Anxious Beginnings

(Fiction Story-I)

As Naina parked her scooty, her anxiety increased. She was keeping anxious a lot lately. Shifting to a new town had taken a toll on her. New town, new school, new home, new people, it was too much “new” for her in one sentence. She didn’t know a single soul in this new place. Yet, when her father got transferred to this new city, what option did she have but move. Thankfully her parents had waited for 2 years for her to complete her 10th before moving into this new city. She had already felt a lot of guilt on being the reason for her parents to stay in different towns for 2 whole years just so that her environment didn’t get disturbed while she gave her board examination. Hence she readily agreed when her parents suggested shifting to the town where her father had been transferred.

She was an extrovert and touted as the most talkative person in her class. But she knew she wouldn’t be the same anymore. She was the most talkative as she knew her classmates for 10 years. There was a different bond there. Here, not knowing anyone and starting a new life was playing on her nerves.

As she entered the school, the building reminded her of a fort. It was a huge beautiful building spread across a big area unlike her previous school which was just one tall building and a small ground. Yet, this beautiful fort felt intimidating.

She went to the principal’s office and waited for her turn. After almost 15 minutes of waiting, the principal called her in. He seemed very friendly and tried to make her feel at ease, however how could she feel at ease when she knew no one, when she was entering an unknown territory!

She was early when she reached her class, no one had arrived yet. Hence, she safely chose the seat in the second last bench to blend in the crowd and to be sure she didn’t attract too much attention. As people started pouring in the class, they started approaching her and talking to her. They asked about her previous school, her city, and she fell into ease. The people seemed friendly. One girl asked her name, school and then directed all her questions towards her marks in the previous school. When she said she was a ranker, she further delved into the details of her marks in each subject. It was sort of funny!

Just then, when she was laughing inside and keeping a straight face outside, a really good looking guy entered. He had black silky flowing hair which covered one of his eyes. As he pulled his hair back with his hands, she could see his eyes. They were the darkest shade of brown with a glint of mischief in his eyes. His tan skin was the exact color that attracted her. He had a smile to kill for! As he smiled at her, her heart beat faster. She felt her heart would jump out of its ribs. As she tried unsuccessfully to bring down her heartbeat so that the entire class wouldn’t hear it, he started approaching her.

In those few minutes she went through a thousand scenarios of what he would ask her and what would she reply back. Curiosity with nervousness and excitement replaced the anxiety. When he came to her, his smile was replaced by irritation as he told her with a tinge of rudeness in his voice that she was in his seat.

She apologized and stood up to find another seat. Without thanking her or even returning her smile, he simply sat at his seat ignoring her. He didn’t even care to ask her name. It was as if he hadn’t seen her.

Such a rude jerk! She reprimanded herself and wondered what was she thinking! She knew, all good looking guys were jerks! They were heartbreakers. Though she had never been in a relationship, she knew from the experiences of her friends that the good looking ones were the ones who would attract them with their charm and once they got bored, they behaved like total jerks and if that didn’t get a girl to break up with them, they simply cheated. Being good looking they didn’t have difficulty finding someone else to cheat with!

She saw an empty seat next to a girl. After getting assurance from the girl that it was not occupied, she settled in that seat. Prachi, her bench-mate was sweet and asked her about her school and where she lived in this town before the teacher entered and started teaching.

While the class was in progress, and when the teacher wasn’t paying attention Prachi suddenly turned to her and asked her why was Kabir mad at her?

Her first reaction was who was this Kabir when she suddenly realized that Prachi was talking about the rude jerk. She was surprised.

Wasn’t this his normal behavior? When she told Prachi that she had no clue and that it was the first time she met him, Prachi was a little taken aback as well. She told her she had not seen Kabir behave so rudely with anyone. She wondered what had she done to agitate this beautiful boy.

For Kabir’s narrative, click here — https:[email protected]/the-first-look-62803b63f96a#.77e3qnvwl