Anyone Else But You... Read Online Free PDF Page A

He praised her and then thanked her for complimenting him in a not-so-modest way.     And just when he was going to ask about her family and tell her about his lineage, the bell rang.
    “I would love to stay and chat but I‘ve got some work to do. I’ll t alk to you later, Rishav, ” the lady named Mrs. Sunita smiled and spoke.
    “Okay, ma’am. See you later.”
    Sweeeet victory , he smiled in his thoughts.
    “Too   hard. Trying, I mean… too hard,” the girl who sat closest to the door spoke.
    Rishav turned; intrigued that someone was closely observing him. “Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow
    The girl smiled with a tilt of her mouth.
    “101 Ways to Impress a Teacher’ - someone gifted it to me. Borrow it from me sometime. Handy tips, ” Rishav smirked.
    The girl got up, “Sure babe. I will borrow i t the day I want to be like you; w hich let me warn you now, won’t ever come. New?”
    “Yeah. You were here in tenth?” he asked
      “Yeah, ” Sahana said curtly while she got up from her seat and turned to go towards the door.
    “Rishav. And you are?” a short pause followed.
    “Sahana. You know, you need to pick out the targets for your buttering with utmost care. There are around hundred here. And you can’t impress all of them. Unless you address them in the M.P. Hall and tell them all about yourself.”
      “Haha. You know, I actually won’t mind that. It’s pretty convenient, you see, ” Rishav followed Sahana as she ambled her way out of the class towards the corridor.
    “I am telling you. You are w asting your time on non-consequential people.”
    “Really?” they had reached the staircase which led to the top floor.
    “ Really ,” Sahana said with sarcasm. “B ut for god’s sake at least make it less apparent. Teachers aren’t   that   dumb, ” She walked ah ead of him. “Or maybe they are,” she said, giving him a meaningful look.
    “It all works out to my advantage. And there’s no harm in a little bit of buttering. And everyone like s to be praised. Even if it’s not true. Human nature it is. Where are you going anyway?” Rishav asked her as he followed her into the maze of corridors.
    “Where I want to.”
    “And the place being ?” he followed it up.
    “….my friend’s classroom. She’s in Commerce.”
    Sahana walked with haste.
    “What’s the hurry?” Rishav asked, biding for time.
    “Break is for freaking 20 minutes. Five minutes the teacher takes. Five minutes early the next teacher arrives. Leaves us with exactly ten minutes to eat and meet people. Bloody , stupid school system.”
    “Ohkay. So that’s why you are rushing. No - one ever bothered to tell the teachers about this thing?”
    “The only time the teachers will talk about anything , apart from studies, is break; w hich we can’t afford to waste.”
    “ …and then you complain,” he chipped in.
    “ Excuse me ? ” Sahana abruptly tu rned around and raised a finger. “I t’s your first day. You know crap about this school. You have no right to judge. When you have spent 10 years in this school, then maybe you are allowed to say that. As for what I just said, I was purely kidding. We’ve told them. But they are reluctant. What else can we do? ”
    “Okay, okay. My bad. Sorry?” Rishav said, with an apologetic face.
    “You better be, ” Sahana said and walked off.
     
    *
     
    The break was ove r. The teacher hadn’t come yet. Rishav sat near the windowsill with his book, trying to read it. But to his annoyance, he couldn’t. He looked at the page full of words and kept looking at the words instead of reading the sentences.
    All he could think about was the stupid conversation with Sahana.
    I’ve managed to create one enemy. Not that bad, Rishav , he thought.
    He looked at the page again. He couldn’t bother to hold that book in his hand anymore. He put his bookmark on that page and kept it on his desk. He was about to get up and go to the washroom, since he had nothing