After the canteen spectacle, Deepani walked me to the principal's office staring everybody down and just waiting for someone to make one wrong move so she could tear them down. I realized I was smiling because never could I have imagined I would be escorted by Mama-bear-Deepani along the college corridors. 

Smriti was waiting outside the office and was visibly relieved to see me. She smiled at Deepani and Deepani smiled back. 

"Thank God, I thought you had left," she said when we got near. 

"No, I didn't," I said. 

She hugged me. 

"Oh, Meera I have been so worried about you," she said.

When had I become so fortunate? All of these strong, amazing women had my back. Why was I even worried about anything. 

"I am sorry you were so worried."

I saw Virat and Heena coming our way with another girl I could not quite place. 

"Meera, we have been trying to get in touch with you," Heena said. 

"It's a good thing you are finally here so we can file that complaint and take strict actions," Virat said. 

I realized the girl accompanying them was the KGV President of our college who had given the speech on Orientation day. 

"We have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying here at Maurya. We will make sure the culprit is punished accordingly," the president said dutifully whose name I could not recall. 

I looked around me in wonder. It hadn't dawned on me just how many people were here to stand up for me. Why in the hell had I isolated myself? I smiled and thanked them all. 

***

The meeting went better than I thought. The members of the Internal Complaints Committee were very reassuring. They listened to my tale patiently and then noted down all the details diligently. I was asked to sign the document, which I did, They were eager to get this to the IT cell as soon as possible so they could trace the perpetrator. They seemed pretty confident about it. 

The Principal assured me that they would be issuing another statement about the incident warning students of the consequences of circulating the photos. Dr Mittal was nice enough to appoint herself as my representative. 

All in all, I felt about a thousand times better than I had a few hours ago at this very spot. 

Smriti was sitting outside waiting patiently. She jumped up when she saw me and started grilling me about the meeting. I gave her a brief of what had happened inside. 

Then my attention was caught by three boys standing at a little distance. They were staring at me with a mixture of indignation, annoyance, relief and happiness. 

"Elvis, get your ass over here!" Yug yelled at me. 

I swallowed and quietly walked up to him to apologize but before I could take another step he engulfed me in the tightest bear hug I had ever experienced. 

I heard Siddharth laugh and felt him joining our hug as he said,

"You had us so worried Meera,"

Guilt surged in my heart as I realized that I had been a little too preoccupied with my feelings to think of how this must have affected them. 

"I'm so sorry, guys. I feel like such an idiot for wallowing this way," I said but my voice came out muffled. 

Yug finally let me go and held me at an arm's length to examine me. 

"Are you absolutely sure you are okay?" he asked staring at me with such concern that I almost choked up. 

"Yes, I am sure," I nodded.

"I can't wait till they find the person who did this. I am going to break every bone in their body," Siddharth said through clenched teeth. 

I remembered that Siddharth was a trained Karate fighter. He had been practising this martial art since his preteen years so he was more likely to deliver on his violent promise than Sarah, my 5'2 bestie who had never even hurt a fly. 

Shreyas came forward and shook my hand. 

"Glad to see you back, Meera," he said and I thanked him. 

Angad was yet to say a word to me. I noticed the aloof, frosty look from last week wasn't present if that was some consolation. He wore a similar expression of concern and relief. I nodded at him and he finally opened his mouth to say,

"How have you been?"

His tender tone was diametrically opposite from the one he had used last week. 

"I'm great. Thanks to Deepani here," I answered as diplomatically as I could. I didn't know how I would get through this interaction. After he decided to keep things strictly professional and then the RedWagonSlut posts and then this. 

"C'mon Meera, it was the least I could do," Deepani said. 

They grilled me quite similar to how Smriti had done. Then they vowed their blood vengeance again for whoever had done it and then proceeded to assure me that they had my back every step of the way and I should hold nothing back. I was one of them. 

I couldn't say very much because I was overwhelmed with gratitude. My heart just felt so full after the gnawing hole from last week was healed. 

When we finally decided to part ways with the promise to meet back up later I waited for Angad to catch my eye so ask him to stay back but he beat me to it,

"Meera can I speak to you?" 

"Yes, I need to speak with you too," I answered. 

He seemed confused. I gestured to the seat adjacent to mine and he sat down. 

"I am sure you saw exactly what was written under our photos and videos," I asked. 

"I did," he sighed. 

"Last week when you gave me that big speech about keeping things professional I will admit I was very hurt. You said the friendship thing wasn't working for us and I took great offence at that." 

He seemed to ponder upon what I was saying. I went on,

"I hate to admit this but you were right."

"What do you mean?" he asked. 

"You were right. We aren't supposed to be friends. Keeping things professional is the way to go," I said. 

"Is that so?" he asked a little sharply. 

"I mean the innocent photos stirred up enough trouble as it is. We're lucky they didn't catch the photos of us, you know, kissing."

"Oh super lucky," he said sarcasm dripping from his voice. 

"Do you not agree with me? You were the one preaching all of this last week. Now you are being disdainful," I protested. 

He was silent for a moment, then he looked at me strangely. 

"Is that what you want?" he asked slowly.

I steeled my heart and nodded.

"It is for the best," 

His eyes bore into mine for what felt like an eternity before he got up and left. I stared after him assuring myself that I had done the right thing.

***

It was Smriti's idea to skip classes for the rest of the day and go shopping or just have fun. This was certainly very new. She had never taken the initiative to suggest missing classes to go out. 

I still felt the need to clear the air with Vahni. I am sure I owed her an explanation too. She must have been one of the many people whom I had ignored while I was wallowing. 

Smriti and I caught up with her as she exited her classroom. 

"Vahni! Look who is back." Smriti called out. 

Vahni whirled around in surprise not expecting to find a chirpy, shouty Smriti calling out her name. 

She looked at me and was taken aback. Then she recovered quickly,

"Meera," she said coming near us, "You are back."

"Yes, I am," I smiled at her.

Her demeanour seemed off somehow. Was she mad at me for not contacting her? Smriti must have told her how difficult it was for me. Should I apologize? I hadn't even checked my phone to see if she had texted me or not. 

"So Meera is feeling better and I thought what better way to celebrate than to go out and just have fun," Smriti continued excitedly. 

Vahni looked back and shook her head,

"I don't know guys, I have classes all day."

"We have the same schedule Vahni, there are only two more lectures. Skip! Come with us!" she urged. 

"Yeah but there are tutorials, extra classes..." she trailed off. 

So Vahni really was pissed off. Never had she tried declining a suggestion to go out and celebrate something. One time she made us skip lectures and get tea at the Sudama's stall just because she, and I quote, 'felt like the weather called for some chai'. 

"Oh, c'mon Vahni. You of all people shouldn't be saying that. Do it for Meera. She would love it. Right, Meera?" Smriti looked at me for affirmation and I nodded enthusiastically. 

"That would be perfect actually," I said more to Vahni than Smriti. 

Before Vahni could reply Smriti's phone started to ring and the screen flashed Nirav on it. 

"Why is he calling you?" I asked her.

"Oh, uh, I think it's about the final posters for the event. Give me a minute," she said and walked a little distance to take the call.

I turned to Vahni intending to use this opportunity to clear the air between us. 

"Are you mad at me?" I asked not intending to beat around the bush. 

"What?" she was clearly not expecting this.

"I asked whether or not you are mad at me for some reason," I repeated.

"No, I am not," she said unconvincingly.

 "Vahni I think the healthy thing to do would be to let it out. Trust me bottling up your emotions doesn't work," I said and then when she didn't say anything I added, "Is it because I didn't reply to your texts or calls?" 

"No. It's not that," 

"But it is something." I probed.

She finally turned to me and let out a sigh of frustration. 

"It's just that last week you were quick to protest against any sort of relationship you might have with... Angad and then the photos," she stopped abruptly.

"The photos? What about them?" I asked frowning.

"They told a different story," she mumbled a little sulkily.

My eyes widened at what she was trying to imply. 

"Are you being serious Vahni?" I asked incredulously, "You think I am in some sort of secret relationship with Angad after I told you, my friend, many times over that I was just friends with all of them!"

Vahni was a little taken aback at the fury in my voice. 

"I can't believe that my friend would say such a thing to me. Why stop there? You must also assume that I am in fact sleeping with every member of Red Wagon from a bunch of stalkery photos that somebody posted on the internet."

Smriti was now looking at us, startled by my temper and tone. 

"Maybe we should do this some other time," I called out to Smriti and left. 

***

I was still fuming when I reached the garden behind the canteen. That seemed to be the default place my legs found their way to. 

I couldn't believe the conversation I had had with Vahni. People continued to surprise me, sometimes in a very unpleasant manner. How could she even think that I would keep such a thing from her? 

She hadn't even asked me if it was true. Her tone had been accusatory. 

I ordered a coffee for myself and sat down under the same tree we frequented. I recalled the first time I had talked to Siddharth here. That conversation had ended up entangling my world with theirs. Maybe I would've ended up here anyway. It felt like I was destined for all of this drama no matter how much I tried to avoid it. 

"Elvis, what are you doing here alone?" a voice called out. 

I saw Yug approaching me, twirling his drumsticks in his hand. 

I tried to put on a brave face so as not to concern him but he saw right through me.

"What's the matter? Who do we need to punch now?" he asked settling down next to me. 

"It's nothing. I just had an argument with a friend of mine," I said vaguely.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently.

"Not really," I admitted. 

He nodded gravely. 

"Well, if you'd like to, I am always available."

"Yeah, I know." I smiled at him, "Where is everybody else?" I asked looking around.

"They're in class," he answered. 

"Why aren't you with them?" 

"We have different electives. Our professor didn't come in today." 

"Right," I nodded. 

We spent the next half hour just talking. Our conversation steered to the topic of dating and I asked him,

"Is it just me or do you notice the stares people are giving us too?" 

"I do," he said unsmilingly. 

"Well, that's just more proof," I said and he looked at me askance so I said, "I am supposed to be sleeping with you remember?" 

Despite the situation, circumstances and ourselves, we laughed uproariously for a full minute before settling down. 

"Oh Elvis, can you imagine?" he said wiping a tear from his eye.

"Not at all," I shook my head. 

"How is the dating scene, though?" I asked him after a second.

"Abysmal," he said simply. 

"Is it because you haven't been making enough effort?" 

"Well, that might be part of the reason," he admitted. 

"Give me your phone," I held out my hand. 

"Why?" 

"Just unlock it and give it to me," I said. 

He did as told and I went to the app store to quickly install a dating app. 

"What are you up to?" he asked warily.

"I am setting up a dating app profile for you," I giggled. 

He gave me a horrified expression and tried to snatch his phone away from me. 

"Oh settle down! I am not getting you married to these men. Just have a look, window shop, maybe you even like something, then you can take that to the trial room and try it on and who knows, you just might end up buying." I winked at him. 

He laughed again and relented. I helped him choose some photos and he set up his profile. 

"Swipe right at your leisure, or something... I don't know how it works." I said. My brief dalliance with Tinder had taught me enough to know these apps had something to do with swiping. 

Yug just shook his head and pocketed his phone again. 

"Hey, we completely forgot!" Yug exclaimed suddenly.

"What?" 

"So before we got wrapped up in this drama we were thinking of asking you to come with us on our Goa trip," he said.

"Goa trip? When are you going? Who else is coming?" 

"We were planning our trip to Goa for the mid sem break. It starts the week after Melisma. It'll be a three-day trip I think. We still have to iron out the finer details but if you're on board we can start with the planning and booking. Come with us, we have such a blast in Goa. I still remember the first time we went. Ah..." Yug seemed to be lost reminiscing a memory he didn't feel the need to vocalize. 

"That sounds like fun but you'll have to give me a day or two so I can give you a definite yes," I said excitedly. 

Goa was every college student's dream destination. Sarah and I had been planning on going there since the tenth standard. 

"Can I invite my friends?" I asked.

"Sure you can. More the merrier," he said. 

Things seemed to not be all bad. Worse comes worst I had Goa to look forward to.