Chapter: Four

Kirti stood facing the Sociology class comprising of about twenty five students who kept their eyes trained on her attentively. Many of the students passed her friendly smiles as she took in her surroundings silently. Jiya, Abhi and Yash looked at her with a comforting look from their seats.

"Introduce yourself, dear," Mr.Warsi, the Sociology teacher, permitted Kirti who nodded at him.

"Hello everyone," Kirti spoke, "I'm Kirti Mishra and I've joined Global Public School today. I look forward to making many memories to cherish and many more friends in here,"

The students either applauded or nodded at her with acknowledgement. It wasn't the first speech Kirti gave in here. In fact, she had been reciting these introductory lines in all the five classes since school started today morning. The classes were scheduled in different classrooms and students kept roaming from one class to the other throughout the days' time.

"You may go and take your seat now," Mr.Warsi said, "Thank you, Kirti,"

Nodding with a smile, she reached Jiya and settled down beside her. The class was a usual one with desks and benches arranged in neat rows and columns and students sat with notebooks and pens sprawled over their desks. The sunny morning proved to be a hot one and ceiling fans creaked occasionally as they circulated air in the class. Mr.Warsi had scribbled the word "Society" on the board for the class to guess what today's topic was gonna be about.

Mr. Warsi clapped his hands enthusiastically "Let's start the class then,"

"What's society in your opinion?" Mr.Warsi asked, leaning against his desk.

A short murmur of unsure guesses ran through the class. Some students tried to flip the pages of the book and look for the answer while other's silently prayed that the teacher wouldn't call their name out to answer the question.

"What's your answer to it Abhimanyu?" The Sociology teacher asked Abhi who was seated at an adjacent desk from Kirti.

He stood up confidently and played it cool with a cheery smile and a head nod. Kirti felt a smile tug at her lips as she observed Abhi's body language. His entire personality was enough to mesmerise people and make them adore him.

"Sir, in my opinion, Society equalises to life," Abhi began and then paused abruptly.

"Care to explain a bit more?" Mr.Warsi suggested, not able to relate to what Abhimanyu said.

"Just the way a life comes into existence, grows and evolves into a greater aspect; Society also starts off with basic individuals, grows with time and evolves-" Abhi was cut off by the professor who clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"Sorry, sir?" Abhimanyu asked, genuinely confused, yet a small smile was persistent on his face.

"I've advised you before as well but seems like you haven't learnt, Mr.Tyagi," The professor said, "Stop being so...narrative. Stop weaving long rants and start learning,"

The class was dead silent with Abhi and the professor looking at one another. Kirti frowned at the teacher's words. It seemed so wrong to find the Mr.Warsi demoralising Abhi like that. And whatever Abhi was explaining wasn't purely trash either. He was good with metaphors so he was using them to get to his point, that's all.

Kirti was expecting Abhi to sulk and take a seat silently but he surprised her when he spoke up this time.

"Sir," Abhi called to the teacher who was about to move on with teaching the class.

"Yes, Abhimanyu?" Mr.Warsi asked, looking at him.

"Society is a group of individuals interrelated with one another in different ways. No individual can survive without interacting with the society and just the same way around, a society can't exist without individual's participation." Abhimanyu spoke flawlessly in a single breath, leaving the class even more silent if that was even possible. The fans sounded louder now in the silence, slicing the hot Alleppey air with their blades.

"Was that a satisfactory answer, sir?" Abhi asked when the teacher gaped at him. It was a genuine query which might've sounded like a sarcastic remark but the way Abhi sincerely voiced his words, it was clear that he was just asking the teacher about his opinion on the second answer.

"Very well, Mr.Tyagi," Mr.Warsi said to Abhimanyu, "You never fail to surprise me,"

***

The School Canteen looked like a crowded cafeteria with laughter erupting at some tables and the clatter of plates and spoons enveloping everyone. The ceiling-to-floor glass windows separated the interior of the canteen from the lawns where students leisurely walked about in groups. The remaining three walls of the canteen were beige in colour with encouraging quotes hung all around. A glass shelf stacked many certificates and trophies bagged by ex-students at the wall behind the serving counter where the staff and students helped with the serving of lunch.

"Guys, over here!" Paras waved from a free table, grabbing the group's attention.

The four of them -Kirti, Abhi, Jiya and Yash- headed for the table which Paras had saved for them. Kirti and Abhi accidentally reached out for the same seat and when they realized that, both offered the seat to the other out of shy courtesy.

"You settle down," Abhi offered when Kirti refused.

"Nah, it's okay," Spoke Kirti, "I'll get a seat next to it,"

Sighing with a smirk, Yash walked in and settled down on the seat at debate. He looked at Kirti and then at Abhi with a look that said 'happy now?'

"Problem solved; thank me later," Yash said with a wink directed at Kirti who tried and ignored it.

They all finally settled down with the trays in their hands. The canteen served quite a good meal comprising of sandwiches and French fries or one could opt for some local food like idlis and dosas which were made available on alternate days.

"Where's Shruti?" Kirti asked Jiya to her right.

"She sits with Rohan and his group over there," Jiya answered and pointed at a table at the far off side. It was the most crowded spot with students attempting to be a part of the group and grab a seat if possible.

Kirti spotted Shruti who stood out as the prettiest girl among the rest. With her minimum make up and fishbone braid, she looked like a girl straight out of some fairy tale book. Next Kirti took notice of the guy sitting beside Shruti who had an arm possessively draped around her waist while he chatted with his friends. Kirti assumed that the guy was Rohan. Shruti looked absent-minded amid the crowd of laughs and jokes as she played with her spoon, pushing the fries around on her tray and not eating anything. It was as if she didn't feel like she belonged there.

"I know what you're thinking," Abhi's voice jerked Kirti out of her thoughts about Shruti.

"You do?" Kirti asked, somewhat amused as she looked at Abhimanyu to her left who had his eyes trained on Shruti as well.

Abhi then broke into a sheepish grin. "Nah, not really. I just wanted to see what your reaction would be to it,"

"Abhi," Kirti spoke in a warning tone and he raised his hand in an adorable manner.

"Fine, sorry. No more jokes," Abhi admitted and resumed to his lunch.

Kirti, however, couldn't concentrate on her meal after that. It wasn't because of Shruti or her issues with Rohan which she hadn't reflected upon. It was something totally irrelevant to the current happenings. Kirti felt like she was being watched.

At first, she got the feeling when she was on the bicycle with Abhi, commuting to school. She had brushed it off as her over-imagination. Now, the intuition was knocking the door of her consciousness again and it was difficult to ignore it. Turning around, she scanned the canteen once just to be sure. She didn't find anything suspicious but she still felt like someone was spying on her.

She squirmed in her seat, trying to stay composed. It was difficult to do so because the past reflected through her mind, making her breathing turn shallow.

The exact feeling she had felt when she was being watched in the mall in Jaipur. The next moment she tugged at her Mother's salwar to tell her that something was off about the place and as if right on cue, a gunshot echoed through the mall. Chaos broke out as people ran about in all directions out of panic. Fifteen-year old Kirti stood facing the mall's staff who was now lying motionless on the floor, blood pooling around his head. The bullet had hit his head. Kirti's mother dragged her out of the mall along with her to shield Kirti away from the overwhelming sight of the corpse but the image of the dead, innocent guy had already stuck to her head. The police and RAW agencies never found proof that'd point out that the bullet was actually meant for Kirti and not the guy who accidentally blocked the path of the bullet, thereby saving Kirti. Neither did the shooter ever get caught which made it difficult to register any solid evidence.

"Kirti?" Abhi's voice pulled Kirti out of her dreadful memories.

"Huh?" Kirti asked, looking into Abhimanyu's hazel brown eyes which held concern now.

"You're okay?" He asked.

Forcing a smile on her lips, Kirti nodded in positive despite the afraid heart pounding against her chest.

Everything's alright. Kirti told herself.

Right? Another voice countered within her.

Author's Note:-

Namaste readers!

How was the chapter? Who else hates Rohan already? [>.<]

Kirti seems to be hiding a lot behind her words, eh? Patience is the only way to find out! :))

See you all until the next update! *waves a goodbye*