation in society.

He immediately walked out of it to wash his hands. And that’s when he heard her name.

“So, you really, did it? Huh Mayank?” A boy asked excitedly.

“Yeah! did you really think she would say no to me? She’s quite easy, the rumours are all true about her you know. Anjali just acts all tough and mature but she’s nothing but aHH—

Before Mayank could speak up, he felt a jaw crushing pain on his face as he found himself on the ground. Someone had punched him! But who? Who would dare to mess with the school’s football team’s captain. This was the thought running through his mind as he looked up at his assailant.

He was met with an angry gaze from Samay.

“YOU F*CKER!!”

Soon a commotion broke out near the boy’s dorm’s washroom. News that someone was trying to beat the famous Mayank Sheth had reached several ears as everyone rushed to witness the never thought of before commotion. Mayank was bigger than Samay and tougher but Samay wasn’t only the theatre club’s temporary manager, he was also a member of the basketball club. He didn’t lack athletically too.

As more and more and students gathered around, the news of this had reached to the warden and the prefects too. Before things escalated some of the boys separated them and pushed them away from each other.

Samay tried to struggle blindly but he got lost in the crowd. With the boys pushing him back he was now near the staircase. He quickly thought of something as he rushed up the staircase and ran to the other side of the corridor to descend from the stairs on the other end. As soon as he again arrived on the ground floor where he had been wrestling with him, he rushed to the other side to beat him.

But surprising Mayank wasn’t there. He shoved one of the junior looking students and asked him about it. But the poor boy was simply scared to speak. Everyone looked at him weirdly. His uniform was all messed up along with a few noticeable bruises on him.

“Oi Samay, what are you doing? And did you fight with someone?!” It was Ronak who had seen Samay grabbing the junior.

“Go return to your class and don’t speak a word about it.” Bobby explained to the junior preventing him from making any complaints.

“That Fatso was just here!” Samay said in anger as he looked around perplexed as to where he went.

Ronak kept on asking but he didn’t receive any clear answer.

*knock* *knock*

“Anjali! Anjali! Its me, Sanjana! Open the door… its just me here.” Sanjana said as she knocked on the infirmary’s door.

After a few seconds it was opened. Sanjana faced Anjali but her face looked a bit pale. She could make out faint crying marks. But she didn’t bother to ask her anything as she quickly embraced her in a hug.

Anjali was motionless. It had come to haunt her back. Back in 10th std she the centre of some nasty rumour. All because she said no to a few people who wanted to bend her to their will. That led her to losing many people she had been calling friends. But with more than a year, the rumours though there had died down a lot. But recently someone had ignited them again. Those looks of everyone gave her, it felt as if she would be enveloped by some kind of a shadow.

“You don’t have to worry… you know… I don’t believe a word of it. You can’t keep hiding here and let it trouble you…” Sanjana said firmly. This brought about a slight smile on her face.

She was right. Anjali knew she couldn’t let things repeat and decided to fight this. Hiding in the infirmary wouldn’t save her. She wasn’t alone now. She had made a friend. But it still troubled her to an extent. ‘What would he think of me…’ Was the thought that passed through her mind.

Regardless she stepped out. But as she made her way towards the school’s main building, she and Sanjana were equally surprised. There was talking. People were discussing something but not what they had in mind.

Someone had fought and beat Mayank Sheth! The Mayank Sheth, the star captain of the football team! As for the boy who had done it? No one knew. Apparently when they were separated, he ran off. That’s when the warden arrived and took Mayank one of the initiators of the fight was taken away. The warden is on the lookout for the other one but since Mayank didn’t knew him, he wasn’t able to find him.

But it didn’t matter to the warden. Afterall he would have fun making a good case against Mayank.

Later that evening Anjali wanted to see Samay. She visited by the auditorium and found that the door wasn’t locked. Usually by this time Samay or some other guard would’ve locked it. But the fact it wasn’t meant he was here!

As Anjali made her way towards the office, she found Samay. He was wearing a blue blazer with his hair down over his forehead unlike his usual hairstyle. His face turned into a smile as soon as he saw her enter.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were going to come by.” Samay said.

“Yeah… I just…” Anjali’s words trailed off as she looked at him. Samay tried to hide it well with his hair but she was rather perceptive as she quickly brushed his hair aside.

“Hey! Wh—

“You fought with him, right? You’re the one they can’t seem to find, right? Anjali asked as she observed the scratch on his forehead caused by their fighting.

Samay was silent. Anjali had her answer.

“Why did you do that?! Do you know how dangerous it could be? He walks around like he’s the boss of his year. There are people—

“What did you expect me to do? I can’t take him or for that matter anyone else badmouthing you! Ever!!” Samay exclaimed as he grabbed her hand leaving her stunned.

Realizing what he had done he quickly walked back and maintained some distance as the two of them looked away extremely flustered.

“Um… I see… ah I mean, just glad that you’re okay!” Anjali managed to get out after what seemed like an eternity.

“Yeah… that’s right, sorry for shouting earlier.” Samay said scratching the back of his head.

Anjali shook her head saying its fine.

From that time onwards whenever, they met there was clearly some tension between them. A heart would skip a beat or one might feel butterflies in their stomach. Samay wondered if what his friends tease him about on a daily basis now was becoming true now.

But since things had come this far, he couldn’t really deny it anymore. As he decided to confess. Followingly, he arranged for them meet behind the library. His secret place. But she never came. She had agreed to it. But she never showed up. Days passed by. Then weeks.

“How is it possible?! This shouldn’t be, I just met her and talked to her not long ago!”

“Samay if this is a joke, its not a good one! I am warning you for the last time, stop this nonsense. All the classroom teachers of every class already told you, there’s no girl by the name of Anjali Khanna in this school!” One of the teachers in the staff room reprimanded Samay.

As Samay walked out of the staff room Bobby walked up to him slowly with a magazine in his hand.

“Hey… about the thing you told me…” Bobby said weakly before shifting his gaze to the floor.

“What?! I am telling you she really exists. You guys were the ones who saw a girl with me right?” Samay said restlessly.

“I know… I don’t know if you should read this but…” Bobby’s words trailed off again.

Samay noticed the old magazine in his hand and saw that it was open to a certain page. He quickly grabbed the magazine from his hand and looked at it.

His eyes widened in disbelief. It was the 12th std’s school’s annual magazine published at the end of the academic year. It had many of the school’s events recorded in it. There was currently a phot on the page at which Samay was looking at which made his world turn upside down.

More precisely he was looing at the girl in the picture. It was about the literature competition’s winner of the year 2007. But the person and year shouldn’t match. It was literally impossible as per Samay’s knowledge!

Anjali Khanna was announced as the winner of 2007’s literary competition.

“Since you had told me her name, I remembered it and found this. Even I was confused at the moment I found it. But… you should have a look at this…” Bobby said as he now handed him an old news article he had dug up from the library.

The article read, “A victim of a bear attack. St. Michael loses a precious member to a bear attack during the trip to Milan Hill Station. The girl’s body had washed ashore the village’s river. It was assumed she sustained injuries from the bear and ran to save her life only to lose it by falling off a cliff and falling in the river…”

There were other details written on it. But he didn’t have the courage nor mental to read it as Samay began to feel sick. He dropped the paper and rushed to the nearest washroom. Bobby followed behind him. He wasn’t much better off when he read this.

After several hours had passed, Samay had finally calmed down. Was he talking with a ghost this entire time? No, that wasn’t the case. It took him a while but he figured it out. He had travelled back in time. Or she had travelled to the future. Or it would be more accurate to say that they both did. How, Samay, didn’t had that answer. As to how he figured it out? He dug up 2007’s class photographs. And in it he found them. Mayank Sheth and Sanjana. Though he didn’t remember Sanjana’s face much he clearly remembered Mayank. He couldn’t forget even if he tried.

With this he concluded as to how Mayank had suddenly vanished at that day and how everyone seemed that they were oblivious to the huge fight in the boy’s dormitory.

But somehow, they had been travelling from their timeline to the other’s. But this phenomenon which was occurring had stopped for whatever reason. One thing was for sure. Anjali was no more in his world right now. But maybe he could change it. Maybe he could change what happened?

Where did he first meet her? The abandoned office. Samay looked around the office, he searched every nook and cranny but there was nothing which suggested time travel. In the first place he was way out of his place, chasing a ghost.

A week passed but he came up empty handed. No clue. He didn’t hear from Anjali again. With no other option Samay felt helpless. Bobby couldn’t help much on this matter either. He didn’t know what they were dealing with.

There was one last hope for him. The trip to the hill station!

…

It was getting dark. Students were more excited rather than worried as the teachers tried to maintain order and discipline. Their bus while returning from the hill station had suddenly broken down and they had to be stopped quite close to the forest area. They were practically on the edge of it.

Anjali who was sitting by herself near a fire stared blankly at the night sky. He had called her but he never came. Not to mention he never saw him again. Just who was he? These thoughts ran through Anjali’s mind, as she too had figured out that there was no student by the name of Samay Thakur in the 12th std.

“Do you want something to drink?” Sanjana asked the gloomy Anjali.

The latter declined. Sanjana still persisted and convinced her to drink something. She went towards the bus to get her bag and retrieve a bottle of fruit juice.

As she looked away beyond the forests the towering mountains blocked the moon light flashing their shadow over them. Just as she was observing their beauty, she noticed someone. Someone familiar walking into the forest.

It was Samay. Was she dreaming? No! She had actually seen him. She followed him and began to call out his name. But along the way Anjali had lost her way. She wasn’t able to find him. But someone else had found her.

The growl of a bear echoed throughout the forest as it chased her. Her arm was bleeding. She was losing blood. In all the darkness, she couldn’t make out what was what as she kept on running. She didn’t look back but for a split second she felt she smelled something burning. But the fear of getting caught and adrenaline brought about by it kept her going until her legs gave out.

Anjali had unknowingly reached the end of a cliff. It was surrounded by thick bushes and thicket of trees. It had blocked her view of the absence of ground beyond them causing her fall off. Her mind seemed to be going blank as she awaited her body to crash into cold hard water.

But the fall never came. Instead, she experienced a jerk. Samay had grabbed her hand at the last moment before she fell off. Using all his might he began to pull her off. As soon as he was about to reach the forest, he had thrown a tantrum that he wanted to take a dump and forced the driver and the teacher in charge to make an emergency stop.

Luckily the teacher made the students get off and stretch out a little. Samay had already sneakily entered the forest. Unknown to him and her that’s when the time travel happened. Samay had travelled to her time. She had indeed seen him entering the forest to find her not realizing that she was out there. He had somehow used a makeshift torch to scare off the bear. He had come prepared.

As soon as he pulled her up, he fell back on the ground tightly embracing her. They looked at each other smiling before losing consciousness.

The two of them woke up separately back at their timeline. Bobby had called for help as he had noticed Samay sneaking off. It was Sanjana who noticed Anjali’s disappearance and informed the teachers. Both of them had no memory of how they got there.

…

2018

It was the Alumni event and everyone was looking around trying to find old faces. Samay was with Bobby and others having seemingly turned his life around, as he now owned a popular shoe brand. Amidst the event, he decided to check out the old auditorium.

Just as he stood in front of it, reminiscing about the past, those memories of his surfaced. He remembered there was a time when he used to visit the auditorium a lot but he never knew why.

As he gazed upon it alone in the night away from muffled noises of music of the alumni event, he felt a presence besides him.

A beautiful woman around his age stood looking at the auditorium.

Anjali turned her head towards him as a question popped up in both their minds.

“Have we met before?”

“Have we met before?”

By Mohammed Ahmed