The Great Indian College Romance

18. Amends

After the canteen spectacle, Deepani walked me to the principal's office staring everybody down and just waiting for someone to make one wrong move so she could tear them down. I realized I was smiling because never could I have imagined I would be escorted by Mama-bear-Deepani along the college corridors. 

Smriti was waiting outside the office and was visibly relieved to see me. She smiled at Deepani and Deepani smiled back. 

"Thank God, I thought you had left," she said when we got near. 

"No, I didn't," I said. 

She hugged me. 

"Oh, Meera I have been so worried about you," she said.

When had I become so fortunate? All of these strong, amazing women had my back. Why was I even worried about anything. 

"I am sorry you were so worried."

I saw Virat and Heena coming our way with another girl I could not quite place. 

"Meera, we have been trying to get in touch with you," Heena said. 

"It's a good thing you are finally here so we can file that complaint and take strict actions," Virat said. 

I realized the girl accompanying them was the KGV President of our college who had given the speech on Orientation day. 

"We have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying here at Maurya. We will make sure the culprit is punished accordingly," the president said dutifully whose name I could not recall. 

I looked around me in wonder. It hadn't dawned on me just how many people were here to stand up for me. Why in the hell had I isolated myself? I smiled and thanked them all. 

***

The meeting went better than I thought. The members of the Internal Complaints Committee were very reassuring. They listened to my tale patiently and then noted down all the details diligently. I was asked to sign the document, which I did, They were eager to get this to the IT cell as soon as possible so they could trace the perpetrator. They seemed pretty confident about it. 

The Principal assured me that they would be issuing another statement about the incident warning students of the consequences of circulating the photos. Dr Mittal was nice enough to appoint herself as my representative. 

All in all, I felt about a thousand times better than I had a few hours ago at this very spot. 

Smriti was sitting outside waiting patiently. She jumped up when she saw me and started grilling me about the meeting. I gave her a brief of what had happened inside. 

Then my attention was caught by three boys standing at a little distance. They were staring at me with a mixture of indignation, annoyance, relief and happiness. 

"Elvis, get your ass over here!" Yug yelled at me. 

I swallowed and quietly walked up to him to apologize but before I could take another step he engulfed me in the tightest bear hug I had ever experienced. 

I heard Siddharth laugh and felt him joining our hug as he said,

"You had us so worried Meera,"

Guilt surged in my heart as I realized that I had been a little too preoccupied with my feelings to think of how this must have affected them. 

"I'm so sorry, guys. I feel like such an idiot for wallowing this way," I said but my voice came out muffled. 

Yug finally let me go and held me at an arm's length to examine me.