'As if that would've made a difference! You never listen to what teachers say in class,' she scolded him.
`Whatever. I just need your help right now. Are you done with the chapter?'
`Yes. It did it days back!' she said. Ananya had always been meticulous and planned when it came to academics.
`Awesome. How much time do you think it'll take you to teach me what you know?'
`Over phone?' she asked, puzzled.
`You want me to come over?'
`Shut up! It's two in the night!' she whispered.
`Over the phone then,' he said, dejected.
`Umm...I did it in three hours.'
`Three hours? In one chapter? I don't have that kind of time!'
'Umm...'
`Okay. So, how much time will it take you to teach me just the important parts?'
`Two hours at least!' Ananya was panicking now. She was more worried about Yuvraj than Yuvraj himself was.
'And...to go through the really really important parts? The ones I'd fail if I don't cover?'
`One hour!' she said.
`That should be okay. We will do just those!'
And so, they started studying on phone. Though Ananya had a lot of syllabus left to cover, she didn't mind going through Optics again for Yuvraj's sake. He'd been so busy with Natasha recently that hadn't talked for the longest time. She realized that she'd been missing him.
And soon, their conversation diverted from Optics to other - more appealing- topics. Physics went for a toss! They talked through the night, just like before, Yuvraj forgetting that he had a girlfriend, Ananya forgetting she had to tell him about his cheating girlfriend. It was well after six that Yuvraj hung up.
Ananya loved it that day. She didn't mind junking physics for him.. .till the time Yuvraj got a call from Natasha. The way Yuvraj disconnected their call in a heartbeat to take Natasha's, just broke her heart into a million pieces. She tried to concentrate on her textbooks but her mind started wandering. And soon, there was no time left to study.
`Naman!' she called, rushing to him in the school corridor.
`Hey, Ananya! Done with everything?'
`No! I have so much left to cover...'
`But the exam starts in ten minutes!'
`I know! That's why I need you. Can you go through Electrostatics with me once?' she begged.
`Now?'
`No, after the exam! Moron. Yes, now!'
Are you...' Naman looked at Ananya uncertainly.
`Shut up! We don't have time for this. Come with me,' she said and pulled him to the nearest stairs. She took out her book and opened the chapter. `Start.'
`You're serious about this,' Naman asked.
`Of course I am!'
`How am I supposed to cover a full chapter in seven minutes?'
`I don't care how! But just do...or I'll fail,' she panicked.
`Okay okay,' he took a deep breath and started. Girls!, he thought.
`Naman! Ananya!' They heard someone call their names from the other end of the corridor. They looked up to see Ms. Juneja making her way towards them.
`Ma'am...'
`What are you two still doing here? The exam started ten minutes ago!'
`Ohh!' They looked at their watches, collected their stationeries and ran to the exam hall.
'All the best,' he said as they entered the hall.
`Same to you.'
The second Ananya looked at the question paper, she knew she was doomed. It wasn't like she would have trouble passing, but it was clear that she wasn't going to score well. That happens, when you leave almost half of the syllabus untouched.
She started writing the answers to whatever she knew and guessed the answers to the rest of the questions. After doing all this, she still had an hour to kill.
She looked around to see what the others were doing. Naman was writing vigorously into his answer sheet, his nose almost touching it. Yuvraj, to her shock, was resting his head on his desk and sleeping. Yuvraj, the most intelligent student in class, one of the top contenders to make it to the IlTs, sleeping right in the middle of an exam! Girls do that to guys, she shook her head and thought.
Soon, she put her head down to sleep too but then she thought of Mr. Sharma who was invigilated the exams. She didn't hold a very high spot in Mr. Sharma's eyes anyway. So, she chucked the plan and started ruffling the pages of her answer sheet and pretended to revise her answers.
She turned around to look at others again. Everyone was engrossed into the papers in front of them. And some were engrossed in the others' answer sheets, copying down everything they could see. She was amazed to see they had the guts to cheat right under Mr. Sharma's nose.
'Ananya...' she heard someone call her name from behind her.
She looked around to check where Mr. Sharma was and turned to look back at the source of the sound.
`What?' she whispered back.
`Pass this,' Samir, the guy sitting behind her showed her a piece of paper and said.
`What?'
`Give it to her...' he pointed out to his girlfriend who sat just two seats ahead of Ananya.
`What is happening here?' a voice boomed into the exam hall and she saw Mr. Sharma making his way towards them.
`Sir...'
`What do you think you are doing? What is this?' he snatched the paper from Samir's hand and said.
`Sir I'm sorry...'
`How dare you?' Mr. Sharma thundered at him. `You have the guts to bring chits to exams? You think you were too smart to get caught?'
'I...sir...' Samir stammered.
`And you!' Mr. Sharma turned to Ananya. `Aren't you the new girl? You've already started doing all this?'
`Sir, I didn't...' Ananya tried to say something but couldn't. Things were happening too quickly. One minute, she was sitting silently, wondering what to do with the rest of her time and the next thing she knew, she was accused of cheating.
`What? Give me your answer sheets, both of you!'
`I'm sorry, sir. This won't happen again,' Samir said calmly. The calm suggested one thing - he had a powerful dad.
`But what about now? What do I do with the two of you?'
`Forgive us,' he said calmly as if nothing happened.
`Why should I?U
`Because we're sorry.'
`Yeah? You don't look so,' Mr. Sharma said as he looked helpless. He probably knew he wouldn't be able to touch the boy.
'We are sorry. Right, Ananya?' Samir looked at Ananya.
`I, uh...' Ananya thought of something to say. Was she sorry? No! Because she didn't do anything wrong.
`Enough! I don't want to listen to any excuses! Give me your answer sheets and to the Principal's office. Now!' Mr. Sharma shouted.
`But sir...' Ananya stuttered.
`Now!
`This is ridiculous,' the guy muttered under his breath.
`What?' Mr. Sharma thundered.
`Nothing.'
`What did you say?' he asked again.
`Nothing,' Samir said and got up to leave.
`Where do you think you're going?'
`I'm out of here,' he said and left.
`What do you think of yourself? You think you can do anything and everything you want here and I won't be able to do anything? I'll tell you what I can do...I'll show you!' Mr. Sharma called after him. He then turned to look at Ananya. Samir had walked out of the class.
Ananya looked at his face and a shiver ran up her spine.
`I don't believe that guy,' Ananya said to Naman that night over phone.
`Chill. Everything's sorted now.'
`But I didn't do anything! He could've said something when Mr. Sharma accused me of cheating!'
`He didn't want anyone to know that he was helping his girlfriend cheat. So he didn't say anything.'
`Hi girlfriend?'
`The girl sitting two seats front of you.'
`Oh. But he just asked me to pass the chit to her. That's it! I didn't even touch it!'
`
Let it go, yaar. It's history now.'
`I just wish they hadn't called my dad,' she said softly.
`I know. But what's done is done. Sharma was pissed and he wanted to show he had some authority over the students, so...'
`Hmm...Still...' Ananya was still getting used to the ways of The Presidency Convent. Even though the teachers there never raised an eyebrow at what the kids did, sometimes they found the need to prove that they had some kind of power over the students. Like that day. But as soon as he called their parents and asked them to see the Principal, the matter was closed. Everyone knew who stood where.
In the end, it was Mr. Sharma who had to apologize to their parents for wasting their time for such a petty matter.
`Why did Mr. Sharma look so scared?' Ananya asked, suddenly remembering the expression on his face.
`The guy's dad was some kind of minister or something...'
`Really?'
`Yeah. I guess Sharma would check every student's background before raising a finger next time!'
`But it wasn't his mistake! The guy was cheating!'
`So what?'
`He was the examiner! He was supposed to prevent anyone from...'
`Welcome to The Presidency, baby. This place is run by the students!'
The rest of the exams went smoothly for Ananya. She had to prepare for them alone, since Naman always believed in self-study and Yuvraj was exceptionally busy for some reasons. It had been a week since they'd last talked, excluding the customary "hi" and wave when they saw each other at school during exams.
She'd tried calling him a couple of times that week but his phone was always engaged. He was busy all night with Natasha, chatting on phone. She'd heard from Naman that his exams weren't going too well. She didn't need to ask why. Natasha was doing everything to keep Yuvraj away from Ananya. She still feared Ananya would tell him about her secret.
But by the end of exams, Ananya had already decided to dismiss the incident as a one off drunk behavior. Yuvraj seemed genuinely happy now a days and Natasha seemed really devoted to him. So she let the matter go.
There were other, more important things, on her mind. She had started preparing hard for the debate. Only three days were left and she was yet to review what Radhica had planned to speak that day. After all, she had to know what kind of questions could be raised in the interjections. So Radhica and Ananya sat down after school to review each other's speeches.
`This is so good, Ananya!' Radhica said, `You are so going to roll them over!'
`You think?' Ananya asked.
`Yes! You are really talented,' she said.
`Thank you.'
And you know what the best part about working with you is, Ananya?'
`What?'
`That I don't have to work with that bitch, Natasha!'
They both chuckled.
`Ohh, you really hate her, don't you?'
`No, I don't hate her. I just don't like her,' Radhica said.
`Why not?'Ananya asked. Do you know too that she cheats on her guys?
`You know what...we were best friends once. For three years! Can you believe that?'
`You were? What happened?'
`Yes, but then, she had many distractions and we both moved on!' she said.
`Hmmm...'
And as it happens, when two girls sit and bitch about a third girl, there can be nothing more common between two girls. At first, Ananya didn't want to say anything bad about Natasha, but then once she started, she didn't seem to stop!
`I thought I didn't like her,' Radhica said, `But you hate her for sure!'
`You know how she behaved with me the first day, right? Who does that?ff
'Umm...Ananya everybody thought about the way she did when they first saw you...Well, you were a little bit of a freak! Though I liked you,' Radhica said.
`People are so shallow around here,' Ananya said dejectedly.
`You can't help it. By the way, did you tell Yuvraj about it?'
About that incident? NO.! I tried to, but then...I couldn't find the time.. .and they seemed happy, so I thought I would just let it be.'
`Let it be? That's a little strange!'
`Strange? Had you been in my place would you have?' Ananya asked, already feeling guilty.
`No, I wouldn't have. But had I been you, I would have.'
`What does that mean?' Ananya asked.
`You like Yuvraj, don't you?'
`Me? No!'
`C'mon! It's very apparent. The way you look at him... the way you talk to him, you even dropped out of the team! Just to save his ass... It's very hard for me to believe that you don't!'
`Umm...no, I don't think so.'
`So, who do you like? Rishab?'
No.
`Naman? Don't tell me!' Radhica mocked.
Ananya really wished they would stop talking about all this. For the last few days, she had been missing Yuvraj's presence in her life. Yes, Naman and Rishab gave her enough time throughout the day to keep her from getting bored, but she missed the conversations, the texts, and the occasional phone call with Yuvraj. She was surprised when she used to feel a little tinge of jealousy seeing Yuvraj and Natasha together. Radhica had grown close to Ananya over the last few days. She had noticed the change in Ananya's behavior whenever Yuvraj and Natasha were around.
`Let's not talk about this!' Ananya said, as Radhica kept pestering her.
`I got my answer then...'
`Whatever,' Ananya shrugged.
`...that's so how a girl in love reacts, Ananya!'
`Okay okay! Let's change the topic. How come you are still single?'
`Why? Why can't I be single?' Radhica asked.
`You are pretty and very nice...and of what I have seen, guys don't miss an opportunity like that here.'
`I have had my share of bad relationships. Fuck that.'
`Relationships?'
`Oh poor you, why do I forget that you're from Raipur!'
`That's insulting,' Ananya said seriously.
'Aw! I didn't...'
`It's okay, I was just kidding.' Ananya smiled at Radhica.
`I don't want another asshole in my life! How many guys have you dated?'
`Umm,' Ananya thought for a moment but then saw no reason why she should lie. `None!
Needless to say, Radhica was a little surprised. Radhica had been very conservative over the years in how she chose guys she had to date and still dated four guys. The guys turned out to be complete jackasses. One of them cheated on her and the other lied a lot. The other two were just good looking, boring guys. Anyway, after a few minutes of confirming over and over again, Radhica believed that Ananya hadn't dated anybody.
`But why? Radhica asked.
`Never found the right guy. And there were hardly any good guys around.'
Awww! Radhica pitied her.
They talked more about usual girl stuff rather than what they had planned on talking about and then went back home. Ananya was glad that she could finally connect with a girl, like a friend. She kicked herself for not having found her earlier. And thanked Natasha and her bitchiness for getting them closer.
`Have you been avoiding me?' Rishab asked as he opened the car door for Ananya.
`Me? No! You were the one who was missing school!'
Yeah,' he said. `But you didn't pick up my calls?'
`Must have been with my dad,' she said and Rishab didn't say anything.
`How's the preparation going?' he asked sometime later.
`It's going fine,' Ananya said, `Radhica and I make quite a team! I really like her.'
Over the last few days, Radhica and Ananya had been spending quite some time together, and Radhica had slept over at her place for two nights now. And they had moved way beyond their common hatred for Natasha. Ananya loved Radhica for her honesty and her straightforwardness. And she had not met a lot of people like her since the time she had come to Delhi.
A lot of people had come up to Ananya and talked to her but Ananya found ev
eryone extremely fake. Most of them had come up to her either to get set up or get their friends set up.
`It's tomorrow, right?' Rishab asked.
`The debate? Yes,' Ananya was surprised he remembered.
`Do you mind if I come along?'
`Not at all, I would love it if you come,' she said.
Rishab parked the car outside the school. Ananya spotted Yuvraj walking inside the school with Natasha. In the past few days, they had hardly talked even though Ananya wanted to. If not anything else, she wanted feedback on her final debate material. Rishab walked her to her class and left.
`Hi,' Ananya waved Radhica from the door itself. She had saved a seat for Ananya. And Naman. And Naman had saved one for Yuvraj.
`So?' Radhica asked, `Excited for tomorrow?'
`Yes! By the way, Rishab would come too. I hope you don't have any problem?'
`Problem? No! He is good to look at...plus he has friends there! Who knows he might introduce me to someone!' Radhica winked.
`Introduce you? Weren't you tired of all the assholes around you?'
`You never know when you find the right one, Ananya!' Radhica winked.
`You are so desperate!' Ananya said lovingly.
`I? Look who's talking! Aren't you the one who hangs out with Rishab?'
`He is just a friend, Radhica!...and he is cute.'
`Is it? The whole school knows he is a pervert and he doesn't spend time with girls...unless, you know..'
`No!' Ananya defended herself. `...and he is very sweet to me...and he hasn't done a single thing that people accuse him ofl No touching, no groping!'
`Sad for you!' Radhica said, smiling at her.
`Whatever.'
`What are you girls talking about?' Naman said as he slid inside the seats.
'About you,' Radhica said.
'Aw! Radhica, I know you're obsessed with me, but don't bore Ananya with how awesome I am.'
`I just can't help it, Naman.' Radhica said. `Who else would we talk about? You are the man of our dreams, Naman!' Radhica mocked and laughed.
,...and what exactly do I do in those dreams?' Naman winked.
`Yeah, right...don't push it,' Radhica said. They laughed.
`So, how's the preparation going?' he asked and the both of them said they were pumped for tomorrow.
`Speaking of pumped,' Naman said, `You would be happy to hear Radhica, that I had my first day at the gym yesterday!'
The Backbenchers: The Extra Class Page 6
