Love you more

8: For the record, I don't bite!

The class was split into two sections with a large space between. Girls sat on one side, while boys on the other. There were about fifteen girls and nearly forty boys. I didn't know how a village this small has so many students. Senthil settled my things in the first row and without a backward glance headed to the blackboard.

Class which was causing a racket fell silent, everyone was looking at me like I was a giraffe. I sat down. Three girls were sitting besides me. I smiled at them and said "Hi," they smiled and looked away immediately.

Mrs. Helen entered the class. Everyone stood up saying "Good morning Madam" in unison and started reciting an English poem I guessed by William Wordsworth and some Tamil verses but I couldn't understand a thing, it must have been an ancient dialect. I stood awkwardly. Everyone sat once completed. They started counting, it took me a while to understand it was attendance. Senthil noted the numbers which were missing on the black board. Thankfully Mrs. Helen did not ask me to introduce myself to the class.

"As you can see, this is the Quarterly Exams timetable, hope you are all studying hard," she said.

The timetable read

                   Morning                                 Afternoon

Sep 14 - Tamil paper 1                      Tamil paper 2

Sep 15 - English paper 1                  English paper 2

Sep 16 - Physics                                   Physics Lab

Sep 17 - Maths                                     Bio-Botany lab

Sep 20 - Chemistry                            Chemistry lab

Sep 23 - Biology                                 Bio-Zoology lab

Holy f**kers! There were a total of 12 examinations I needed to sit through and the biggest problem of all, I don't know how to read or write Tamil! How the hell am I going to write 2 papers?

Mrs. Helen walked to me and said "This is the syllabus for each subject. Since there are just 5 days left I suggest you choose any one subject and prepare for it."

"Maths, I will start with maths." Mrs. Helen's smile was genuine this time. I forgot she was teaching mathematics. I promise I don't suck up to teachers.

"Senthil give Ananya your maths note."

Senthil rummaged through his bag and handed her his maths notebook. She in turn passed it to me.

"Ananya, use senthil's notes to prepare. I am busy at the moment. Senthil will help you if you have any doubts." He rather looked reluctant both to help and to hand me his notebook. Mrs. Helen returned to her seat and started working on something, ignoring the class and the class ignored her.

I tried to catch the eyes of the girls near me, but they all avoided me as though I was contagious. I sighed heavily and started on the maths notes. Senthil's writing was miniscule, just looking at it made my eyes water. So much for starting a new school!

The first chapter was Matrices and Determinants, which was one of the easiest topics in maths. I emerged victorious in solving it. I had a few doubts and marked those questions. I love maths. I can see you giving me a weird look. Shouldn't I say I like zoology seeing my dream is to become a doctor? But maths was my natural talent.

It was almost an hour when I stopped to clarify my doubts before proceeding further. I called Senthil. "I have marked a few questions which I don't follow, Can you help me?"

The whole class went silent watching us. Senthil looked extremely uncomfortable. Mrs. Helen looked up to check what caused this abrupt silence, "Why don't you both go to the last bench and continue."

I sat on the last bench, heads kept turning to spy on us. Senthil sat on the far end of the bench. I moved near him, he shot to the end of the bench barely sitting with just one of his legs on the bench.

"This Edward Cullen act is getting old."

"Edward Cullen act?" he asked in confusion.

"Nothing," I sighed heavily. Did he really not know who Edward Cullen is? Was he living under a stone?

"I don't understand this question," I said after a minute.

He looked from the other end, his writing was difficult enough to read from near, and I wonder if he could even see anything from afar. I moved closer to him again, he moved away and almost fell out.

"I don't bite, you can sit next to me you know," I was irritated. He didn't say anything.

"Look, if you don't want to help me, it's fine. Here you can have your note back."

He stayed still and started explaining the answers. We continued in this fashion for a while. One particular question was confusing.

"If you could write it, I will be able to understand better."

He wrote it down.

"You might have the supernatural ability to see from that far, but I am just an ordinary mortal with normal eyesight."

He moved towards me, still maintaining a 4 feet gap. Guess this is all he can do.

The bell rang signalling lunch. There was no cafeteria, everyone sat cross legged under trees in groups and ate. I didn't know where to sit, everyone seemed to be frightened to even look at me. I headed back to the class to find Senthil sitting alone pouring over a book where I left him.

I sat down next to him, "Will you join me for lunch?" He just shook his head without looking at me. I have never been a loner, I skipped my lunch not wanting to eat alone.

The day came to an end. Senthil, without a word, collected all my books, hosted his bag along with mine and walked silently.

"I can carry," I shouted but he ignored me and kept walking.

"At least give me a few books," I called but he just ignored me.

"Suit yourself," I muttered under my breath and walked along.

My first week went in this fashion, students avoided me like plague and the only improvement was Senthil now sat properly with both his legs on the bench but still strictly maintained the four feet social distance.

The exams began. For the first time in my life I am going to fail or worse score a zero. Every exam was for 200 marks! F***ing 200 marks! The only brightside was, Bio-zoology syllabus had human anatomy. At least I won't fail every subject.