Day 03 (9 July 2007)

Truth or Dare

 

The summer vacation of 2007 had just come to an end. I cannot begin to describe how I spent the last couple of months without any significant contact with Khushi. For almost two months, I ached to see the face which had become the primary reason for my regularity at school. I spent the entire vacation cursing holidays and thinking about her. The chhole-bhature for breakfast, the evening cricket matches and the long hours of sleep which I used to cherish, had all lost their charm. Merely seeing her at the temple for a couple of minutes was no longer good enough. I NEEDED TO GET BACK TO SCHOOL!

So, you can only imagine how elated and excited I was when school reopened. I tried everything I possibly could to spend time with or even near her.

It was a fine, cloudy July afternoon. To make it better, our English teacher did not turn up, giving us a free period. All my friends rushed out towards the play ground (as was typical for us in such a sitation). However, I uncharacteristically made an excuse and stayed back in class. I had seen Khushi play "Truth or Dare" with her friends in the back of the class. How could I go out to play when she was sitting in the class with her friends?

I watched them play for a few minutes, and after initial hesitation, asked if I could join them. They said yes. Before I knew it,  I was sitting right accross her, smiling and laughing with her. It was rather amusing the sort of questions they asked each other and the sort of things they made each other do.

Unfortunately, the amusement did not last very long. A few minutes into the game, the pen was pointing towards me! "Who was your first crush?", Khushi asked, catching me off guard. I did not have a mirror in front of me, but I can swear my face had gone red. I could not utter a word as I felt a drop of  sweat slide down my cheek. "No one", I lied unconvincingly. They tried hard to force an answer out of me but I was rigid.

The period soon came to an end and I thought I had escaped the situation I had put myself in. But, at the end of the day, when we were dispersing for our homes, I ran into Khushi who demanded an answer. She seemed very upset because I had broken the rules of the game.

I could not see her disappointed face. But how could I tell her? I felt myself choking but ultimately gave in to the pressure.

"The answer asked me the question", I said with a shy and hapless expression, turned around and walked away in haste.