Chapter 6- Can It Get Any Worse?

Aarthi took out her phone from her pocket and turned off the audio recorder. She recorded the whole conversations with Shivanesh earlier. After adding the contact numbers, she sent the recording out to all the girls in the whole school.

“This is what you get for making me feel like a fool. If I can’t get you, I will not ley anyone have you,” Aarthi said.

#

After the break, Shivanesh heard many phone chiming at once and saw many girls checking their phones. One of his classmate turned on the audio and heard both Shivanesh’s and Aarthi’s and the conversation they had. Shivanesh embarrassed and clueless on how to react to the audio and what to do.

“That girl is so sneeky. Shit!!! Great. Now everyone knows. So much for keeping things a secret,” Shivanesh thought to himself. He looked around the class and saw everyone staring at him.

“Shiva, is it true? You already have a girlfriend?” one of his classmates asked.

“Yeah. I do,” Shivanesh answered realizing that there is no point to keep anything a secret anymore.

Throughout rest of the school hours, Shivanesh could not concentrate as he was worried about what was going to happen next. He knows that there are many of his school students who were attending that same tuition as his and would somehow recognize Vinodini instantly. He could not put his mind in class because he was worried about some girls looking for Vinodini. The one thing he doesn’t want is for anyone to harm Vinodini.

After school, Shivanesh went to get the chocolates he planned to get for Vinodini and got his lunch as well. After lunch, he changed his clothes and went to tuition. When he arrived, he saw many of the students were gossiping. “So, Shiva. Who is that girl? Is she from this class?” one girl asked.

Shivanesh just ignored her and went looking for Vinodini. When he realized that she was nowhere to be found, he went to look for her best friend, Anusha.

“Anu, where is Vino? Did she come today?” Shivanesh asked

“I guess she hasn’t told you yet. Some girls from you school came to our school earlier. They met Vinodini and told her a lot of thing. That is when I realised that you both really are dating. She was crying on her way back and told me that she doesn’t want to come to tuition because she is too afraid,” Anusha explained.

#

Earlier.

When Vinodini was walking out of school with Anusha, she was stopped by a few girls.

“You are Shiva’s girlfriend, right?” one of the girls asked.

“No. I am not,” Vinodini said.

Suddenly the girl grabbed Vinodini’s hair and pushed her straight to a wall. “Don’t lie or I swear you won’t be having a pretty face to continue dating Shiva,”

“Yes. I am sorry. Don’t hurt me. I am. What do you want from me?” Vinodini said crying because of the hurt she felt on her hair and her face because of the impact she had with the wall.

“I am Aarthi and I want you to leave Shivanesh alone. Understood?” Aarthi said.

“Who are you to tell me what to do? Stay away from me or I will Shiva what you did,” Vinodini said.

“Aww. Little missy wants to go complain to her boyfriend,” Aarthi said teasing Vinodini. She suddenly slapped Vinodini hard on her left cheek and said “If I can’t have him, nor can you”. Aarthi pushed Vinodini on the ground and walked away. Vinodini woke up with the help of Anusha. She could not believe what was happening. She now understood why Shivanesh wanted to keep everything a secret.

#

 Shivanesh felt so bad because it was his fault that Vinodini was threatened by his school girls. These were the main reasons he doesn’t want others to know of his relationship. He called Vinodini to check on her condition.

“Vino, are you okay?”

“No, Shiva. I am not okay. Who were those girls and why were they threatening me?” Shivanesh could hear Vinodini crying as she speak

“These are the girls who had some sort of a stupid crush on me. They were the reason I wanted to keep things secret. I knew they would go after you if they ever found out,” Shivanesh explained.

“Yeah, but how did they know?”

“Sorry. I actually wanted to make it up to you for what I have done so far to you. I wrote things down in my diary. For the first time, I brought my diary to school. A guy, the bully of the school and the guy who has been crushing on the girl who attacked you, saw my diary and things got worse from then on. I am so sorry,” Shivanesh said feeling really guilty and helpless.

“It is ok, Shiva. I need some time to digest all of this,” Vinodini said.

“Sure, take your time. Do let me know when you are ok?” Shivanesh said and hung up the phone.

Shivanesh walked back to the class not knowing how to react to the rest of his classmate who might have just found out about his relationship. He decided to ignore everything and just go home so he packed up and left even before class could start.

The next day, Shivanesh went to confront Aarthi about what she did to Vinodini.

“Aarthi!!” Shivanesh shouted when he spotted her at the class corridor.

“Owh. Good morning, Shiva. How is your day so far?” Aarthi asked with a flirty voice.

“Good, after I kill you,” Shivanesh said as he walked towards her.

“Wow. Feisty. What is it about? What made the hero be in a bad mood? Maybe a fight with his sweetheart?” Aarthi said trying to irritate Shivanesh.

“Why did you confront Vino yesterday? I made it clear to you that you are not allowed to see her, didn’t I? How dare you?,” Shivanesh said.

“Owh yeah. Her name is Vino, right? Sorry, don’t bother to remember. So little miss girlfriend complained to you about it already? Come on, Shiva. What are you going to do about this? I know you don’t hurt girls,” Aarthi said running her fingers on Shivanesh’s chest.

Shivanesh was starting to get really irritated with how Aarthi is behaving. He grabbed her hand hard and pulled her closer.

“I don’t mind even killing a girl if she harms anyone precious to me. Want to have a taste of it?” Shivanesh said as he hardens his grip on Aarthi’s hand and twisted it hard.

“Shivanesh, you are hurting me,” Aarthi said struggling to get her hands of Shivanesh’s grip.

“Well, this is only a bit. Imagine if I grip your neck this hard? I bet you won’t be talking anymore.  Go near Vino again and I swear I will rip your head off,” Shivanesh warned. Seeing Aarthi’s shocked face, Shivanesh continued with a cunning smile on his face,” I bet you know what kind of person I am and I don’t see you as a girl, so I have no problem hurting you at all.” Shivanesh then let go of Aarthi’s hand and said, “Have a great day,” and walked away leaving Aarthi alone.

“One problem solved,” Shivanesh thought to himself.

When Shivanesh reached his tuition 2 days after, he was not so pleased. Vinodini was still missing but he understood that she still needs time. He assured her that no one will ever come and disturb or threaten her ever again. But he knew she needs her time to cure from the trauma she faced.

“So, it is Vinodini, right? No wonder she always met you in private,” Suresh said trying to find out more about the couple.

“Just shut up and get lost. I am not interested in explaining to you about anything,” Shivanesh said trying to ignore what Suresh just said.

“Well, she told me that she has a secret she wished she could tell everyone and she is not allowed to. Why Shiva? Why did you hide your girlfriend? So that you can flirt with other girls?” Suresh said just to provoke Shivanesh.

Shivanesh woke up and grabbed Suresh’ collar. “I don’t flirt with girls while having my girlfriend in front of me. You maybe a Head Boy in your school, but here, you are just a student. I won’t hesitate break your pretty face here and now,”

“Really? How would Amrita react to that? She thinks you are a good guy. Does she knows this violent side of you?” Suresh said to continue provoking Shivanesh.

“Yeah. I do want to show a good side to her. But she is your girlfriend, isn’t she? How would she react if she knows you are using her name to provoke me or maybe make yourself popular, huh?” Shivanesh said to get back at Suresh.

“Suresh!!!! Shiva!!!! What are you guys doing?” Amrita shouted.

Suresh move away from Shivanesh and smiled at Amrita. “Well, nothing. We were talking. Do you know? Shiva has a girlfriend,” Suresh said trying to introduce hatred in Amrita towards Shivanesh.

“Owh, really? Congratulations, Shiva,” Amrita said shaking hands with Shivanesh. Both Shivanesh and Suresh were caught in surprise by Amrita’s reaction. Realizing that he would only make a fool out of himself if he continues, Suresh walked away to his seat.

Shivanesh looked at Amrita with a shocked face. “You are okay about this? Why aren’t you reacting like others?”

“I would be surprised if I don’t know,” Amrita said.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Shivanesh asked.

“I already know about your relationship with Vino. How? I saw and heard the both of you arguing 3 days ago, after tuition,” Amrita explained

“Sorry. I should have told you earlier,” Shivanesh said

“It all make sense now. The sarcasm that Vinodini was showing me all this time. It was all because she was jealous. I guess I really need to keep a distance with you,” Amrita said.

“Please don’t do that. You are the only one talking to me properly in class. I really hope this does not affect our relationship,” Shivanesh said.

“Relationship?” Amrita asked.

“Err… Sorry. Friendship” Shivanesh corrected. He could feel heat rushing up his neck and to his cheeks out of embarrassment.

Shivanesh saw the whole class still staring at him.

“Yes, Vinodini is my girlfriend. Done?” Shivanesh said and went to his seat. On his way, he heard something that made him smile. “Vinodini is so lucky. Dating the Ice Prince of the class.”

When he was at his seat, he found Amrita seating at the next seat smiling at him. “You don’t mind me seating here right?” Amrita said. “I am starting to hate to sit next to my so-called boyfriend,” she continued.

“You are always welcome to,” Shivanesh said while taking his seat.

Chapter 5- Secret Leaked

Shivanesh woke up in the morning and packed his diary into his school bag so that he can execute the plan he has drawn out last night after school. He never brought his diary to school before because he was worried of his secret being revealed. But today he was willing to take the risk and he knows he needs to be extra careful with it because he wanted to make it up to Vinodini for such a big screw up. He got himself ready and also packed extra clothes to be used for tuition after school.

“Amma, I won’t be coming back for lunch later. I will go to tuition straight from school,” Shivanesh told his mother when he was having breakfast.

“Fine. Just make sure you don’t get into any more fights. And make sure you have your lunch,” his mother told him.

Shivanesh left to school after bidding goodbye to his mother. He was excited because he was going to do something surprising for a girl that he is currently dating.

When he reached school, Shivanesh left his bag on his seat and went to meet his teacher regarding his results. He had some questions he wanted to ask the teachers.

Shivanesh’s best subject is English and Biology but he has a hard time understanding Additional Mathematics. He went to see Mr. Nazri, his Add Maths teacher to for some help.

“Good morning, Mr. Nazri. Can I come in?”

“Good morning, Shiva. Come on in. How can I help you? Had your breakfast?” Mr. Nazri said. Eventhough Shivanesh was not the best student in Add Maths but Mr. Nazri favours Shivanesh a lot because this particular student makes an effort to see himself improve.

“Yes sir. I actually have a few things I don’t understand,” Shivanesh said.

“Come, boy. Let’s see,” Mr. Nazri started explaining to Shivanesh.

#

Krishnan wanted to bully Shivanesh again. He hated Shivanesh more because recently Aarthi told him directly that she likes Shivanesh a lot and she will wait until SPM is over to confess to Shivanesh. He went into Shivanesh’s class and ask his classmates to show where his seat is. Krishna went to Shivanesh’s seat to find something to use against Shivanesh and he saw something that caught his attention. Shivanesh’s bag.

He opened the bag to find for proves to show to Aarthi that Shivanesh is not the guy she thinks he is. He found the diary and opened it. While he was turning through the pages and suddenly a paper fell of the diary. Krishna picked it up and saw a picture of a girl. He turned the picture and saw something written at the back of the picture.

“My dear one,” was written at the back of the picture.

 “Wow. The so-called solo guy has a girlfriend. Interesting. What would Aarthi say if she finds out?” Krishna thought to himself.

Krishna continued reading the diary to find more interesting stories to tell Aarthi.

08/02/08

She finally said yes. She is officially my girlfriend. But I am too afraid to tell anyone about us. Really hate it when people become nosey in my matter. She….

“Krishna!!! What the hell do you think you are doing?” Shivanesh shouted when he saw Krishna reading his diary.

“Not bad, Shiva. Keeping your girlfriend a secret. Which school is she from?” Krishna asked.

“It is none of your business. Stay away from me,” Shivanesh warned Krishna.

“How disappointed would the girls in this school be if they find out, the school hottest hero has a girlfriend? And the best part is, she is not from this school,” Krishna kept going on to irritate Shivanesh. “Tell me, Shiva. Where did you get her? She looks pretty hot. It is not nice to keep a hot chick like that all to yourself.”

“Another word, and I swear I will make you regret,” Shivanesh was starting to get annoyed of Krishnan and was scared that others might start getting to know about his relationship.

“Don’t worry. I will keep it a secret, for now. But I will make it that you have to tell everyone about it,” Krishna said and left to his classroom.

Shivanesh took his diary that Krishna put on his table and kept in his bag. This was the main reason he didn’t want to bring his diary to school as he knew there is always someone who would try to find out about his secret.

#

Krishna was sneaky. While he was in the argument with Shivanesh earlier, he slowly took the picture of the girl in Shivanesh’s diary and kept in his pocket so he can show it to Aarthi. Krishna took the picture of the girl in Shivanesh’s diary to show it to Aarthi. He was willing to do anything to make Aarthi hate Shivanesh. He does not like the fact that the girl he was crushing on had eyes on another guy. He waited until the breaktime to see her.

When it was breaktime, Krishna rushed to Aarthi’s class to tell her about the interesting information he just found out.

“Hey, Aarthi. I have something to show you about your hero,” Krishna said with a really proud smile on his face.

“Come on, Krishna. Stop it. I am seriously not interested,” Aarthi said trying to ignore Krishna.

“Will you be interested if I showed you this?” Krishna took out the girl’s picture and showed it to Aarthi.

“Who is this? Come one, Krishna. Please don’t do anything stupid,” Aarthi said feeling really pissed.

“For your information, dear Aarthi. This is Shiva’s girlfriend. I found it in his diary. See what is written at the back of the picture. ‘My dear one’. You should see the great things he wrote about her in his diary. I wonder how he managed to get his hands on girls who look much better than any girls here in our school. I won’t deny. He has skills,” Krishna said trying to provoke Aarthi and he succeeded. Aarthi got really mad and took the picture from Krishna’s hand as she stormed out of the classroom.

“Well, Shiva. Let’s see what you have to say now,” Krishna thought in his mind feeling a sense of accomplishment after being able to start the fire of jealousy in Aarthi which would soon burn Shivanesh. He just needed Aarthi to hate Shivanesh so he could stand a chance.

 #

Aarthi went straight to see Shivanesh in his classroom to get true explanations from him. When she reached his class, she was him looking for something. She decided to piss him off as she was already boiling inside.

“Looking for something?” she said.

Shivanesh turned to see who it was only to find Aarthi. “Yeah. Lost something really precious to me,” Shivanesh said to Aarthi.

“Is this what you are looking for?” Aarthi took out the girl’s picture out of her pocket.

Shivanesh was shocked when he saw Vinodini’s picture in Aarthi’s hand. “How did you get that?” Shivanesh said and went to grab the picture of Aarthi’s hand.

Aarthi put the photo away before Shivanesh could get a hold of it. “Don’t you think you have some explaining to do?”

“I don’t think I have to explain anything to you,” Shivanesh said trying to avoid the need to tell anyone about Vinodini.

“Owh, really? In 5 minutes, your classmates are going to come in. you can start now or do you want to wait for them to come in? Coming to think of it, I think all of us deserve an explanation. You always told everyone that you were never interested in relationships.  And this is how you prove it? By having a girlfriend already. How could you? I bet you know the fact that many girls in this school like you,” Aarthi said.

“Look I don’t even care who you are and what you guys want. It is none of your business. I think that it is up to me if I want to keep things secretive or not. I have the rights to make a choice on whatever I want to do. I am not responsible for your feeling,” Shivanesh said trying to avoid the topic.

“Owh. Well, I am Aarthi. Remember the time Krishna and his friend beat you up because of jealousy for a girl? I am the girl,” Aarthi said proudly while flicking her hair back.

“That makes sense. So, Krishna gave you this picture? “ Shivanesh said.

“Nevermind who gave me. Who is this girl? Is she your girlfriend?” Aarthi asked feeling really annoyed of Shivanesh’s attitude.

“Yes. She is my girlfriend. There, I said it. Don’t bother going and looking for her. She is not a student of this school,” Shivanesh said.

“You should have told earlier. At least, I would be waiting like a fool,” Aarthi said before throwing the picture on the floor and running out in tears.

“Oh, God. Seriously? I hope no one finds out. This has become a big mess,” Shivanesh as he picked up the picture. He was starting to worry about the kin of mess all this would cause.

Chapter 4 - Good Friends

It has been 3 months since Shivanesh and Amrita became friends. Shivanesh realized that his heart goes out to Amrita in some ways.  He knows that he is a bit attracted to her, but seeing her every day with her boyfriend made him realize that she is very happy with her boyfriend. She was never his to begin with. And he also realized that he also had a girl who he has been dating for a while now.

Adding to the miserable feeling, Vinodini has been ignoring Shivanesh for some time. She was acting really strange. She only talks to him when she needs to. This makes Shivanesh feel really lonely. Looking on the bright sides, Shivanesh realized that he could put a lot of focus on his preparation for his SPM.

During Science class, Amrita came to sit next to Shivanesh.

“Why are you looking so gloomy?” Amrita asked.

“Just stressed. With the important exam is just around the corner. A bit worried,” Shivanesh said.

“Relax. It is not that you are bad in your studies or you are dumb. You are a clever guy. You are clever. A bit of studying, you can score. I believe that you can,” Amrita said.

“Wait. Why are you sitting here and not with Suresh?” Shivanesh asked feeling weird that Amrita is sitting next to him.

“I was rejected,” Amrita said letting out a sigh.

“What?” Shivanesh asked confused.   

“He said he doesn’t want to study with me. Don’t feel like it. He chased me off to ask another girl to sit with him. I am not brilliant enough for him, he says,” Amrita said feeling irritated with her boyfriend.

“What? He must be joking, right? You are the most intelligent girl in our class. He is seriously insane,” Shivanesh said feeling angry of Suresh for mistreating Amrita.

Suresh has been doing such for quite some time. He makes Amrita do his work for him while he is busy flirting with other girls. He sometimes, chase her off to sit somewhere else for him to sit with other girls. He spends more time with Vinodini but somehow Shivanesh never bothered to care much. For him, feelings of the girl in front of him mattered the most.

“Well, it is ok. You have me to depend on,” Shivanesh said, feeling thankful that she chose to sit next to him.

“Yeah, obviously,” Amrita said while resting her head on Shivanesh’s shoulder for a while.

Shivanesh was shocked but he felt warm inside. Amrita ans Shivanesh have been studying together for some time. Being good friends seem to be fine for him because, at leat this way, he would still have her next to him.

 

Everday seem to be very precious to Shivanesh because soon, after the exams, he is not very sure if he is able to see Amrita again.

It was end of the class. After bidding goodbye to Amrita, Shivanesh went to see Vinodini. He wanted to understand the reason of her silent treatment and find out if he is behind it.

“Vino, can I have a minute with you?” Shivanesh asked when he approached her.

“No, I have something to do. I got to go,” Vinodini said while packing her bags.

“Don’t you think I need an explanation?” Shivanesh asked again.

“Explanation? For what?” Vinodini asked pretending not to know what Shivanesh was asking about.

“Well, let’s see. Explanation for why have you been avoiding me? What is the need for the silent treatment? Did I do something wrong? You should tell me if I did something wrong?” Shivanesh asked feeling irritation rising in him because of the attitude that she was giving him.

“You wanted us to be secretive about our relationship. So that is what I am doing,” Vinodini said pointing out that she was doing as what he asked for.

“So, you are avoiding me so that we can go on being secretive? How about not texting or calling me? Or maybe answering my calls? Or at least sitting next to me in class? I thought you exchanged your seat with Amrita so you can sit next to me,” Shivanesh said, clearly trying to control his temper.

“So, this is about Amrita. What is so great about her?” Vinodini started shouting.

“Do not use that tone on me. Don’t talk like as though you have been doing something great. Don’t compare yourself to her. You are nothing compared to her,” “Shivanesh said feeling really angry that Vinodini brought up Amrita into their fight not realizing what he just said.

“Do you hear yourself? I am your girlfriend. But some other girl looks the best to you? Now you see why I avoided you. I am jealous. I am hurt. Even with me sitting next to you, you don’t see my existence,” Vinodini said with tears flowing down her cheeks. She took her bag and just left.

“Shiva. What have you done? How could you have said those things to her?” Shivanesh thought to himself. He realized that the way he has been acting lately was the reason.

#

“Hearing some noise from the classroom, Amrita went back upstairs. She heard voices of people screaming. She opened the door find Vinodini and Shivanesh arguing. As she was listening, she realized that she may have been the reason of their fight. Amrita just closed the door and left, pretending like nothing happened.

#

On his way home, Shivanesh was thinking of ways to make up to what he has done to Vinodini. He felt bad that he was so into making Amrita feel better about her boyfriend’s attitude that he forgot his own girlfriend’s feeling. Eventhough he seem to be comfortable with Amrita’s presence, he shouldn’t have forgotten Vinodini. He also kept on blaming her without realizing that he too should be blamed.

The moment he reached home, Shivanesh started planning of ways to make up to Vinodini. He checked the amount of money that he has been saving. He wrote down his plan in his diary and he wanted to prepare for it tomorrow after school before going to tuition.