CHAPTER 11- I AM IN LOVE

It was a Sunday but our tenth class board exams were approaching. Geeta Mam had planned a full day study camp for us to revise a few important chapters. I was in a very irritable mood because I knew I was not going to get any rest and recreation for the whole week now. I reluctantly had a bath and called the gang to make sure they were attending classes today and left for the tutorials, I was a bit earlier than the others and was waiting for them near the entrance when my eyes wandered to who all were present in the class room. I saw a glimpse of someone pass by and my heart skipped a beat. I was eager to know who it was, so I moved a bit closer to get a better look and realized it was Preeti. I had seen her everyday for the past couple of years but she looked different today. She had tied her hair in two plaits like little girls do and looked really pretty. Her tiny nose, small eyes and fair complexion made her look almost like a Japanese girl. The green colored dress that she wore was really pretty and she looked breathtakingly beautiful in it. I had never felt anything like this before and I did not know what it was but I just wanted to keep looking at her. A touch on my shoulder from behind startled me and brought me back to my senses. It was Muez and he was wondering what I was up to. We headed inside the class and I made sure that we sat right behind Preeti which was unusual for us because we were known as compulsive back benchers. But I convinced Muez that we needed to pay attention in class today as our Tenth class Board Exams were approaching. For the first time in life, tenth class had benefited me in someway. The others in the gang were a bit late in arriving and I was pleased that they couldn’t sit with us that day because I did not want them to know what was going on because even I did not know what was going on. Was it what they call falling in love? Or did I just like the way that she looked today? For the rest of the day I couldn’t take my eyes of her. Before today I had always made fun of her and her friends and called her names like Japanese Fan, and Chinki (thats how us racist Indians call the Chinese people) but things had changed now. During the break when a guy tried to tease her I targeted the guy and made fun of him till he cried. I realized I was being extra nice to her from that day on. The care a damn attitude was gone and I was gentler when talking to the ladies. I couldn’t gather the courage to ask her to be my friend but I spoke a lot to her friends now and tried to impress them with my sense of humor. Whenever I got a chance I would sit behind her in class and keep admiring how beautiful she was. I loved everything about her, the way she smiled at her friends, the way she looked confused when she did not understand a question, the way she said thank you with a tilted head when I picked up the pen she had dropped and gave it to her and especially the way her hair moved when a gentle breeze was blowing.
I was in love for the first time and I wanted to share it with someone, so I told Billu about it and asked him not to tell anyone. He promised he wouldn’t but he told Sallu anyway. So now the three of us talked about it in signals in the group whenever she was passing by. Muez suspected something fishy was going on and asked me about it so I told him about it and asked him not to tell anyone about it. He went ahead and told Timmy anyway who in turn told about it to all the others in the gang. So now all my friends knew that I was in love and every time Preeti and her friends went past us they would tease me by saying “abe saale dekh Bhabhi jaa rahi hai” and I would blush too as if we were already blissfully married. I did not even know if she knew about my feelings for her or if she liked me, that is when Billu told me that two of her closest friends, Samreen and Shruti already had boyfriends who were in our class and he was well acquainted to them. He said that I could befriend them and they would help me in getting my girl.
It felt really strange but I had to approach Rajesh and Ameet and share my feelings with them. They gave me some inside information on what Preeti liked in a guy and what was her favorite flower and chocolate and stuff like that. So now whenever she was around I would talk loudly to my friends about how I loved the smell of jasmine and why red was my favorite color. I even spent 37 rupees and bought a Snickers bar that she loved and shared it with her friends and her which was abnormal for me as I hardly shared anything with anyone let alone expensive candy. “Oh the things we do for love.” But all the hard work paid off and she considered me a friend now. We still did not speak much but she smiled and said hi every time she saw me. I hated it now when we did not have tuitions and felt sleepless and restless if I did not see her for a day. I thought about her all day and all night long. I imagined where I would take her on a date and how good we would look together even before knowing if my feelings would be reciprocated. Those were the best days of my life and those were the worst days of my life. Best because I was cut off from the real world and lived in my own dreamland and worst because I did not know what would happen with my sports, my studies, my life. Meanwhile the news of me being in love with her was spreading like wildfire and I guess everyone except her knew about it now and that is when I learnt a really important lesson in life, never tell anyone a secret and tell them not to share it with anyone because people don’t like to be instructed on what to do and what not to do and one mans secret is gossip for the rest of the world.