Chapter 3: Friends? Pfft!

Their arms and legs were aching by the time Miss Sutapa allowed them to go back to their seats.

“If this happens ever again, you are going straight to the headmistress’s room! And there’s going to be a parents’ call. Your parents wouldn’t like to know about what you get up to here, don’t you think?”

Both the boys flinched at the word ‘parents’.

Miss Sutapa glowered at Aakash, “You just transferred to this school. Concentrate on studying. Don’t fight like hooligans! And as for you,” The teacher turned her stern gaze on Cabir.

“You have had a penchant for getting into fights from the beginning! You are lucky nobody was hurt and your parents haven’t been called yet. But this time, not only did you hurt somebody else, you got yourself injured too! This is your last warning. I won’t inform your parents about this. You’ll be grilled about it enough when they see your bruised faces anyway.”

“S-Sorry, Ma’am...it won’t happen again. Aakash apologized timidly.

Her gaze softened and she cast a glance at Cabir too who glumly apologized too, “Sorry...”

Face breaking into a small smile as she turned her head away, the class teacher swept from the classroom.

                                                        *****

“This isn’t over, got it, shorty?! I’ll beat you up for what you did today!”

Just as Aakash was boarding his school bus, a loud voice issued from behind him. Glancing behind, he saw, as expected, the fatso Cabir giving him a thumbs down sign.

And as he glanced around, he saw many of his classmates among the crowd of students staring at him.

“Ugh!” he murmured.

Just after the teacher had left, many of his classmates had swarmed him. Today had been his first day in school so hardly any people had approached him in the morning. Most of them had been as shy as he himself.

But after his fight with Cabir, everyone was quite curious about him. After all, Cabir had made a name for himself as a troublemaker and good fighter for a long time in the school.

And suddenly, after a few weeks in Grade 2, a new student transferred over and on his very first day beat up the big and fat boy that many were scared of.

As a result, from the time Sutapa Ma’am left the room to the end of school, classmates kept approaching him intermittently and he built up quite a good reputation within half-a-day.

Thus, after hearing Cabir’s provocative words, he couldn’t just leave it at that. Even though he had no wish to be dragged to the headmistress’s room, he wasn’t going to be cowed down.

So, he too just glared back and returned the thumbs down sign. Without further ado, he turned back to board the bus amid loud cheers and hoots that made the driver look over in annoyance.

But he was interrupted again with Cabir yelling. “But-”

Aakash looked back, head tilted in curiosity and mild annoyance.

Cabir continued, “But...you fight well. I’ll give you that.”

Aakash debated whether to reply sarcastically or with an insult like “You suck” but finally decided against it.

He simply nodded.

“You too.”

                                                       *****

“I can’t believe you became best friends after making such a horrible first impression on each other!” The boy exclaimed.

“You are so surprised to know that we became best friends after just hearing about that event. Think about what we feel when we look back on those times.” The middle-aged man’s laugh spread across the room as he cleaned his spectacles.

“But yeah, it’s truly something to be amazed at. At that time even considering that we could be ‘friends’ would be-”

“Friends? Pfft!” A voice snorted behind the father and son pair, interrupting their conversation.

Both father and son were relaxing on the sofa. Hearing the voice behind them, both peered in the direction it came from.

Standing in the doorway, a tall man appeared, vigorously towelling his hair and wearing a grey bathrobe that reached almost to his ankles. Just as he took some steps forward and was about to scoot in next to the boy on the sofa, a woman’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

“If your dripping hair makes my sofa wet, I’ll make you dry it. And if any of those water droplets due to your towelling land on my documents, you’re toast.”

Aanya, Aakash’s wife, looked over from the chair where she was sitting, sorting her documents. The sorted ones were laid on the table, very near the sofa and dangerously close to where a few droplets had landed.

Hastily, almost comically, Cabir stepped back and made a peace sign.

“Back in a mo!” He told the two other males in the room and rushed out leaving the two to dissolve in peals of laughter while Aanya too cracked an amused smile, eyes twinkling.

She shared a glance with Aakash and stuck out her tongue like a little girl making him roar even louder.

                                                         *****

By the time Cabir came back, hair completely dry and dressed in a Batman T-shirt, dinner had already been laid on the table.

“Ah ha! Seems tasty! Let’s eat-”

Aanya hit him behind the head with a ladle, “I don’t trust you. Go wash your hands again and then sit.”

“Huh?” Cabir looked at her with shock but within an instant gave a cheeky smile followed by a mock salute, “Yes, Ma’am!”