Eighth grade was supposed to be fun. It started out that way when I was assigned a seat next to Revant. He was my friend, and we vibed the best. We played together during breaks, shared our snacks, and even cracked jokes that made the whole class laugh. But then, something changed.
Revant began making this silly sound out of nowhere. It went like, "The pilot is ready to take off in 3, 2, 1," followed by a weird noise that sounded like "fhhbffuiruihf." At first, I laughed it off, thinking it was just a phase. But he kept doing it, again and again, until it started driving me crazy.
One day, I couldn't take it anymore. He was sitting there, making that annoying sound, and I snapped. "Can't you just stop blabbering to yourself?!" I yelled.
Revant looked at me, genuinely confused. "What? I'm doing nothing," he said.
"This 'fhhbffuiruihf' sound that you're making is pissing me off," I retorted. "It looks like you're going to puke after making this sound."
I lied. It didn't sound like someone was puking. It sounded like someone was gagging damn hard and it was so bad. But he didn't stop, no matter how much I complained.
Days went by, and I grew more frustrated. One afternoon, after another round of his annoying sounds, I couldn't take it anymore. I raised my hand, and our teacher noticed.
"Yes, what's the matter?" she asked.
"Ma'am, could you please change my seat to anywhere else?" I pleaded.
"Why?" she asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"I'm not really getting along with him," I explained.
Our class teacher didn't fix our seats; it was our SST teacher, Mrs. Rachna Bahri, who did. She had a reputation for being strict, and no one dared to change their seats without her permission. Mrs. Bahri looked around the classroom, scanning for an empty seat. She found one and said, "Bring all your stuff here and be seated on the third bench of your row," pointing towards the bench.
I looked over to see who my new partner would be. It was Ishan. He was napping and didn't even notice the commotion. He woke up, looked around confusedly, then lowered his head again to sleep. How lazy can a person be? Huh.
The whole class turned to look at me. Some were smirking, some were just waiting to see what I would do. They all knew about the tension between me and Ishan. Well, at least most of them did. I was dumbstruck, standing there, unsure of what to do.
The teacher asked again, "Come, or you don't want to change?"
"No, ma'am, I'm comfortable here," I finally said, my voice trembling. I was sweating, regretting my decision yet feeling a strange sense of relief at the same time.
I returned to my seat next to Revant. He looked at me, then went back to his weird sounds. I sighed, resigning myself to another day with my annoying seat partner.