Page 58 - The World's Best Boyfriend

on,’ said Prof. Tripathi. Aranya offered to help the professor carry his books
back to the staffroom. He turned her down nicely. ‘Take care. You’re a nice,
quiet girl. Have a voice and don’t be afraid to talk back. The seniors can be quite

a handful.’
Aranya barely kept from laughing.
Prof. Tripathi left and Aranya revelled in her newfound power over the other

students. Seeing someone else in a superior position had never been Aranya’s
idea of fun. She hadn’t had much say in what nature doled out to her—the dead
melanin cells, the low metabolic rate, her vile parents, a devil for a brother—so

she had decided to control the outcome of everything else.
The students had started filtering out. Awkward first conversations had grown
into fulsome banters and groups of students made their way to the canteen,

forging new friendships and enmities. Aranya did not move out. Instead, she
corrected her notes, underlining important equations, dog-earing pages in her
books before she forgot. The boy was still in the class, picking at the wound in

his palm, looking in her direction. Why wouldn’t he go? Why was he looking?
Was he mocking her? Was he disgusted?
By the time she finished colour coding her notes, the class was empty. The

boy was still there, feet propped up on the desk, playing on his phone, little
beeps filling the space around him, a murderous smirk on his face. Just as she

passed him, he said, ‘Nice move.’
‘Excuse me?’ said Aranya, her guard up.
He looked up from his game. He was playing Temple Run with his phone held
sideways. She was a pro at the game but she could see that he was at a stage

Aranya hadn’t reached yet.
‘You lied.’

‘I don’t quite follow you.’
‘You spotted that mistake as soon as he wrote it. You were sure about the
error but you acted like you weren’t. You lied to get that position. Or maybe the
professor just pitied you for the way you look.’

‘You have a problem with me being the class representative? Why didn’t you
raise your hand?’ asked Aranya, steeling herself.

‘Not really. I just wanted to point it out. Also, I heard about the little incident
you had with the senior last evening. Hurled quite a few insults, didn’t you?’
‘What is it to you?’