Page 190 - Half Girlfriend

Riya tweaked Shabnam's nose. ‘So are you,’ she said.

Shabnam blushed.
Riya spoke to the girl next to Shabnam.‘What do you want to be
when you grow up?’

The girl buried her face in Shabnam’s lap.

Riya laughed. She repeated the question to another girl.
'Mother. I want to be a mother,’ the girl responded.

‘And?’ Riya said.
And what?’ the girl said.

'Doctor? Engineer? Dancer?’
The little girl thought for a while.

'Teacher,’ she said.
'Nice,' Riya said and patted her back.

Riya and I came back to the staffroom. My mother and the other
teachers had class. Only Riya and I remained in the staffroom. We sat

the long table. She coughed again.

I said, ‘You really don’t sound okay.’
‘I was fine. I don’t know,’ Riya said. She went into another
toughing fit.

‘Let’s find a doctor,’ I said.

‘I’ll see a doctor in Patna.’
Riya excused herself and stepped outside. She looked around.

'There’s no toilet. Kids go in the corner there. Or in the fields
outside,’ I said, coming up behind her.

Riya walked out to the fields, still coughing. I saw her body shake
from a distance. I ran up to her. She turned and smiled at me.

‘I’m fine. I just need to properly cough it out.’
‘Spit out the phlegm.’

‘Sorry, I’m being gross.’
‘As if,’ I scoffed.

‘I should head back,’ she said.
‘Alone? Let me come and drop you.’

Riya laughed. She patted my shoulder.