Everybody Got a Story (Part I)

Kritvik Bhatt

“Board exams are coming, huh?” I said.

“Yeah, man. Perhaps in March or April,” Aaryan commented as he moved up his badminton and swung it hard on the plastic badminton. All of us were in our usual badminton court that evening, which was surrounded by the lush wild greenery with bushes at the edges. The sky had the shades of black mixed with blue as it was about to turn dark in a couple of hours. The shuttlecock passed through it and went to the right edge of Aakash’s side.

“And my mum has already started giving me lectures on what to take in the next grade,” Aakash said. He was playing against Aaryan as I sat on the bench beside them, obviously.

“So what have you decided, man?”

“I don’t decide, pal,” He smiled a little as the shuttlecock came his way again and he swung it to the other side effortlessly.

“Damn, why?”

“Ya see, they already made up their minds. I can’t do shit about it now.”

“… Non-medical?”

His smile fades away a little. He then nodded. He stepped to his right toward me, bent down, and raised his badminton frontward so he could hit the shuttlecock just in front of the net. But, it touched the ground. “Fuck!”

“Hahahhaa,” Aakash laughed. “Maybe, I’m gonna be in non-med too.”

“Huh? You too?” I narrowed my eyes on him.

“Why can’t I, mate?” He asked.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, no doubt you can. But, why does everyone take non-med?”

“That whole fucking generation is obsessed with IIT, ya see,” Aaryan commented as he straightened his back after taking up the shuttlecock. He then turned to me, “That shit is fucking overrated.”

“Yeah, man. After all, what’s the whole reason for giving one of the toughest exams in the country, mate? For a college admission? Why the hell?”

“Yeah, and those assholes won’t listen. They think that IIT fucking makes life.”

“But what have you decided, mate?”

I turned to Aakash as he asked me that question. “Me?”

He nodded. “You must have some shit in mind too, right?”

“Nah…” I said.

“Wow, mate!”

I smiled as I stood up. “What, huh?!”

“Decide on something, mate, before everyone starts giving you lectures and shit.”

“Yeah,” Aaryan agreed to Aakash.

“Obviously, man. I will.” I walked to him. “Badminton.”

He raised the badminton racket at me. I held it by its neck as he started to walk to the bench on one side of the badminton court and sat on it. I was on the right of him, and Aaryan was in his front.

Aaryan served the shuttlecock, and it ran up to my court. I hit it back with my underarm shot. It went up in the air, and he jumped a little to his toes as he hit it back at me. It went straight but behind, so I walked some steps back to hit it. I swung my badminton, but in vain. “Damn…”

“I guess you should take up non-med too.”

“Huh? Why?” I asked him as I bent down to take up the shuttlecock. I then straightened my back and looked at him.

“You are awesome in studies, mate. You’ll take care of yourself.”

“I’m not awesome, man. I, uhm, I just study, and for some reason, I just get to know things to get marks.”

“Yeah, I know. Every fucking topper I met describes that it’s a fucking miracle that they pass those shit exams.”

“Damn,” I smiled as I turned to Aaryan again and served the shuttlecock. He hit it with a drive shot. I hit an underarm. He raised his badminton to his right to be able to swing it back to me. I then threw out a drive again, and it went up in the air. He walked a few steps away and hit it straight at me again. I too hit it again at him. He then did the same. We both were just throwing shots right at each other’s face, for some reason. Shush! Shhush! Shhush! Our badminton rackets cut through the air, and, for some reason, we all could hear the sounds they made. Adrenaline rushed fast as the speed of the shuttlecock turned faster. I smiled, and so did Aaryan as he gave another overhead shot. It ran to me and I gave another overhead shot. But, for some reason, the shuttlecock went past my badminton and hit the ground some steps back. “Damn, man! That was interesting!”

“Yeah, man!” He smiled as he said back. “That shit was fucking intense.”

“The hell?! Both of you don’t even know how to play, and you both say that shit was intense?!” Aakash jumped into the conversation.

“Huh?”

Aakash turned to me. “Just a little change in angles at such a high speed would have got you a point. But both continued to play in the same fucking direction!”

“Stop saying shit, man,” Aaryan told him.

“Maybe. But that was great,” I said with an excited smile.

I turned to Aaryan, who was smiling too. “Ahahahahhahaha!”

I chuckled as I narrowed my eyes doubtfully. “Why are you laughing so hard?”

“Dunno, pal,” He said with a smile as he turned to me. “I just thought all this asshole does is get bullied by us, and it was funny in my head.”

“Damn,” I chuckled. “Great, man.”

Aakash chuckled too. “He’s gone insane or what?”

“Maybe he has,” I replied with a smile.

“Yeah, he used to laugh like that some time back, when we first met. But after that incident where he was caught with vapes and is now in rehab, he, for some reason, had lost… that laughter… maybe. Or some other stuff happened. But today, he made me feel like he’s still the Aaryan we all knew.”

The sky was turning darker and darker, and there were a bunch of white clouds in the sky calmly gazing upon us.

***

The sky had turned dark. The LED lights brightly lit the whole room filled with metal and stuff. There were black treadmills at one corner, with some weights and rods beside it, and then some cycles on the other side of the treadmills, and also some empty space at the other corner for people to exercise. At the center were some seats and a table, for some reason.

Hard metal rock music blasted at the whole gym. At the far right corner sat Akshay, along with Amit. Amit faced the mirror on the wall while Akshay sat beside him, facing him. Amit had a dumbbell in his right hand. He was pulling it up, his elbow on his knees. He then moved it down, and then started to pull it up again. Akshay had his eyes set on his pulls as he panted in and out with his mouth. He had a bottle in his hands between his thighs, and his back was tilted frontward.

“We’re gonna kick the ass of that Vikram.”

“Yeah, that asshole’s gonna shit his pants,” Amit smiled as he replied. His right hand moved down again, and then started to move up slowly again.

“Y’are gonna sprain yer arms, fucker.”

“Eh? No way.” His right hand moved down again, and this time, he opened his hand midair and threw his dumbbell down. Thump!

“I wanna ask ya something, fucker.”

Amit turned his head to his left at him and asked, “What d’ya wanna ask now?”

From Amit’s hands, Akshay’s gaze moved up to meet his eyes and asked, “Why did you make Sons of Satan?”

Amit looked into his eyes. He then turned his eyes downward to his front. “Didn’t I tell ya, asshole?”

“Nah.”

Amit blew out and closed his eyes. He stayed silent in the middle of all those sounds of metals and stuff clanking and moving. He then turned to Akshay’s serious gaze again. “Vikram… We used to be friends… when in eighth grade…”

***

“Yeah, people who do IIT earn in lakhs, and they don’t even work in India. They leave India, most of the time,” Aakash narrated. “So, mate, that’s why my mom wants me to do IIT, alright?”

“Damn, that seems great,” I commented as I looked at him to my left.

“That shit ain’t great, asshole. Just an exam decides what type of job ya get and how much shit ya earn in your fucking life, alright? Isn’t that fucked?” Aaryan commented as he walked on my right.

“But still, a great job…”

“Do what ya love. That’s what I believe.”

“Yeah, mate. It would have been awesome if people supported what we love to do.”

“It’s better in America. Do whatever ya want, and ya get a handsome pay for the shit.”

“Man…”

“Commerce has got some good choices too, but it’s shit. For real.”

“Yeah.”

I nodded. “Maybe I’m the only one who knows nothing about all this stuff.”

Aaryan smiled. “Don’t worry, pal. Ya will, soon.”

“How?”

“Ya got parents too, pal.”

“Y-Yeah…”

“And relatives too.”

“Y-Yeah… So…” I turned to him. “What do you mean?”

“Ya see, what I mean is…” He turned his head skyward. “Society won’t let ya breathe. It’s not started until now, but it won’t end until eleventh grade begins. Right, Aakash?”

“Yeah. My parents were chill about this shit.”

“Mine too. But that school seminar on career counseling or some shit changed everything.”

“Every fucking thing, for real,” Aakash said.

I turned to Aaryan, who had his face skyward, smiling, and then turned left to Aakash, who had his head downward, smiling. “You both are scaring me now, man. For some reason, I now feel like it’s damn scary.”

“It’s not scary until now, at least for us.”

“Yeah. We have not decided anything, so we take all the advice and shit they give to us. Real shit would begin when we decide on humanities, maybe.”

“Nah, I don’t want humanities either. But, I dunno what I want,” Aaryan commented.

Aakash turned his face to me, who was kinda shocked and scared. “Pfft! The hell, mate?!”

Aaryan turned to me and looked at me glaring at the front, and laughed too. “AHAHAHAHAHA!”

“What?!”

“Your face, asshole!”

“We scared the shit outta him!” Aakash turned his head downward. “Ahahhahaa!”

“Damn, guys! You both make it feel like some damn serious stuff, man! No doubt I’d be scared!”

“Ahahahahhaha!”

“Ahahahahhahaa!”

I chuckled too. “Ehehhehee…”

***

Aaryan Khanna

“Vikram… We used to be friends… when in eighth grade…”

“Huh? Ya used to be friends with that fucker?” Akshay narrowed his eyes and asked.

“Yeah. Ah, those were some days…” Amit smiled.

“Then what the fuck happened?” Akshay had his back bent frontward as he slowly asked him.

“It’s not such an interesting story, asshole,” That asshole refused to reply to that shit, for some reason.

“Tell me, fucker.”

Amit narrowed his eyes and looked him directly into his eyes. “What ya gonna do if I don’t?”

“Don’t forget that if I’m dependent on ya, ya too are dependent on me for all that information y’are gonna need to win, ain’t ya?”

“Ah, y’are tryna blackmail me?” Amit stood up, looking down on that asshole.

“Don’t make a fucking scene here, Amit. Sit down,” He narrowed his eyes.

Amit turned his head to his left, and then sat down again. “Yeah.”

“See, fucker, I gotta know the reason why ya wanna kick his ass, goddammit.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanna make sure ya too have a good reason to fight that fucker. I wanna see how far y’are willing to go.”

“So ya think I might run away, eh? Ya think I’m a two-cent assho—”

“No, fucker! No! I know y’are gonna fight. But, how far are ya willing to go? Why the fuck are ya even fighting him? What the fuck d’ya want? That’s what I wanna know.”

“Ah…” That shit calmed him down. He turned his head down. “So I guess I gotta tell ya this story, motherfucker.”

“Yeah.”