The Extra Class!
The Extra Class!
Sidharth Oberoi
he looked at the gate. Big and imposing as it was, it gave her a few jitters. This was not the first time she had felt this way ever since she had shifted to Delhi three days back. This morning, she had struggled to get up at six in the morning and catch the metro to Barahkhamba road where her new school was. Her father had asked her if she wanted him to drop her to school and she had refused. Her father was a hardworking man, and she didn't want to be any bother to him.
Ananya looked all around her. A lot of girls got down from big cars she hadn't seen back in Raipur. Many of them were with guys. People met outside the school gate, screamed at each other and hugged. Ananya looked at them, and felt a little strange. Their skirts had crept up to their mid thighs, their socks were rolled down. None of them had their first buttons of their shirts buttoned up. No one, neither the guys, nor the girls wore the shoes the school had prescribed. She felt out of place.
She entered the gate and tried not to look here and there. Everything that she had heard about the school was coming out to be true.
It's a school for rich kids.
You will be a misfit.
Girls are kissing even in ninth standard!
It's twelfth grade and it's not the right time to change schools.
But she couldn't have helped it. None of the Delhi schools would take her in despite her great results in her old school. But at The Presidency Convent, her father knew somebody and she could get in. She entered the building and there was a sea of students out there. She had a hard time figuring out where her class was and she was kind of scared to ask anybody for help.
`Excuse me?' she approached a girl passing by and asked, half scared. `Where is XII C?'
What?' A girl with chewing gum in her mouth looked at her from top to bottom, paused for a few seconds and walked off. As if Ananya didn't exist. Ananya felt lost and went about finding the class on her own.
XII C.
That was the class that she was supposed to be in for the next one year.
She had a very different idea when she was coming to Delhi. All her friends back there were excited because she was the one going to the big city. To the hip Delhi school. Nice boys. Days of fun! Initially she was just sad because she didn't want to move to a new city, but since her friends back home were so excited, she had started to feel that little glimmer of excitement in her heart too. And yes, she had never seen boys studying in the same school as hers. She had always been in a girls' school. So this was new.
She entered the class and saw all the heterogeneous groups sitting on the top the tables, some of the girls had arms around boys and all of them were making a lot of noise. All eyes turned to her as she entered the classroom.
`Yes?' a girl with braided hair and long nails stood in front of her.
`XII C? New student,' Ananya said.
`Ohh,' she looked at her, her eyes travelling from Ananya's hair to shoes, and walked away.
She felt naked. Even though she was the most dressed up girl in that room, she felt bare. Everybody looked at her. She walked through the rows of benches and looked for an empty seat. Only one bench was empty. The last bench.
She put her bag down and looked at her watch. There were still a few minutes to go. She could hear whispers around the classroom, and she knew they were talking about her. But as the minutes passed, people stopped looking at her and went about their own business.
The first twenty minutes in her new school had been very unsettling, to say the least. Beautiful, pretty girls and short skirts. Guys with hair all over the place and low hanging school trousers in sneakers. She had anticipated that she would notice something like this, but what she didn't know was that this would be the norm here.
Just then, the teacher entered the class. She was both their physics teacher as well as the class teacher. And she was a far cry from the teachers she was used to in her school back home. Ms. Juneja was young, thin and she looked only a shade older than a college girl. There was a buzz in the class as she entered the class. The guys gave each other sneaky looks. She was the darling teacher of the school. Ms. Juneja was extremely pretty and friendly with the students. A lot of guys in school had a crush on her.
'Aman? Anamika?' she started taking names of the students and marking the attendance.
Ananya waited for her name. The whole list was read out, not without hiccups. Ms. Juneja had to shout a few times to get the class in order.
`Ananya?' Ms. Juneja finally said her name.
`Yes, ma'am!' she said.
Ms. Juneja had a good look at her before asking, `New student?'
Yes, ma'am,' she said and stood up.
`No no, keep sitting,' Ms. Juneja stood up. `So which school are you from?'
`St. Mary's Convent, Raipur,' she said.
There were faces made in the class. None of them had heard of the school.
`Welcome to The Presidency Convent,' she said. `After this class I will assign you a buddy, someone who would help you with everything that you might need here,' she smiled at Ananya.
`Thank you Ma'am.' Ananya said and almost instantly liked her.
Then, she started teaching. Things were a lot different in this school than they were in her last one.
`Did you all go through the chapter on Thermodynamics?' Ms. Juneja asked sweetly.
'NO!' A voice said.
`Ma'am! Are you kidding me? IPL was on yesterday ...' another voice said.
,...we were busy ma'am!' said yet another voice.
And then there was a lot of noise. Ms. Juneja looked on helplessly as the students created a ruckus in class. Ananya realized that this was the routine in this school. Every kid was a brat. And every kid had a powerful dad or mom, or both back at home. No teacher wanted to be on anyone's bad side. For one, this school was run by the students, and not the teachers.
All this was new to Ananya. In her last school, students were still getting slapped by teachers.
he break time was a riot. Couples went missing.
Basements were occupied. A few girls spent their breaks in the washroom-crying. Guys with no girls spent their time in the basketball courts sweating every drop of water from their bodies.
Natasha, the Head Girl, always had other plans. She was a perfectionist. She was about to be chosen as the President of the Debating club but the school had other plans. They made her the Head Girl!
`Hi Yuvraj,' Natasha said, as she met him. They were in different sections, even though both of them had taken up non-medical. It had been a few months that they had been dating.
`I am so screwed up,' he said, `There is the test over the weekend and I just can't concentrate.'
Now, Yuvraj had extremely high standards. He was really smart. He was one of those few guys who would crack IIT that year. But that wasn't what he was concerned about. Yuvraj wanted a top hundred rank and he was capable of doing so.
`Concentrate? Why?' she asked as they headed towards the auditorium. They were preparing for the debating competition that afternoon. Since Natasha was made the Head Girl, she had recommended Yuvraj as the Debating Club president. They weren't dating then, but as soon as he became President, he had asked Natasha out.
And she, of course, had agreed quite conveniently.
`I have had trouble concentrating,' he said again.
`Why?'
`...because ever since you decided to reduce your skirt length to this short, that is all I see!' he said and they both smiled naughtily at each other.
In the last few months, they had become the most popular couple in school. Yuvraj was tall, a little dark, and extremely well built. He
had the most charming smile any guy could have. He had a dimple on his left cheek that made his smile every girl's dream!
`Hi Radhica,' Natasha said to Radhica, Yuvraj's classmate, who was handling everything at the auditorium that day.
`Hi Natasha,' she said and got down from the stairs. She had just finished with naming the places where the interjectors would sit.
`Seems like you have already done most of it?' Natasha said as she looked around, impressed. `But who's she?' Natasha pointed to a girl at the corner of the auditorium arranging chairs.
`Oh, she is a new student. From Raipur ...Ms. Juneja asked me to be her buddy. I told her that I was a part of the debating society and she wanted in!' Radhica said.
`Next time you decide to get someone in the Debating club, please ask me or Yuvraj before you say or do anything, right?'
Radhica nodded.
Natasha was a control freak, and that was probably the reason why she was appointed the Head Girl. Principal Baweja wanted someone with authority at the top and she was the right person. Yuvraj on the other hand was a real softie. He hardly ever raised his voice. He was a sweetheart.
Natasha stared at the new girl for a moment and made her way towards her.
`Hi, I am Natasha,' she said, `Head Girl and a part of this society. This is Yuvraj, the club head.'
Ananya looked at this strong voiced, tall, pretty girl and she could hardly mouth something.
`Hi,' she replied meekly and smiled at both of them.
`The Debating Society is an elite Club and not everyone can be a part of this. There are auditions for it once a year. Even for the president of the club,' she said and pointed towards Yuvraj, who nodded dutifully.
Ananya didn't know how to react. She stared back at the both of them.
`Natasha?' she said, `I was a part of the debating team at my previous school too ...Can I?U
'It doesn't matter what you were a part of ...You have to audition for it and for this year, the entry to the club is closed...' Natasha said and turned to leave.
'Ananya? Did you come to City Montessori last year?' Yuvraj asked. Since the first time he had seen her, had felt something familiar about her. Now, he got it.
`Yes, I was a part of the St. Mary's team. We came second,' she said proudly.
`Ohh yes, I thought I had seen her before!' he said and smiled at her, `I think we can give her a chance? Maybe hold an audition? What do you say, Natasha?'
`Fine. But remember, they came second, we came first.' Natasha said and left.
Yuvraj waited for Natasha to walk further away from them and then said, `Wednesday morning? At Eight? And don't mind her. She can come across as little rude.'
`It's okay...you were good at the competition. You deserved it.'
Yuvraj smiled, turned and followed Natasha out of the auditorium. Ananya smiled stupidly. She liked the sweet guy who had just talked to her.
`Do you have to be this rude?' Yuvraj asked Natasha as he caught up with her.
`They need to know who runs the place here,' she said.
`Umm ...I run the Debating Club,' he said, trying to stand up to her, which he often tried, but never succeeded.
'And you don't run it well, that's why I have to do this, Yuvraj. Look, if you don't show them who the boss here is, they will not respect you!'
`Hmmm,' he said, letting the matter go. There was no point arguing with her.
Natasha left for her meeting with the Vice Principal regarding the Annual Day which was scheduled for a month later. Often, Yuvraj felt that Natasha was too domineering and head strong for him, but he liked her too much to say anything about it. Plus, Yuvraj was just another Beek before Natasha and he had become friends during a Debating Club meeting two years back. Now, he dated the girl with the longest legs in school!
`So, where were you?' Naman asked Yuvraj as he saw him walking towards him.
`In the auditorium. Was overseeing the work being done for the debating competition this afternoon,' Yuvraj said.
`Did Hitler say something again? You sound off!ff
'Don't call her that ...And no, it's just that Natasha was a little pissed at the new girl entering the Debating Club,' he said.
`New girl? The Raipur girl? Ananya?'Naman asked.
Naman defined geek. Unlike Yuvraj, Naman was just into his huge engineering books. And girls. He never talked to them, but he was always ready to talk about them. That's what engineers/potential engineers do. So be it integration formulae or names or boyfriend history of girls, he was the man to go to! Though he was less intelligent than Yuvraj was, he too was a major contender to get into IIT.
`Yes. How do you know her?' Yuvraj asked.
`Oh, you weren't in the class this entire morning?' he asked, `She is in our class dude! Sat on the last bench. Alone.'
`Ohh, I didn't notice,' Yuvraj said.
`Can't blame you. She is no one to be noticed! And she is definitely not the Debating club material...'
`Don't be mean,' Yuvraj said.
`I am not being mean. It just feels good that my female loser counterpart exists in the same class!' he said. Now, Naman, despite being totally sexist, he knew he was right at the bottom of the desirability scale when it came to guys. He knew he would never get a girl.
`C'mon, now you are underestimating yourself,' Yuvraj said.
`No, I am not. I will wait till the time when desirability will just be a function of time and money! So, let's get to that? You're done with Stoichiometry?' he asked.
And yes, Naman was not underestimating ...he was the kind who cannot ever be any girls' dream. But he never felt bad about it. Or he never let it show
`No, Naman,' he said. `Can you just tell me a few important questions?'
And then, they got down to study till the break ended.
nanya had hardly slept the night before. She had been shit nervous about the audition. Yuvraj seemed like a nice guy to her and she liked the way he had defended her against Natasha. Ananya had been thinking about him.
That day Yuvraj was on his way to the Debating club room when he bumped into Natasha. She looked perfect. Hair tightly tied, crisp white shirt, her trademark skirt which was shorter than average, svelte legs and a hint of lip balm on her lips.
`Hey, where are you going?' Natasha asked him.
`To audition Ananya,' he said.
Ananya who?'
`That girl from yesterday? The new girl?'
`Oh. So, you were serious about giving her a shot at the Debating Club?'
`Of course! And you agreed yesterday, remember?' he looked at her in disbelief.
`Yes, I do. But that doesn't mean I want her in!'
`Meaning?'
`I don't want her in the club. It's bad for the image of the club. We don't want to look like we take anyone and everyone..,' she said.
`But we're not taking anyone and everyone! We'll take her only if she's good enough,' he reasoned.
`Doesn't matter how good she is. We're not taking her in.'
`What? Why?' he asked, puzzled.
`Because I'm saying so. Trust me on this.'
`You're not making sense.'
`Let it be. You won't understand!' she said, `By the way, I saw you liked Priyanka's picture yesterday?'
`Did IF
Natasha was never fond of any girl who was hotter than her. Or wore a shorter skirt. Priyanka was both.
`Yes, you're such a pervert! All you see in a girl is a short skirt!' Natasha said.
`No one does it better than you, though,' he grinned.
`Flirt.'
`It's the truth.'
She smiled. `Look, I've to go now. See you later?'
'Alright.'
`Just make sure not to let that girl in, okay?'
All he could do was nod.
It had been fifteen minutes that Ananya had been waiting at the club room with about three more club members who had been working on their debates for the upcoming competition at The Bishop Boys School. All of them were girls.
For obvious reasons.
The Bishop Boys School was the all-boys school at the other end of the city. And these guys were not your everyday school boys. The Bishop Boys had high standards for admission. Marks weren't the only criteria; it was the least important one. Everyone had to go through rounds after rounds of interviews before one could get in. If that wasn't enough, its' fees was something only the richest of the rich could afford. All in all, if a guy is in The Bishop Boys, he is the highest any guy can climb up in the social ladder.
`Hey,' Yuvraj said and smiled at everybody. Everybody smiled back. Yuvraj was a well-liked guy and the only thing one didn't like about him was the girl he dated. He needed to be with someone sweeter. Natasha was universally hated in the school for the control freak she was.
`So? Are you ready?' he asked Ananya.
Sure, I am,' she said as she tried to sound confident.
`Take it away.'
She made her way to the stage, shaking slightly. She really wanted to get into this club. One day in school was enough to tell her that she wasn't going to have much of a social life here. She'd never fit in. So, she needed this to fill that void and have something to do. Apart from that, she's always had an affinity towards debates too. And they were something she was good at. She couldn't afford to lose this chance.
She stood in the middle of the stage and looked at the four people looking at her, waiting for her to start. The girls smiled at her encouragingly, and Ananya was taken aback. This was the first time a girl had smiled at her at this school. She smiled back meekly.
Yuvraj motioned her to start. She took a deep breath.
And then she started. Her piece was about the media invasion over lives of common men and its pitfalls. Ananya had used this piece quite a few times and she was good at it. That's why she chose it. She knew she would rock it, but she was still a little nervous.
She started softly and kept getting stronger. Her eyes were filled with passion; her hand movements laid emphasis but were not exaggerated. And needless to say, everyone in that room was impressed.
A girl whose skirt ended an inch and half below knee level and had the most unfashionable hair had just rocked the brains out of Yuvraj and the rest of three club members. She finished it and then retreated back in to her shy self as if it was her split personality who gave that phenomenal speech. As she stepped down the stage and made her way to her small audience, she tried to read the expression on their face. She reached Yuvraj.
The Backbenchers: The Extra Class Page 1