Only Mine Chapter 2: Damsel or Warrior?

It was not often that Sameer would not be bored of something; usually he rarely stuck to one thing or one place, or even one person. His Nanu often compared him to a butterfly, flitting from one flower to another, never resting at one place. He didn’t really know what that was supposed to mean. According to him, he had been pretty stable as he had stayed with Nanu almost all his life, and stuck to his friends since the day he had known them. If he was sometimes a bit restless then it wasn’t his fault… was it? He couldn’t help it if a book or a movie failed to capture his attention for more than ten minutes; it certainly wasn’t his fault that some people around him were so boring that they couldn’t carry on conversation with him; and it definitely wasn’t on purpose that he was always walking on eggshells around his mother and stepfather.

Still, just being in Ahmedabad for all these years and having Nanu with him, made him behave reasonably whenever his mother visited. He also shared a pretty normal relationship with his step siblings… well, as normal as it could be. Sometimes he felt that there was something missing in his life, despite staying in a city that functioned at a leisurely pace, he felt as if the events in his life kept moving on fast-forward mode. He liked a lot of things in Ahmedabad, and didn’t like a few others… It wasn’t dislike, it was just indifference. For instance, he loved the food and shopping market in Law Garden, but he never liked the lush green gardens there. And he never understood why so…

It was 8pm in evening and he stood at the pav-bhaji stall with his friends, chatting nonsense, and waiting for their order. Soon the vendor passed on the piping hot plates of bhaji, Pandit took a large plate piled with pav, and Sameer grabbed extra onions and coriander. The sat on a nearby table, peace reigning until they polished off everything, and then Sameer went to buy cold drinks. With a bottle of cola each, they started discussing what they were here for.

Sameer took a large swig, and queried, “did you find something?”

Pandit nodded, “yes… Her name is Naina Agarwal. She studies in Pragati Vidya ka Mandir… Hindi medium school. Her father is a librarian in the same school. Heard that she is a topper… writes doha on the blackboard every day, sits on first bench, second row… and is the teacher’s pet.  She stays in Nirmal Jyoti society, very close to our home.”

Munna chuckled and teased, “as always the perfect information… did you find about her family and boyfriend too?”

Pandit smacked his cousin’s head, but dutifully replied, “it took me some time, but I got to know that she lives with her whole joint family… like Tauji, Chachaji and all… the other girl who was with her this morning is her sister Preeti. I don’t know if real or cousin. And… she has no boyfriend.”

It was not a surprise for Sameer that Pandit had all the information, but still he asked, “how did you find out all this? And who was the third girl?”

Pandit shrugged, “I recognized the uniform… you know… that girl Kamya I told you about last week, she studies in same school. And I have befriended a couple of boys in that school to get to Kamya, so it was easy. Naina and Preeti are Kamya’s classmate. I still don’t know the name of the third girl, but will find out soon.”

“So… your future girlfriend studies in the same school”, Munna laughed, “and you seriously like a Hindi medium girl?”

“She is hot”, Pandit defended his crush.

As the cousins teased and bantered, Sameer tuned them out and started to think of a plan. The easiest one would be to let her know that he knew who she was and then trouble her daily. But then… that was the easiest. He didn’t want easy with her. Somehow she challenged him to do more than normal… And so he thought… and thought… and thought… until an idea clicked and he smiled to himself.

“Looks like you have a plan”, Munna’s comment broke through his thoughts.

Sameer grinned and nodded. Pandit’s eyes shone in excitement, “what?”

The plan was discussed in low voices, and after much deliberation the boys were sure it was the most perfect plan. That night Sameer’s mind was filled with the visions of the girl who had been unknown to him this morning, but by night he had a set of important information about her. Naina Agarwal. The tiny girl with bright brown eyes which spat fire at him, hair dipped in can of oil, pink lips that either curled in disgust or threw a triumphant smile at him. It was totally unusual of him to think of a girl, yet that night he didn’t find it odd to have his thoughts dominated by one girl. After all… tomorrow he would take his revenge, and then she would know him too.

Next morning Sameer woke up with unnaturally good spirits, and sprinted down the stairs for breakfast. Nanu observed the spring in his grandson’s step and enquired, “something special today?”

Sameer grinned, “no… nothing new. I am just feeling that this is going to be a good morning.”

“Aah”, Nanu applied butter on his toast, “I hope you are not up to some mischief.”

Sameer put on the most innocent expression he could, “of course not. It is just cricket practice today.”

“I see. Well, eat properly then”, Nanu suggested, and Sameer did stuff himself quite well that day.

As he rushed out of the door with his schoolbag and without his favorite cricket bat, Nanu wondered what was it that his Grandson hoped to accomplish today.

The three boys jumped over the small gate of PVKM school, and ran inside avoiding the janitor who was filling water in a large bucket and yawning. They brought out some leaflets and put them up on the noticeboard, in every classroom, and even on staffroom door. Having finished their task, they went inside the 11^th standard classroom which Pandit had found out, and moved to the second row, first bench. Sameer sat on it, and wondered where she sat, which side. He looked at the scratches on the wooden desk, and almost exclaimed aloud on spotting the inscribed ‘N’ on one side, and the ‘P’ on other side. P for Preeti and N for Naina… How simple.

Thank you so much Naina… You fool.

He pulled out a small bottle of sharp smelling balm, and smeared the whole content inside the small space beneath the desk. Now all that was needed was for Naina to slide in her bag… Just upon impulse he pulled out the sharp rounder from inside his own geometric box, and inscribed an ‘S’ just beside the ‘N’… a small symbol to let her know who it was.

Finally they moved out, and hid behind the playground shed, waiting for the school to commence. Students started to pour in, most of them on cycle, there was rarely one or two bikes, and that told them of the difference in the financial background of students between both schools. Sameer noted how almost all the girls had their hair tied up in pigtails, and had pulled their socks up to their knees.

Such fashion disasters.

He prided himself to have a very good taste in fashion, and he didn’t like people who were lethargic about dressing. It made him wonder how can people not spend time on making themselves look good. In this school it seemed like ignoring fashion was a trend…

Where was she?

He craned his neck checking the road leading from the gate impatiently. It was time for her school to start and she wasn’t here still. Was she not going to come today? Oh no… If she didn’t then his whole plan would be spoiled. It wasn’t like he couldn’t take revenge another time again, but he wanted it to be today. It would be so much fun.

Just then Munna commented, “looks like she won’t come today. Let’s go.”

Sameer shook his head, and hissed, “No… she has to come. She can’t spoil my plan like this.”

“You can’t control whether she comes to school or not”, Pandit pointed out, only managing to irk Sameer. He ignored his friends and looked towards the gate again, narrowing his eyes, staring with determination, almost as if willing her cycle in… And she did…

In less than a minute, just as the school bell rang, Naina hastily pedaled inside followed by Preeti, and they both were panting, probably because of exertion.

“God, we are late”, Preeti wailed.

Naina pulled off her bag from the cycle carrier, slinging it over her shoulders, “let’s go, quick.”

The girls rushed inside, and the three boys came out of their hiding place. Sameer stared at the old black cycle, and said, “let’s do it.”

Munna pulled out three rolls of plastic wrap from his bag, and Pandit brought out two big rolls of transparent cellotape. The three of them then proceeded to cover Naina’s cycle completely with the plastic wrap, making sure that the pedals wouldn’t rotate at all; and to make things even more difficult for her they added the cellotape. As they finished all three of them laughed at the thought of her struggling to unwrap it before she could use the cycle.

“All done”, Pandit sighed with satisfaction, “let’s go to school. We are already late.”

Sameer had a thoughtful expression on his face, “you guys go… I will come after the first period. I want to see the effect on Naina.”

Munna tried to reason, “she will be punished, that is obvious. Don’t miss school for that girl… It is Math class.”

However, all reasoning fell on deaf ears. Sameer was determined, “no, I want to see. You both go. Take the bike… and make some excuse for me.”

Munna and Pandit knew that it was useless to argue further, and if all three of them missed the class then no teacher would believe any excuse. So, they left, leaving Sameer in PVKM to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Sameer quietly walked around the school building, taking care to bend double whenever he crossed windows. He peeked into classrooms hoping to catch a glimpse of her… Would she be in classroom? Or staffroom? Few minutes later he caught a glimpse of a tensed looking Preeti inside a class; she was having a whispered conversation with Swati who was sitting behind her, but Naina was not there. However he noticed that she had slid her bag inside the small space beneath the desk.

Yes! Now her bag would be soiled completely.

He passed the classroom, rounded a corner, and soon heard what he wished for. Some man was almost yelling, “how dare you do such a thing?”

Sameer peeked inside cautiously, and saw a man dressed in safari suit and a woman in blue saree, along with Naina who was almost cowering. She stammered, “b…but Pa…papa…”

Not so brave now, are you?

“Silence”, the man raged, “how many times do I have to tell you that in school you should call me sir?”

Naina trembled, “S..sorry… I just wanted to s..say th..that…”

“Oh, you still have something to say?” The woman chided sarcastically. “Even after what you did?”

“That is what I am saying… I did not…”, Naina tried to explain. But the woman again interrupted, “shut up! You might be a good student, but that doesn’t mean we are going to tolerate such mischief… Extend your hand, now.”

Naina looked up in surprise, and then glanced at her father who simply looked away. Sameer didn’t understand what was happening.  The woman, whom by now Sameer assumed was a teacher, commanded again, “Hand…”

Naina gulped and raised her hand palm up, while Sameer’s brows furrowed in puzzlement. Then he saw the woman picking up a long thick wooden scale, and he stilled in shock.

This is the punishment? Hitting her…? No… That couldn’t be.

The first blow of the wooden scale on her soft palm made Naina flinch; but she didn’t know there was someone else who flinched too. Naina tried her best to control her expressions and hide her tears, while outside Sameer stood rooted to the ground his hands fisting as each harsh slap of scale registered in his ears and vision. He had not wanted this… How could they hit a girl? He had thought that the teachers would scold Naina, and give her a detention with some additional study work; that’s the punishment girls were subjected to in his school. He had wished to enjoy her pissed off face when she would be forced to sit alone inside a classroom, and she would be furious wondering who had pulled off the trick. But this… this he had never wanted. He could see how hard she was trying to control herself from making a sound, and he bit his own lip, his eyes turned dark as he seriously debated going inside to own up his deed.

However, before he could finish his mental debate, a sharp loud voice interrupted, “hang on… what are you doing?”

Sameer jerked, his breathing abnormally fast, and again looked inside. He saw another woman stride in, this one dressed in an orange saree, and she definitely looked younger and kinder than the woman in blue saree.

“Kumud madam, what are you doing?”, the new woman asked again.

The woman in blue saree, Kumud madam, harshly replied, “this girl made fun of our school principal. Surely you have seen all those sketches. That is why I am punishing her.”

The man in safari suit, who by now Sameer knew was Naina’s father too, spoke up, “I never thought my daughter would do this… if she has done wrong she needs to be punished Shanti madam.”

Shanti madam, the woman in orange saree, placed a kind hand on Naina’s head, “yes, if she had done anything then of course she deserved punishment… But, Naina hasn’t done anything. She and Preeti were late today as they had stopped on their way to help a girl from another school who had fallen down on road. They came and talked to me as soon as they reached school, and by that time I have had all the sketches removed already, so I know that it wasn’t them.”

“Also, Naina is not so good in drawing”, said another man, as he too walked inside, “I remember her marks in primary school. She was never interested in that subject.”

Sameer instantly recognized that man to be the school principal, the one whose cartoon sketch he had drawn, and had then pasted them all over the school with Naina’s name in artist credit on each paper. He heard the principal sir talk something in a low soothing voice to Naina, and noted how Shanti madam never removed her hand from Naina’s head. Finally after a minute, Naina smiled softly and outside Sameer exhaled in relief. He also saw that Naina’s father or Kumud teacher made no move to apologize to Naina for unjustly punishing her. Shanti madam asked her go to the class, and Naina left from there.

 

Hope she isn’t hurt a lot.

With this thought Sameer also left from there to go to his own school. His friends had made an excuse of him feeling unwell and had told the teachers that he would be late today or might even skip school. It was just as well, because even though Sameer did go to school, he kept feeling some turbulence inside his stomach the whole day. The sounds of hard wood on soft flesh didn’t seem to leave his ears, and neither could he forget the vision of her flinching face and quivering fingers. His plate of sandwich lay forgotten as he kept wringing his hands even while in canteen, and when his friends enquired as to what had happened he couldn’t tell them the truth of the repercussions of his revenge plan.

When school ended he asked Munna and Pandit to go home in auto, somehow wanting to go back to PVKM. Why did he keep having this urge to check on her?

You just want to enjoy while she struggles with her cycle.

Yes, that was it. He just wanted to see his revenge in action. Agreed, his first plan hadn’t really fared as per his expectation. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take revenge, or go and apologize. No, no… He just wanted to see how she copes with the wrapped up cycle, and also her soiled bag. Pandit tried to coax him to them come along, but he didn’t relent. He didn’t want his friends to know that their acts had resulted in Naina getting beaten; they would also start feeling guilty like him. Plus it wasn’t their fault; it was all because of his plan… But, how would he have known that teachers were so heartless in her school? And her own father also didn’t help her…

Parents… Never expect from them.

He drove to her school, and again sneaked inside by jumping the low wall. Students were starting to leave, and he hid behind the playground shed just like he had done that morning. He could see that her cycle was still wrapped up, which meant she hadn’t seen it. He leaned on the wall and waited for her…

Naina came out almost after most students had left; naturally Preeti and Swati were with her. She was holding her bag in her hand, and it had large oily splotches because of the balm. Naina knew that she was going to get a good amount of scolding at home, because the marks wouldn’t go completely even after washing. So, either she would have to keep using a bag with marks, or maybe Chachaji would somehow manage to get her a new bag in few weeks. The prospect of being scolded didn’t really bother her, as it was normal happening, but if possible she would have liked to skip it today.

Was there something else left in this day?

Apparently the answer was yes, because just then she saw her cycle covered from front to end in plastic wrap.

What the heck…

She closed her eyes for half a minute, took a deep breath, and then looked at her sister, “Preeti… go home and tell Chachiji that I have to stay back in school for thirty minutes more.”

“No… I will help”, Preeti said determinedly.

Naina shook her head, “if we are both late, Taiji will punish us. So you go home early and let them know I had to stay back.”

Preeti sighed, accepting defeat, as she knew Naina was right. Swati kept looking at the cycle, “what stupidity is this… Don’t worry Naina, I will help you.”

Again Naina refused, “there no need. I just need ten minutes alone, you girls leave.”

Behind the shed Sameer heard the whole conversation, and wondered why she was declining help from her friends. The uneasiness he had been feeling since morning increased as he watched the two girls fail to coax Naina, and leave. Naina stood alone, and his stomach churned, his thoughts wandering to the possibility of Naina crying. Had he gone overboard with his prank? The sketch one, definitely… Still he waited to see what she would do, and thought that maybe if she cried too much then he would go out and apologize to her.

Naina stood for some time watching her friend and sister leave, the school was empty by now, and then taking a deep breath she crouched down, running a hand over the plastic wrap to find a loose end she could use to start unwrapping. Her searching fingers discovered the sneakily concealed transparent cellotape.

Smart.

She mused grudgingly, and tried to pry an end using both her hands, but almost immediately withdrew her left hand as it hurt. Near the shed, Sameer shuffled his foot uncomfortably. He watched Naina stand up again, and gulped thinking that anytime now she would start crying. But, she didn’t cry, instead she made a frustrated “aargh” sound and kicked her own cycle, and then declared to no one in particular, “I am going to kill that boy.”

Sameer’s eyes widened and he almost let out a laugh, the unease in his stomach settling down as he acknowledged that the girl he had meddled with was not a damsel in distress. He had troubled her so much today, unintentionally even giving her physical pain, and yet she was not giving up. Rather than sitting and crying, wishing for some hero to rescue her, she was spitting fire declaring her intention to kill the hero. With astonishment and slight amusement, he saw Naina pull out a paper cutter from her bag, and she fiercely slashed through the plastic wrap, probably imagining it to be her enemy… ala him.

As she dumped all the wrappings into a nearby dustbin, he emerged from his hiding place finally and walked up to her. She spotted him almost immediately, and stood waiting with her eyes narrowed and hands slightly curled.

Was she going to hit him?

He flashed a crooked grin at her, and commented, “I hope you enjoyed your day… Naina.”

She was not even surprised that he knew her name… Sometime during the day or maybe as soon as she had seen her bag soiled in balm, she had guessed that it was more than just a prank, it was revenge. And the only one who would do this to her was him. He had somehow managed to find things about her, and she had to grudgingly admit that he had been effective with his plan. It was not just one thing… but he had come with guns blazing, setting multiple things in motion at once. Not wanting to let him know that his act had caused her to be hit by her teachers, she fisted her palm to hide her wounds.

You are not weak Naina.

Yep, she wasn’t. It was the first time some teacher had hit her, but still… she would take it in her stride. After all, she had looked back at him yesterday to let him know who had slashed his bike tyre. She had almost invited him to show her what he could do… And he had.

She bestowed him with an overly sweet smile, and replied, “oh yes I did… And I will remember to thank you properly for every amazing thing you did today.”

Tell her you didn’t want her to be beaten.

He paused for a while but didn’t confess. Rather he too smiled, “I shall look forward to it then.” He started to leave from there, but stopped and turned, “oh by the way, my name is Sameer Maheshwari. You should know, because I guess we are going to see each other a lot.”

Naina nodded, “yes we are”, and watched him slip on his sunglasses and leave from there. Her last thought was that, Preeti was right, he indeed looked like Salman, even shared the same first initial, but what a pity… Unlike Salman, this Sameer Maheshwari was an arrogant jerk.