Examination Begins

Kritvik Bhatt

“Well, just three days more, and then… we’ll be giving half-yearly exams,” Sana commented. She then put her head on the table. “Like, that’s sad.”

“Yeah, man, it sure is,” I replied as I turned my head backward. “We can’t even run away from these exams.”

On Sana’s right sat Kavya, who had tilted her chair from her own table to Sana’s. “Yeah, boy, that makes it even worse.”

The whole classroom was filled with the usual indistinct chatter, obviously. Everyone was divided in groups—some only of boys, some only of girls, and some mixed—all around the classroom. Our group was at the center of the classroom like usual, for some reason.

I took a bite up in my right hand from my lunchbox on Sana’s table.

“Can’t any one of you two cancel these exams?” Sana asked, her eyes narrowed down in boredom and sleepiness.

Kavya had her eyes toward her lunch as she said, “C’mon, girl, they can’t be this hard. And you study a lot too, don’t you?”

I gulped my food in and turned to Sana. “I don’t think she does, man. For some reason, she doesn’t seem like a nerd.”

“Girls can be both beautiful and studious,” Kavya commented.

With my eyes on the food again and a bite in my hand about to go inside my mouth, I commented, “And girls like you two can be neither of them and still be girls.”

At this, the eyes of both the girls rolled at me. Sana rolled her eyes up, narrowed and cold, and Kavya was frowning a little.

For some reason, I kept on chewing my food until I turned to Sana and noticed her expression. “Uh…” I then turned to my left at Kavya. “Uhm…” I gulped in.

Both of them then turned their eyes downward at their lunchboxes.

“Look who’s talking, girl.”

“Another cringe joke.”

I turned my head down to my food too.

“Anyway, have you started preparing for the exams?” Sana looked at me as she straightened her back.

“Yeah, only some chapters of science are left. No doubt I’ll cover them all before the exams begin.” I then turned my head up at her. “Then I’ll just revise them once more in the preparatory holidays, and I should be good to go.”

“Like, you really study, then,” Sana commented. She then turned to Kavya. “And what about you?”

“I’ll study one night before exams.” She then turned her head up. “I should be good to go, too.”

“W-Whatever,” Sana commented.

“What about you, man?” I asked her.

Sana turned to me. “Well, I just recently started. You see, English and Hindi will be done right before exams. Social studies will be seen when the time comes. Only science and math are my main focus right now.”

“Syllabus of social studies is vast this time, man,” I told her. “I don’t think it will be possible to cover it all in the preparatory holidays. You should revise them.”

“Yeah yeah.” Sana closed her eyes and stretched her arms around. “I don’t wanna talk about studies. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Yeah,” Kavya commented. She then rolled her eyes up at me. “All this guy is doing right now is flexing on both of us, ain’t he?”

“Huh?”

Sana smiled. “Whatever.” She then turned to Kavya. “My mom was asking from where you bought your winter uniform.”

“Sector eighty-seven,” Kavya turned to her. “There’s a shop named ‘All School Uniform Hut’.”

“Cringe name.”

“Yeah, girl,” Kavya smiled.

“This is India. What other type of name do you expect from someone who sells uniforms?” I commented as I took a bite in.

“Yeah yeah,” Sana replied. “And how much was it?”

Kavya turned her head skyward. “Uhm… I guess… I don’t remember the exact figures, girl, but…” She turned to her. “The blazer and sweater combined were about thirteen hundred.”

“And shirt?”

“Three-four hundred.”

Sana nodded. She then turned to me. “And anyway, why are both of you eating so slowly?”

I gulped in, took up the lid of my green lunchbox which was kept beside it, and closed it. I then turned up to Sana. “Obviously, man. You brought just an apple. No doubt you’d finish before us.”

“Still, K.”

I took up my lunchbox, turned to my left, opened the zip of my bag in front of my legs, stuffed the lunchbox in, and then closed the zip again.

“Anyway, did you watch the latest episode of that spy anime?”

I smiled. “Man, stop referring to anime as ‘that-this anime’.”

Sana smiled too. “I can’t waste precious storage of my brain remembering anime titles, you see.”

“Damn, man.”

“That’s sad, I know.”

“Yeah. And, I did watch that episode. Though it was not as interesting as the last week’s episode.”

“Yeah, the series is becoming boring with each passing episode.” She extended her right hand downward and tilted her back rightward, her face still on me. “Like, why not take a break if you can’t get an idea of where the story should go next?”

“Yeah, man, the writer should really think about it now. But, for some reason, some people say that the story is heading to some great arc.”

Sana took up her blue-colored metal water bottle in her right hand and started to twist its cap. “Yeah, I’ve seen those posts online too. But I don’t trust them.” She moved her black mask down and started to drink.

“Maybe they are right, but they too are just predict—”

Bang! She thumped her bottle down on her table

“Oh yeah! Do you both know about Roshan and Charvi?!”

“Huh? Who are they?”

She narrowed her eyes again. “Really, K?”

“R-Really…”

Kavya turned to her left at Sana, her eyes shining. “I know, girl!”

“W-What about them?” I asked the two of them.

Suddenly, the two turned their eyes to me.

Sana began. “Well, Roshan is a really fat guy who barely passes.”

Kavya continued. “And Charvi is the hottie of the class. Guys can kill each other just to talk to her!”

“And Roshan got Charvi!”

“Huh?!” My eyes widened.

“Dunno,” Sana shrugged. “Charvi never comments on it, but Roshan is like, she’s really shy, so she’ll never accept.”

“Man, Charvi is that… that white skinned skinny girl, w-who have brown hair, right?”

Sana’s eyes too were widened as she nodded. “Yeah, that’s Charvi. She has about a thousand followers online.”

“Man, how did this Roshan pull it off?”

She shook her head. “Dunno.” She then turned her head leftward, looking at a group of guys laughing. “I also feel like he’s just lying about it.”

“But then why doesn’t Charvi comment about it herself?” Kavya gulped in and started to close her lunchbox.

“Right.”

“Whatever. Why should we care?” I said.

Sana turned to me and looked into my eyes, moving her mask up her face. “Like, it’s mysterious, you see.”

I nodded.

“Anyway, today is our last day in school before exams. So, what about a party after exams?” Sana asked. She then turned to Kavya, who had her back tilted rightward as she stuffed her lunchbox in her bag, zipped it, and then straightened her back.

“Nah, girl, my mom never agrees on parties. And we’re low in number, too.”

“Yeah, we’re low in number,” I agreed. “For some reason, a party without at least five members turns out to be boring.”

“Really? Why?” Sana asked.

Kavya replied, “Because more people are fun, girl.”

“For some reason, yes.”

“R-Really…?” Sana turned to me.

I nodded.

She then turned to Kavya.

She nodded.

“Then we gotta make more friends.”

“Not happening,” Kavya said. “Three of us are enough. Don’t be a bitch.”

I stayed silent. Sana then turned to me. I shrugged.

“Well, we can at least add another boy?”

“Not happening.”

“Huh?”

Both of us turned to her. “Why?” Sana asked.

Ding dong. Ding dong.

“The break is over,” I commented as I stood up from my seat. I then started to twist it frontward. Kavya too stood up from her seat, her eyes, for some reason, narrowed and uninterested, and she dragged her head out rightward and kept it in front of a table.

Other students of the class too started to move around here and there, and many emerged inside the classroom from the outside. All of the students started to settle in, and the classroom was filled with the noise of tables and chairs being dragged away—along with the chatter, obviously.

***

“Why does she turn pale when she hears about you making a new friend?” I asked.

Both Sana and I had our bags behind our all-white uniforms as we walked back home. The sky was cloudy, with no trances of sun in the sky. We were walking through a thoroughfare with markets on both the sides. The cars too were running on our right as we walked. Patter of footsteps of people around us, along with the sounds of breaks and horns of cars, filled the atmosphere. There were also other people walking on the densely-packed footpath.

“You know, she’s just kinda insecure,” Sana replied, her face straight at the front.

“But, man, still…”

“You won’t understand it, K,” She commented.

I turned to my right, looked at her, and was about to object, but then, for some reason, I stopped, and then said, “… Maybe.” I then turned my head to the front. “But, she’s going too far in the name of insecurity.”

“Yeah, she does. But, well, that’s just how she is, you see.”

“For some reason, she… she appears to me like she’s obsessed over you or stuff like that.”

“What? Really?” She smiled and turned to me.

I turned to her and nodded. “Yeah. She can’t even see you with me!”

“No, she’s moved on from it and accepted you,” Sana commented and turned her head to the front as we passed a bunch of old men and women.

“But no doubt she’s a lesbian.”

“That’s sad, but that’s not true,” I looked at her dead serious eyes.

“W-Wait, a-are you… too…”

“What?! No!” She hesitantly turned to me, her cheeks pink. “No, emo!”

I smiled devilishly. No doubt she was acting suspicious.

“No! Believe me!”

“Then tell me. Do you have a male crush?” I asked.

“W-W-What…?”

Both of us turned to our left and entered the street. It was a residential area, maybe, because there were just apartments on both the sides of the street. In front of the two of us was the intersection, just a dozen of steps away.

“Obviously you are in love with her!”

“No!”

“Then why are you acting like you are!”

“I’m not!”

The figures of both of us were shouting, no doubt, as we walked in the street.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. The footsteps of another guy were slowly reaching toward the intersection, along with the faint noise of our talks.

“Then prove it!”

“Y-You’re really… really…”

“Obviously, man, you gotta prove yourself! Because all the proofs that I’ve collected are against you!”

That guy walked in the intersection and turned to his left, looking at the figure of the two of us about three-four steps away.

“Hey, Kritvik!”

Both Sana and I stopped talking and turned our heads to the front.

With a black bag, a gray pair of trousers over a white full-sleeved shirt, was Aaryan, who had his head to his left at us.

“Hi, man!” I cheerfully called him.

“Asshole,” He replied, his face neutral, for some reason. “Going home?”

“Yeah, man. Are half-yearly exams done in your school?”

“Yeah, pal. We even got the results.”

“How much did you score?”

“Not worth telling,” He smiled. “And ya see, I’m gonna do the deliveries myself from now on, so ya can leave the task. Alright?”

“Huh? Thanks, man.”

Aaryan, with that smile of his, turned to the front, and continued walking. He disappeared to our left, and we continued to glare at his back as he walked away.

“Well, you two are friends now?” Sana asked, tilting her head from the intersection to me.

“Maybe,” I said as I turned to my right at her. We both then continued to walk.

She turned her head to the front. “This phenomenon of befriending guys who bullied you only happens in boys, you see.”

“Nah. It’s just…” I tried to explain to her. “It’s just that we worked together for some time, so… so maybe…”

“So maybe everything’s cool between you two?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Cringe. Don’t talk to guys like him too much.”

“Yeah, I’ll be sure.”

“And make sure not to befriend other guys like him. Just mind your own business.”

“Yeah,” I turned to her. “Thanks.”

She smiled as she turned to me. “It’s just my job to beware people, you see.”

“Yeah, man,” I replied with a smile.

We both turned our heads to the front. My house was on my right—just another apartment in the middle of all the same-looking ones. I turned to my apartment, and then turned to Sana. Both of us stopped in front of us.

“Well, bye bye, then,” She said with a smile.

“Yeah, bye bye!”

She turned to the front and started to walk away. I looked at her back walking away.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Her footsteps were deafening my ears as they echoed. My eyes continued to stare at her back as I thought, “I… won’t be seeing her for the fortnight, huh?”

“We were about to stay away from each other for two weeks, and that was something that… made me uncomfortable, for some reason. I didn’t want it this way. I wanted to spend more time with her, man. At last, we both just started getting close. And… I didn’t want a simple ‘bye bye’. I wanted… I wanted it to be something special, for some reason. But maybe… But maybe that’s just how life is, man. Simple. And complex.”

I turned to my right and started to walk toward the apartment. I opened the gate to the narrow stairway, and closed it behind me as I walked in and turned right on the stairway.

“Those days of living away from her were gonna be tough for me, man! But, it was not like my life was ending. We… We will be meeting again. And we’ll keep on meeting before and after exams. So…”