Neha - Part II

First chapter - here


It's a date.


Those words were on my mind all night, and the next morning as I waited and waited outside my class for her so that we could walk to our seats together. She didn't come. The school bell rang and my teacher came bustling in and urged me to my seat. But she didn't come. I spent the rest of the school day imagining all sorts of horrible things that my adolescent mind could dread have happened to her.

"And if x equals four point five.." droned on Ms. Lata, our Algebra teacher.
Maybe she was hurt...a broken ankle. Poor thing.
"then the square root of this equation is?" Or malaria? There have been a lot of cases around lately.
"Second bench..? What is the answer?" Maybe she'd fallen off a cliff! I shuddered.
It's a wonder how your mind jumps from the sublime to the ridiculous in a matter of seconds. But at the worst possible times.
"Young man? Are you even there?" My bench partner Raj nudged me. I nudged back, lost in thought.
"Young man! This is class! You can sleep all you want at home. Now give me the answer!" And with a sharp rap on my desk, I was pulled back into reality with a stern looking teacher breathing like a bull in front of my nose. I swear I could see her breath billowing from her nose.
After a few prods and nods and fifty different hand gestures from Raj , I finally got the answer and was allowed to sit back and resume my dream.

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That evening as I dropped by her house to check up, I was greeted by her mother at the door and the smell of fresh pancakes in the kitchen. Her mom made the best pancakes and chicken sandwiches in the world. Armed with a plateful of pancakes, I entered her room. She was fast asleep. Have you ever seen a baby sleep? It's the most wonderful sight in the world, as if there's not a thing in the world that can worry it's little soul. She sleeps like that. I stood there, watching her chest move up and down steadily, sound asleep. I wish I could have stood there all day. As I placed the plate beside her bed, she woke up with a start.

Neha: Hey, how did you get here?

Me: Your mom let me in, obvious na? You're on the fourth floor. I can't just jump in through the
(Lame joke, but she smiled.)

Neha: Yeah. Well, what are you doing here anyway?

Me: You were missing in action at school. And I brought you homework, courtesy Miss Lata. She went ballistic on me today.
(yeah..and tell her about my daydream..)

Neha: Lata, and angry at you? I don't believe you. You're the teacher's pet.

Me: Daydreaming isn't one of her favourite things you know.
(Just don't ask what I was dreaming about!)

Neha: What were you dreaming about? Wait..forget that. Are we still on for this weekend? I'll be up and about in a day or two. It's just mild food poisoning I think. No biggie.
(Phew! I was about to die out here!)

Me: Definitely. Wear shoes though. My fat feet can really hurt.
(Yes. More lame jokes. That should impress her alright. Idiot!)

Neha: Haha...get lost! You're not that fat anyway. Cuddly, but not fat.
(Ego boost times ten! I could have sworn I was growing wings!)

Me: Well, I'd better get going. You get some rest and I'll see you at the ball.

Neha: Bye!

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I don't think I've ever been that excited ever! And scared. What if I really do tread on her toes? What if I fall down? What if I fall down ON her? What if she never shows up? No, she could never do that to me. Could she? What if, what if, WHAT IF! Aah...I was driving myself nuts with so many useless questions in my head. What I really needed to do was learn to dance. In four days. Fat, pudgy me(but also cuddly), had to learn ballroom dancing in four days!
Four days!! I didn't have time!!
I rushed back home and called up Anu, my neighbour. She'd been learning the salsa for quite sometime now, so I hoped to goodness she'd teach me.

*click*

"ANU!" I shouted over the phone. "Emergency! Need. Dance. Quick!" I ate half the words my mind wanted to say. But she understood anyway.
"Sure! Easy. When?"
she replied.
That was the thing with Anu. She never needed explanations or reasons. If she felt it was worth doing, she'd do it.
"Start tonight if possible?"
"Come over for dinner. We can start in the living room. I'll tell mom you're coming."
"Awesome! You're a lifesaver, you know that?"
"Yes I do." I could almost see her lopsided grin as she said those words.

*click*



Next time:
I find out how easy(or tough) salsa really is!
(And spicy too. In the naughty way as well.)

Chapter I
Chapter III

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're gonna kill us with the waiting for the next part[s] aren't you? You really know to keep your audience glued to this story :P Can't wait for the next part :P

BTW, you write really well. :|

AB said...

Getting more interesting..! But please make the next part little bigger! I want to know all of this in one go..!

Shaunak Mukherjee said...

@Anamika
Thank you :)

@Abhinav
I'll try. Can't make any promises though..hehe

Naarya said...

looking forward to the next part now..

Umesh Agarwal said...

interesting..very interesting...so two real names in this one ;)...but I still can't figure out who Neha is! :p..post the next one soon...

Raj said...

salsa...lol

m actually visualizing you doing it. :P

float the next part...this is jolly interesting.

Insignia said...

You are bringing us to the edge of the seat. Getting interesting...Next part sooner please!!

Dewdrop said...

Finally! Names and places I know... and 4th floor seems vaguely familiar... I'm starting to guess who this mysterious Neha is... :)... will await more on the blog!

Mads said...

50 different hand gestures from Raj.. *rolls with laughter*
arre next part please and wind up the story quickly :| :| :| girls can't wait so long,u know !!

Dhanya said...

I think the number of parts to this story will exceed Harry Potter's. :| *Waits again*

Urvashi said...

Ohh wow...wonderful narration.....!! waiting for the next part....to know d experiences of learning salsa... :)

Shaunak Mukherjee said...

@Naarya
Coming soon! :D

@Umesh
See if you can figure out all the characters. Karen did :D

@Raj
Hey! You star in my story :D
Salsa's a bit weird if you have two left feet.

@Insignia
Yes! Yes!

@Dewdrop
Keep guessing! See if you can get everyone right!

Shaunak Mukherjee said...

@Mads
Girls need to learn patience.

@Dhanya
Naa...it'll end quite soon...probably :P

@Urvashi
Thank you! :)
Salsa was a bit...different...to say the least :D
Read on!

Chris Gooch said...

Ah the dream is still on. You're killing us here though waiting for the next installment.

Please don't say that when you mention how spicy and naughty the salsa is, you mean with your Aunty?!

Raj said...

yeah. noticed. no big deal, i guess i have done better scripts too. :P

Harini said...

I shouldnt have even read this... now i cant wait for the next one to come up :P.

sanjay said...

hey man you really write great stuff i mean i feel like i am virtually at that place

Shaunak Mukherjee said...

@mysterg
*shudder*
I hope I never find that out lol

@Raj
Lol I'll feature you in another piece then :D

@Harini
Read on and find out then :)

@Sanjay
Thanks buddy. Hope to see you around :)

Esther said...

Okay can't wait to read the next part! :D

PS : This post reminded me of an incident when a best friend of mine entered my room when I was half-asleep and thanks to mom she was too kind to send him in.. And i threw my toys on him and asked him to sit out! :| :D LOL. For some reason I hate it when anyone else apart from my family venture in my room. Girly friends exceptional though! :P :D

Shaunak Mukherjee said...

@Esther

Poor prospective boyfriend :P
You're gonna kick him out irrespective na?

Kavitha Lokesh said...

Could for now could read the same only till here.. So nicely narrated. Will definitely catch up with the rest tomorrow.
I can't forget to mention again, superbly written man....

Shaunak Mukherjee said...

@Kavitha
Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy the rest too :)