The story of an obese high school student who falls victim to romantic circumstances.
Chapter – 10 : Time Mashup
Revision exams had just finished and I had once again talked to Ria regarding her topping the Business Studies exam. She had gotten 50 on 50 , and I… Well I had 27 on 50 so had nothing to celebrate.
With the extremely hectic routine and eating schedule I had come to 86 kilos from 96.5 by the month of January. My mom and Dad were behind my life to eat properly and give some of my workout time to studies, but I wanted to transform fast, into a thin kid. This time I didn’t want to gain the double of how much I’d lost.
Every evening when I was to step on the treadmill and the feeling of laziness would sweep over me I would open the internet on my phone and would open her profile on facebook.
Though I wan’t her friend I could see her profile picture and doing that made my heart rush faster. Her beautiful smile and sort of a fresh life on her face triggered my energy levels and I would run for longer than I could.
In one whole day I ate 9 to 10 oranges or sometimes even more to suppress my hunger. Oranges became substitutes to my dinner and lunch and sometimes even my breakfast. I had started taking coffee in excess. It was the milk product least fattening, at least that’s what I thought. Around 6 cups of strong coffee infiltrated my system every day from morning to night. I was loosing weight , however unhealthily.
By March, after our finals of 12th were about to start when my weight had reached a mark of 79 kilos and I felt lighter. People had begun appreciating my efforts and I just got more motivated. Yet I was unable to talk to Ria . My friends never ran out of jokes for me.
“Hey Piyush you know Shivam has crush on a air .” Sri told Piyush. Piyush hid his face with his palm ,
“Another bad one coming our way” he said to me.
“You don’t understand !” Sri complained.
Piyush and I shook our heads, “We don’t want to .” I told him.”
“Friends”, he stood up from the wooden chair letting it screech against the ground.
” I’m about to tell you something that will blow your mind”
“Give me a shotgun,and I’ll blow YOUR mind .” Piyush told him and we both giggled.
Sri shook his head for he found the joke too under his standards. “Friends, air is love of Shivam’s life. Just flip the letters.” He said and sat down on his seat pulling it towards himself.
Piyush tried it. “Air, air. Ria ” He said “oooh” . And they had a new name for her .
Sri used to tell me new things about her as he inquired from the tuition.
“She doesn’t watch movies dude !” He said angered, “Leave her , find someone new , someone who watches movies ” he grinned.
” Not everyone watches movies bro!” I said telling myself ‘it’s alright Shivam, it’s okay.’
Ria at all these moments was busy talking to her friends and studying. Every time I looked at her, I started loving her even more. Occasionally she would come to Sri for borrowing his register or asking about the timings for the tuition.
One day a boy named Kabir gave his bag to me to keep it safe till the school’s end so that later on, he could take it back after he came back from his football practise.
So in the middle of the day a girl asked for the same bag for god knows what purpose and I gave it to her(so much for keeping it safe).
The bag was kept by Ria’s side and so when Kabir came back he asked me for it. I had to call for her..
“Hey ! Ria !” I called to her as she sat on the front seat.
She looked back with her usual deceiving smile.
“Yes ?” She cutely asked and that’s when it happened.
Einstein was proven wrong , time literally stopped for me. I simply gazed at her as she smiled at me and for the next two seconds which to me were 2 minutes of pure exchange of glances .
“What ? Say please..” She asked again.
My words choked within my throat and all I utterred was ..
“Ria that, the.. that..that” then Sri leapt on me pushing me away from the in-air bullet .
“Pass kabir his bag!” Sritold her .
“Oh okay..” She said picking up the bag and then beautifully passed it on to Kabir.
“Shivam, that ..the..that..that..the” Piyush mocked me.
After all what are friends for. And then when Ria was passing by me, so Piyush and Sri started singing “la la la lala, la la la lala.. Lala la lala !”
And I could see Ria laughing on hearing this. I suppressed my rage and hid my embarrassement.
Well love is one such situation where even law of physics cease to operate. I had been in the second that became a minute , later on I learnt of the hours that became few seconds but friends, when I analysed this year of my life I realised that it was all the life I had ever lived, all the emotions I had ever dealt with and all the people I had ever existed for. These past three months and the next few months that followed.
Chapter – 11: Out-burst
April 2013
What happens when you fill more and more air in a balloon, it bursts. Something like that was my situation as I had reached class twelth with flying colours(2 out of 5 in red ink).
The class hadn’t been shuffled so I was still working out for Ria. My love for her was about to explode within my heart so I had to express it in some way.
Facebook came to my rescue, of course I didn’t want to scare her by proposing her online so I took the most in-fashion way in the book (facebook). Confession pages were in frequent use by everyone.
Okay so for those who don’t know, confession pages provided an option to publish posts/confessions/statuses anonymously . Our school had it’s own confession page known by the name of ‘Amayiti Confessions and Gossips’ , well I was one of the major reasons for the page being a hit. After all I helped it gain more than 50 likes and around 80 fans.
More on what I did later. First I got to introduce you to few of my friends, Ted, Marshall, Lily , Barney and Robin.
Kids in the winters of 2012, your uncle had given me a tv series to take my mind off the failures of class 11th. That tv show was ‘how I met your mother’ , I hope I won’t be sued for using the name.
It was a series in which a guy named Ted tells his kids how had he met their mother and he took exactly 8 seasons, 184 episodes and nearly 3640 minutes to do so.
However, the couple Lily and Marshall seemed just so adorable to me that whenever I saw the show I found myself standing as Marshall and Ria being Lily. The show was one of the best shows in the history of tv shows. It could make you laugh , make you cry( I never cried so this was not applicable for me) and it would teach you things that life does, only when the time to learn is over.
The couple Lily and Marshall were together for 9 years but then they broke up , however, soon after they patched up. These two episodes of them breaking up and patching up were really emotional. I can do not much but recall one of the dialogues of these episodes.
Marshall ( with a wedding ring in his pocket)- so that’s it ? We’re breaking up ?
Lily-(sobbing) No marshall I just need to go to san fransisco and figure out who we are out of ourselves.. The only way I can do that is if we don’t talk for a while.
Marshall-(holding back tears) For a while ? Try never.. If you walk out of that door you’re never going to hear my voice again ! Never!
Lily walks out and both cry. The next morning Marshall sits out in the rain with the ring in his hand,
“She’s gone Ted” he tells as Ted arrives.
Okay so back to outburst. So I started a regular basis post programme under the name ‘AmayitiLoverBoy’ featuring in ‘How I couldn’t meet your mother’ .
Every day from April 5 to April 15 I used to post one of my memories involving Ria . Here’s a sample post
How I couldn’t meet your mother-Episode#3
Kids sometimes Life gives you happiness other times it just gives you crap. Life has given me both at different times. As I came to know about the car that Ria owned I developed a habit of looking into every model of that car hoping to find Ria in one of those and wave me with her beautiful smile.
One day I was doing just that but to my surprise I found an irritated old lady sitting inside . She saw me peeping inside and called me a ‘Pervert’ and after that I keep away from peeping inside cars.
-AmayitiLoverBoy
This post of mine fetched many likes and of course comments as well. Soon as expected one of Ria’s friends caught sight of such post. That friend being Yashika, she tracked down all the previous posts and told Ria about them.
What was to happen next , Ria commented on every post for revelation of the ‘Amayitiloverboy’ and of course appreciated every bit of humour I presented in the details.
It was the day before my birthday and we the furnitures sat both nervous and excited. The suspicion was drawn to us three. I don’t know how Yashika did that, but she undertook the investigation really nicely and had circled the suspicion down to the closest she could.
On that day Viren dropped a chit by our chairs during maths period and got back to his group . Ria, Yashika and Viren waited for a reaction to show on any of us so that they could find the ”AmayitiLoverBoy’ . I opened the chit, it said –
‘Who is AmayitiLoverboy ? Shivam or Sri’ I guess the suspicion was just down to us two.
I tried to laugh as if they were mistaken while Sri gave a weird guilty expression that had costed him that day. I walked back to them and gave them the chit,
“You’ve got the wrong guy .”
I said grinning and walking past them. Ria and Yashika had a fine expression of ‘ I got you’ .
“Okay do questions 4,5 and 6 , y’all” Rajiv sir said leaving and their whole group. No, Whole class came towards us and circled Sri. The investigation had begun.
” It is you isn’t it !” Yashika said.
Sri shook his head and looked at me, I had to jump in to save him or he could utter it any second.
“Tell us Sri We won’t kill you .” Ria giggled .
She was blushing with this whole loverboy thing.
“I said it’s not me !” Sri resisted.
“It is.” Viren and Wahi said together.
“Noo” Sri said to the nearing crowd.
“Tell them Sri.” Piyush joked as Sri gave him an angry look. “Say !” Yashika told him.
I knew if I stepped in I would be caught immidietly but if I didn’t Sri would utter out my name. I was caught in a dilemma.
Sri looked at me and expressed his helplessness. He was about to give in.
“Say !” Ria smiled. I shook my head looking at him , telling him to resist. And then he pushed the desk on the floor and angrily walked away from the class. Everyone had begun talking about Sri being the lover boy. He had just taken a big blow for me.
When Ria was standing near me during recess I asked her , “Hey, tomorrow’s my birthday.”
“Nice. Happy birthday in advance .” She smiled at me.
“So .. I was celebrating it at this mall. Could you , Yashika and Viren come to the party ?”
She looked at Yashika who nodded and then at me.
She smiled, “Sure !”.
And my day was already made, and Sri had been an important reason for that. The way back was not by bus but by Brenden’s car. He was to drop Soham so he invited me as well .
They both talked about AmayitiLoverBoy the whole time, I needed advise on what could I do next so I told Brenden and Soham. They could be trusted . “I am Amayitiloverboy.” I said as Brenden pulled over his car with screeching tyres. Both of them looked back at me.
“You serious ?” Brenden asked.
“He isn’t exactly a funny guy.” Soham told Brenden. I had told them my story, all of it, from the auditorium to me loosing weight.
“You should tell her before she gets to know from someone else.” Brenden told me. “Yes that’d be better.” Soham agreed. “Okay. Thanks guys, Thanks for the ride Brenden.” I said getting off from the car and walking to my house.
Chapter- 12: 16 on 16th
After I got home I called up Sri.
“Thanks Sri ! I owe you a lot brother.” I told him over the phone.
“Don’t thank me yet. We got to plan your Birthday now. It’s our last year in school and your party’s got to be memorable. People should have a smile when they remember your 16th birthday. ” His voice showed enthusiasm and I was thrilled as much as he was , not because I was to turn 16th day but because Ria would be there to help me celebrate that.
I was dancing and humming happy tunes all day expecting a call from Ria confirming her case. I had called Ria , Yashika, Sarvagya ,Viren, Piyush, Brenden, Mohsin , Soham and of course Sri for the celebrations. The plan was to bowl, eat and watch a movie.
Everyone was looking forward to it, I had reserved slots at the bowling centre, reserved a table at the restaurant and blocked the tickets for the movie. The world was filled with bright stars and smiling faces. Life seemed beautiful.
“Dude !” Sri shouted on the phone.
“Yes Bro .” I shouted with excitement.
“Everything ready ?”. He screamed from the other side of the line.
“Yeah .” I screamed back.
“Reservations done ?”
“Yeah . Done.” I shouted on the phone.
We both laughed and screamed with sheer happiness and excitement.
“See you tomorrow b-boy.” He screamed.
“See ya” I screamed back and cut the line.
It was 8 in the evening and I hadn’t received Ria’s call or message . I called her. “Hello, Ria ?” I asked as she picked up.
“Yes. Hi Shivam !” She said and my heart skipped a beat because this was maybe the first time she had called me by my name.
“You’re coming tomorrow. Right ?”
“Sorry Shivam, can’t come. Yashika and Viren live too far off so they aren’t coming. I’d feel uncomfortable with only guys, you know..” She said.
My voice had trailed off as if I was about to cry but I tried to get back on track.
“Yes. Yes I understand..” I said.
“Thanks and Sorry but do have an awesome day tomorrow.” She said.
“Thanks.”
“Okay see you in school.” She said .
“Okay. Bye.” I cut the line.
Life seemed solemn again , the bright lights soon became a blur. I wanted to cry but what never had happened , didn’t have to happen now. There was a certain pain in my chest. I banged my fist on my chest with gritted teeth. I banged my room door shut and sat inside alone.
“I’m calling it off .” I said to Sri over the phone.
“Why ? Everything fine ?’ In a worried tone he asked.
“Ria isn’t coming.”, I said. He was quiet for a moment,
“Why ? What did she say ?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m calling everyone up and calling the plan off.” I said in my trailed off voice.
“Dude don’t do that to yourself.” He said.
I punched the wall in front of me. It didn’t hurt.
“Do what?”
“It’s your 16th birthday. Don’t screw it because of some girl. I know you love her but you can’t be cruel to yourselves because of love. Not for yourself but for her to regret not coming and missing all the fun . Don’t call it off.” Sri told me.
Staring at the bulb’s yellow light I agreed and bid Sri good bye for the while. The night proved sleepless as thoughts kept jumping around my mind. Ria occupied the biggest cloud of thought.
My mind struggled whether she should know about the Amayiti Lover boy or should it stay a mystery. I’ll decide tomorrow I told myself past midnight surrounded my messages blinking on my phone, people wanting to wish me happy birthday.
I saw the screen of my phone switching between light and darkness. I decided not to take any calls. And I slept facing my back towards all the well wishers .
The next morning I received a text from Ria, wishing me a happy birthday and well in life. The next morning Amayiti Lover Boy was not brought much into light except of course by Ria and her group with a new guy who had come to the class just a week ago, Anuj was his name.
He was an all rounder guy so had direct entry to the group. I can recall the first day he had come. He was teasing Ria , pulling off her hair band , calling her names and disturbing her from work. I could tell by Ria’s expressions, she was annoyed with him.
So the next day the whole class had wished me a happy birthday and so had the teachers. I was smiling for all of them and had brought money to treat them in school. And at the end of school we all rushed to the canteen (including Ria) and I placed their orders and they fetched them their shares.
I went back home. I had a party to attend. Back home I got ready , coordinated with Piyush and Sri and got confirmation of Brenden and Moshsin’s coming to the party while Sarvagya backed out at the last moment.
As I unlocked my phone, I remembered Ria’s message and then the words of Brenden ran in my brain.
“You should tell her before she gets to know from someone else.” He had said.
Okay, I told myself and heaved a heavy breath. I was going to tell her, now , On my birthday. I didn’t care whether my birthday got ruined or made. I started typing ,
‘Hi Ria it’s me Shivam. I am writing just to apologise to you. You see I am Amayiti lover boy and I know that must make you feel bad because you must have expected someone else, someone better. I didn’t say it in front of everyone because that could ruin your year ,with all the link ups and your reputation being pushed down. I promise you not to disturb you again but telling you was important because if you got to know from someone else, it would be harsh and unfair to you. Sorry and please take care.’ I sent the message instantly because if I thought twice, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Regretting everything I had done I reached the mall with Sri and Piyush accompanying me.
“You shouldn’t have done it.” Sri told me.
“It’s his life !” Piyush told Sri to leave me alone and then said, “Still, you shouldn’t have done it bro.”
“Let it be. We’ll see what happens..” I said with my heart punching my chest.
We got off the same model of the car as that of Ria, I had asked my father to book for it on my Birthday. And he very gladly had done so. Mohsin ,Brenden and Soham met me in the mall.
“So what are we doing ?” Mohsin asked.
“Bowling. First we are going for bowling.” I told them still thinking about the message. Later on when they bowled and cheered I told Soham and Brenden about what I had done.
After that very moment I received a message, it was a message from Ria. She had replied after an hour of my message. I opened the message wishing for the best yet ready for the worse…
‘ Well I don’t know what to say. I’d just say that I am no special person , I am just like everybody else. And why did you say that you’re not my type of guy ? I have no type. Every girl wants a guy that can love her like no body’s loved her before. Well all your posts made me feel special( they really did) and you are a very sweet guy. Well don’t take it in any wrong sense but I’d advise you not to think about me because that’d distract you from studies. Moreover , this is 12th so we need to put our bests in studies. I hope you always keep smiling in life and I’ll remember you all my life. I don’t know why but I want to say SORRY , keep smiling and happy birthday once again.’ The sorry in the sentence meant a clear strict no but the beauty of the message hid it from me until I reached home at night. We all had a great time and Piyush totally entertained everyone as he mimicked the boring movie with his funny dialogues and in the restaurant he ‘Yo bro’ ed the waiters and cracked amazing jokes.
Everyone remembered my birthday with a picture of Piyush attached in their minds while I remembered it with Ria’s message.
The day was amazing. I had turned 16 on 16th of april and was happy to see Ria’s reply all day.
” How was the day ?” My mom asked me as I entered my house. “Amazing. Had lots of fun.” I told her and went to my room.
All I wanted to do was to read Ria’s message again and again.
All that did to me was open the door to reality, I had understood the meaning of that sorry in the message now. I wished myself happy birthday and slept.
Chapter-13: Cheers
The next day of school followed awkward silence and pounding of my savage heart. Suddenly the discussion of Amayiti Lover Boy had come to an end. The furnitures and Ria’s group sat in the dark of conversations.
No one said anything or did anything. Once Ria sat just a row apart from mine, just two steps away from my seat. I didn’t have the courage to even look at her or anyone in her group. I kept my eyes locked on the textbook kept on my desk and my ears fixed on my pounding heart.
The rest of the day in school was of silence and unstable heart beats. It was at the end of the day that I finally , however intentionally looked at Ria, she looked at me .
As our eyes met she gave me an understanding smile. This was the kind of smile that comprises a mutual understanding and a warm tender promise of some relationship.
Friendship or love, I wasn’t sure . Her smile had made my day and I was ready to step on the treadmill, step down to fruits and become perfect for her.
I might’ve been an obese kid but she had changed that. With her smile on my mind and happy tunes on my lips I started typing the last ‘how I couldn’t meet your mother’ post, I didn’t want to keep the followers waiting.
‘How I couldn’t meet your mother Episode#9-Finale
Kids, I’ve told you so many stories about your mother and all of them had been told carefully under how i COULDN’T meet her. But I am fortunate to be the one to tell you these stories because I might not be your father, but what I am is a friend of hers and that’s the reason I’m allowed to sit here and tell you all about us. You see kids, as I told your mother about my feelings for her, she didn’t say anything. All she did was smile and hence this became a story of not a no, not a yes but sheer happiness expressed through a beautiful smile. -AmayitiLoverBoy ‘
And till evening the post fetched ten to twelve likes, one of them by Ria. After two days I took off to Singapore with my parents , sister , her husband and his sister. The trip was a 9 days long boorish trip.
For the first two days we stayed in Singapore, three days in Bali and then back to Singapore for 3 days. I had been thinking about Ria for all those 7,77,600 seconds .
And one day was such that my heart skipped two beats. I had opened facebook that shined brightly with the pictures of farewell party given by us to the seniors. And one of such photos was Ria’s photo in which with her enticing smile stood by Anuj the new guy’s side.
I hated to admit but they looked beautiful together. She had stolen my breath away from me and I gasped for a second for my heart to get back into action and lungs to supply some air.
On the second last day of my trip I stood at the Mustafa centre searching for something to take back for Ria. I was still choosing between chocolate and souvenir . And then I chose a small box of my favourite chocolates and gave them to my parents to get it billed.
This was the only part of the trip that interested me with slightest of concern. I got back with the gift in my hand and some excitement, this was the first time I was to gift a girl chocolates.
Chapter-14 : The steps forward
Sri, Ria and Mohsin studied together in the same tuition and so Srit became the only way my chocolates could reach Ria. Giving them to her in the school would be a risk to my identity of ‘ Amayiti lover boy ‘ and peter parker wouldn’t like anyone except Mary jane to know that he was spiderman(those who didn’t get it, watch spiderman).
“Give it to her .” I said carefully handing the chocolates to Sri as I reached his house.
“I bet these taste good.” Sri joked.
” This would taste better if topped with this..” I showed him my fist.
“Okay okay, won’t eat them.”
“I know.. Give it to her when Moshin’s not around.”
Swagat nodded ,” don’t worry,” he said as I took the bus back to my house.
The next day just fifteen minutes after his tuition had ended I attacked him with calls. He picked after ten missed calls.
“Hello, I gave it to her . Okay?” He said just as soon as he picked up my call.
“Okay, thanks bro !” I said to him and smiled till every inch possibly coverable on my face. That night I received a beautiful message from Ria saying, “Thank you very much for the chocolates it means a lot to me. You know what my mom had locked me in my room with nothing but water , I had nothing to eat and was really very hungry so ate all your chocolates at once. Once again thanks, see you in school.”
And then I sent, “well thank you for accepting these chocolates . Take care and Keep smiling .”
Just a minute later I received her smilee.
The next day I was walking to my assigned seat and Ria got up and jumping over a chair reached the place where I kept my bag down. She smiled beautifully and her hair weren’t tied up like before , she looked good in everything.
“Thanks for the chocolates .” She smiled raising her hand for a hand shake. I shook it,
“No, are you kidding me. I should thank you for appreciating the chocolates.” I said shying away, my confidence had been drained off to the floors of class tenth when ’54’ had said to me what had hurt me deeply. So because of that I wasn’t able to continue the conversation .
As soon as Sri entered the class ,
“Uhh, Sri is here.” I said as I saw him. She looked back and saw him and then she turned to me still smiling, maybe waiting for me to say something but as soon as I had shook her hand my brain had gone downward, my mind worked on nothing but how could someone be so beautiful .
Then Sri came towards us and kept his bag down.
“Hi Sri.” She said, he smiled and nodded in return. He assessed my situation and being a good wingman started with a topic, “You know he studies maths from Ramakrishna sir , that teacher charges 600 per hour” Sri said.
“I know.” Ria replied,
” earlier I was going to take tuitions from him but he charges just too much. How does he teach? Is he good, shivam ?”
“He is pretty good .” I answered. Sri had done his job very nicely and it was his time to leave us alone. “Be back in a moment.” He said getting up. I found myself in the risk of thought for a good conversation,
“I’ll come with you.” I said following him outside leaving the beautiful girl in the middle of the conversation.
“Why did you do that ?” Sri asked as we reached outside. “Sorry . Just freaked out dude. ” I said. He kept a hand against his head.
” I gave you this golden opportunity and you just simply ruined it.” I had realized my mistake and it was too late to feel sorry.
However I knew just how to get back to her. So that day I put all my heart and poured out the situation down on paper. Till the next day I was ready with it, the solution to my problem. It was a poem I had written for her,
‘ The queen of hearts
It’s the second game
Since the fallen cards
On the deck of fate
Showing you my queen of hearts.
Every day since the first one
I have fallen deeper by day
In your love unknown
Your smile your eyes your way.
Ever since then
When my mind wanders from me
I try to find it but
It is where you would be.
Child-like you wink your eyes
And selflessly you smile
Should I know by then
I should’ve captured that while,
Because the next game as this one
You know that my heart rests with you
And I can’t risk it beating again
Because now you knew.
So I bid you love
And slowly I shuffle the cards again
The cards now lay unturned
As now I know, love is no game.’
I sent the poem in form of a long message. I didn’t receive any message any soon. And I had learnt of the cost of my messing up in the morning. I rested down in hopelessness and regression. The next day at school proved monotonously silent however soon at recess Ria called me from 4 rows away.
I turned to her still sitting on my seat. With her actions she explained to me, ‘That her phone didn’t have a message card so she couldn’t message back, today she would get it and then message me.’ Then smiling she turned back to her group that gossiped about some hearsay . And Tulika who sat amused just in front of Ria shouted, “Wow ! You know very well how to read actions. Whom did you learn it from.” She shouted still unknown of the incident she currently took part in that had ended my liking for her.
I simply shook my head and turned in front to my friends forcing back all those bad memories, And waited for the message for a while. And then I received her message that evening praising my poem including a request for a story of mine, and I sent her a message promising a story.
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