My theme for #MyFriendAlexa 2020 is School Days & Musings.    Hence, I will be penning down 8 stories that you can fall in love with and may revisit your beautiful innocent days that were never perfect but were filled with fun, laughter & pure joy.   The protagonists will vary every day to add a little more fun and I have used the most possible simple way of getting into these young minds. The Posts will be like diary entries made by these kids at the end of the day about how their day was (mostly about some very memorable encounters)! The posts will be in the form of episodes as every post is interconnected. I have tried to visualize the world from the eyes of the unadulterated souls. I aspire to pass on a little smile that I can, to each one of you reading my pieces so that I will feel that I was of some use.

*Notes- Shekhar, who is a Class IX student and crime partner of Dipankar( his classmate) writes the below diary entry.

*Shekhar & Dipankar are best friends and last benchers . They are in the same section as Juhi ,which is Class IX A.

*Juhi is the new girl who joins the school in the middle of the semester.

*Pallavi is a student of Class IX- A and is the only girl who has become close to Juhi, who has newly got transferred to the school.

*Silviya being in Class IX-A is the leader of all the girls gang in the class.

*Sheela Madam is the class teacher & Ramesh sir is the sports teacher.

• To know more about the Shekhar , Dipankar , Juhi , Silviya ( Entire Story Plot ) , kindly click below and read previous posts ( previous episodes) in this #MyFriendAlexa series.
• Morning Assembly Sagas (Post 1)
• Last Bench Chronicles ( Post 2)
• New girl enters the campus ( Post 3)
• Welcome? Well Not Really… ( Post 4)
• Did I win or did I lose? ( Post 5)
• Forget & Forgive. Really… ( Post 6)

Dear Diary,

Today was the last day of our annual exams.  Every year after the exams are over, there is a sense of liberation but every time I get a bit nostalgic.  It’s a kind of mixed bag feeling, somehow for me. Today is one such days and probably if I try to say these to any one; it will hardly make any sense. Hence, my diary you have been my best secret keeper so far. This is because you know every single aspect of my thought process that I share with you.

This year has been quite eventful since the beginning.  Ninth class is tough in the sense that even the syllabus is hard as compared to that in the tenth standard. The most eventful was when Juhi joined our class after three months were already over.  She had something about her that was unique and had very different energy level. She was tall, slender and had shoulder length hair.  She had a chiseled jaw line with an oval face and a mole right on top of her tiny nose which made her look cuter than anyone else. She had her seat near the window.  Whenever a little breeze blew and the way she would swiftly part her hair strands made me feel a little anxious because she just looked so beautiful. But every time she looked at me, it made me feel so nervous that I would just put my head down on the desk and pretend as if I was asleep.

How can I let her or my friends know that I have a soft corner towards her! My existence in the very school will be jeopardized forever! Hence as they say, sometimes it is best to pretend and I have used it as a weapon to mask many of my emotions at various points  in my life using this method.  More than looks what was distinct about her was her lack of fear in anything she would do. There was a look of courage & determination in her eyes that made her stand out in the lot. She struggled to complete her notes and always seemed busy to cover the entire syllabus. This was because she joined mid semester and it’s always difficult to catch up.  But I have never seen her look helpless!  

And with her hard work she did manage to cover a lot of chapters within a short span of time. I have never had the courage to walk up to her and speak. But she had burrowed my notebooks and my notes a lot many times which I had pleasantly passed on to her and had never asked her when she would return as well. She needed my assistance in Maths and it being my favorite subject I had pleasantly provided my help to her.  We have had few interactions in the games period when to my surprise, she volunteered few times to join us in our Volley ball matches. Being tall added to her advantage and she had absolutely brilliant serving skills. Her hand movement during the service was swift and seemed effortless but there was strength in her throw. Undoubtedly she was very different from others. But apart such few interactions, we hardly spoke, well thanks to my reserved nature, when it comes to talking with the opposite gender! I would take special care while putting on my school uniform trying to look crisp in my look and I always looked straight whenever I crossed Juhi in the corridor. I could never turn my head towards her for reasons unknown to me.

However, before exams there were some events that led to a big mishap between me & Juhi. Silviya being the wicked soul that she is was the mastermind of the whole episode of misunderstandings that emerged between us.  The day Juhi got punished in front of everyone was something quite unbelievable for me.  I could not understand what had just happened. After the her punishment was over I had ran towards her. I spoke hastily to her, “Juhi, I am completely unaware about what was there in the pen drive. I just delivered it to you as told by Pallavi. Trust me.” Juhi  glanced me from head to toe  with storm in her eyes  and then blasted me in her angry voice , “Shekhar, you think I am a fool to believe you? I  am quite new here. So you think you can use me as one of your experiment projects to have fun and keep up your image of a hero and show off about how smart you are? I know guys like you! I am not falling for this acting that you are doing right now. This shows your upbringing and your value system. I pity you, Shekhar for being such a shallow person.” She said everything in one breath and I felt my ears bleed. Before I could confront her, she turned around and marched towards the school gate. I had never felt so offended in my entire life!  I do get involved in a lot of mischief activities but I have never harmed anyone. The excruciating pain of her every single word just was too much to bear and I made a promise that I would never ever talk to this high headed girl, forget helping her.

 But the day I got to know everything from my friend Dipankar, it was hard to believe that my class mates like Silviya were no less than any crime thriller characters.  Such complex and complicated thought process!  If nothing at all, as per my opinion the best vampire award must go to Silviya for being the director in the whole play . Pallavi, was the one who used me to hand over the infected pen drive, had confessed everything because she could not travel the guilt trip that comes after one does something against anyone’s conscience.

 After listening to entire story, I was anguished as I had absolutely no idea what I had been involved into! I felt like a tiny insect trapped in the cobweb brilliantly placed by Silviya. I felt betrayed, cheated & just like a fool. I had no clue that it was all planned and I was being used as a pawn! But these feelings had no value as the damage was already done. Juhi had already been punished for crashing the computer without being careful enough to conduct a virus scan of the virus infected pen drive.  I wished I could just explain her every detail and clear the air of misunderstanding between us. But sometimes its too late to make things right. That is why one should judge only after listening and knowing the entire truth. I am sure the prejudice that she holds is very difficult to clarify and I am least interested to talk to a person who blames one’s upbringing into such trivial matters.

Tomorrow is the last exam after which we will have our summer vacation before we become Class X students.  There will be a long gap when we meet our friends. I always get excited before the summer vacation starts as it involves travel to hill stations with my parents. I would not be able to meet even Juhi for a long, long time.

Should I talk to her tomorrow? Will it make things worse or solve things? Should I put my ego at one side and have that conversation? Well, I am not sure….

Shekhar,

Class -IX-A

“I’m taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s My Friend Alexa”