by Flame Dragon
“That was scary,” she thought to herself, she never saw him like that before.
“Are you okay?” a girl nearby asked. “You should keep your distance from that one, he is ….” she looked right and left “Dangerous!” she whispered.
“Rumours can be nasty,” Natasha thought “Wonder what they keep talking about him these days,” but then she remembered that Mathew’s life is not her problem and shook him off her mind.
As she went about to the restroom though a gang of girls surrounded her and hustled her inside and closed the door. There were 6 girls in total and they looked like seniors. One of them who appeared to be the leader walked in front of her and caught hold of her hair.
“Ow!!” Natasha squealed.
“So…..you are the famous Natasha who is so full of herself, who gave you the permission to hang out with my Sachin hmm?!!!” she bent closer.
She began to space out for a few seconds smiling to herself then continued “He is so cute and innocent …. don’t you dare spoil such a nice guy you slut!” and she pulled Natasha’s hair even harder.
“Guess that humiliating experience you had in the lab was not enough to turn him off, was it?” she said as Natasha looked at her in shock “That’s right we did it,” and she began to laugh.
Just then the door opened, a boy stepped in and the girls screamed.
“Opps! I thought this was the gent’s toilet,” it was Sachin!
“y….y…you,” the girls stuttered.
“Sorry I didn’t see—but what are you girls doing here?” he enquired.
“That’s none of your business, just leave you pervert!” one of them screamed.
“Are you bullying her? You can’t do that now ladies, it’s illegal!” he came forward and the girls stepped back.
“Come on Natasha lets go,” he grabbed her by the hand and went out.
“Are you okay?” he asked as they were walking.
“Ya thanks I owe you one,” she said and grasped his hand tightly.
“Well we are not done yet probably we will get a call from the dean this time, just leave everything to me I will handle it,” Natasha tried to open her mouth changed her mind and decided to remain silent.
And so, they were summoned by the dean Dr Nelson, he spent half a minute starring at the two.
“So now I have two trouble makers a bully and a pervert what should I do now?” he tapped his fingers on the desk.
“Sir I am not a bully I was bullied in fact,” she clenched her fists.
Nelson raised his palm signalling her to be silent. “Tell me did you call Sachin to the girl’s toilet or is he really a pervert?”
Natasha stood up but Sachin gestured her to sit. “Sir yes I went into the girls toilet, it was a mistake but when I saw 6 girls ganging up on her. What could I do? Leave her because of some stupid rules?”
“You were not supposed to be in there in the first place,” he jabbed a finger at Sachin.
“But it’s a good thing I was there don’t you think? They were breaking the rules right under your noses that too after a week of announcements and warnings how embarrassing is that?” he looked at Nelson in the eyes and said, “You can punish me if you want, but I want you to punish those girls as well, they were our seniors and look at the example they give us surely the next generation of bullies are waiting to take over truly inspired by the likes of these,” and he gave a nasty smile.
“I heard some screams,” Sachin added “but I don’t think you want to believe that either do you?”
“If I punish them then it means she really was bullied and that’s bad …my name is in the line here,” Nelson pointed.
“And if you don’t punish them then I will tell everyone there are camera’s hidden in the girl’s toilet that will bring trouble for you,” professor Nelson almost fell off his seat on hearing that.
“Fine, fine let’s say I let you both go free and forget this happened hmm?” Nelson began to negotiate.
“Sir you can’t do that!” Natasha stood up outraged.
“How could you after all I have been through? How can I even stay here if you let them go they will come after me again!” she glared at him in anger.
“Don’t worry I will talk to them about this okay? Happy?” he felt uncomfortable and began sweating.
“You need to fine them at least,” she couldn’t believe it.
“The board of directors will find out if I take official action, so I will give them an unofficial warning to scare them,” he said wiping his sweaty face.
“I can’t believe this! I am done here,” and she left Sachin followed her out.
“Don’t worry we will figure something out, in the meantime stick with me 24/7 they won’t touch you if you hang out with me all the time,” he gave her a smile.
“Thanks for today, I owe you big time,” she said smiling.
“Really?” Sachin looked excited, Natasha nodded positively.
“Be my girlfriend then,” he smiled showing her his teeth.
“W..what?!! Noo!!!!” she turned pink.
“A knight always gets the girl he saves, right?” Natasha stepped away from him.
“Y…you are not a knight and I am not a girl……wait what am I saying…. I am girl, you are not a knight….god I am losing it” she pressed her forehead with her hand “I gotta go!” she added and ran.
“Wait up!” Sachin shouted but she was gone already.
Feeling Sorry
For the next few days Natasha tried hard avoiding Sachin, from pretending to be super busy to hiding behind flower pots and she even became a regular visitor to the science department and met almost every professor she could find.
“How long are you gonna keep this up?” Sakshi finally asked one fine day.
“What are you talking about?” she gave Sakshi an innocent look.
“Your avoiding him aren’t you?” Sakshi asked with a serious face.
“Who?” Natasha took out a book and began writing something.
Sakshi shut the book close. “If you are not interested give him a straight answer,” she added twirling her hair “boys can be incredibly persistent sometimes you know, rejecting him will make him even more determined”.
“I thought you were interested in him,” Natasha was trying to distract her friend.
“Too bad, he doesn’t even remember my name,” Sakshi looked at her nails “That’s how low I rank in his list of potential girlfriends” she smiled at Natasha.
Natasha felt sorry for her friend and gave her a big hug.
“Do me a favour and keep him close at least, then I may have a chance to win him over,” said Sakshi optimistically.
“I’ll try,” said Natasha but she didn’t mean that.
“Come on let’s go it’s getting late,” Sakshi said lifting her bag.
As they were going down the corridor Natasha saw Sachin coming their way. Sakshi looked at her friend and said “Are you gonna run and hide again?”
Natasha gave a half smile and said, “Wait! I haven’t said sorry to him,” she pointed to Mathew “I feel so bad for him I totally forgot about it!” Sakshi shook her head in disbelief as Natasha went to speak with Mathew.
“Hi—what’s your name again?” Natasha asked embarrassed at having forgotten his name.
“Brilliant you wanna apologise to a guy who’s name you can’t even remember?” he looked back and continued “I must be as worthless as an insect to you”.
“Sorry I have a bad memory,” she said.
“And yet you remember my face,” he quipped.
“Umm…. sorry about last week…. I kind of overreacted,” she was looking everywhere other than his face.
“Your sorry won’t help,” he said with a stern face.
“I still remember the day you poured ketchup on my shirt, I had to spend the rest of that day wearing that shirt and tolerating all those laughers and stares,” he continued “I had to literally throw away that shirt because it was stained, it was m
y favourite shirt,” he stroked his beard as he said that.
“Serves you right for what you did to me,” Natasha said.
Mathew smiled in disbelief hearing this. “I got a call from the principle last week, said he would suspend me indefinitely, my mom had to literally beg him to let me stay….do you know how that feels?” Natasha felt a sting at her heart like a jab, of guilt and pain. “I had to watch her beg him desperately for something I never did and do you know what the worst part was?” Mathew asked her. “She didn’t believe me........she said I was lucky not to land in a jail!” as he turned to leave he looked back “Stay away from me you bitch!” he snarled before leaving.
Natasha felt more ashamed than she ever was in her life, she didn’t even notice Sakshi waving to her.
“Hey are you okay? Was he mean to you again?” Sakshi inquired as she came. “Ahh…...never mind I lied for you again, you better treat me to something nice this time,” Sakshi looked at her watch “Lying to such a handsome guy is so difficult I am full of guilt I need a pizza this time”.
“I feel guilty too,” Natasha said.
“Hmm what?” Sakshi asked.
“Do you know how to make friends with someone who hates you from the bottom of their heart?” Natasha inquired.
“I would rather avoid such a person,” she replied.
As days went by Natasha tried hard to be friendly with Mathew, she tried to initiate conversations or find an excuse to sit with him but every time he either avoided her or pretended she didn’t even exist and if she tried to be forceful he gave that cold look that said, “Don’t mess with me”.
Finally, one day as she tried her usual persistence he finally said, “Come with me” it was in evening he took her into a room and opened the door. In that room there were several shirtless boys who were busy changing after playing football and he simply said, “Guys this is Natasha she is looking for Sachin anyone knows where he is?”
“Wow! dude this is boys only,” said a guy.
“I tried to stop her, but she butted her way in,” he said laughing.
“No! No! I swear I didn’t!” pleaded Natasha.
“So…. you just needed an excuse to peek at naked boys…. how pervy,” teased Mathew and all the guys yelled “Wow!!!”
She didn’t know what to say she was so humiliated that she ran as fast as she could, even dashing Sachin on her way out.
Later that day Natasha narrated the whole incident to Sakshi.
“What!!!” shouted Sakshi spitting out her coffee.
“God!!! I can’t face those boys now for the rest of my life,” said Natasha placing her hands on her face.
“Probably the whole college knows about it by now maybe even the girls,” Sakshi added “I warned you to stay away from him”.
“But I just wanted to be friends with him,” Natasha tried to defend her actions.
“As if he would, not after what you did to him, why don’t you just stick with your boyfriend”.
“He’s not my boyfriend!” she said angrily. “And how did he know about that anyway?”
“Probably Sachin told everyone you are his girlfriend after you rejected him,” replied Sakshi unsurprised. “It’s a common tactic boys use to pressure fickle girls like you,” she said dismissively.
“I am not fickle, I was just trying to be nice!” she retorted.
“More like being, try harder baby!” Sakshi said teasingly.
“Ahhh!!! That’s not the point here!” she said reverting back to the original topic.
“Look! there he is!” Sakshi pointed to Mathew, Natasha stood up and stomped her way to him.
“What’s your problem?” She asked angrily.
“Hey, look pervy girl,” he shouted, and laughter rang throughout the cafeteria.
Natasha felt like hiding under a table, but she managed to gather enough courage to stand her ground.
“Let’s make peace and start fresh,” she said after the laughter died down.
“Fresh?” he asked confused.
“Let’s forget everything that happened and be friends, let’s not hate each other so much,” she tried to remain calm.
“Wow! Am I that handsome?” he asked and there were giggles.
“Just stop hating each other okay,” Sakshi finally decided to join in.
“Who the heck are you?” he asked.
“Her friend, grow some balls and stop harassing her,” she said placing her arm on Natasha’s shoulder the students went “Wooo!”.
“Fine, I’ll pretend that nothing happened between us but after that you will leave me alone I want no friendship from you”.
Before Natasha could say anything else Sakshi said “Fine! Peace bro,” Mathew raised an eyebrow at that and went on his way.
“I hope you have a clean conscience now,” Sakshi said.
“Ya that felt so much better,” she said.
“By the way Sachin was asking for you says he has something important he wants to talk to you about,” Sakshi had just remembered about it.
“Ahhh…. why didn’t you just ask him to pass the message onto you?” Natasha said.
“Well because its personal, besides when did I become your secretary?” Sakshi asked her annoyed.
“What are you talking about?” She asked.
“In case you haven’t noticed I have been covering for you, if you keep this up I will give him our room address,” she said angrily.
“Noooo!!!!” She yelled then realizing she was in a canteen she cringed in embarrassment. “Okay, okay tell him I will meet him tomorrow at 6:00 pm at the blenders cafe”.
“You better do or I will give him your phone number too and make sure you get pestered even when you get home for vacations,” she threatened her.
“What! you can’t give my phone number to him, what kind of friend are you?” Natasha didn’t think she would go so far.
“A friend who wants you to be decisive,” she replied.
“Fine, fine you win,” Natasha gave up.
The next day she met Sachin at the cafe she was late by an hour she just couldn’t decide what to wear.
For some reason she felt nervous facing him, so she even brought her friend, but of course Sakshi got a phone call and after that she didn’t come back leaving the two of them alone.
“So have you thought about it?” Sachin asked.
“About what?” She began to sip her coffee but for some reason she kept sipping even after a whole minute she refused to keep the cup down.
Sachin on the other hand patiently waited for her to finish her coffee finally it became too embarrassing for her to keep sipping the empty cup, so she kept it down.
“About my proposal,” he continued.
“Oh that, well…. I can’t,” she said half-heartedly.
“Why not?” he asked “Do you have a boyfriend already? Or a crush?” He hesitated a bit “If you do then I can understand.”
“That’s not it,” she said blushing.
“Just give me a month, if can’t win you over in a month then I will leave you alone I promise you that,” Sachin eagerly waited for her reply.
“2 months,” she said shyly looking away.
“Okay! Two months then,” he said almost laughingly.
“I gotta go now,” she said “the bill’s on you,” and she left hurriedly.
The next day there was a big announcement about making teams for the project assignments, Natasha and Sakshi were very pleased they were in the same team.
“Yippee!” They shouted together and high fived each other.
“Wait!” Sakshi said suddenly pushing the other girls aside and once again having a look at the board.
“Damn! Looks like your boyfriend is not on your team,” but after noticing Natasha’s disappointed look she said “Don’t worry though you have me”.
“He’s not my boyfriend…okay? please stop that!” Natasha said.
“What? Is he not your friend?” Sakshi asked.
“Well
…he is—” before Natasha could finish.
“Is he not a boy?” Sakshi cut in “See? boy…friend!” she showed her two thumbs indicating them as two words and giggled.
“That’s not what you meant,” Natasha said embarrassed.
“Then what did I mean?” Sakshi asked mischievously, at that Natasha blushed and didn’t say anything.
“What about the other members?” Natasha asked trying to change the topic.
“Ahh! who cares we will see them, when we meet them,” Sakshi said dismissively.
“Hmmm…...by the way I heard you gave Sachin two months to make you fall in love with him! Wooo! Sounds exciting,” she giggled mischievously.
“What! Who told you that? Did he tell that to everyone too?” Natasha couldn’t believe that he would go that far.
“Na just me,” she looked elsewhere avoiding eye contact.
“You were into this together weren’t you!!! That call it was all planned, you left me on purpose,” she was outraged that here friend schemed with him. “What did he promise you?” She inquired angrily.
“Come on its for your own good you will thank me someday,” she replied.
“Whatever!” Natasha turned and was about to leave but Sachin came out of nowhere.
“Hi!” he said.
“Hi!” she replied the other girls started murmuring.
“If any of you girls lay a finger on her I will pluck out all your teeth!” Sakshi shouted “Move! And mind your tongue!” the girls left angrily still murmuring.
“Wow your friend is really bold! I guess you won’t be needing my protection,” he smiled.
“She is a thug,” Natasha said waving her off.
“Thug? Ha! I run an extortion ring here!” Sakshi corrected her before leaving.
“Wait! really?” He almost believed that.
“Just kidding, what do you want?” Natasha asked annoyed.
“Nothing just came to see the notice board,” Sachin said.
“Oh,” she preferred leaving right now.
“By the way can you accompany me outside the campus? I need some help finding my way around the city,” he was looking at the notice board and didn’t look happy.