Page 32 - The World's Best Boyfriend

7

There was pin-drop silence in the room. On one side of the shiny mahogany

table sat the school committee and the teacher who had caught the two of them
in the storeroom, and on the other side sat Dhruv and Aranya with their parents.
‘Do you have any explanation for what happened today?’ asked the principal.
Dhruv stared at his Converse shoes, their laces frayed, the little aluminium

rings that had held them ripped away from their place. He pressed his toes down,
hoping to crack the earth and descend into Middle Earth, maybe. Outside the

room he could hear people talk about the alleged kiss between Dhruv and
Aranya.
‘How could he do it?’ ‘She’s so ugly.’ ‘Won’t he fall sick, too?’ ‘Will his skin
become like hers?’ ‘Why would he do it?’ ‘Who in his right mind would do so?’

‘Why?’ ‘Why?’ ‘Why?’
Aranya had been slapped twice by her parents. Her mother was crying and

begging in front of the principal, blaming Dhruv. ‘My daughter is a scholarship
student. She couldn’t have done it. She couldn’t have done it. IT’S HIM!’
The others in the room looked at Dhruv for it seemed like a valid argument.
Dhruv trained his eyes on Aranya who had started to cry. He grabbed the

paperweight on the principal’s table. He didn’t know what to do with it exactly
but hurling it in the direction of whoever made Aranya cry would be a start.

‘Tell them, tell them that the boy did everything! WHY ARE YOU QUIET!
TELL THEM EVERYTHING!’ shouted Aranya’s mother.
The head of the committee spoke. ‘This incident is the first for our school and

we will take their silence as an admission of guilt. We will have to expel both
the kids from our school. We have a zero-tolerance policy. I hope you
understand.’

Just as he finished his sentence, a thunderous slap landed square on Aranya’s
face. Her father who had been grumbling in silence got up, grabbed Aranya by
her hair and shook her violently. Dhruv cradled the paperweight in his hands,

imagining it lodged inside her father’s skull.
‘Calm down, Sir. Calm down,’ the head said. ‘We are very sorry for this.’
‘Please Sir, please reconsider,’ said the mother. ‘She’s a scholarship student.

If you expel her, none of the other schools will take her. Please understand. We