I Kissed A Girl In My Class Read Online Free PDF Page A

get that motor and a
battery, a switch and some wires … but why am I telling you all
this, you are the expert,” Manu said slyly, and Vikram cried “Aye,
aye captain!” He had been transported to an adventure fantasy.
    All right,
everything under control, Manu thought but when he turned around
Neha had gone off to her girlfriends and matters of the heart would
have to wait till the next day.
    ***

4. Battle
Lines Drawn
    Next morning,
the class divided into three camps on its own. There were the
participants and the non-participants, and among the participants
there were the moon rover and water cycle teams. The
non-participants filled the middle row and the fronts of the two
side rows. The water cycle team occupied the last three benches on
the cupboard-side, and the rover team took the last three on the
window-side. It was Manu’s idea, of course. Neha now had to sit
with them, and Manu, without telling her where to sit hoped
fervently that she would take the aisle seat beside him. But Vikram
arrived before her, and sat down with Manu to show all the things
he had brought. It was a tactical mistake, Manu realized, but there
was nothing he could do about it now. With his motor and switches,
Vikram had the key to the project’s success. And since Neha sat in
front of Vikram, Manu could see her all the time unnoticed, which
wouldn’t be possible had she sat beside him.
    When Uma Ma’am,
their class teacher, walked in, she was surprised and annoyed with
the new arrangement. It was her privilege and right to assign
children their seats and this simple, unwritten law had been
broken. “Who allowed you to do this? This is my class. You children
have grown too old to need my permission, have you?” she demanded
loudly. Uma Ma’am was big, but nobody called her fat like they did
Bajaj Ma’am, the stand-in maths teacher. Uma Ma’am had airs, style,
a short haircut, a fancy car, a fancier accent and blouses that
lassoed boys’ eyes whenever her sari pallu slipped off her ample
shoulders, which was very often. Uma Ma’am taught history and got
all the dates wrong. So, her lessons were very lively as the
students outdid each other to inform her of the correct dates.
    But now, they were
very quiet. Some eyes turned accusingly towards Manu, but he
remained calm. Getting no answer, Uma Ma’am slapped the attendance
book on the table and declared that the whole class would be marked
absent unless she got an explanation that minute.
    Manu stood up, and
turning on all his charm, apologised on behalf of the class (not
that the class had anything to do with it) and explained that
Rachna Ma’am had handed them this enormous responsibility (so, it
was Rachna Ma’am’s fault, in a way), and it was a matter of the
class’ pride, and not meeting her the previous day after the tiffin
break the students (not he alone) had decided to start work on
their own, knowing that she, their class teacher (almost a mother),
would always want them to win the competition and wish them all
success. And then he cast his eyes down guiltily.
    Uma Ma’am’s ego
had been salved. With a saintly smile she forgave the change, and
the drama over, the class got on with “present ma’ams” and “absent
ma’ams”.
    Manu found it hard
to focus on the lessons that day. His eyes kept wandering towards
Neha. She listened to every teacher wide-eyed, he noticed, and
congratulated himself for falling in love with the sweetest,
sincerest and prettiest girl in class. When the tiffin break came
around, he proposed another council of war, although there wasn’t
anything left to discuss. It was an aimless meeting and broke up
within minutes when Ginny came and dragged Neha away for something
important and “private”.
    The tiffin break
passed, then the fifth period, the sixth, the seventh, and then the
final bell rang. The corridors bubbled with the sounds of dragging
shoes and hundreds of students talking together as the classes
emptied. And then, the two