When Payal told everything that had happened to Rashi, she freaked out.
"Oh my god! Payal, I thought this college didn't entertain ragging and all. I'm really scared now. What if the seniors rag us,tomorrow?"
Payal held Rashi's hand."Calm down ,Rashi. I don't think they'll do anything over the board. After all they just asked me to drink that coffee. They didn't force it down my throat or anything. And let's wait and see what happens tomorrow. Don't worry ,I'll be with you."Payal tried to reassure her.
Rashi shook her head with fear still in her eyes."No...no. Why take risk? Let's just go and complain to the authorities. This does not seem good."
Payal sighed ."Rashi, trust me. I won't let anything happen to you ,okay? And this problem is not bad enough to complain."
"Then let's just put an end to this problem when it's still not worse. Who know what they will do if we let them be."
Payal replied,"If we complain against them just for small matters , don't you think it will cause unnecessary hatred from their side ? Just let it be for now. I promise ,if they do anything worse I'll be the first one to stand up to them. Even I don't tolerate bullies."
Rashi seemed to agree and smiled a little at Payal. Payal smiled back and returned to her side of the room.
"Let's sleep ,now. We have to be up early tomorrow. Have you arranged you outfit and study material for tomorrow?"Payal asked .
Rashi nodded,"I did when you went to the library."
"Okay .Oh !And Rashi, when I came back you were sleeping without locking the door. Please be careful to secure the lock next time."
Rashi bit her tongue and nodded at Payal. Payal smiled and lied down on her bed,"Good night ,Rashi".
"Good Night".
Payal had a bout of jitters in her chest. She knew full well that she won't be able to sleep early that night. The next day was the first step towards her dream . She sighed in contentment. She sure thought about the hardships she had to go through but the smile never left her face .
**********
Beep...beep...beep
Payal woke up with a start and dismissed the alarm. Rashi, who was already awake and on her phone, looked up ,"Good morning".
"Good morning",Payal replied,"When did you wake up?"
"I wake up at four thirty everyday."
"Definitely a morning bird!"
Rashi just smiled and went back to checking her phone.
Payal sighed.
She sure was sighing a lot since she had gotten there.
The college started at half past eight . They still had three hours to get ready .There was a bathroom in every dorm room, so Payal decided to read the book she had checked out the previous day, till seven o'clock.
She was at the 74th page when Rashi got up to use the bathroom. It was still six thirty. After twenty minutes Rashi was done. Payal kept her book aside and grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom. By seven-forty both were ready and good to go.
"You look beautiful",Payal complimented Rashi. She was wearing green-colored kurta and leggings with yellow colored dupatta(veil) .
Where as, Payal had on the same outfit Geeta had told her to wear.
Rashi just smiled and asked ,"You like Pink?"
"Yeah . How did you know?"
Rashi let out a little laugh and said,"Well ,it wasn't difficult to tell when you have a pink watch, a pink towel, a pink comb, pink backpack and a lot of pink dresses."
Payal chuckled and nodded,"what's your favorite colour?"
"Green".
***********
Breakfast in the mess was uneventful. At eight-ten ,the two of them went to the college auditorium, where a welcome function for freshers was going to be held . They occupied seats in the sixth row and waited for the function to begins.
"Payal ,look over there",Rashi nudged Payal's shoulder and nodded at the dias. Payal followed her gaze and her eyes met with the same man in black kurta ,who had tried to rag her the day before.
Siddharth. The President of Students Union.
This time he was in a white kurta and blue jeans. He had his hands folded across his chest, and his eyes were on her. Payal cleared her throat and looked back at Rashi,"What's wrong?"
"Don't you see how he is glaring at us? I wonder who he is. He almost looks like a political leader in that outfit."
"It's because he is."
Rashi gave her a confused look. Payal leaned back and said ,looking into her eyes,"It's him. Siddharth. The President"
Rashi's eyes widened for a second, but then her expression changed into a grimace. She nodded, giving him another glance and found that he still was looking at them even though he was talking to a boy next to him,who was holding papers in his right hand and adjusting his spectacles with the left. The boy was listening attentively to what Siddharth was saying.
By then ,the auditorium was half filled and the time was half past eight. Some 6 dignitaries graced the dias and occupied their seats including Siddharth,who flopped carelessly on the chair at the leftmost end.
All the freshers ,who had occupied their seats and had been chatting away ,were silenced by the voice over the mike."Quiet."
Behind the podium at the right end of the stage, stood a man in a blue suit. He looked over 50 years and had grey hair. Now all the students' attention was on him as he continued,"A very good morning to everyone. I heartily welcome you all to abode of higher learning, NR Educational Institute's, NR College. I'm Debesh Nair ,the Principal of this college. We are very honoured to see that this academic year, we have more number of students who have trusted us with their future. And we take it upon ourself to make sure that the brighest ones await you. I would like to introduce to you all , the dignitaries on the dias , Shri. Anant Raj ,the Head of the department of History. Smt. Pramodadevi Verma, the head of the department of Economics. Mrs. Evangeline Joseph, the head of the department of English. Smt. Tejashree Sirdesai, the head of the department of Mathematics and Siddharth Mehra, the President of Students' Union........"At the mention of Siddharth's name ,Payal's eyes drifted to him. He had a smug look on his face and as soon as his eyes landed on hers, his lips stretched into a smirk. Payal rolled her eyes and looked away from him . The Principal talked a bit more about certain important rules to be followed and other necessary information. At 11 am ,the gathering was dismissed .
(Shri.- Mr.
Smt. - Mrs)
Payal and Rashi went straight to the noticeboard to check their schedule. Payal had an English lecture till 12:15 ,whereas Rashi had Hindi. They both went separate ways after promising to meet in their dorm room after the class.
Payal walked in the hallway as she searched for her class. She gripped her backpack with both her hands and looked for the right door. Her face lit up when she found her class, A24. She started to move towards the door when someone tugged on her bag ,causing her to turn around.
Ugh...Not again!
Siddharth stood in front of her with his friends behind him. Payal gave him a questioning look to which he smiled and said," Won't you greet your President?"
"Oh! Good Morning President . And President's friends!", she said in a sarcastic tone with cheeky smile on her face.
Siddharth narrowed his eyes at her tone but decided to ignore it,"Is that your class?"
"Yes".
"Hmm. I heard you made a new friend. What's his name? Naveen?"
"Yes,I met him in the mess last night. How did you know?".
"Ah! A little birdie told me."
"I see. Does the Birdie's name start with an S, by any chance?"Payal said ,warily ,looking back at Sagar.
All of their faces broke into tiny smile at this, except Sagar himself.
"May be",Siddharth answered with amusement in his eyes.He then continued with a serious tone ,"Anyway, I don't want you to be friends with him anymore".
"Excuse me?" Payal let out a laugh, looking back at him in disbelief."Why would I do that?"
"Because I said so."
"Well ,I'm sorry but I get to decide who I choose to be friends with."Payal replied with a smile on her face, trying to politely deny him. His ego was already bruised. She didn't want to reopen his wounds.
Her reply caused the other boys to tense up and Siddharth's face hardened," I suggest you consider it before you get into further trouble".
Trouble? What trouble was he talking about again? He himself was a package of trouble who had invited himself in her life.
"I choose not to take your suggestion." Payal simply replied ,again smiling sweetly, which seemed to irk Siddharth to no end.
"Why the hell are you smiling ?"He growled.
She gulped and replied,"Why shouldn't I?"
"Because I'm being serious here".He gritted his teeth.
"I'm serious too. But I don't like to keep my face empty like you do. I'm sorry that I'm not sorry if you didn't like my smile. Anyway, I need to get to my class. Good bye, President and friends",Payal replied ,her smile never leaving her face, though her heart was racing. She was glad to see the irritation on Siddharth's face. She felt like she had won a battle. It was the first step to avoid ragging- always being polite and not showing fear. Because the bullies fed off of fears.
She happily entered the class and found an empty bench in the middle row. She sat down and as if on cue the bell rang . She looked around to see that the other students were looking at the door in anticipation. Just then, Payal felt someone sit next to her and turned to face them.
"Hey ,Payal . We meet again." Naveen exclaimed in her face ,excitedly. Payal smiled at him .
"Hey , Naveen . How are you?" Payal asked, recalling how his face had paled and he had practically run away the previous night.
"Umm....Good. What about ..."
He trailed off when the professor entered the class and everyone stood up. She had a bright smile as she faced the new students ." Hello class. Please take your seats. Let me introduce myself . My name is Evangeline Joseph. I will be taking care of your English literature class. I've pursued my MA in English in St. Stephen's College , Delhi . I've recieved my doctorate from the Cambridge University in 2010 .My thesis was on the topic "Creative writing". Here , at NRC ,I've worked for over 9 years and now I'm the head of the department of English ." She paused for an angelic smile and continued,"Now that you have heard about me, why don't you all introduce yourselves? Let's starts from the left, please tell us about you ,my dear" ,she said to a girl who was sitting on the rightmost end of the class.