The Green Room

Paper Planes

With the final exams on, most of the students carried a book wherever they went. It was more of a tradition than any useful resource. Classes had been suspended and students could be seen lazing around in the sun almost everywhere, of course, with a book in their hands. And also came the festival of paper planes! Rohan watched a group of juniors from the Auditorium balcony as they flung paper planes off the Stadium Steps. The Field was littered with waste planes; every now and then someone would run down to fetch one and re-throw it from the steps.

The play party now spent the entire day in the hall and this meant being cut off from all their friends. But new bonds had been made in the past few weeks and all of them, except him, were enjoying a cricket match in the Basketball Court. Rohan was alone in the balcony, but he liked it that way. He felt low. He just wanted to be alone. It was past noon and he savored the full heat of the winter sun.

"Hi!" Chandni was back and was beaming at him.

"Hi," he replied. "When did you return?"

"Just this morning. Here," she held out a small box of Ferrero Rocher.

Had it been some other time, Rohan would have tuned a somersault off the balcony, but somehow, neither the chocolate nor her presence did anything to brighten his mood. "What is this for?" he asked.

"To apologize!" She waited for him, her fingers unconsciously curled around her sleeves. It reminded him of the time he had first seen her.

It's fine that was what he would have said, even if she ripped his heart and stamped on it. "What were you doing in the hall that night?" he asked, ignoring the still held out chocolates.

"Excuse me!" Her face hardened.

"Or rather, why did you come down to the hall that night?"

Rohan half expected her to turn around and leave, or rather, tell him to turn around and never show his face again. She didn't like being questioned, at least by a junior. But she just held the chocolates out for him. "You won't understand."

"Really? So you expect me to understand by accepting these chocolates?"

Chandni immediately withdrew her hand. Rohan at once knew he had made a mistake. Her mere presence had begun to pacify him. She seemed as perfect as she had always been; and he was almost intimidated by her beauty, fueled by the guilt of his obnoxious thoughts. "Look, I did not blame you," she said. "You don't know what I went through. I was only trying to defend myself."

"And that is why you said I played a prank when you fell down from that chair, just to defend yourself, to hide your embarrassment?"

"I never mentioned that to anyone. Why would I say such a thing?" Chandni raised her voice.

"Because we were screwed for that. All four of us."

Chandni opened her mouth to speak but stopped midway. Apparently, she had no idea that they had been beaten because of her. "I am really sorry about what happened. I did not know about it. But I never meant to drag you into this." She turned away and watched the juniors on the Stadium Steps. A paper plane was gliding above the Field, slowly coming towards them, till a sudden gust of wind swept it away and crashed it into a wall. "And I was not embarrassed," she said after a few moments, "I was scared!"