Her Book

My High school class had all sorts of students - the beauties, the bullies, the artists, the musicians, the athletes and what not! So, almost after a month of joining my new high school, I had categorized almost everybody. But there was this one strange guy who I just couldn't figure out. He didn't talk much & used to sit alone most of the time. But he was good in studies. I asked one of the girls about him and she said, "Weird, probably high on drugs or something."

And that was enough for me to conclude that I had to stay away from him. After returning from the computer lab one day, I realized that I had left my book there. As I was going there, which was almost in another corner of the school, I felt someone was following me. So I turned around and saw 'the weird guy' standing right in front of me. Now, I was pretty enraged by this whole following thing, so without thinking much, I just yelled, "Why the heck are you following me?" and saw his expressionless face as he retreated. After a few curses and an unsuccessful attempt to find my book, I came back to the class. As soon as I sat down, a friend came up to me and said, "Hey, that weird guy gave me your book, said he went to you first but you weren't entirely pleased by that". I hadn't felt that stupid in my entire life. I went up to him to apologize, of course, and he was cool with it. That didn't really satisfy me so I decided to 'improve' things between us. So in the next two years, I would lend him notes when he was absent or he would explain something to me that I needed to know and, we sort, of became friends. He was pretty nice, although he didn't talk much. When our last formative tests of 12th grade were less than a day away, I was stupid enough to lose my computer book again. I wasn't lucky this time though. No one could lend me his or her book, even to photocopy, because they had to study. So, the weird guy (Aman) came up to me and said, "Hey, you can take mine. I can use my sister's book." I finally sighed with relief. Now a strange thing happened when the results came in. I had scored fine but Aman hadn't scored as good as he usually did. So I asked him, "What happened this time?" and he said, "Uh, I kind of lost my sister's book". Now, I was too baffled to say much and said, "How..when,how?" and he replied in a stuttering low voice, "Uh, we moved to a new place last year and I 'kind of' lost her books back then". I was stunned & puzzled at the same time. I asked him "Why the heck didn't you tell me?"

He replied "You know, I was just trying to change ...uh..my.. stalker reputation,” and we just couldn't stop laughing. After all these years, when I read or hear the word 'friend', I don't really think of most of my Facebook friends or the ones I used to hang out with, but I think of him, even though we didn't talk much or go out. Now, I don't remember winning some big competition or some amazing cultural event or the farewell party. But somehow, I remember almost every single detail of little conversations like these. And I feel like it's these little moments in life, that leave the biggest marks and I can't help but smile as I recall them.