Can Love Be Judged?

3

I reached college right on time. The rush hour hadn’t started yet. There was a group of students standing by a shop near the college gate, smoking cigarettes. The guard looked at them but said nothing, they could do whatever they wanted until they were outside the campus but once they entered they were the administration’s responsibility. Two students had been expelled last year because some cigarette ash had been found in their bags whilst a random checking by the security guard. They protested a lot as they hadn’t smoked in a week, the ash must have been from some older ventures but the Dean was in no mood to hear any excuse, he right away called their parents and both of them were walking out of the college within an hour with an embarrassed and furious parent walking beside each of them. I saw the group beginning to move, the students who had been smoking brushed off their clothes and then their bags, they made sure there was nothing in any of their pockets turning them out one by one then they paid the shopkeeper and walked through the gate. I looked around once and then followed them. The guard looked at me but said nothing. They know better than to be wasting precious time checking uniforms and hairstyles.

Once inside I headed straight for the washroom, this was also a part of my daily routine. I always washed my face after I entered the campus and once before leaving it. Mom said it would prevent any pimples emerging on my skin, so far she had been right. Once I was done with my face I would spend the next couple minutes cleaning my spectacles, it was then that I heard a commotion behind. I spun around right in time to dodge a punch thrown at me with ferocity. Yug Sharma looked back at me taking his hand back to his side. It was rumoured that he had once broken three teeth of a boy with just one swing of his hand. I wondered whether this was the same swing. There were two more boys standing behind him, I recognized one of them.

“What’s up buddy”, Yug said “I thought of paying you a visit after what you did to my friend over here” he pointed to the boy on his left. Keshav Maurya looked back at me. Keshav had borrowed my economics notebook two weeks ago. He said as he was ill he couldn’t attend college for about a week. I lent him my notebook and he promised to give it back in a day or two. A week passed but he didn’t return it. When I asked him about it he said he was completing it but there was a lot of work at his home so he couldn’t find time. Five more days passed and then I went up to his house to ask him how much more time would he take in returning them back, I had been writing my notes in a rough which wasn’t the way I liked it. His mom let me in and told me he was out playing cricket with his friends. For once I thought maybe he finally did complete his work. I asked his mother why hadn’t he attended school for a week this month and she told me he had gone out camping with his friends. I told her not to mention this visit of mine to him as I was just passing by and I walked back home. Next day I went college earlier than I usually did, there was no one in my class just as I had expected. I went to the back of the room and found the bench I was looking for. One of its legs was broken by some student of the previous year. I dragged it out and took it to the front. I took keshav’s bench out and replaced it with the broken one and took his all the way to the back. I took out a rough notebook, tore out a small paper and wrote on it. I stuck the paper on the bottom of his table with some tape and then went out.

I was at the washroom washing my face when I saw Keshav entering the class. I counted to three and then followed him. As I entered the whole class erupted into a burst of laughter, Keshav was on the floor trying to get up when I saw him freeze, he moved in towards his desk as he spotted my note, after reading it twice he realised what had happened, his face grew red and he started looking around wildly until he spotted me sitting on my bench. He started to say something just when our English teacher Miss Misha entered the class. I had timed it right after all. All throughout the class he was glaring at me. When the class got over he didn’t say anything nor did he try to approach me and now I know why.

I stared back at Yug and said “I don’t know what you are talking about”

“No?” Yug said back “then explain this”

He reached inside his pocket and brought out a paper, it was the same paper I had stuck under Keshav’s desk, he held it out at my face. It said “Perhaps now you will never lie to someone before asking for their notebook”

So keshav wasn’t a complete fool. He had kept the paper as a proof. I had planned of ignoring any kind of approach he would try to make towards me but with the paper in his hands and the handwriting matching to the notebook I gave him, there was no escape. I looked back at Yug, he had a smug smile on his face.

“What do you want?” I looked him in the eyes. I was a little scared but showing it to these guys would be making sure that I get a punch in my gut.

“We want justice, especially keshav here” he said pointing to him again.

“Well I believe as far as keshav is considered justice has been served already.” I said back.

Yug arched his eyebrows “Oh, has it been?” he looked back at him. Keshav glared at me “No, it has not!”

“You heard him? He says no” I said nothing. “And I believe that too” Yug continued looking me directly into the eyes. I felt a shiver down my spine, I knew what was coming. Yug loosened his hand a bit and I braced myself for the impact right when there was a booming voice across the corridor.

“What’s going on here?”

All four of us turned our heads at once. Our Dean was standing in the corridor. He came straight towards us as Yug moved away from me.

“What’s going on? What are you boys up to now?” he asked looking at Yug, the two boys standing behind him looked at each other.

“Si-sir we were just…” Yug stammered “just borrowing Aarav’s notebook” he said grabbing my notebook from keshav’s hand and showing it to the Dean.

“Hmm, is that true Aarav?” he asked me with a look which told me he knew something was wrong.

I thought about the paper in Yug’s hand and then the punch I had almost escaped. “Yes sir that’s true” I said giving him back the same look he had given me.

The Dean looked at the three students in front of him, “I’m keeping an eye on you three, if I find out you did anything wrong it’s not going to be pleasant for you, remember that” he waved a finger in a threatening manner.

All three of them nodded their heads and then walked past the Dean and ran out of sight. I let out a breath of relief and was starting to move out when the Dean stopped me and said “Aarav, follow me”