Chapter 2

Captain O Captain
Chapter - 2



Manoj was sharp and intelligent. He also had signs of awareness and sensitivity in him. But he was not socially skilled. Even in class, he remained lost in his own world of fun. The boy who sat with him, Sagar, was a complete troublemaker. Even during free periods, Manoj, Manish, Sagar, and a few other boys would gather and create a lot of noise.
However, Manoj never told anyone that he was attracted to Akshita—that he had a crush on her. Whenever any of them spoke badly about Akshita, Manoj would agree along with them. Even though he knew the flaws in his company, he couldn’t leave it. He simply didn’t have that level of confidence—or you could say, inner strength.
When there were no classes, he spent his time in cheap and inappropriate activities—abusive language, vulgar comments about girls, and obscene conversations. That was what he enjoyed. And when classes were on, he would keep looking at Akshita. He would deliberately do things so that she might turn back and look at him.
Along with Sagar, he would mock teachers, each other, or someone else. They would laugh loudly, but Akshita never turned around. He talked about Bollywood, about Anime, even about Korean dramas—but Akshita showed not even the slightest interest.
Many times, Akshita didn’t come to school on Saturdays. On those days, Manoj also felt restless. From Sagar, he had learned that Akshita went to Akash Coaching Center every Saturday to pursue further studies.
Manoj kept trying, but he always failed. Half of the 11th grade had already passed, yet he hadn’t managed to talk to Akshita even once.
The SA-1 exams were conducted. Akshita stood first, Manoj second. Manoj was extremely happy. For some reason, he now enjoyed being just one step behind Akshita. He felt a strange kind of connection with her.
After the exams, classes resumed. The seating arrangement remained the same. Manoj again sat behind Akshita. His efforts began once more, but he still couldn’t get into her notice.
One morning, when Manoj was riding Kallo, he saw Akshita’s black van again. The old driver was driving fast as usual. Today, Manoj was standing aside, but the van brushed against another man riding an Atlas bicycle and sped away. The cyclist fell.
Manoj immediately helped him. He parked the bicycles aside and took the man to a nearby hospital. After everything was done, when he got back on his cycle, only one thought came to his mind—*if only Akshita had seen him*. If only she could see how good he was, maybe she would fall for him.
Smiling at his own thoughts, he reached school.
It was an Economics period. Deepak Sir was explaining a chart. The chart was easy, but one boy kept asking again and again, and the teacher kept explaining repeatedly. Manoj got irritated. He didn’t have the patience to listen anymore.
He stood up and said, “Sir, he only wants to time waste…”Then he forgot what to say next and awkwardly added, “Yours…" 
-- Sir, he only wants to time waste… yours. -- No one laughed at his broken English—but one girl laughed so loudly that the entire class was surprised. Finally, Akshita had broken her silence.
Manoj felt proud of his foolishness.
Once that silence broke, it kept breaking. Now she started laughing at Manoj’s remarks. When the teacher didn’t answer one of Manoj’s questions, he shouted, “Miss, tell na!” and Akshita burst into laughter. Once, Manoj said “tomorrow” instead of “yesterday,” and everyone laughed. Akshita smiled lightly too.
This continued.
Once, a group project was assigned, and Akshita and Manoj ended up in the same group. Akshita became the captain, and Manoj the vice-captain. The problem was—Akshita hardly spoke to anyone. She didn’t even want to be captain, but the teacher, Mrs. Rose Cutting, appointed her without asking anyone. Akshita was afraid to object, so she remained silent.
Manoj, however, saw his advantage—Akshita as captain, he as vice-captain.
There were 10 students in the group. The task was to write about five of the most influential people in the world. They were given one week.
Reluctantly, Akshita tried to initiate conversation with the group members. But she spoke so softly that no one took her seriously—except Manoj. The others even teased her, which is why they deliberately ignored her. Akshita never repeated herself more than twice.
Only Manoj listened to her.
One day passed, then two, then three. No one did any work or brought any materials. Akshita had planned to make a book with 10 pages for each person. But only the first 10 pages were done—and those were made by Akshita and Manoj alone.
Manoj felt shy taking her name, so he started calling her “Captain.”
He tried to scold the other members to follow her instructions, but it was useless.
The submission was on Friday, and it was already Thursday. No one had done decoration, collected information, or written anything. Only Manoj and Akshita had completed 20 pages.
Friday came. During Mrs. Rose’s period, just as their group’s turn was about to come, Akshita took out a large, beautifully prepared book from her bag. All the group members’ faces lit up—but Manoj’s fell.
Everyone began falsely praising Akshita. Manoj kept staring at her. Then someone asked, “But Akshita, when ma’am asks who did how much work, what will you say? You won’t tell the truth, right?”
Akshita replied calmly, “I won’t say anything. You can say whatever you want.”
She had returned to her old silent self.
Everyone laughed shamelessly. But Manoj kept looking at the bandages on her fingers—there were at least five.
The group went in front of the teacher. First, she checked the work and praised it. Then she asked, “Tell me, who contributed what in this book?”
Eight shameless members stepped forward confidently and started lying—“Ma’am, I brought the materials.”“Ma’am, I did the decoration.”“Ma’am, I made these flowers.”“Ma’am, I wrote five pages.”…and so on.
Akshita and Manoj were pushed to the back. Akshita stood silently, staring somewhere far away. Manoj was still looking at her fingers.
Then he noticed her fists clenching. He looked at her face. Anyone else might not have noticed—but Manoj did. There was pain on her face.
His heart broke.
He immediately stepped forward, pushed everyone aside, and said in one breath,“Ma’am, they are all lying. All this work has been done by Akshita alone. None of them helped her at all.”
The eight were stunned, but quickly started protesting,“No ma’am, Manoj is lying!”
The teacher asked just one question, “Alright then, who can tell me the names of the five people in this book?”
Silence.
“Do you think I’m a fool? There are only two handwritings in this book. Akshita, tell me—apart from you, who else worked?”
Everything became clear.
Akshita finally said that only she—and a little bit Manoj—had done the work.
The teacher gave zero marks to the other eight students.
After class, those eight came to fight Manoj. Seeing them approach, Manoj roared,“Not one of you come near me! I’m already in a bad mood—I’ll beat each one of you!!”
Hearing his aggressive Haryanvi ( local dialect ) warning, their courage collapsed. They turned back.
At that moment, a look of complete satisfaction appeared on Akshita’s face—like her revenge was fulfilled. Seeing that, Manoj’s anger melted away, and he even felt a little embarrassed about his own Haryanvi outburst.