Kiss Of Life

Two

'Maa! Tie!' I shout from my room. I'm running late today, as always. My school uniform is of steel grey trousers with white shirt and a maroon tie. Since, it's December and temperature is pretty low, we wear maroon blazers, sweaters or both, as per our wish. I'm a blazer person. One of the things I suck at is tying a tie. What? It's complicated, OK?

'Maa!' I whine.

'Come downstairs, Akshay,' she responds. Right. I take one last look at myself in the mirror, my dark hair is unkempt and sadly, I have very little facial hair, but at least I don't have acne. My eyes are chocolate brown and pretty normal if you ask me.

I head downstairs. Maa is standing in the dining room, setting plates and breakfast. We have maids for that but she loves cooking and serving.

'A,' I mutter as I hand her my tie. A small smile plays on her lips as she ties my tie. I don't love her or anything but I don't really hate her. Amrita Sharma married my dad when I was fourteen, five years after my momma's death. Amrita loved me like her own though she knew I never saw her as my real mother. I don't dislike her. She's sweet. We have a mutual understanding of minding our own businesses. I think she's giving me time to accept her. She doesn't know that I already have.

'Eat your breakfast, son,' she says, smiling warmly at me.

I pick up my sandwich and head for the door.

'Have a nice day, Akshay,' she coos, emphasising my name.

I turn around, fake glaring at her and stick my tongue out. She laughs at my response. When I head towards the door, a smile tugs at my lips. I love her laugh.

When I reach outside, fog and my car await me. I take a bite of my sandwich and head down the few steps leading to the porch. I'm 17 only so I'm not allowed to drive. Pranab, my driver and I have a secret though, he drives till we get far enough from my place, then we switch and I get to drive all the way to the school. Same thing happens on the way back home. My parents don't need to know that though. They're insanely strict law abiding citizens and I'm anything but.

When I get to my classroom, that my teacher has not arrived yet, phew! As soon as I enter, my eyes meet hers. She looks startled. I smile at her and way my hand, she averts her gaze. What the hell?

She's wearing a maroon cardigan on her usual uniform. Her hair is loose except for a few pinned locks on either sides of her temples. Jeez! Did I just describe a chick's uniform and hair?

She's sitting on the last bench and looking at the wall beside. Anything to avoid my eyes, I guess. Chelsey is sitting in front of her. Great! I can ask her to switch seats with me. Chelsey is one of the few Christians in my school but easily the best. I've practically grown up with her. Since our childhood, the only thing she's ditched is her braces rest is still the same, shoulder length curly hair and Harry Potter glasses.

Before I can head to Chelsey, someone hits a roll of papers on my head. I turn around with an annoyed face to find Mr. Batra, my class teacher standing there, looking at me with a bored expression. That's my cue to head to my bench. Mr. Batra is a small man with a round face and receding hairline. He's bored of everything, even breathing. When the class ends, I run to Chelsey.

'I don't want to sit near the window. It's cold,' I make up an excuse. She raises and eyebrow at me in response. It's freaking amazing how people can do that. I tried doing it a lot but failed. Badly. Very, very badly.

'OK, I'm doing you a favour. I realised your crush on Taran is a serious one so, I'm giving you the chance to bond with him,' I lie.

'Since when did you start playing Cupid, A,' she chuckles but heads to my seat.

I drop my bag with a thud on the floor to get her attention. She's still looking at the wall. I sit on the bench with my back towards the wall and one arm on her table. She eyes my limb but doesn't say anything. I just look at her, amazed. She checks if I'm looking at her and snaps her head away quickly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

'Hi,' I greet. No answer.

'What's your name? Are you new here?' she turns her eyes at me and gives me a 'Seriously?' look.

I kick the guy sitting n the bench besides mind and he yelps. Having long legs has its perks.

'W-what?' he asks, adjusting his glasses.

'What's her name?' I point at the girl. He looks at her.

'Meera. Meera Banerjee,' he answers nervously and I nod.

I look at her. She's clearly ignoring me. Well, I'm not having any of that. I lean my face towards her and whisper, ' Enjoyed the kiss?'

She shakes her head in annoyance and gets up to leave. I get hold of her wrist to which she answers by glaring.

'What's your problem?' I ask, irritated.

'You,' she spits and tries to pull her wrist away. I don't let her go but before I can say anything, Mrs. Chopra walks in with a bunch of test papers in her hands. Shit! I let go of her arm and turn around to sit properly. Meera sits behind me.

'Students, I've marked your last week's surprise test. To say I'm disappointed is putting it lightly,' she says, looking at us with her hawk like eyes, her dropping nose scrunched in disgust.

'You need to bring your parents or guardian next Saturday, for I want to discuss how you kids are doing in Maths which is horrible,' she screeches. Double shit!

'Especially you, Mr. Kapoor,' she looks pointedly at me. Shit with a cherry on top!

When the bell rings, Mrs. Chopra stomps out of the class, annoyed at the bell interrupting her torture. She needs to calm herself down. I turn around only to find Meera walking over to the other corner of the class to sit. Really? What's with the attitude?

Fine! If she doesn't want to talk then neither do I.

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