Hurray! Free class!
May God bless the teacher. I was really tired with the revision classes and mock tests. Everyone was pressurising us like it was our board exams.
It was just the first semester, man. The teachers should lay back a little and let us enjoy our time.
Me, Surbhi and few of our classmates were strolling around the football ground while some guys from our class and the football team were playing a match. I wished there would be a girls' team too. Maybe I should talk about it with Mayank.
"Sandhya! Pass the ball!" Parth shouted.
I noticed the soccer ball rolling past me and I ran behind it. I stopped it with my right foot before it went too far and picked it up with my finger tips because the ball was covered with mud. I turned around and jogged in Parth's direction.
Just when I was about to throw the ball, I stopped and put it back on the ground. Parth looked at me in confusion and motioned for me to give him the ball. Other boys also started yelling but I ignored them.
"I am going to kick it. Be ready!" I announced and before Parth could register what I said, I kicked the ball.
It flew over his head in a slight curve to the right direction in its trajectory and covered quite a long distance before it landed on the ground. One of the players caught it and gave me a thumbs up.
"You can play soccer?" Parth asked in shock.
"It was a bluff shot," I laughed.
"Want to join us?"
"Can we?"
"Of course. There is no rule that says girls and boys can't play together," he said and I chuckled.
I asked Surbhi along with few other girls and they all agreed. We joined Parth and he took us to meet his team. He informed them we would be playing with them and they all welcomed us enthusiastically, except one.
Ayush crossed his arms across his chest and expressed his displeasure.
Parth divided the teams and unfortunately for my ex-best friend, he ended up with me. Fortunately, he was the team captain. Surbhi and Parth were on the same team and challenged me to win. I told Ayush that we must not lose and like always, he ignored me.
After both the teams were ready with seven members each, we took our positions. Ayush explained the different roles and basic rules to everyone but I knew no one got all of those in their heads. I had to stop him when he started going in details, which he didn't appreciate but had to agree with when he saw our blank faces.
The whistle blew and everyone got in action. I thought they would go easy on us since girls were playing too but they were fighting like Spartans for that tiny ball. Ayush was also in a beast mode and I couldn't control myself from expressing my surprise.
He was totally different from his usual calm and introverted self. But I was happy that he was happy. I was sure I had not seen him smile so genuinely except for when he was always with Ved. I wished he would smile at me too.
"Pass the ball, idiot!" he shouted at me.
I noticed the ball just a few metres away from me and ran after it. My foot was mere inches away from coming in contact with it, but Parth stole the ball away from me at a lightening speed and smirked when he saw my shocked expression.
"Fuck! What the hell are you doing?!" Ayush yelled and chased Parth.
"Sorry," I squeaked out and he shook his head.
Damn! Get your head in the game, Sandhya.
I decided to stop observing Ayush and focused on how to make a goal. I was given the position of a defence player but as I had expected, no one was following the rules. I was sure they had forgotten their respective roles too.
There was so much chaos on the field that it had become difficult for me to differentiate my team members from the other team. I even ended up passing the ball to an opponent team player one time, earning a good scolding from my captain.
The other team was winning but there wasn't much difference in the scores. Everyone was panting but the boys were faring better than the girls. I felt like I would faint any minute. Surbhi and one more girl from my team had already timed out and were relaxing on the sidelines.
For how long were we playing? Did we even take a half time or not?
"You okay?" Parth asked as he patted my back.
"I am all good," I replied.
"We can take a break," he suggested.
"No, it's okay. There isn't much time left before the bell rings. I want to play."
"Cool with me. By the way, thanks for the ball," he grinned and kicked the ball away from me.
What the actual fuck?! Sandhya, how can you be so dumb? He is on the other team.
My adrenaline pumped up and I ran after Parth. He was running in a slow pace, totally oblivious to the fact that I was approaching him. Plus point for me.
"Not this time, buddy," I smiled as I ran past him and stole the ball away.
I didn't stop to see his reaction. I ran towards the goal while dodging two players on the way and passed the ball to my team mate. Fortunately, I didn't make a mistake this time.
After running a small distance, my team mate passed me the ball again and I dribbled it till I reached the goal post.
"Shoot it!" I heard my team yell.
I took a deep breath and kicked the ball with all of my strength. The ball flew in the air and the goalkeeper gave me an arrogant smirk as he dived to obstruct the ball. I so wanted the ball to go in but I knew it was nearly impossible to for me to make a goal.
The ball moved forward with a spin and goalie's hands came in view. I crossed my fingers mentally and waited in anticipation. The goalie was almost there but the ball brushed past his fingertips and hit the net behind him.
"Goal!" I yelled and my teammates ran toward me.
Soon, I was engulfed in a group hug and I was sure my back got bruised by all the smacking I received. Parth also came and hit my back proudly. He told me that I took him by surprise and I adviced that he should never underestimate someone.
I glanced at Ayush and wondered why my own team captain was not impressed. Maybe, I needed to play more efficiently for him to notice me. Whatever. This was just a game. I shouldn't depress myself over it and should just enjoy my little victory.
My team made two more goals which brought the scores to a tie. Just one more goal and we would win. I didn't know that I would get so much invested in a game but it was so much fun. I must be stinking really bad because of sweat.
Come on, Sandhya! You can do it.
After a lot of efforts, one of my team players got the hold of the ball and dribbled it towards the goal. But he got blocked by two defence players and when he tried to pass it to someone else, there was no one in sight. One girl was there but she was quite far away and it was a huge risk to pass the ball towards her.
So, he turned around and kicked the ball back in our direction. The ball flew high in the air and I ran to catch it. I was not willing to miss that opportunity.
"Mine!" I shouted as the ball came near.
I ran at my top speed and when I thought that I got the ball, I crashed into someone. Hard. We both fell down and all of my breath got knocked out of my lungs. Darkness covered my vision as my head spun around and I felt a huge sting in my left arm.
Fuck! It hurt so much.
"Sandhya, move."
I opened my eyes and saw Ayush looking up at me. He told me to move again and I realised that I had crashed into him. Did I hurt him?
"Why don't you move first?" I groaned.
"Seriously? You are on top of me," he replied.
What?! Really?
I shook my head and mentally facepalmed when I noticed that I was actually lying on top of him.
He was probably crushed under my weight.
I apologized and tried to get up but fell down again, making him groan. My left wrist hurt a lot and I doubted that I twisted my hand when I fell down.
It shouldn't have hurt so much since I landed on top of Ayush but man, it was hurting like hell.
"Ayush, I am sorry but I don't have enough strength. You will have to push me off of you yourself," I told him and gave up. I couldn't even support my own weight.
"Hey, you guys okay?" Parth asked as he approached us and others also joined him.
"Parth, can you please help-" I began but stopped when I heard a low chuckling voice from beside me.
"Hahaha..... Man! This is ridiculous. Haha.... hahahaha....haha," Ayush laughed.
What got into him?
Soon, others also began laughing and I also couldn't stop myself from getting affected by his contagious laughter. Though I would have appreciated if someone told me what we were laughing about. I tried once more to get up but failed again making Ayush laugh more.
"What the hell?" I heard a very familiar angry voice.
Ved grabbed me by my waist and pulled me off of Ayush who was in a laughing fit now. He laughed so hard that he had tears in his eyes. Ved gave his right hand to him while he held me with his left one.
I wanted to get away from him before he exploded on me but as I mentioned earlier, I had no energy left to even stand properly. I was disappointed at my endurance.
Ved's arm felt like a warm blanket was wrapped around my waist and I felt myself getting recharged. I was surprised that I was not hating it. Afterall, he helped me. I wouldn't say it loudly but I appreciated the physical support.
Ved pulled up Ayush too and asked him if he was okay. Ayush calmed down and nodded his head in response. Ved sighed in relief but tightened his grip on me when he sensed me moving away. He looked at me and narrowed his eyes.
"Dude, what happened to your hand?" Parth asked and examined my left hand.
He shook his head and told me that I should go the nurse's office immediately. I had indeed twisted my wrist and now it was swollen.
I nodded and he advised me not to put too much stress on it or it wouldn't heal soon. Surbhi said that she would accompany me and scolded me that I should have taken a break with her.
"You should go now before you get late for the next lecture," Parth adviced.
Ved left me slowly when Surbhi came beside me and gave me her hand for support. I took it and mumbled a small 'thanks' to Ved. He didn't respond and I wondered if he even heard me or not.
Surbhi and I started walking toward the school's clinic and I was feeling better now except for the continuous throbbing in my hand. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Ved staring at me.
Weird. How come he didn't say anything all this time? I was sure he was angry that Ayush almost got hurt because of me but still he didn't say anything.
I turned my head back to the front and tried to decipher his behaviour. But, I was thankful that Ayush was uninjured or else Ved would have killed me.
Wait a minute! That was it.
Ved didn't do anything because nothing happened to Ayush. Phew. I was saved. I would be careful next time.
"Let's play next time too," I suggested.
"And get your other hand broken also? Sure. Why not?" Surbhi replied sarcastically.
I pinched her cheek and she pushed me a little. I punched her lightly and she hit me on the shoulder.
"You can't hit a patient," I complained.
She gave me a fake smile and we continued fighting as we walked together. Rest of my girl gang also joined us when we entered the main hallway and asked me about the injury. I boasted about it and they were not amused.
My hand hurt but my heart was happy. Why, you ask? Because even if I got injured, I got to see Ayush laugh so naturally; just like old times-when there was no hatred and all we did when we saw each other was, smile.
Will we be able to smile like that again?