New Beginnings

24- First day of Jr.College

I was standing still like a statue, at the entrance gate of the college. Yeah the dreaded day arrived.

"It's just a college, not a battle field, why are you so afraid? Let's just go", Rishi said chuckling.

The twins stood beside me patiently, waiting for me to gather courage, so that we all could go inside.

I looked at him annoyed, "It's easy for you to say. Tanya told me that no one new has come in this town for years. You all know each other from your childhood. I am going to stick out like a sore thumb".

"Did Tanya tell you that you would be treated differently?" Raghav asked, his eyes narrowing in anger.

"No no, last line was what I thought", I corrected him hurriedly knowing that he already didn't like Tanya and this would be like fuel to a fire.

"Don't worry, we are there for you and Tanya would also be with you for most of your classes. Everything is going to be alright", Rishi assured me.

I let out a huge sigh, and slowly nodded my head. They both smiled at me, wordlessly encouraging me and we entered the college.

I was so right about being different, everyone stared at me like I was an alien.

Twins helped me find my first class. The classroom was relatively empty, with just few students as there still 10 minutes left for the lecture to start.

My eyes moved continuously, towards my watch, then the door, again towards my watch and again towards the door, while simultaneously tapping my feet in impatience.

Tanya still hadn't come. I was eagerly waiting for her and at the same time I was mentally murdering her for not being here on time, especially when she knew that I was so nervous.

'Finally!!' a sigh of relief escaped from my lips, upon seeing her. I was literally losing hope that she would come today.

She came and sat beside my seat. Before I could scold her for coming late, professor entered the class. She was saved for now, but I was going to get her for this later.

The first lecture went by discussing the syllabus and introducing ourselves.

"Why were you so late?" I asked elbowing her after the lecture was over.

"Don't ask, Sia messed up everything and put the blame on me. I had to listen my mom's scolding before coming here", she said dramatically.

I shook my head at her and we both left the classroom and started moving towards our other class.

"Nikhil, Riya here", Tanya called out, waving her hand to the said people when they entered the hallway we were standing.

"Who are they?" I asked, raising one eyebrow at her.

"They are my best friends, the one's who had I told you about. I just wanted to introduce you all to each other", she replied, bouncing with excitement.

"Ah! Yes, I remember", I said, remembering how insecured I felt at that time. Hopefully our friendship won't change just because her friends were back.

Soon they came towards us and Tanya introduced us.

"Hey Guys!! She is Trisha", Tanya said.

"Oh yeah! You mentioned about her, while we were talking on the phone", Riya said smiling.

Nikhil and Riya started reminiscing of their days. While Tanya understood what they were talking about and contributed in the conversation, I stood there silently, feeling out of place.

These three were childhood friends and I felt like a outsider.

"We went to spent our vacations with our grandparents in another town and we were talking about their antics", Nikhil explained with a knowing smile to me.

I smiled at him gratefully.

Tanya looked at me with a sheepish smile, now understanding that I wasn't feeling included.

Muttering a sorry, she explained everything in detail.

"You two are siblings?" I asked them in astonishment as they both talked about their grandparents behaviour.

"Oh no no!! We are not siblings. We both went to meet our respective grandparents, that too in different towns", Riya informed laughing.

I too laughed at this silly misunderstanding. Tanya and Nikhil too followed suit and started laughing as well.

Just like that, I became friends with them in a span of few minutes.

********

Don't forget to click the star button if you enjoyed this chapter.