❗Glossary : Huirong - shit/fuck in Manipuri. Basically a curse word.

Four
🌻🌻🌻

Whispers and pinches swirled around Gaius as he strode through the wide entrance lobby, his footsteps echoing on the freshly polished marble staircase. Sunlight filtered through tall arched windows, painting playful patterns on the floor.

"Did he grow taller again?" He briefly heard them murmur behind him as he raced up the stairs two steps at a time.

On reaching the fourth floor, he relaxed. Farther down the hallway he spotted his best friends lingering by the classroom door. Kanwar, put up his hand and hollered above the noise, "Mamma's boy!"

Gaius responded with a disapproving noise and approached them. "Is Korong here yet?" he inquired.

"He's on his way," Kanwar replied, gesturing towards the gate below.

Gaius peered down and saw his dearest friend, Korongshel coming up the gate. He looked up to Gaius and slightly jerked his chin in brief greeting. Half of the students who couldn't afford to be dropped off by personal cars took the school bus. And Korongshel always took the bus despite Gaius's invitations to ride in his car.

He cited congestion as an excuse with all of Gaius' siblings packed in it, but the bus always had enough seats for everyone. The car being congested was half-true, but the ultimate truth was, and this was no secret, Korong was too reserved to accept favors, even from close friends. The thought of freeloading on someone else's car embarrassed him.

Gaius pressed his thumb at a machine installed by the door for attendance, entered the classroom and settled into a desk by the window, which he shared with Korongshel. Hringni stood talking with her girlfriends by a table. Gaius kept himself busy by chatting up with Kanwar and a few other male classmates who followed him inside. Most of them asked about his father's recent promotion as Lieutenant Colonel, and their vacation to Maldives.

"You rich people keep traveling everywhere while I can't even afford a roll of toilet paper to wipe my ass," Kanwar said, teasing him as he set half-cheek of his bottoms at the edge of Gaius' table.

"Very convincing, coming from someone who owns a Range Rover," Gaius returned with sarcasm.

Kanwar himself came from a very wealthy family. His father was a Member of the Legislative Assembly with strong influence over an entire District. Most of the students at St. Peter's had rich parents, the school being one among the best in the state, where only the rich could afford to attend, unless one is lucky enough to land a scholarships.

Korongshel had been a full scholarship awardee since grade eight, fortunately for him since his family wasn't financially well-off. But lately, luck seemed to have turned from him. Gaius had been informed (by Korongshel himself) that his academic performances in the previous two years proved undeserving. He couldn't keep the full scholarship any longer. Now, he would have to pay half of it himself. And the other half would be shared with another student, whom he heard was going to be a new classmate transferred from another school, an orphan.

For Korong, the thought of it was equivalent to repeatedly banging his head against a wall. The only reason he could afford to study at St. Peter's was the scholarship. His older brother was still attending college, working odd jobs in the city to make ends meet, and they still had two more school-going younger siblings to support. Even without bothering about his school fees, life was already a struggle.

Was it a test or a dead joke of some sort that he was now required to pay half of his fees? Life seemed to only get worse for Korong and his family. He had pondered dropping out and helping his mother support for his younger siblings' education instead, but Shangnei, his mother, refused to entertain the idea.

"That is not your concern. I will manage everything. All you have to do is study," she'd said. Yet, more often than not—him being the only grown-up at home to whom she could share her woes and hardships—he was bound to listen to her struggles. And whenever he did, dropping out of school appeared to be the best option. However, he couldn't bring himself to utter it to his mother, despite her complaints. So, he was left alone with his thoughts, grappling with the difficult decision.

The first day of school was typically a joyous affair. There were no assignments to submit, no exam tension looming, and teachers weren't in the mood to dive into textbooks just yet. They would enter classrooms wearing weird smiles as if they'd always been the nicest people on the planet... And everyone pretty much milled about the balconies catching up with one another after summer. Class hours would end at noon, and that would be dubbed a half-holiday and kids would run screaming out of the gate, thrilled to reach home earlier.

Usually, Korongshel would be the life of the Normally, Korongshel was the life of the party, but this time, the sight of the school building only burdened him He couldn't help wonder how they'd manage.

Gaius received him at the classroom door. He wrapped an arm around his shoulder and shook him a little to cheer him up. "Hey, cheer up. Things will work out fine one way or the other. And I'm here too."

Korong sighed, stared at Gaius with the longest face ever and slowly cracked his lips to present a pretty smile.

"Yes, sugar," he said.

Immediately grunting in disgust, Gaius palmed him on the side of his face and shoved him, drawing out a shrill shriek of laughter from Korong.

When the first bell rang, summoning all the students from grade five to assemble at the football field, Gaius and his friends joined the throng of students shuffle out to the crowded corridor, made way down the stairs and finally stood in the sun... Finally to listen to Mother Agnes' welcome speech, blaring through a microphone from the shaded podium for God-knows-how-long.

As always, Gaius looked for Reishel first. He saw her standing at the front of grade eight girls' line and looking perfectly at ease. Then he went and stood at the very end of grade eleven boys since he was the tallest. He was even slightly taller than the tallest senior boy and senior football captain, William. Hell, he was the tallest boy in school.

Growing up he often felt awkward and embarrassed maybe he was too big for his class, when some shorter classmates were older to him by months. Once, when he was nine, he'd come home asking his mother if there were any pills to make him shorter. He wanted to be just as tall as his best friend, Korong. And almost every single football tournament he participated asked for his birth certificate, because well, again, he was certainly unlikely tall for his young age.

Korongshel wasn't the second tallest in class. In fact, he would do himself justice if he stood somewhere in the middle, but he stood right in front of Gaius, his entire view blocked by the second tallest, Kanwar, who stood right in front of him.

Gaius stood watching the several heads spread inches below his gaze. While they waited for Mother Agnes to make an appearance, a murmur ensued in the Junior section about the arrival of a new girl.

"I heard she stays at Sister Marina's Convent," they whispered.

"Huirong gi. It's a girl?!" Korong voiced his disappointment. "Too bad. If it were a boy, I was thinking of thrashing him for stealing half my scholarship."

Gaius chuckled behind him.

"You've lost half of your scholarship?" One of the girls gasped at Korong, wide-eyed.

"Yeah," he returned rather nonchalantly. "This brain is getting rusted. Haven't you noticed? Now, where is that brainy, scholarship thief. . ."

He craned his neck and twisted his torso in almost every direction, trying to catch a glimpse of the girl.

"You won't see her from here." The girl on their left said. "She stands somewhere at the front. Shhh. There's Mother Agnes."

Kanwar leaned back and taunted Korong under a whisper. "This is why I keep telling you to stand at the front of the line."

"Quit fooling around and one of you pick me up." Korong nudged Gaius with the back of his elbow to his belly.

"Hey!" Came a deep grunt from their right. Senior Math teacher Sir Surjit glared at them, telling them to shut it.

Korong clenched his teeth and muttered under his breath, "This old geezer is still after us."

"Hey!"

Gaius pressed his lips and swallowed his laughter.

Mother Agnes, a handsome middle-aged woman of average height, cloaked in light grey attire of catholic Nuns, strutted to the front of the podium and smiled at the throng of promising young minds being dried in the sun as if to be cooked for dinner.

She tapped on her microphone once. It gave an amplified sound in response and then she spoke... and spoke.. and spoke for nearly an hour. By the time the students were to sing the School anthem and say the Lord's prayer, most of the kids had soaked their shirts with sweat, some close to becoming dried meat for dinner. Nevertheless, the entire school bellowed the anthem and as always, lower grades spoiled the last half of the song. Always rushing through it. Mother Agnes, nonetheless, sang the entire song in her own, slow-paced, harmonious rhythm in hopes that the kids would get something out of it. Clearly, not one of them did.

As students started to leave the field, the Junior boys trailed behind the Senior girls. As Gaius approached the front of the junior girls' line, curiosity compelled him to search for the new girl. He found her standing third in line, her face slightly obscured, hiding from the scorching sun.

He couldn't see her features clearly, but her hair captivated him. It cascaded down her back in a thick, lustrous ponytail, reaching past her waist. It puzzled him; he had never comprehended why some girls chose to keep their hair so long.

Just as he turned, she lifted her face. Her complexion was healthy, with a subtle rosiness that instantly reminded him of ripe peaches. In a fleeting moment, their gazes locked, and she quickly looked away, her cheeks flushing as if she had committed a terrible blunder.

"Poor girl," Gaius thought. Her cheeks were flaming red under the heat of the sun.

Before he could ponder further, Sir Surjit's gruff voice pulled him back to the present. "Hey! What are you looking at? Get moving."

"I'm telling you," Korong murmured. "He has his eyes stuck on our asses."

•••

Ask me anything about this book on Instagram @ hermynekhaling

Hope you're enjoying the book so far 🌼

Love, Hermyne