How it all started – one

Disclaimer:
Any resemblance of a character to you is purely intentional. If you think it’s you it probably is. Probably. We are not responsible in this case, cause you did it, live with it. 😉

Farewell
That kid “Jim” would never change. Tripping on his way on stage was just the kind of thing someone so gravitationally-challenged would do. He takes the mike, but has to shout back because of course the mike isn’t working. After some static, he finally begins to speak and all that’s on my mind is what dirt he could have on me. Or Wiz. Or Fox. Or Lexie. Or god forbid, Emma.
“ I’d like to begin with…”, Jim said and saluted, looking at me right in the eye, a wicked grin playing on his face.
I knew this was gonna be a long night.

August, First Year.
I was weaving through crowd, to check her out. I overheard some asshole senior saying that Emma was worth looking at today. It seems like the seniors have taken on the position of grief counsellors and I repeatedly heard “lite le” and “…”. I walked past a couple of guys with a tshirt tied around their necks and socks on their hands, doing what looked like a pathetic attempt at a last minute rehearsal. I still can’t figure out why anyone would want to do this to themselves. Why couldn’t they play it smart like me? Not that it matters right now. I went through the crowd a couple times, but she was no where to be found. There was just one place I hadn’t looked yet. I headed in that direction, when I felt a hand drop on my shoulder. I looked to see whats-his-face giving me a quizzical look.
“Looking for something?”
“No, I was about to head back. “
“So, it’s someone. “
Damn it.
I shrugged, and let him guide me to a seat in the audience among his friends. I sighed, and played along with their jokes and watched the show start. Emma’s house, Prithvi or something, was opening, and she was the first one stage.
Whoa.
Son of a Hamster. Why am I sitting here? Why is this senior staring at me? There is no way I can make it through this with a straight face.
It took all of my self-control to look away and pretend to be interested in Jal House’s antics, although she was still in my peripheral vision. When she finally left the stage (Thank god, she was a terrible dancer – it was highly unlikely she was going to come back), I could feel the senior’s gaze shift from me and I let out breath I didn’t know I was holding.
The show droned on in a lame vein. Perhaps the only interesting part was watching this guy’s face, during Aakash’s “highly anticipated” couple dance. I think they called him ‘Fox’ or something. His eyes never left this one couple. And I could swear that expression on his face read as pure unadulterated rage. The couple he was looking at had that insufferable guy who seemed to be good at ABSOLUTELY everything. “Wiz”. What kind of name is that? The girl, I had never seen before. She was gracefully moving from step to step. Looks-wise…well, she wasn’t Emma. But, I guess she wasn’t that bad either. Good for him. Not so good for Fox, though.

Farewell
“The first major incident that made this batch go down in history as unparalleled happened during their informals,” said Jim.
Fox covered his face with his hands.
This was going to be a very long night.

August, First Year
I was trying to sleep hoping they wouldn’t realize my existence. Unfortunately for me, one of the voices from the other side barged in! And, this voice forced me into my shoes and dragged me to the basketball court for another session of fun. Yay. Everywhere I looked, I saw freshers being freshened up. The first person to not be forced on to stage was a guy who cheekily referred to himself as Wiz. He grabbed a guitar and burst into song. To my dismay, he was not half bad. The crowd dispersed and a number of groups were getting formed. In a valiant attempt to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, I walked around purposefully; with intent. I was doing pretty well until this girl crashed into me. She exclaimed, “You’re a guy!” and asked me to follow her. Usually, I’d not be the most enthusiastic about it but this time I agreed. I’m not really sure why…
…but she was pretty.
Later, I found out that her name was Lexie.

Farewell
“Incident #1. I’m sure you’ve all heard. You know what I’m talking about. The one with those five, the frog, and … that pair of shorts, which is on that tree by the basketball court. Oh, come on! You know!” said Jim, laughing.
Lexie shook her head.
Informals.
Now that was quite an eventful night.

August, First Year
The seniors had asked me to find a guy. Why me… I looked around frantically, when I saw Emma. She was standing with a bunch of seniors, laughing. She probably made some joke. She’s always been like that, even in school. I was looking at her, when I bumped into a guy. He seemed to be wandering around in some aimless manner. He looked really dazed when I asked him to come with me, but kindly followed.
Then we saw it. The shorts flying through the air, and a high pitched scream, that I later found out was from a guy, and peals of laughter coming from the side of the court.
I approached the seniors that were waiting for me to get them new bait.
They asked the guy next to me to introduce himself.
He started off with a stammer, “I’m Fox. I like playing DOTA, and well, I’m in ECE. I’m from Kota, and… that’s all”
The seniors looked at him, and I heard them whisper, “Oh, this guy is a bore.”
They then proceeded to make him ask me out. That was followed by kiddish giggles and other preliminaries such that the seniors had their fun. It was all fun and games until this senior came along. He demands his ‘fair’ share of entertainment by asking us to do some things. And that’s how I found myself walking around the basketball court with our pinkies intertwined. Unfortunately for Fox, he had verbal diarrhea. “Imagine if this was for real. What would we tell our kids? A boy. A girl. A boy and a girl. A boy or a girl. A boy xor a girl. Our eyes met across a crowded basketball court. And, five minutes later we were getting married.”
He’s going to regret this tomorrow.

Farewell
Captain looked at his watch, it had only been 10 minutes since the event started. This was just how it all started.

Every edition brings to you a new chapter.

Writers:
Sneha Bandla
Tanmay Sahay
Mounika Somisetty
Mrinal Dhar
Anurag Ghosh