Signed, Gaius

Chapter 4

❗Glossary : Huirong - shit/fuck in Manipuri. Basically a curse word.

Four
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Whispers and pinches swirled around Gaius as he strode through the wide entrance lobby, his footsteps echoing on the freshly polished marble staircase. Sunlight filtered through tall arched windows, painting playful patterns on the floor.

"Did he grow taller again?" He briefly heard them murmur behind him as he raced up the stairs two steps at a time.

On reaching the fourth floor, he relaxed. Farther down the hallway he spotted his best friends lingering by the classroom door. Kanwar, put up his hand and hollered above the noise, "Mamma's boy!"

Gaius responded with a disapproving noise and approached them. "Is Korong here yet?" he inquired.

"He's on his way," Kanwar replied, gesturing towards the gate below.

Gaius peered down and saw his dearest friend, Korongshel coming up the gate. He looked up to Gaius and slightly jerked his chin in brief greeting. Half of the students who couldn't afford to be dropped off by personal cars took the school bus. And Korongshel always took the bus despite Gaius's invitations to ride in his car.

He cited congestion as an excuse with all of Gaius' siblings packed in it, but the bus always had enough seats for everyone. The car being congested was half-true, but the ultimate truth was, and this was no secret, Korong was too reserved to accept favors, even from close friends. The thought of freeloading on someone else's car embarrassed him.

Gaius pressed his thumb at a machine installed by the door for attendance, entered the classroom and settled into a desk by the window, which he shared with Korongshel. Hringni stood talking with her girlfriends by a table. Gaius kept himself busy by chatting up with Kanwar and a few other male classmates who followed him inside. Most of them asked about his father's recent promotion as Lieutenant Colonel, and their vacation to Maldives.

"You rich people keep traveling everywhere while I can't even afford a roll of toilet paper to wipe my ass," Kanwar said, teasing him as he set half-cheek of his bottoms at the edge of Gaius' table.

"Very convincing, coming from someone who owns a Range Rover," Gaius returned with sarcasm.

Kanwar himself came from a very wealthy family. His father was a Member of the Legislative Assembly with strong influence over an entire District. Most of the students at St. Peter's had rich parents, the school being one among the best in the state, where only the rich could afford to attend, unless one is lucky enough to land a scholarships.

Korongshel had been a full scholarship awardee since grade eight, fortunately for him since his family wasn't financially well-off. But lately, luck seemed to have turned from him. Gaius had been informed (by Korongshel himself) that his academic performances in the previous two years proved undeserving. He couldn't keep the full scholarship any longer. Now, he would have to pay half of it himself. And the other half would be shared with another student, whom he heard was going to be a new classmate transferred from another school, an orphan.

For Korong, the thought of it was equivalent to repeatedly banging his head against a wall. The only reason he could afford to study at St. Peter's was the scholarship. His older brother was still attending college, working odd jobs in the city to make ends meet, and they still had two more school-going younger siblings to support. Even without bothering about his school fees, life was already a struggle.

Was it a test or a dead joke of some sort that he was now required to pay half of his fees? Life seemed to only get worse for Korong and his family. He had pondered dropping out and helping his mother support for his younger siblings' education instead, but Shangnei, his mother, refused to entertain the idea.