10th September ( a month later )...
I no longer received texts from or went on strolls with Matt. With every passing day, he became more distant; he rarely came to visit the medical department and that was not surprising as Mr Fisher our dean constantly burdened the shoulders of the student's committee. Still, he never came by to say "hello".
My routine revolved around practising my lab work and balancing theory preparation along with dancing in the auditorium. I kept myself busy to the extent, that somedays I forgot that he existed. He became just like one of the fantasy novel crushes I had (lovable but imaginary).
In the meantime I was introduced to another student in the medical department; his name was "Mike". He was of the same age and we became friends while completing Histology research works in the laboratory. It was fun to do it along with someone who was quite passionate about the field as you are. He was quite motivating and filled in my loneliness. While doing the research works, our college earned a second prize for the project we had submitted as a group to the National Researchers Campaign held this month. This project made us the popular duo on the internet i.e. we were interviewed quite a few times together for the university magazine and the daily charts.
"The University Tales " - an online newspaper was specially created to create false rumours (according to me), as there were meaningless polls on -
"Who's the Smartest girl/boy on campus ?"
"Which girl is the prettiest to date ?"
"Who's the most popular guy ?"
etc etc etc.
I ranked number one in "The Smartest Girl" ( it took me a while to realize if this all was even real). I was humble.
Mike was ranked in "The Smartest Guy and The Mystery Guy list "; he became popular specifically after the research event. Matt was no longer "The Mystery Senior Guy" (everyone wanted to know about); he was soon out of the news.
Then something every single person were curious about happened!
Our dorm room teachers announced - "The Highway Midyear Championship ".
P
osters of this event were posted on the university soft boards around the campus. Each passing year such a midterm championship occurred; it has always been a mystery for those who were not selected to participate. There were rumours that those who got selected hardly came back (which didn't make much sense). It was equivalent to the death penalty. The odds were high and the mission did not have a clear goal worth fighting for! The tasks were to be disclosed to the chosen ones only (fair enough). No one was willing to get selected as your life was at stake.
Three universities were to be participating including ours -
"The Brookwood university ",
"The Calm meadows University "
and
"The Highway University ".
Mr Fisher was going to explain
everything to us in the morning assembly.
Today's Morning Assembly...
We all could see two new faces in the auditorium assembly hall. The hall was decorated with one big chandelier of silver shade, the curtains were re-draped in pure red colour, the podium was decorated with exotic flowers and lastly different coloured lights were seen placed everywhere. Students were gathered with utmost curiosity reflected on their faces. A banner tied on stage stated the event planned. Everything was well coordinated by our student committee.
My eyes found Matt; he stared at me for 2 minutes straight; as if he wanted to know if I was physically alright. It felt good to see him again; I realized it's almost a month since he distanced himself from me.
Mr Fisher (clears throat and speaks ),
Dear students and teachers,
Today I will be announcing the selected students for "The Highway Midyear Championship "; as you all have heard from your dorm room teachers about this event, I will be giving you further details now! This year the theme is "Young Love". Three couples will be selected, one from each of the three participating universities. There are two bowls kept in front of you, one is with Blue flame (for boys) and the other with Pink flame (for girls ). Those interested can write their names and drop them inside the bowl. The selected names will appear immediately after the short break interval. Fifth-year students cannot participate in this due to their exhaustive study routine but others can participate.
We have with us, here Mr Langfer from "The Brookwood university " and Miss Grenada from "The Calm meadows University ". Now, We must not delay such a beautiful chance for students' co-curricular involvement; Let the selection begin! " (students were clapping out of fear of getting selected ).
The three important people i.e. respective deans of the universities left for a personal conference meeting outside. I saw Mr Sanger carrying his bulky blue Laptop outside, following the Dean. I wondered why a laptop was required?
"Hey Grace, are you taking part in this thing ?" Betty asked.
"Oh no! I'm too busy with theory assignments, won't probably get time,"
I answered reasonably.
We all four girls went near the bowls to see it. There was charcoal burning below the bowls, and the sparkle of blue and pink was mysterious; How it glowed throughout the room and brightened every face in here. There were chits for the name entries kept beside the bowls.
An indistinct chatter prevailed inside the auditorium.
I saw Betty enthusiastically writing down her name for the event. She believed in the quote - "What's life without a risk? "; with a daring attitude, it seemed she might come back winning the trophy. We all cheered for her.
Even Mike wrote his name. I was happy to see his enthusiasm and cheered him on too. We all then went back to our respective seats and waited for the announcement. I saw Flare still near the blue bowl and speculated if she too was participating.
I then noticed Prince drop his name in the blue flame.
Mr Fisher and the two guests entered the hall after the short break to announce the chosen ones. Everyone in the hall began calling out for Mike and me to be selected for the competition.
I never liked too much attention; it bothered me a little.
I noticed Matt getting nervous about the comments people tossed at Mike and me. But was he affected? I wasn't sure. The fun fact was that I didn't put my name in the bowl - so there was no chance my name was called on.
Our dean stood between the two bowls and chanted a few words (without any hand movement) - "Rivosa Melissa, " which extinguished the charcoal flame below the two bowls; and popped up in the air came out two chits one from each bowl (almost immediately). I guess it was a spell.
"Whoah!!!" everyone cheered as they saw two chits popping up, mid-air. It seemed everyone was familiar with the magic spells (no one confirmed or denied it ), which I found absurd and curious about at the same time.
"The Lucky couple representing our school will be - Vincet Grace from the Medical department and Cole Matthews from the Commerce department ", said our Dean proudly.
Suddenly the white spotlight fell on me. His words kept echoing inside my head.
"What the fuck!?!" I mumbled to myself.
I was placed in an unexpected dilemma - how am I lucky?
I didn't put my name in the bowl;
Then who did?
"I put your name in it; when I saw Flare put Matt's name in the blue bowl and her name in the other bowl, I felt that we partly caused you two to fall apart and so this is your chance Grace !" Linda said giving a promising jerk to my hand. I smiled meekly at the thought. Thousands of thoughts swirled in my head - the risks of an undefined adventure I was about to hop onto.
I saw disappointment on Mike's face; maybe he wanted to get selected.
"Both the students please come on stage, " our dean requested.
We shook hands with our dean and the two guests and stood there quietly to see how the situation unfolded.
Mr Lopez our principal now enters the stage to motivate both of us.
"Don't give up before you start; you might never know where you may land until you let go ! ", Mr Lopez said to us in an inspiring tone.
I was dumbfounded by the quote he stated.
"Thanks, sir! " we both greeted in harmony and bowed down. I saw an unusual smile on Matt's face.
"The assembly ends here students, please report to your respective dorm rooms. The selected participants can come to the main office for further queries. The competition will begin on the 12th of September, two days from now and will last for one week and have three rounds. Mr Sangar please come to my office. You all may depart now. Thank you," said Mr Fisher.
He didn't explain the competition in much detail leaving every non-participant in disappointment.
As we both came down the stage - Betty, Flare, Dan, Prince and Linda rushed over to us. Flare went straight towards Matt. She held his hand and took him near the green room backstage of the hall. I saw them leave.
"How will you survive this competition Grace; I know for a fact that you're too emotional to win it, aren't you ?", asked Betty in a worried tone.
"Yes I'm still digesting the fact - how I got selected; I think I will withdraw, let me ask Matt first, " I said (confused) and hastily went towards the green room.
I didn't enter the room and decided to eavesdrop for a while.
"Are you happy that I placed your name in the bowl ?" Flare asked in a seductive tone.
She was a total slut.
"Even if I don't want to be a part of it, I'm happy to be Grace's partner for the event! " Matt said boldly.
I smiled at his statement.
There was silence for a few minutes.
I was hiding behind the wooden stool with a vase (on it) placed near the entrance of the green room.
I felt weird that no one was speaking and in the attempt of peeking inside the room, the vase shook a bit.
"Who's it? " Matt asked cautiously.
Flare saw me with her crooked eyes and as I stood erect I saw both of them standing in the corner of the room.
"Matt !" said Flare; Matt lost his gaze when she called him. She stepped closer to Matt and pushed him near the wall.
Everything happened in front of me.
She gave him a faint kiss. I didn't see his reaction to his kiss. I just couldn't.
I found myself silly; all this while waiting for someone who accepted Flare's kiss. When did they become this close?
My heart broke into uncountable pieces when I saw that scene.
My eyes became watery as I turned around to leave. My feelings were not ready to let go again. I knew we heal in layers and so to break again was something I couldn't afford anymore. It didn't sink in.
It didn't.
Matt now saw me standing at the door.
"Grace, it's not what you saw !" Matt defended (trying to explain the impossible).
"Then what is it ?", I cried out in rage and continued walking past the corridor of the auditorium.
Matt jolted towards me until he held my left hand.
"Wait !" said Matt.
I turned around by his pull. I hid the tears on the edge of my eyes using my other hand.
"Matt and Grace ! " said Mr Fisher suddenly appearing in front of us.
"Yes sir !" I cleared my agonized voice almost immediately.
"Sir it's good that I met you here, I was about to come by your office; I want to withdraw my name from the competition due to personal reasons, " I said rather quickly.
"I'm afraid the students already chosen can't withdraw. The bowls have chosen you for a reason. And I can see you both have issues with each other, which makes this competition much more competitive to win. I look forward to your performance Vincet! I will get going now. Please come for the instruction seminar 45 mins before the actual competition," the Dean said (which sounded more like an order).
"But sir -" I tried to argue but failed. He didn't care to listen to me and went his way.
"Grace! What happened? " Linda came rushing over as she saw Mr Fisher leave with an unpleasing demeanour.
I immediately hugged her as it was too much for me already.
"Grace, can we talk? " Matt asked.
"I don't think now it's the right time Matt; later, " Linda answered and took me back to our dorm.
I shared with Linda what I saw with my own eyes. Even she was startled by the fact that Flare could stoop so low to get what she wanted.
It was as if the string tying you to a person gets entangled again and again until it breaks one day and you both are strangers again.
I was pretty overwhelmed with it all.
Then I kept thinking -Why the Dean was looking forward to MY performance especially? Something felt out of order. His words were suspicious.
Was everything pre-planned ?; that we were the ones who were to be selected even if Flare /Linda hadn't placed our name in the bowl? (as the Dean sounded much like that ).
I slept over my overthinking.