I Kissed A Girl In My Class by Abhilash Gaur Page A

and foul trick, and Manu heard the crowd shouting his
name in one voice. “Maa-nu, Maa-nu, Maa-nu.”
    Fifth lap, and
Rajiv was still baulking Manu. They came into the final straight
but Manu was too tired by then to cover a full cycle length and
win. Rajiv had forced him to brake and catch up repeatedly. In just
a few more seconds the race was over. Rajiv beat Manu by a whisker
and reached the finals. The crowd roared “shame, shame, shame” and
Manu, who had crashed on the grass too tired to stand, saw the
teachers and Principal Ma’am huddled in discussion. He wanted to
beat up Rajiv, who was lying face down on the grass a few feet
away, and then go home, but didn’t feel up to anything just
then.
    He heard his name
on the loudspeaker, and Rajiv’s too. Then he heard the crowd
shouting “yay”. The teachers had seen Rajiv cheat and decided on a
rematch between him and Manu. Just one lap, to pick the finalist.
Manu couldn’t believe his luck. He staggered to his feet, picked up
his bike and made for the track. Rajiv followed, looking dead beat,
but more importantly, shamefaced.
    On your marks.
Set. Go! Their lungs burning and their legs bent upon rebellion,
both boys pushed on with their last ounce of energy, but Rajiv gave
up before the straight and Manu made it home safely. It was the
slowest cycle race anyone saw but to Manu it seemed the fiercest.
He had made it to the final and won many friends. Jacob Sir patted
him on the back affectionately and Uma Ma’am, his class teacher,
came over to talk to him. One of the student volunteers gave him an
extra-sweet glass of glucose. The other contestants sized him up
cautiously. Manu felt very important and happy. The only let down
was that Neha, his secret crush, hadn’t come to school that day.
“No hard feelings,” he told Rajiv magnanimously.
    ***

13. The Final
That Wasn’t
    While the
cycling heats continued, Manu polished off his lunch and rested.
The final was going to be one hard race. Each one of the finalists
was a winner, and all the others had better cycles. Also, none of
them had been through two heats that afternoon. Manu rubbed his
thighs and calf muscles. He stretched and walked about slowly.
    Sharad had lost
his heat and offered his cycle for the final, but Manu refused
because he wasn’t accustomed to the bigger wheels and the different
saddle height, bent handlebars and calliper brakes. Besides, his
trusty old cycle had just proved its worth.
    As the afternoon
progressed, the school building’s shadow on the field became
longer, the breeze turned cold and all the athletics events wound
up one after another. Then came the junior girls’ final cycle race,
and after that it was time for the junior boys. This time, Manu
found himself in the last-but-one lane. On his right, in the last
lane, was Sandeep, one year his senior and riding a heavily
modified cycle. On his left were other seniors. Manu was the only
boy from class 6 and he had all the cheers from both sections. This
time, he felt calm and confident.
    “On your marks.”
Everyone bent over their handlebars.
    “Set.” Backs
stiffened.
    “Go.”
    Manu never really
got off the start line. Sandeep lost his balance, and as Manu was
passing him on the left, collided with him. Neither boy got hurt
but the front wheels of both cycles were bent. The race was over
for them. Manu cursed Sandeep in disgust, and sensing a fight in
the air, the teachers quickly drew them apart. Manu sulked the rest
of the evening. He had to walk home dragging the cycle because of
the bent wheel.
    He couldn’t forget
the disappointment but the long weekend helped him to get a grip on
his feelings. He got the wheel fixed, and then buried his nose in
books for the final exams that were just weeks away.
    ***

14. A New
Class
    There are
students who don’t like exams but for Manu they were a pleasant
time. Partly, it was the season. March is warm, but not too warm in
Chandigarh. The days are longer, so there’s more