Page 32 - Half Girlfriend

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'Hey,’ she said. Her perky voice startled me; I had been scanning
the college noticeboard.

I turned around. I had prayed for this to happen. She and I had
both made it.

She wore black, skin-tight jeans and a black-and-white striped i
lurt. Without the sweat and grime from court, her face glowed. She

had translucent pink lip gloss on, with tiny glittery bits on her lips. Her

hair, slightly wavy, came all the way down to her waist. Her long
lingers looked delicate, hiding the power they had displayed on court.

My heart was in my mouth. Ever since I had got my admission letter, I
had been waiting for the month before college opened to pass quickly

and to find out if Riya had made it too.
‘Riya,’ she said. ‘You remember, right?’

Did I remember? I wanted to tell her I had not forgotten her for
one moment since I left Delhi. I wanted to tell her I had never seen a

girl more beautiful than her. I wanted to tell her that the oxygen flow
to my lungs had stopped.

‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Glad you joined.’
‘I wasn’t sure, actually,’ she said and pointed to the noticeboard.‘Is

that the first-year timetable?’
I nodded. She smiled at me again.

‘What’s your course?’ she asked, her eyes on the noticeboard.

‘Sociology,’ I said.
‘Oh, intellectual,’ she said.

I didn’t know what that meant. However, she laughed and I
guessed it was something funny, so I laughed along. The noticeboard

also had a bunch of stapled sheets with the names of all first-year
students and their new roll numbers.

‘What about you?’ I said. I adjusted my yellow T-shirt and blue
jeans while she looked at the board. I had bought new clothes from

Patna for St. Stephen’s. I didn’t look like a government office clerk